I've been digging into some great small business studies that have come out over the last several weeks. Network Solutions recently unveiled the small business study they did with the University of Maryland, and Intuit released the latest installment in their Future of Small Business study. Both of these studies are must reads if your serious about being in business for a while.
Another must read study comes from Microsoft with respect to the impact technology can have on the success of small and mid-size businesses (SMBs), and the impact technology-savvy SMBs can have on stimulating our economy. In fact SMB IT spend is growing at more than ten times the rate of worldwide IT spend, according to the report.
Most Demanded Productivity Tools (According to Microsoft Study)
I had a chance to speak with Ross Brown - Microsoft VP of Solution Partners & ISVs - about the report findings. Ross talks about the technology spending trends in the SMB community, the growing role of unified communications, and the increasing demand for mobile solutions and remote workers. Ross also touches on the growing interest in business intelligence and the ramifications it has on SMBs. And despite all the hype surrounding other areas of technology, he explains why the key technologies in 2009 are backup, IT consolidation and virtualization.
Key SMB Technologies in 2009
To hear the conversation with Ross click the player below, or download the mp3 file by clicking here.
Technorati : crm, microsoft, small business, unified communications
Del.icio.us : crm, microsoft, small business, unified communications
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