Cloud Adoption Triggering Fundamental Changes in Mid-Market and SMB

BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Released today were the preliminary findings of a December survey of 1,000 North American mid-market and small businesses and their adoption of cloud-based information technologies.  The research was performed by MarketBridge, a leading provider of technology-enabled Marketing & Sales Managed Services and Solutions.

Among the initial findings are:

• Migration to the "Cloud" is Accelerating: 44% of companies claim to have at least one business application on the cloud and over 70% indicate they will move more within the next 12 months
• Mobility Drives Cloud Migration: 38% of respondents indicated that the need to support greater workforce mobility is a trigger for cloud adoption
• Early Adopters are Growth Companies: Companies growing >10% per year were nearly twice as likely to move software and infrastructure to the cloud
• Marketing, Sales Most Accepted Cloud Applications: While 36% of companies using marketing automation do so via the cloud, and 29% of CRM is cloud-deployed, >49% of companies are planning to move one or more of these applications to the cloud within 12 months
• Private Cloud Networks Preferred: 52% of respondents preferred to deploy on some sort of "private cloud" as oppose to multi-tenant public clouds
• Better Security Becoming a Cloud Asset: 48% of respondents believed that data security would actually be better on the cloud, recognizing the investment and expertise needed to establish and maintain secure computing environments
• 3rd Party Channels Remain Critical: 67% of respondents preferred to purchase software applications through a 3rd party value-added managed service provider; this appears to be due to a need for both higher service levels and functional expertise

"Adoption of cloud-based information technology by mid-market and SMB companies – particularly in customer facing business processes such as Marketing, Sales, and Customer Intelligence – is being accepted more rapidly than many industry analysts originally predicted," according to Tim Furey, founder of MarketBridge. "While the practicality and challenges of cloud migration may slow down C-level executives' aggressive expectations, there is no doubt that the shift will happen rapidly over the next 2-3 years."  Adds Furey, "The CEO and other senior executives outside of IT are more involved in these decisions than ever, and their level of cloud technology understanding is surprisingly high."  

In parallel with its "Customer Cloud Adoption" research, MarketBridge is also completing research on "Channel Cloud Adoption" to understand how traditional resellers of on-premise software and hardware are adapting to the rapid migration to off-premise and shared IT infrastructure.

The complete "Customer Cloud Adoption" findings will be available later this month.  For more information, or to schedule an interview with Tim Furey, please contact Andy Swick, Director of Marketing at (240) 752-1882.

About MarketBridge

MarketBridge (www.market-bridge.com) is a leading global provider of technology-enabled sales and marketing solutions and services for Fortune 1000 and emerging growth companies. The firm offers a deep set of services in four areas: Market & Customer Insight, Marketing & Demand Generation, Sales Channel Management, and Decision Support Systems. Over the past 10 years, we have completed over 1,000 separate engagements for 18 of the world's top 50 brands and many emerging companies. We work closely with CEOs and their senior Marketing and Sales leaders to solve their toughest business challenges and create scalable, sustainable competitive advantage.

SOURCE MarketBridge