Survey: Small Firms Less Than Satisfied With SPs

Nonetheless, 39 percent of the businesses surveyed by Clutch said they plan to spend more on IT services in 2016, with most of that group forecasting a jump of 11 to 30 percent. On the other side, just 10 percent of the companies plan to decrease spending. (Among the rest, 48 percent say spending will be flat compared with 2015 while 2 percent are not certain what they’ll spend this year.)

"This [increased spending] trend has been visible in the last 12-24 months. Businesses are realizing the benefit of technology investment in terms of enhanced capability, efficiency and productivity,” Susie Cummings, vice president of managed services and infrastructure solutions at SWC Technology Partners, based in Oak Brook, Ill.  – No. 456 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 list – said in the Clutch statement. As their infrastructures age, she added, “software becomes outdated, or new threats are introduced, they are looking to new solutions. This continues to drive demand."

In a separate interview with IT Best of Breed, Cummings said that with many of SWC’s customers, there’s “so much dependency on IT” that the clients’ IT organizations find it tough to recommend a solution and seek a services provider with better knowledge to help them.