We just published SMB Group’s 2014 SMB Mobile Solutions Study. The survey, which is our fourth annual study in this area, reveals many interesting findings about how U.S. SMBs are using mobile solutions in their businesses.
For instance, A growing majority of SMBs now regard mobile solutions as essential business enablers, with 60% saying “mobile solutions are critical to our business” (Figure 1). We are also seeing that mobile solutions also account for a growing share of SMBs’ technology budgets, when we compare findings over the past four years, and the composition of spending is changing too:
- SMB median spending on mobile technology and solutions as a percentage of total technology spending is up from roughly 12% in 2013 to 16% in 2014.
- Mobile service and device costs still account for the bulk of SMB mobile budgets, but SMB spending in other areas is rising as a percentage of mobile spend
- SMBs with 10 -999 employees spend 11% of their mobile dollars on apps, 10.5% on security, 11% on mobile management and 8% on consulting
Figure 1:
The study also shows that mobile applications are becoming more important to SMBs, not only as a complement to traditional business applications, but even as a replacement in some areas. For instance, mobile access has become the preferred interface for collaboration social media apps for a significant percentage of SMBs.
Furthermore, adoption of bring your own device (BYOD) continues to rise: 59% of SMBs with 10 to 999 employees now support BYOD. The top driver for BYOD is that employees prefer to use their own, familiar devices. However, among the 41% not supporting BYOD, security and management challenges are top impediments to adoption.
As reliance on mobile solutions increases, SMBs have a growing number of mobile apps and more diverse mobile devices to manage. Consequently, adoption of mobile management solutions is rising as well. Currently, 45% of SMBs with 10-999 employees use mobile device management solutions, and 36% use solutions to manage mobile applications.
These results highlight just a few of the detailed findings in the 2014 SMB Mobile Solutions Study. Fielded in November 2014, the study surveyed over 700 U.S. SMB decision makers to provide a comprehensive view of SMB mobile adoption. The full study package includes findings for very small business (1-19 employees), small business (20-99 employees), and medium business (100-999 employees) across relevant areas, including:
- Attitudes about mobility
- Information sources and decision making for mobile solutions
- Mobile app adoption for internal (employee) users
- Mobile app adoption for external (customer, partner, supplier) users
- Top benefits and challenges in using mobile solutions
- Management of mobile solutions
- Budgets for mobile solutions
- How mobile adoption affects IT spending and behaviors
- Segmentation by industry, business outlook, technology spending, etc.
For more information and pricing for complete study results or for a focused segment, please see the study brochure. For a detailed table of contents, send and email to lisa.lincoln70@smb-gr.com or 508.734.5658.