Mobility Buying Behavior: SMB Spending Looks Strong

Small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) across the board are spending more than a quarter of their telecom budgets on mobile services. These companies rate mobility as a top telecom technology-related priority for the year, with implementing a unified communications (UC) solution as a close second. With less than 30% of SMBs using cellular data and Wi-Fi hotspot networks, the SMB market holds opportunities for vendors, carriers, and multiservice operators (MSOs). To drive the next wave of mobility, tech marketers at telcos and cablecos must push more bundles with mobile data, link mobility with UC sales, and build solutions that help SMBs adopt line-of-business apps on mobile devices. Leading vendors will attract more customers by expanding the marketing engine with wikis, blogs, better Web sites, and upgraded service centers.