Techaisle Blog

The 2023 worldwide SMB, Core Midmarket, and Upper Midmarket IT Security spend will likely be US$84 billion. Additionally, 38% of SMBs and 35% of upper midmarket firms will likely purchase IT security solutions from managed services providers (MSPs). In today’s SMB market, it is critical for vendors to build a detailed understanding of the small, core midmarket, and upper-midmarket segments and to align resources and strategies with requirements as these businesses move from initial experimentation with sophisticated solutions toward mass-market adoption. In the latest research, Techaisle analyzed 2035 survey responses to provide the insight needed to build and execute on security strategies for the small and midmarket customer segments. We find there are six key trends:

Beyond the six key trends, research finds:

• A high proportion of SMBs and upper midmarket firms report that they experienced security breaches last year. However, despite this high exposure rate, most SMBs believe they are either “fully prepared and confident” or “as prepared as they can be” for security issues.

• Small and midmarket firms recognize that the cloud increases the potential for security breaches but are confident – overly so, in Techaisle’s view – in their ability to cope with this expanded risk profile. As a result, most SMBs rely on core security practices and technologies to address cloud-specific threats and are underinvested in cloud security solutions.

• Security solutions currently in use can be divided into four categories: protection of the mobile environment, protection of data entering the corporate environment, traffic inspection and management, and protection of data being used within the corporate environment.

• Security-as-a-Service suppliers have had the most success thus far with data center/server, network, and endpoint security offerings.

• BDMs play an active role in setting security policies, but technical buyers are most likely to acquire security solutions. These technical buyers focus primarily on solution reliability; more junior security professionals focus on support, and senior IT management looks at price/performance.

• Marketing messages aimed at security buyers should be incorporated within preferred source containers (e.g., whitepapers, case studies, blog posts, etc.) and distributed through preferred channels (e.g., vendor websites, search) aligned with different stages of the security decision process. For example, data shows that some source types, including product trials/demo videos and case studies, are essential in identifying and selecting security vendors.

A recent report into the technology purchasing habits of SMBs in the Asia Pacific has revealed that a significant number of businesses are operating with dated PCs and operating systems – which has the potential to damage both productivity and profits.

The Asia SMB Tech Insights Report, conducted in September 2019 by Microsoft and Techaisle, was produced following a survey of 2,000 IT and business decision makers across the Asia Pacific region. The study specifically covered small and mid-size businesses only (up to 499 PCs).

Get the key insights by downloading the summary report for your region:

• Asia region
• Australia
• India
• Japan
• New Zealand
• South Korea
• Thailand

 Key findings from the report include:

• Over 1/3 of SMBs are using old PCs (4+ years old) and old Windows operating systems
• Over half of SMBs have no PC refresh policy (or aren’t following it)
• Using old PCs can cost a business up to US$2,657 per year
• 82% of SMBs agree that new PCs can make employees more productive, and 87% agree that new PCs reduce maintenance costs
• More than 50% of all SMBs in the region experienced security breaches in the past 12 months, and operating with older versions of Windows increases vulnerability

Techaisle’s US SMB & Midmarket IT Security Adoption survey finds a mismatch between business confidence in mobility security and actual exposure to threats and mitigation actions and investments. Figure below illustrates respondent perceptions of current mobile security preparedness. In the US, roughly 20% of both small and midsized businesses report that they are “fully prepared and confident” with respect to mobile security, and more than twice as many state that they are “as prepared as can be,” while acknowledging that “requirements will change” in the future. Altogether, nearly two-thirds of small businesses and three-quarters of midmarket firms categorize themselves as being in one of these categories, with only 5% of small businesses and 2% of midmarket respondents reporting that they are “not very well prepared.”

Techaisle’s survey of over 1,100 US SMBs, covered in US SMB & Midmarket Cloud Security solutions adoption trends report, shows that 41% of SMBs recognize that cloud poses a risk to their data. It resonates most with small businesses (1-99 employees) and is one of the top three issues identified by midmarket (100-999) respondents. However, to a large degree, these firms also believe that they are prepared to address cloud security issues. 46% of midmarket firms report that they are in better shape than their peers.

Survey data also shows that 72% of 1-9 employee microbusinesses, and 62% of small businesses overall, have not layered any security products on top of their cloud environments. They are entirely dependent on the security features embedded in their cloud environments. Even within the more sophisticated midmarket (100-999 employees) segment, the survey finds that only 20% of firms are currently using discrete products/services to secure their cloud environments, a finding that is ameliorated somewhat by the 70% of midmarket firms that are currently implementing these solutions.