{"id":12417,"date":"2015-02-05T00:57:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T00:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cloudcomputing-news.net\/news\/2015\/feb\/05\/new-report-assesses-importance-cloud-services-smbs-marketing-and-collaboration\/"},"modified":"2015-02-05T00:57:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T00:57:42","slug":"new-report-assesses-the-importance-of-cloud-services-to-smbs-for-marketing-and-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/new-report-assesses-the-importance-of-cloud-services-to-smbs-for-marketing-and-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"New report assesses the importance of cloud services to SMBs for marketing and collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>(c)iStock.com\/pixelfit<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A report published by BCSG has revealed how awareness and uptake of cloud services in small to medium businesses (SMBs) is on the rise.<\/p>\n<p>The survey, of 600 European participants across all stages of small business, from micro businesses to pre-startups, found 64% of SMBs are already using cloud-based software, while the average number of applications in use is three.<\/p>\n<p>78% of respondents say they are considering purchasing new solutions in the next two to three years &ndash; potentially the average number of cloud software applications in use will be 7, with 88% consuming at least one service.<\/p>\n<p>The report assesses eight primary areas which will see a significant uptake of cloud services, from marketing and financial management to managing customers and legislation. 35% of users are currently using cloud apps to manage marketing duties, with a further third expecting to adopt cloud software for marketing within the next three years. As businesses go through the lifecycle, uptake in cloud services increases.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of collaboration, 25% of firms surveyed said they were currently using cloud apps, while 36% expect to see uptake in the next three years. Again, this figure rises the further a business gets into making profit.<\/p>\n<p>For small businesses ensuring they keep their heads about water, it comes at a cost. Two thirds (66%) of those surveyed say they put more than 40 hours a week in at work. 56% polled cited a lack of customers as a primary issue, compared to lack of money (46%), lack of time (36%) and lack of support (28%).<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Getting a business off the ground means hard work, difficult decisions and learning on the job,&rdquo; commented John Davis, BCSG managing director. &ldquo;Access to much-needed expertise and support can be hard to find. However, cloud-based services are increasingly providing a viable solution.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Do you agree with these survey results?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(c)iStock.com\/pixelfit<br \/>\nA report published by BCSG has revealed how awareness and uptake of cloud services in small to medium businesses (SMBs) is on the rise.<br \/>\nThe survey, of 600 European participants across all stages of small business, from micro busi&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}