SMBs Lead Adoption Race For Cloud Services

Virtualisation specialist Parallels has released the latest updates of Parallels SMB Cloud Insights, that profiles the cloud buying behaviour of small to medium-size businesses (SMBs).

The survey results continues to confirm why Parallels – and service providers – should remain laser-beam focused on meeting the demand for SMB cloud services, as most SMBs plan to double their purchase of cloud applications over the next three years.

Cloudy SMBs

The report found SMB cloud adoption is a global phenomenon not limited to North America, as the worldwide SMB cloud market is expected to expand at a 26 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $68 billion (£43bn) by 2014. In addition, SMBs with less than 20 employees are at least three times more likely to choose cloud services over on-premise services.

Small businesses are rapidly moving beyond basic Web presence, with 45 percent of SMBs in the US now managing a Facebook page to promote their business. In addition, the report indicated SMBs plan to double the amount of paid cloud applications they purchase in the next three years, with size of SMB determining which applications are critical (micro and small SMBs seek apps like backup, file sharing and accounting and e-mail achieving; while medium businesses are seeking and phone conferencing services).

Parallels SMB Cloud Insights outlines which hosting, cloud services and applications have the most current and future appeal for SMBs across four key categories – hosted infrastructure (IaaS), Web presence, communications and collaboration and hosted business applications.

Parallels research also reveals the market-by-market demand for value-added hosted applications and services such as online backup, file sharing, accounting, email archiving and web conferencing.

Global Uptake

The US, Global, Brazil and Mexico reports expands the Parallels SMB Cloud Insights series to fourteen current regional profiles, including the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, China, India, Japan and Australia.

“Parallels SMB Cloud Insights research continues to confirm that SMBs are at the forefront of cloud adoption,” said Birger Steen, CEO of Parallels. “This research is part of our commitment to service providers to give them both the expertise and technology they need to address the quickly-growing market for SMB cloud services.”