This IDC study heralds the coming of a positive year for solutions providers in the SMB segment. Buyers affirmed their intention to buy more enterprise applications, apply them more expansively into areas of business, and to explore the adoption of more advanced technologies.

"This year's survey established the underpinning foundation supporting strong growth in the SMB segment of the enterprise applications market - low penetration of enterprise applications in critical business activities, significant improvement in SMBs' overall attitude towards the use of enterprise applications, and an impending refresh of existing software installations across the board," says Chris Chong, market analyst, Software, IDC Australia. "Vendors simply need to segment deeper, to uncover these opportunities and increase sales efficacy," he adds.