What We Are Learning About Small and Medium Enterprises – They Spark Growth

We recently got together with IDG Research to take a look at how small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), companies with 1-500 employees, are fueling the economy both here in the US and in Europe. We wanted to understand more broadly how they are growing and what types of technology they are using to drive business. We shared our findings at Progress Exchange 2013, but wanted to recap for those of you who may have missed the session.

Here's what we found:

• SMEs are increasingly customer-focused and are using cloud-based services and applications to adjust quickly to customer needs, expand into new markets and speed time to market. While cost is still important to them – building a better customer experience is paramount.
• They are dealing with a number of existing challenges, including data complexity and IT skills shortages.
• Mobile functionality is the number one priority for SMEs in Germany and the US in terms of business app development, and these countries face the greatest challenges when it comes to IT skills shortage.
• SMEs in the US are more concerned with app integration than those in any of the other countries we surveyed. They are also significantly more concerned with data complexity.

Want to learn more about the challenges, focuses, and concerns of SMEs in the US and Europe? Read our presentation here.