The importance of wireless technologies for the mobility and productivity of small businesses should in no way be underestimated. That is confirmed by a poll of small businesses just released from AT&T.
Some key findings from the “AT&T Small Business Technology Poll” released on March 16 regarding small business mobility and productivity are:
• 65% of businesses plan on spending more or about the same on technology overall in 2010 as they spent in 2009, with 25% saying they will spend less. In 2009, 37% spent less on technology.
• 57% of business owners surveyed indicated that they use technology strategically.
• 65% of businesses said they could not survive, or that it would be a major challenge to survive, without wireless technology. That compares to only 42% in 2007. Looking ahead, 74% of small businesses expected to depend more on wireless technologies two years from now.
• Along these same lines, 65% of businesses agreed that wireless technology is critical to their competitiveness – up from 32% in 2007.
• As for the use of smartphones, 81% of small businesses use instruments like the iPhone, Blackberry or Treo. Of those, 91% use them for conversations, 78% to check e-mail, 53% to view data, 43% for Web surfing, and 18% to check or update social media sites.
• 79% of small businesses use Wi-Fi hotspots to conduct business-related activities, with 68% saying they use Wi-Fi hotspots more now to access data than two years ago. As for various uses, 88% use Wi-Fi hotspots to check e-mail, 57% to surf the Web, 26% to conduct online banking and financial transactions, 26% to manage business processes, and 18% to check or update social media sites.
• As for laptop data cards, 71% of small businesses use them for business-related activities, with 60% saying they access data through a wireless network more now than two years ago. As for uses, 85% use them to check e-mail, 57% to surf the Web, 34% to manage business processes, 29% for banking/financial transactions, and 17% for social media sites.
• Younger firms are more reliant on wireless technologies, with 53% of businesses less than two years old relying much more on wireless versus only 38% of businesses older than 10 years doing so. For good measure, 79% of firms less than two years old say they could not survive, or survival would be a major challenge, without wireless technologies, as opposed to 58% of firms older than 10 years saying so. In addition, 49% of small businesses less than two years old strongly agreed that wireless technologies provide a competitive edge, versus 28% of those in business for more than 10 years agreeing.
Investment and innovation in wireless technology have proven to be major positives for the mobility, productivity, competitive edge, survival and growth of small businesses. And that promises to be increasingly the case with each passing month and year.
Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
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