SMBs see link between managed services and higher profits, analyst asserts

More than half of US and European SMBs think managed services help bottom line, according to Techaisle

SMBs in Europe and the US are associating managed services with increased profitability, according to a blog post by analyst Techaisle this week.

According to the post, 68 per cent of European SMBs and 54 per cent of SMBs in the US believe managed services help boost the bottom line, add to profitability and cut costs. In addition, 46 perc ent of US SMBs and 32 per cent of European SMBs say they look at managed services as something that contributes to growth and revenue and have experienced it do so, Techaisle CEO and analayst Anurag Agrawal wrote.

In the US specifically, SMBs are seeing bottom line benefits in reduced IT expenses, increased IT environment control, the ability to optimise availability and performance while simultaneously maintaining downtime, keeping a "lean" business environment and the ability to predict performance, user experience and cost, the analyst said.

Meanwhile, when it comes to increasing their top line, US SMBs say managed services help improve response time to IT problems, improve focus on core competencies, stay up to date with technology changes and disaster recovery and business continuity.

"A glance at why managed services are in use provides clear insight into the motivations that are spurring expanding use," Agrawal wrote. "Both small businesses and midmarket companies consider security improvements and IT cost control to be important reasons for embracing managed services. Beyond these two issues, small and midsized companies have different reasons for pursuing services as a solution to current (or emerging) IT requirements...

"There are 15 different attributes cited by more than 10 percent of small and midmarket businesses as reasons for using managed services, corresponding to the cost and growth factors highlighted above."

The analyst further explained that midmarket organisations typically use managed services to improve their IT management issues. According to Agrawal, "key issues" these players prioritise are enhancing IT management processes, addressing a "strong need" for proactive management, reducing IT and business risks and improving disaster recovery and business continuity readiness.