SME spend on ITSM to reach $12bn

MSP Mentor reports.

The data is based on a survey of 2 000 SMEs and 600 channel partners in America, eWeek Europe says.

As a percent of support and maintenance (known as break-fix), US-based SME managed services' spend will increase from 27% in 2011, to 40% in 2015. More than one in five small businesses (companies with one to 99 employees) use some type of managed services, with the greatest use observed among businesses with 50 to 99 employees.

Techaisle's survey also revealed that more than 30% of SMEs do not know who to go to for managed services solutions, according to eWeek. Those using such services subscribe to an average of three managed services solutions.

On the positive side, channels are being more proactive - 54% of SME channels are initiating discussions with their SME customers. Nearly 67% of SME channel partners offer one or more types of managed services, according to the survey. However, only 30% of channels are pure-play managed services providers.

While a majority of them (34%) are offering storage services, very few have their own infrastructure, and rely on their vendor partners or other data centres.