- Small Businesses Continue to be Under-Penetrated -
NEW YORK--Both ERP and CRM are increasingly becoming mainstream applications for U.S. medium businesses (MBs), according to AMI-Partners’ 2006-2007 U.S. Small and Medium Business Applications & Solutions Market Overview. Over one third of respondent MBs are currently using ERP/SCM solutions, and just over one quarter are planning to deploy these solutions in the next 12 months. Similarly, almost 40 percent of MBs use CRM solutions today, and almost one quarter plan to adopt CRM in the next 12 months.
“This data indicates that U.S. MBs have made the connection between streamlining and automating business processes, and maximizing productivity and value in the market,” says Sau Lam, New York-based Research Analyst at AMI-Partners. “MBs also recognize the value of integrated suites: 75 percent of those surveyed use an accounting/financials module that is part of a larger solution suite.” Survey results reveal that manufacturing, wholesale and professional services MBs are leading the ERP wave, spending significantly more on these solutions than counterparts in other sectors. In the CRM arena, the professional services industry outstrips other sectors in adoption and spending.
However, U.S. small businesses are more likely to take a wait-and-see attitude, especially when it comes to ERP/SCM. Although almost three quarters of SMBs use business accounting software, just 12% of SBs currently use and 11% plan to use ERP/SCM solutions in the next 12 months. CRM adoption is low as well, with one out of six SBs currently using and the same percentage planning to use CRM solutions in the next 12 months.
Both markets are highly diverse in terms of the types of solutions they use. Although SMB incumbents such as Intuit, Microsoft and Sage are strongly represented in both the ERP and CRM areas, homegrown, industry-specific and a long list of other solutions make these markets extremely crowded and competitive.
Meanwhile, although overall SMB adoption of hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) remains relatively modest, SaaS is becoming a well accepted alternative in several specific solution areas, such as virus protection, payroll, e-mail/messaging, web conferencing, website content management, HR and CRM.
About the Studies
Based on AMI’s 2006-2007 U.S. Small and Medium Business end-user surveys, the 2006-2007 U.S. Small and Medium Business Applications & Solutions Market Overview, authored by Sau Lam, Industry Analyst, and Laurie McCabe, VP, SMB Insights and Solutions, details these and other major trends and spending forecasts across accounting, CRM and ERP/SCM business solution areas, as well for related areas, including Internet solutions, and IT and business process outsourcing services. The report also examines key related data, such as SMB demographics and attitudes, and trends in channels and purchasing behaviors. Findings are presented granularly, with data broken out by employee size (1-4, 5-9, 10-19, 20-49, 50-99, 100-249, 250-499, and 500-999), and by vertical industries (AMTUC, Manufacturing, Wholesale, Retail, FIRE, Professional Business Services and Other Services). The report also highlights key industry dynamics affecting the competitive landscape. Vendors highlighted in the report include Intuit, Sage, Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce.com, NetSuite, IBM, Google, ADP, Intacct, and others.
For more information about this study, AMI-Partners, or our global SMB research, please call AMI-Partners at 212-944-5100, e-mail
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About Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.
AMI-Partners specializes in IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence — focusing on global small and medium business (SMB) enterprises. The AMI-Partners mission is to empower clients for success with the highest quality data, business planning and “go-to-market” solutions. AMI was founded in 1996 under the name of Access Media International (USA), Inc. by Andy Bose, formerly group vice president at IDC. Since its inception, the firm has built a world-class management team, each with ten to fifteen years’ experience in IT, telecom, online communications or multimedia.
AMI-Partners has helped shape the go-to-market SMB strategies of more than 150 leading IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services companies over the last ten years. The firm is well known for its IT and Internet adoption-based segmentation of the SMB markets; its annual retainership services based on global SMB tracking surveys in more than 20 countries; and its proprietary database of SMBs and SMB channel partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm invests significantly in collecting survey-based information from several thousand SMBs annually, and is considered the premier source for global SMB trends and analysis.
