Smaller IT hassles add up to bigger problems

29/08/2007

Everyday IT problems are the cause of the biggest headaches for owners of small and medium-sized businesses, according to new research.

IT support company Connect polled IT managers and directors to find that of all technological problems, the day-to-day IT hassles proved the most difficult for 37% of smaller firms.

This was followed by the issue of IT security, which is the biggest worry for 32% of firms. However, the research found that the majority of businesses identifying security as a major problem were those with fewer than 50 employees. Of these firms, 35% said security was one of their top two headaches, as opposed to just 27% of businesses with between 50 and 250 employees.

Mark MacGregor, chief executive of Connect, commented:

“Much of the IT debate currently revolves around what we’d call ‘big ticket’ items - concepts like mobile working, Web 2.0 or open source software dominate the news agenda for IT.

“While we’re certainly not dismissing those concepts, the reality is that for the entrepreneurs and owner-managers that drive much of the innovation and growth in our economy, the issues are really much simpler. They just want robust, cost-effective IT systems that actually work.”

Additionally, 30% of firms cited lack of IT understanding by staff as one of their two biggest IT headaches – but only 20% of firms with fewer than 50 employees perceived this to be a problem, compared to 42% for companies with 51-250 employees.