Approximately 10 per cent of SMB workforce now mobile 21 October, 2007 By Chris Talbot

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According to the survey, almost three out of four SMBs have at least one employee telecommuting and on average, seven per cent of their workforce works from home on one or more days of the week. Ninety per cent of SMBs surveyed also reported having one or more employees travelling on business at least one day per week.

"I think too often when we say 'small business,' we think of a mom-and-pop operation that's just selling in the neighborhood," said Steven Ostrowski, corporate public relations manager for CompTIA. "More and more, it's just not that way anymore. They're competing regionally, nationally and globally." In a lot of ways, it's the technology that allows them to do so, he added.

While having a phone system and a couple of PCs used to be good enough for many small businesses, that's no longer the case, which creates opportunities for resellers, "because they're used to selling these types of systems to their biggest customers, and so it makes sense that they can scale it down for a smaller organization and take advantage of that opportunity, as well," Ostrowski said.

The survey of 518 North American SMBs also found that 44 per cent of respondents said they have plans to invest in smart phones over the next 12 months. Thirty-two per cent said they plan to make an investment in VPNs over the next 12 months. The reason for the interest in smart phones and VPN technology is because of the perception of high business value and benefits, the report stated.

However, many SMBs don't have the infrastructure to really support mobility right now. "They clearly understand that if they're going to go this route, they don't necessarily have the infrastructure today they'll need to support that," Ostrowski said.

While more than four out of five SMBs are "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their current IT and communications systems when it comes to giving a boost to efficiency in managing day-to-day affairs, 70 per cent said deploying convergence technologies would allow for more effective internal and external communications, which they see as having high strategic importance.

Ostrowski said they're willing to make the necessary investments. "They are looking for solutions that will help them do business better. I think, historically, we've thought of small businesses as being laggards when it comes to adopting new technology," Ostrowski said. "That's no longer the case. The gap between the early adopters and the late adopters is decreasing." In fact, one in three SMBs surveyed said they considered themselves to be early adopters of technology, he said.