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In a recent Webcast examining IT spending by different customer segments and looking ahead to 2010, IDC Canada reported shifting patterns in IT buying behaviour by SMBs could change how channel partners market to and service this key segment.

While IT buying patterns aren't changing for all SMBs, there is significant shift underway said Paul Edwards, director of SMB and channels research for IDC Canada. Traditionally, hardware has dominated the SMB spend. Last year, 63 per cent of SMB IT spending was on hardware, compared to 21 per cent on services and 16 per cent on software. Conversely, in the enterprise space, services dominated at 61 per cent of the IT spend, compared to 21 per cent on software and just 18 per cent on hardware.

The differences can be attributed to both the increased complexity of enterprise environments as well as the fact enterprises tend to view IT as more strategic to business operations. Most SMBs, said Edwards, haven't really looked at how IT can improve their business.

“But there's a shift in SMB toward understanding technology's potential business value, and this will have an impact in IT spending and buying behaviours,” said Edwards. “Not every business is interested though, some are still happy just to buy a PC or a smartphone.”

However, IDC Canada's 2010 forecast data does show a shift in SMB buying towards services and software, with splits that more closely resemble the enterprise breakdowns. While Edwards cautions the overall pie won't grow much but just be redirected away from hardware, and some SMBs aren't spending much at all, the shift by those that are spending does have consequences for the solution providers that the SMB segment heavily relies on.

“Many are viewing their next solution engagement as being more strategic to their business, to meet business needs rather than to meet infrastructure needs,” said Edwards. “Many are taking on attitudes and actions towards IT we traditionally see from larger companies.”

For 2010, those SMBs that will be spending are focusing on software, with customer service, project management and sales automation leading the priority list. Some 21 per cent of SMBs are also looking at software as a service (SaaS), a sign, Edwards said, that SMBs are beginning to see the value of addressing business needs with technology, and without incurring capital costs.