The “2018 State of IT Operations for SMBs” study consisting of nearly 1300 global respondents also found that security continues to be the highest IT priority within an organisation as over half (54%) cited it as their main concern in 2018. This is a 14% increase from the research conducted in 2017 with the figure set to rise. Nearly 60% anticipate security to be their primary concern in 2019.
Compliance was also an issue that SMBs are still grappling with, as only 11% of firms were adhering to GDPR regulation at the time that the survey was concluded, in April this year.
“Technology today has leveled the playing field between SMBs and their enterprise counterparts to the point that the size of an organisation has lost much of its previous importance. Smaller IT organisations now have the capabilities to better compete with larger companies, but with that comes the realisation these organisations have the same challenges the enterprises face,” said Mike Puglia, chief strategy officer, Kaseya.
In addition to these findings, there was also a key focus on the importance of backup capabilities with 86% of businesses revealing they have experienced at least one IT network outage lasting longer than five minutes over the past year. Nearly half (45%) of the sample reported two to four outages lasting longer than five minutes in the same timeframe, emphasising the need for reliable backup processes in place.
The research also delved into the rise of SaaS adoption, with Microsoft Office 365 leading the way as the most deployed solution among nearly three quarters of respondents (72%) while Dropbox was the next most popular receiving a 29% share.
“This research serves as a key indicator for us on the most important technology priorities that affect the midmarket enterprise. Our customers can attest that not only do we learn from this data, but we execute against it. We continuously develop our IT Complete suite of products with these exact needs in mind so our customers are equipped with the technologies they need to succeed,” Puglia added.