5 challenges SMB networks will face in 2012

[#1]

There are a few industrial parks on the edge of my town that house a large number of small and mid-size businesses.  Recently, I’ve notice a series of “help wanted” signs for a few of the businesses-- something I haven’t seen in a while.  I’ve also noticed that a few store fronts in the downtown area have been leased after sitting empty for a few years.  These signs seemed very positive to me and started me wondering about the mood of small businesses in general.

According to the businesses who participate in the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor, the mood is still mixed. More than one-third of small business owners (38 percent) believe we are still in a recession. Despite that, 48 percent have plans to make capital investments in the next six months; 34 percent plan to make technology purchases.

But what kinds of technology are they likely to purchase? In today’s blog post, I’ll introduce the challenges that SMBs will face in 2012. In the next blog post, I’ll present the technology solutions to these challenges that will help SMBs improve productivity in 2012.

Here are the challenges facing SMBs in 2012:

1.  Mobility: Business is moving at lightning speed and workers want to be able to conduct business wherever they are and at any time of day.

2. Security: Your need for security will increase, particularly as your employees demand mobility in the workplace.

3. Rich media: Your employees will consume more rich media—videos, podcasts and interactive content—during their workday than ever before.

4. Branch office consolidation: Branch offices are struggling with the complicated network infrastructures that have grown over time.

5. Drive out cost and do more with less: This challenge is ever present, and it will remain a challenge throughout 2012.

SMBs want to make smart technology buys. They want to ensure they purchase technologies that not only help them grow the business but also help to improve productivity and help enhance their existing IT.

How can you best meet these challenges head on in the new year?

Here are my predictions for the technology solutions that will help:  5 IT trends for SMBs: Meeting networking challenges in 2012. 

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[#2]

Terry, I fully agree with Security being one of the key challenges faced by SMBs in 2012.  I highlight this in my post on Top 5 reasons why Security best practices are even more vital to SMBs than Large Enterprises.