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SMBs want software security, support

By Vivian Yeo, ZDNet Asia on March 12, 2008

Summary

Small and midsize businesses in Asia base software investment decisions on vendor expertise and support, as well as product security, new IDC survey reveals.

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When making software investment decisions, businesses in the Asia-Pacific region--particularly midsize ones--are less likely to focus on cost, according to findings from a new survey.

Released Tuesday by research analyst IDC, the survey noted that small and midsize businesses (SMBs) placed considerable importance on the expertise and level of support provided by vendors, as well as data security and integrity, before deciding which software to acquire.

The survey covered 1,375 respondents from various industries in Australia, China, India, Korea, Singapore and Thailand.

Medium-sized companies, with 500 to 999 employees, said a high level of expertise or support needed from the vendor is the most important factor affecting their buying decisions. IDC identified most of these companies as early adopters, coining them "SMB 2.0" or "SMB 1.5 Fast Follower".

"IDC observes that the 'SMB 2.0' companies are much more concerned about the level of expertise and support from vendors in customizing solutions to their needs, than the price of the software," said Emerson Gibin, IDC's Asia-Pacific research manager for SMB research. "These companies feel that the investment in advanced technologies will become a competitive tool that will help them to expand the business and manage costs better."

"In some ways, SMB 2.0 companies exhibit behavior that is consistent with their larger counterparts," noted Gibin.

Companies with between 100 and 499 employees placed security as the top criterion, but indicated that expertise and support were important as well. Only companies with fewer than 100 employees chose price as the main driver for software purchases.

Going local for services
In terms of procuring IT services, over 64 percent of smaller businesses in the region preferred to work with a local systems integrator or service partner. In comparison, midsize companies were more likely to use a multinational or global service provider, as these respondents indicated a preference to deal with technology owners.

Smaller companies ranked price, local knowledge and local market experience as top priorities in deciding which IT services provider to employ, while midsize businesses viewed personal attention and turnaround time as important decision factors.

In addition, over 40 percent of the SMBs surveyed had IT staff handling other non-IT duties, while just over 50 percent of respondents said they employed full-time staff solely dedicated to managing IT.

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