The State Of SMB Software And Services 2006: European SMBs

Small and medium-size business (SMB) software spending in Europe for 2007 looks solid, with 27% of software budgets being allocated to new investments. Software spending over the past 12 months has been driven by security issues and the need to upgrade existing applications. Sixty-one percent of firms identified the need to upgrade outdated software as their most critical major software initiative, while 23% identified an upgrade of their security environment. Sixty-four percent have plans to purchase security software. Application software purchase preferences varied widely by firm size. Fifty-five percent of small businesses were concerned with buying finance and accounting software, whereas the same percentage of medium-sized businesses was seeking to purchase messaging, email, and collaboration software. Adoption of technology such as software-as-a-service or open source remains slow, as does the use of third parties for software or consulting services.