The State Of SMB IT Budgets: 2009

This document provides SMB highlights of an extensive data set collected via Forrester's Enterprise And SMB Global IT Budgets And Spending Survey, Q2 2009. Overall, the global recession has made CIOs and IT decision-makers cut back their IT budgets, with North American and European small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) expected to decrease 2009 IT operating budgets by 4% and IT capital budgets by 2% to 3%. IT staff headcount and compensation are likely to stay the same, although cuts will occur in less than one-third of SMBs. Improving IT efficiency and streamlining business processes are top priorities. More SMBs are now tracking their energy costs and expecting to lower those costs. Hardware spending will face more cuts than software, but where there is spending, it is led by security in software and by server and networking equipment in hardware categories. IT services and outsourcing was mixed, with almost as many planning to use a consultant or systems integration firm for business process improvements as those planning to reduce consulting and systems integration spending.