SMBs set for IT budget increase in 2014

Research by datacentre specialist Node4 points to an increase in SMB IT spend

SMB confidence is on the up and budgets will increase accordingly in 2014.

That is the claim by datacentre specialist Node4, which questioned 250 IT decision makers in companies with between 50 and 500 employees.

Its research discovered that one in 10 SMB respondents expect their IT budget to grow by more than 10 per cent next year, with only five per cent expecting a cut in technology spend.

Encouragingly, 80 per cent of those interviewed said they expected their business to do better in 2014 than in previous years.

Paul Bryce, business development director at Node4, said: "When the economic hard times kicked in over the course of 2008, IT budgets were one of the first casualties. SMEs clamped down on spending, most only upgrading or changing their IT when they had to.

"Our findings are reflective of recent forecasts by bodies such as the CBI and the CEBR, that the UK economy is set to grow, and SMEs are once again investing in their core businesses," he added. "However, SMEs' spending habits have changed. IT managers and directors are even more savvy than before.

"All those with purchasing responsibility today want an IT solution that helps them to win more business, beat the competition and prosper in the growing economy.”

When questioned about what they would spend their IT budget on, nearly a third said they would invest in mobile application development, and one in five would move their IT to the cloud.