State of SME IT spending revealed

network for IT, released the results of its biannual “State of SME IT” survey of technology purchasing and adoption trends among small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs), Yahoo Finance reports.

According to the survey results, SMEs are continuing to expand IT budgets, which now average $152 000 per year. The research also finds that SMEs across the board are increasingly adopting tablets, cloud services and virtualisation, but they are divided on support for the bring your own device (BYOD) trend.

Twice a year, the Spiceworks State of SME IT survey investigates the latest technology purchasing, usage and staffing trends among companies with less than 1 000 employees, Information Week writes.

This survey of 1 498 IT professionals in 100 countries was conducted during the first quarter of 2012 via the Spiceworks Voice of IT market insights programme. The majority (62%) of IT pros surveyed are from companies with 20 to 249 employees.

Perhaps more intriguing than the budget numbers is the chance to see what other SME IT pros are up to these days. Virtualisation, in all its forms, has clearly shed its "hot trend" clothes in favour of mainstream attire.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported some form of virtualisation already in place; that figure will hit 77% by the end of the year. Spiceworks' executive director of vendor marketing, Adam Weinroth, notes that while the adoption rate is naturally slowing as it approaches saturation, virtualisation is becoming more critical to more parts of the business.