Client computing still king as SMB IT budgets grow

Research finds smaller firms' tech spending is set for double-digit H1 rise, with desktops, laptops and tablets the order of the day

With budgets on the rise, traditional client compute platforms are still the order of the day for SMBs, research has found.

But the State of SMB IT report from network management software firm Spiceworks also reveals that almost two thirds of smaller businesses will invest in tablets in the coming months, with IT pros still undecided on how best to manage the BYOD trend.

According to the survey, which quizzed 1,500 firms across the globe, SMB IT budgets for the first half of 2012 were up 15 per cent year on year to an average of £94,000. Some 56 per cent are maintaining a steady headcount of IT pros, while a further 30 per cent are actively recruiting.

The biggest chunk – 40 per cent – of SMB IT spend is set to go on hardware, followed by software on 34 per cent, and services on 26 per cent. Among firms planning to shell out on hardware, desktop PCs emerge at the top of the shopping list, featuring in the tech spending plans of 93 per cent of respondents. Laptops were second on 80 per cent.

SMBs spending on software are prioritising anti-virus/anti-spam (61 per cent) and backup/recovery (53 per cent).

In six months' time 62 per cent of smaller firms will have deployed tablets or will be in the process of doing so. This is up from the 50 per cent figure Spiceworks reported during 2011's second half. Three quarters of SMBs currently assist in managing or supporting employee-owned devices, with iPhones proving the most-frequently used platform.

A fifth of respondents are wholeheartedly embracing the BYOD movement, while 35 per cent are of the opinion that this strategy works well for some devices and less well for others. But a quarter consider employee-owned tech to be a headache for their company.

Jay Hallberg, vice president of marketing at Spiceworks, said: "The results also show that SMBs are spending more on technology across the board, from hardware and devices, to cloud services and virtualisation. Despite facing a double-dip recession, SMBs in the UK are investing in IT for better growth."