SMBs Jumping On Cloud Computing Bandwagon

ITBusinessEdge: SMBs Jumping On Cloud Computing Bandwagon

In analyzing recent vendor-sponsored research about take up of cloud computing among SMBs, Paul Mah reviews the reasons why small businesses might want to consider using cloud-based applications and services.

“Spending on cloud-based software is set to increase for nearly three out of four small- and mid-sized businesses this year, according to a survey conducted by Egnyte. In an InformationWeek post, Kevin Casey reported that 74 percent of SMBs plan to spend more on cloud software. He also pointed out that more than half (51 percent) of SMBs are set to increase their budgets for collaboration software. When quizzed on spending plans pertaining to collaboration software, only 6 percent answered with a “no.” This statistic was mirrored by an equally low 2 percent of respondents who said “no” to spending increases on the cloud software front.

Of course, Egnyte did engineer the Egnyte Hybrid Cloud Storage, which appears to be a rather innovative cloud-based storage fabric that integrates cloud-based accessibility together with lighting-fast LAN access. In spite of the potential self-serving nature of the study, the numbers caught my attention as they appear to sync with a groundswell of interest in cloud computing. As Casey himself highlighted, Parallels recently valued the SMB cloud market at $8.6 billion, while IT spending is projected to increase in the SMB sector this year.”