How SMBs Can Cut IT Costs Using Hosted Services

The head of SMB marketing for Microsoft in the UK makes the case for subscription software and IT management services, backing it up with data from recent Microsoft-sponsored surveys of small and medium businesses.

"Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) have reason to feel optimistic - despite the recession, in the past 12 months, 52% of SMBs reported an increase in revenue, up from 39% in 2008, according to Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2008. Now 2010 is set to give SMBs further opportunity for growth, but to capitalise on an upturn these companies need to look carefully at what will enable them to be more productive and to compete more effectively. This is where IT suppliers and partners have a role.

Microsoft commissioned some research in January this year, looking at business and IT issues affecting SMBs in light of the economic downturn. This was run across 15 countries worldwide with more than 3,000 participants. The research follows a similar survey conducted 18 months ago, acting as a clear benchmark to show how businesses have been affected during the downturn and specifically how this has changed attitudes towards hosted services. Hosted IT is in essence the 'renting' of services on demand, on a pay for use and user basis, rather than running the data on an in-house server."