The survey of 350 business decision makers at UK SMEs conducted by Censuswide on behalf of essensys also found that for senior decision makers these frustrations are even more pronounced, with a third of the UK’s SME board directors believing their IT is too complex. The findings of the research have been detailed in a new report, Making IT the solution and not the problem.
The research has highlighted a number of other IT frustrations amongst UK SMEs with 29% of business decision makers also agreeing that IT is too expensive. 21% find it hard to stay up to date with new technologies, with 27% particularly concerned that the cost of rolling out new IT services is too high. Less than 8% of those surveyed said they didn’t have any IT frustrations.
With nearly a quarter of SMEs saying that IT is a bottleneck for their business, Making IT the solution and not the problem looks at what SMEs really want from technology, what the barriers are to innovation and whether SMEs are getting what they need from vendors and resellers.
essensys’ research has shown a clear demand amongst SMEs for technology that is simpler to deploy and easier to manage, with more flexible payment options:
•27% of business decision makers said IT should be more easily scalable
•20% said it would be better to pay for IT on an opex basis
•37% of CEOs said they would rather their business wasn’t reliant on IT specialists
Mark Furness, CEO at essensys, commented: “The way people work is changing all the time as we move towards an ever more hyperconnected world. However, the fact that our research has highlighted all of these frustrations means that, more often than not, the reality is lagging behind the hype. Not because businesses don’t want to embrace new technologies, but because they are hindered by complex implementation, cost and a lack of flexibility.
“We believe that businesses should expect more from their IT infrastructure. IT should indeed play a key role in leading change and innovation inside organisations rather than be a barrier and a source of frustration. Businesses should therefore no longer accept IT solutions that are reliant on complex management tools, have high maintenance demands and are difficult to scale.
Instead, our report sets out how businesses need IT infrastructures that are driven by far greater automation and sophisticated orchestration technology, empowering people to easily self-serve and manage their services. IT can really be a main driver of productivity and competitiveness and thankfully, the experience is a lot better than what most people expect.”