Growing burdens on IT teams and cutting costs rank among the most pressing issues facing SMBs today, according to GoTo’s annual report on the IT world’s challenges and trends.
The majority of the 1,000 SMB respondents said that consolidating their collaboration and IT support skills is a key challenge this year. Just under half (41 percent) are looking to change providers to reduce costs in a challenging financial environment.
“As economic uncertainty, scrutinized budgets, and overburdened resources continue to be the norm, IT decision-makers are faced with determining the right set of goals and objectives to maximize their investment, grow their business, and streamline their processes,” GoTo said of their 2023 IT Priorities and Trends report.
“The survey uncovered four main business objectives to ensure their organization’s success and support for their employees and customers. These top objectives include growing revenue, improving operational efficiencies, reducing costs, and increasing customer satisfaction.”
The report also found that businesses are more conscious of a greater burden on their IT teams and services. Almost two-thirds of organisations are experiencing an increase in the IT workload, while half said reducing the burden on IT teams was an important factor when choosing new software – up from around one-third in the same report last year.
Where are people working?
Hybrid solutions remained the preferred way to work for half of the small and medium business decision-makers. However, the number of on-site workers almost doubled from the 2022 findings, jumping from 19 percent to 36 percent.
Flexible working arrangements also continued to grow in popularity, with a 10 percent decrease in the number of businesses with policies on the number of in-office days.
Other 2023 trends suggested by GoTo’s report included more businesses planning to invest in CX technologies, with 63 percent of respondents stating their intention to spend more in the area than they did in 2022.
Partners also appeared to feature more prominently in decision-making than they did in 2022. 44 percent of businesses were choosing a partner rather than approaching the solution provider directly for new UC tools (27 percent), an increase of 45 percent from last year.
The report was commissioned by GoTo and conducted by the consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan, polling 1000 decision-makers at small and medium businesses (1000 employees or fewer) about the challenges and priorities facing their businesses today.
