Understanding UK SMBs' Procurement Strategies and Outsourcing Preferences (Customer Focus)

25% have business applications delivered on demand by a service provider. Although this is a minority, results from the survey indicate that with the right solutions available at affordable prices SMBs may begin to adopt managed services for more aspects of their business. Security is a major issue for SMBs and they are all too aware that they will need extra resources and time to deal with any threats. This explains why 44% of SMBs would most likely look to a vendor to provide them with security services. Other issues such as connectivity, web presence and email management also come out as high priorities.

Reasons to Purchase

Discover the important factors that SMBs look for when selecting a vendor. Find out why SMBs need to outsource their IT services and which areas are the most problematic. Understand the main reasons preventing SMBs from outsourcing in order to adjust your market strategy.

Table of Contents

DATAMONITOR VIEW

CATALYST

SUMMARY

METHODOLOGY

ANALYSIS

Introduction

SMBs show traditional attitudes to selecting IT vendors

Standard of customer service is the most important factor when selecting an IT vendor

SMBs are more likely to trust a national telecoms provider or a national ISP for managed services

Many different vendors are supplying the UK SMB market

SMBs are generally happy with their service providers

A relatively low proportion of SMBs currently oursource their IT services

A quarter of SMBs outsource their business applications

The majority of SMBs manage their firewalls in house

Security is a key consideration in IT outsourcing decisions

The area that is most outsourced is security updates and patching

The most pressing technical requirement for SMBs is security

SMBs look to vendors to provide security and Internet connectivity

The majority of SMBs have some form of risk mitigation in place

The main reasons preventing SMBs from outsourcing are cost and loss of control

Cost and loss of control are the main reasons preventing SMBs from outsourcing the management of critical applications

A small proportion of SMBs can foresee a time when their IT function is fully managed externally

SUMMARY: Outsourcing is still a relatively low priority for SMBs in the UK

APPENDIX

Definitions

Extended methodology

Further reading

Ask the analyst

List of Tables

Table 1: What is most important to you when selecting an IT vendor / partner?

Table 2: Which type of company would you most like to do business with and partner for your managed service requirements?

Table 3: From whom do you currently purchase IT solutions / components?

Table 4: How do you rate each provider in terms of customer service and value?

Table 5: How is your firewall currently managed?

Table 6: Which of these day to day responsibilities would you most like to get rid of?

Table 7: What areas do you perceive as having the most pressing technical requirements for your business today?

Table 8: What IT services might you look to a vendor to provide?

Table 9: Do you have anything in place to mitigate against the following risks?

Table 10: The alternative to maintaining your business critical applications on servers on your premises is to have them managed in a secure data centre. What is stopping you doing this?

Table 11: Could you foresee a time when your IT function is managed in its entirety by an external specialist? If you are unsure what would that depend on?

List of Figures

Figure 1: When selecting an IT vendor the most important factors are the standard of customer service and SLAs

Figure 2: SMBs are least likely to consider a local computer shop for managed services

Figure 3: BT is the most popular vendor for network services, managed server hosting and telephony

Figure 4: SMBs rate their providers as having a better level of customer service than value

Figure 5: Only a small proportion of SMBs choose to outsource the management of their firewalls

Figure 6: Email issues is the responsibility SMBs would most like to pass on to a third party

Figure 7: Security is the most pressing technical requirement

Figure 8: SMBs expect vendors to provide security and Internet connectivity services

Figure 9: Loss of data and power outages are seen as the risks most necessary to mitigate against

Figure 10: 40% of SMBs state cost as the strongest reason preventing them from outsourcing

Figure 11: The majority of SMBs do not imagine that their IT services will ever be fully outsourced