A new study has shown that two-thirds of small businesses in the UK are adopting new technology to improve their business, with one of the main drivers being they believe this will fire up revenue growth.
The survey – which included 300 heads of SMBs in the UK, and was conducted by IDC for SAP SE – found that the main reasons for investing in new tech were “revenue growth, customer acquisition and driving operational efficiencies”.
Half of those surveyed said these were ‘immediate strategic priorities’ when it came to their company and digital investments.
Naturally, the research touched on mobile working, and found that 21% of small businesses had ambitions to make further investment in technology to enable such remote working.
Heading cloud-wards
And the cloud is always a hot topic, too, with the study looking at adoption and finding that SMBs are increasingly keen to head cloud-wards. Indeed, 56% of small businesses in the UK now use at least one cloud service.
Obviously, that still means that almost half of companies remain wary of the cloud, with the majority of those still inevitably concerned about security (44%) and costs in terms of ongoing subscription charges (28%).
Other nuggets uncovered by IDC included the fact that most small businesses – 66% of them – are already using tools to facilitate employee collaboration. 63% are using CRM software, and the figure is 51% in the case of business analytics, with 50% using e-commerce services.
Cathy Daum, senior VP, Global Channels and General Business EMEA, SAP, commented: “SMBs are the engine room of the UK economy, accounting for over 99% of all private companies. This study shows that technology is a huge driver in helping these companies achieve their goals.”
- One sound investment would be to ensure you’ve got the best business broadband deal possible
