SMBs Slow to Offload Messaging to SaaS, Struggle with Storage, Say No to Social Networks, Maybe to iPhone

By Stephanie Jordan
in

In many ways the messaging needs of the small- to medium-size business is no different than the enterprise, and perhaps even more vital, as one person might be the counterpart of many working at a larger organization. In most economies, SMBs and SMEs are much greater in number than large enterprises.

What messaging capabilities do SMBs need? A newly published report by Osterman Research aimed to investigate just that. Messaging in the SMB Market, 2009-2012, looks at preferences and plans for messaging in the North American SMB space over the next several years and focuses on email systems, email security, real time communications, social networking tools, encryption capabilities, archiving services, etc.

Osterman offers a review of a few key trends:

On software-as-a-service: “Interestingly, despite the fact that SaaS can reduce the cost of providing email, particularly for smaller organizations, many decision makers are absolutely against the use of this delivery model for email.” He says that internally managed email was found as the most desirable and that appliances are preferred by a large proportion of SMBs. “However, many SMBs would likely or definitely deploy—or seriously consider deploying—an email system using more than one delivery model.”

Storage presents problems: “The top four problems in managing SMB email systems are storage related: increase backup/restore times, growing sizes of messages, users sending large attachments, and overall growth in email storage requirements.”

Social networking is not seen as important: “Some of the more popular social networking tools are generally not perceived by IT decision makers to be legitimate. For example, Twitter is viewed by fewer than one in three decision makers to be legitimate and Facebook fares only slightly better.” Osterman says that LinkedIn is also seen as “non-legitimate by two out of five decision makers.”

On iPhone use: “Mobile platforms in the SMB space are led by RIM BlackBerry devices, accounting for a substantial proportion of end users’ mobile devices. This penetration is expected to remain steady into 2010. However, the penetration of the iPhone will increase substantially during the forecast period.” Osterman adds that Google Android operating system is expected to about double in use between 2009 and 2010.

Published April 9, 2010