March 16, 2010

AT&T Survey: Wireless Crucial to Small Businesses

Wireless technologies are becoming increasingly crucial to survival for today’s small businesses, according to the AT&T Small Business Technology Poll, a national survey recently conducted by AT&T.
 
Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of small businesses surveyed said they could not survive - or it would be a major challenge to survive - without wireless technology. This is up from a similar 2007 AT&T survey in which 42 percent of small businesses said they would have difficulty surviving without wireless technologies.

Despite the economic recession, very few small businesses have cut back on their use of wireless technology. Even businesses that reduced or maintained their overall technology budget from 2008 - nearly 80 percent of small businesses surveyed - have not cut back on their use of wireless technologies and expect to rely more on wireless technology over the next two years.

The AT&T survey further found that small businesses appear to be cautiously responding to a turnaround in the economy. About 65 percent of businesses plan on spending more or about the same on technology overall, including wireless solutions, in 2010 as they did in 2009.

The results are based on an online survey of 2,023 small business owners and/or employees responsible for Information Technology (IT). Small businesses were defined as having between 2 and 50 employees. The online survey was fielded from November 18-23, 2009.