Economic crisis not a threat to SMB IT initiatives: IBM

IBM announced the release of 'Inside the Midmarket: A 2009 Perspective' a new
study of mid-size organizations in 17 countries.

The study shows that companies have not been deterred from their plans for
strategic IT initiatives that range from information management, security
management to social media and cloud computing-despite a clear recognition of
the need to cut costs in a difficult economy.

The study revealed five key trends :

• The highest-priority technology solution, chosen by 75 percent of
  respondents, is Information Management, which turns mountains of data into
  meaningful insights
• The most pressing business challenges include increasing effici­ency and
  productivity (80 percent), improving customer care (74 percent) and better use
  of information (72 percent)
• The impact of the economy on IT budgets has caused 53 percent to actually
  increase or re-prioritize their spending, with 37 per cent reporting a
  decrease
• Despite the economy, more than two-thirds of those surveyed are planning
  or currently implementing their top IT priorities
• In spite of the current economic climate and concerns about barriers to
  successful implementation of IT projects, more than two-thirds are planning or
  currently implementing their top IT priorities, led by Infrastructure
  Reliability (75 percent), Disaster Recovery (72 percent), Information
  Management (71 percent) and Security Management (68 percent).

This year's survey also illustrates the growing role of emerging
technologies, such as cloud computing, green IT, and social media, said a press
release.

While lower on the scale of critical priorities, mid-market companies are
actively pursuing several emerging technology areas to improve performance. The
survey shows that 79 percent intend to implement, have esta­blished goals, or
have started/completed imple­men­tation of Green IT solutions, followed closely
by social media/Web 2.0 (71 percent) and Cloud Computing (69 percent).

The relationship that mid-market organizations have with their IT providers
reflects an increasingly strategic view of IT's role in supporting business
objectives. According to the study, only one in four organizations view the
relationship as transac­tional, with the remaining respondents seeing their IT
provider as a technology advisor or IT and business consultant.

The highest rated criteria when choosing an IT provider to partner with was
having the expertise to help them work smarter, chosen by 70 percent of
respondents.

The study also looked at the perceived impact of economic stimulus spending
programs. Approximately 50 percent of organizations worldwide expect to benefit
from these programs.