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2005 Prognosis: Six Technology Trends to Have Major Impact on SMBs

00:00:00 - 05 October 2004

Six trends will play an important role as small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) adopt new technologies to stay competitive with larger corporations, stated the Information Technology Solution Providers Alliance (ITSPA), a national, non-profit alliance that helps SMBs understand how technology and local technology providers can help them succeed.

ITSPA (www.itspa.net), the Information Technology Solution Providers Alliance, is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping small and medium companies adopt technology and grow by using local solution providers to solve business problems.

ITSPA's advisory board, made up of top executives from the nation's most respected and well-known solution providers, made the following predictions about the trends that will affect SMBs in 2005:

IP Telephony (VoIP)
VoIP, or the transmission of telephone calls over the Internet, can save SMBs money over time. While the technology is costly to implement, businesses will save money as costly long distance calls and conference calls can be made online and as phone plans are no longer needed.

Mobility and wireless networking
Growing worker mobility and less-expensive and lighter hardware have increased the demand for wireless networking (Wi-Fi.)

RFID (radio frequency identification)
RFID, also known as "smart tags," will be used more in the United States in the coming year. According to IDC, a market research company in Framingham, Massachusetts, growth in the RFID marketplace "is expected to grow from $91.5 million to $1.3 billion in 2008." The technology, which Wal-Mart is helping make more common in the U.S., will be used more frequently as an alternative to barcodes.  SMBs in certain industries will need to consider adopting RFID as the technology becomes more prevalent in the U.S.

Security
Security continues to be an issue for all businesses, and will continue to be a concern as SMBs move to wireless technology. Companies must find ways to protect electronic data as they adopt emerging technologies, defending against worms, viruses and hackers, while complying with government regulations. 

Utility computing
Utility computing - i.e., paying as you go for computing services--is an appealing model for SMBs and will grow in popularity in the coming year. SMBs can save money by paying for applications and hardware on an as-needed basis.

Servers
Servers perform a number of vital tasks for SMBs such as hosting Web pages and email service as well as storing valuable/confidential information. "Blade" servers, which use less energy and are made of small shoe-box sized components that are easy to add and remove, are also being adopted by SMBs in specific vertical industries.

According to Joel Plaut, a member of ITSPA's advisory board and chief information officer for Lipman USA, Inc., "Digital security remains a prime area where SMBs need to be proactive and vigilant. Firms need to weigh proactive security measures and insurance costs against the risk of system downtime and exposure of proprietary information."

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