A recent study by Quocirca claims that more than 64% of UK SMEs are anticipating a decline in their IT spending in 2013, with a further 21% expecting them to plateau. Although the results of this survey are hardly surprising, they are also rather unsettling.
It has been shown numerous times that SMEs which actively invest in technology and infrastructure have an overall higher business performance. Enterprises that choose to innovate, as a rule, experience higher growth and gain competitive advantages.
Tellingly, SMEs with flat or declining ICT investment are less likely to identify opportunities for revenue gains than their more progressive counterparts. Organisations that continue to work in obsolete ways, ignoring core technologies such as virtualisation, cloud and mobility, stunt their growth potential and risk missing out on market opportunities.
So if SMEs are still unwilling to allocate adequate spending to their IT budget, then why are they simply not investing in ICT through a financing plan? Of those surveyed, 76% of the Quocrica respondents admit to using car financing plans, while less than a third do the same for technology.
Given the lack of overall economic stability globally and the highly competitive UK SME market, restricting technological investment could be seen as a natural, less risky choice. However, an SME that is merely trying to stay afloat could soon be edged out of the market by their more daring European counterparts. With UK SMEs now competing not only on a Pan European level, but also globally, the time has come for British small business owners to sit up and take notice.
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