One in three Brazilian SMEs has already started the process of adopting cloud services

Study predicts rapid growth of cloud and mobility technologies

 
According to Fabio de Paula, Intel director for the corporate market, in times of economic turmoil, such as the one we are currently experiencing, investment in technology services that make the operation more efficient and agile in the short and medium term is essential to keep the company competitive. A strong indicator of this is that the price factor as the main criterion when purchasing IT services fell by 18%, according to the study.
 
This view is also shared by the decision makers interviewed: 48% of medium-sized companies and 30% of small companies consider investment in technology for cost reduction and greater efficiency as a priority over the next 12 months. These numbers surpass those that prioritize cost cutting (23% reported by small companies and 27% by medium companies) or closing operations and work units (12% by medium companies and 16% by small companies), for example. Regarding those that have already adopted technology services, when asked why, 49% of small companies and 62% of medium companies responded that the savings in operating costs is one of the factors that are leading SMEs to seek new technologies.
 
Cloud and mobility are priorities
           
The survey also recorded that the adoption of Cloud Computing and Mobility solutions should grow from 3 to 7 times faster than traditional, on-premise solutions. Investment areas in this scenario include DaaS (Data as a Service), IaaS (security, storage and servers), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS applications (Software as a Service). Respondents' preferences for these models range from 10% to 35%, while on-premise solutions do not exceed 10%.
 
The profiles of solutions sought vary according to the size and focus of the companies. The research identified that the main needs of medium-sized companies are server virtualization, security and data prevention. Small businesses, on the other hand, demand higher connection speeds, social media marketing and communication solutions.
 
“Our estimate is that the market for Cloud solutions for small and medium-sized companies in 2016 in Brazil will reach U$ 6.6 billion, as there is still a lot of ground to be conquered”, said Fabio de Paula. “Comparing to the US and Canada, where around 30 to 40% of SMEs have not yet started a transition process to the cloud, in Brazil, this number is still close to the 70% in the country. Only 3% of national SMEs have been fully transformed by the cloud, while in the US this number is 14%. ”
 
Other conclusions
 
Security concerns when adopting cloud solutions were also addressed in the survey. Asked about their preference for private or public cloud services, medium-sized companies cite security as a factor in choosing the private cloud (36%), while most small companies (36%) have no preference. In general, medium-sized companies are more resistant than small ones in migrating to public cloud services, precisely because of a greater concern with information security issues. “There is still work to be done by the industry to dispel myths and insecurities regarding public cloud security within the midsize market. For these companies, the hybrid cloud model has proved to be a more interesting solution”, commented Fábio de Paula.
 
The security solutions most used by companies today are web filter services (13% in small companies and 25% in medium companies) and anti-spam services (13% and 29% respectively). When asked which security services they intend to adopt in the next 12 months, the preference of small companies is for unified threat management (UTM in English) with 19%, while 25% of medium companies intend to adopt VPN services.
 
Regarding applications aimed at business administration, document management solutions are the most used in both small and medium-sized companies (23%). Mediums are also already adopting business intelligence (23%) and CRM (17%) solutions. As for future adoptions, 28% of the small ones aim to acquire solutions specifically focused on their area of operation, while 21% of the medium ones see CRM services as the next step.
 
When asked about the adoption of communication and collaboration software, 59% of small businesses use applications for social media management and digital marketing. Among medium-sized companies, the number is even higher, reaching 71%. In the next 12 months, 30% of small companies intend to adopt shared document editing services, while 40% of medium companies intend to use VoIP servers. 
 
The 2016 Brazil Small & Medium Business: ICT & Cloud Services Tracker Overview survey, carried out in the first half of 2016, interviewed 251 decision makers in small and medium-sized companies operating in sectors such as agribusiness, finance, manufacturing, services, retail, education, health, tourism and entertainment. The survey did not consider NGOs and government agencies or companies that do not have a business address (home office/home business). The margin of error is 5%.