Understanding UK SMBs' Procurement Strategies and Outsourcing Preferences (Customer Focus)

Content

• Datamonitor View
• Catalyst
• Summary
• Methodology
• Analysis
• Introduction
  • Smbs Show Traditional Attitudes to Selecting IT Vendors
  • Standard of customer service is the most important factor when selecting an IT vendor
  • Smbs Are More Likely to Trust A National Telecoms Provider or A National Isp for Managed Services
  • Many different vendors are supplying the UK SMB market
  • Smbs Are Generally Happy with Their Service Providers
  • A relatively low proportion of SMBs currently oursource their IT services
  • A quarter of SMBs outsource their business applications
  • The majority of SMBs manage their firewalls in house
  • Security is a key consideration in IT outsourcing decisions
  • The area that is most outsourced is security updates and patching
  • The most pressing technical requirement for SMBs is security
  • Smbs Look to Vendors to Provide Security and Internet Connectivity
  • The majority of SMBs have some form of risk mitigation in place
  • The main reasons preventing SMBs from outsourcing are cost and loss of control
  • Cost and loss of control are the main reasons preventing SMBs from outsourcing the management of critical applications
  • A small proportion of SMBs can foresee a time when their IT function is fully managed externally
• Summary: Outsourcing Is Still A Relatively Low Priority for Smbs in The UK
• Appendix
• Definitions
• Extended methodology
• Further reading
• Ask the analyst
• List of Tables
  • Table 1: What is most important to you when selecting an IT vendor / partner?
  • Table 2: Which type of company would you most like to do business with and partner for your managed service requirements?
  • Table 3: from whom do you currently purchase IT solutions / components?
  • Table 4: How do you rate each provider in terms of customer service and value?
  • Table 5: How is your firewall currently managed?
  • Table 6: Which of these day to day responsibilities would you most like to get rid of?
  • Table 7: What areas do you perceive as having the most pressing technical requirements for your business today?
  • Table 8: What IT services might you look to a vendor to provide?
  • Table 9: Do you have anything in place to mitigate against the following risks?
  • Table 10: The alternative to maintaining your business critical applications on servers on your premises is to have them managed in a secure data centre. What is stopping you doing this?
  • Table 11: Could you foresee a time when your IT function is managed in its entirety by an external specialist? If you are unsure what would that depend on?
• List of Figures
  • Figure 1: When selecting an IT vendor the most important factors are the standard of customer service and SLAs
  • Figure 2: SMBs are least likely to consider a local computer shop for managed services
  • Figure 3: BT is the most popular vendor for network services, managed server hosting and telephony
  • Figure 4: SMBs rate their providers as having a better level of customer service than value
  • Figure 5: Only a small proportion of SMBs choose to outsource the management of their firewalls
  • Figure 6: Email issues is the responsibility SMBs would most like to pass on to a third party
  • Figure 7: Security is the most pressing technical requirement
  • Figure 8: SMBs expect vendors to provide security and Internet connectivity services
  • Figure 9: Loss of data and power outages are seen as the risks most necessary to mitigate against
  • Figure 10: 40% of SMBs state cost as the strongest reason preventing them from outsourcing
  • Figure 11: The majority of SMBs do not imagine that their IT services will ever be fully outsourced