IT-loving firms more resilient to recession

IT-friendly SMEs fared better in the recession than firms that dismissed IT, according to the UK’s largest study of the impact of the recession on small and medium enterprises.

The survey of 7,200 UK SME decision makers by Vanson Bourne for BT found that companies with a positive attitude to using technology had a better than average experience of the recession than those who didn’t, by 69% to 34%.

Mick Hegarty, head of BT Business, which published the results this morning as part of its sponsorship of Small Business Week said a company was twice as likely to increase turnover by more than 10% if it had a positive attitude to technology than those that didn’t.

Technology also helped around a third of firms to save money, find advice, and find new customers.

Smaller firms were found to have started to use social networking extensively, while larger, older firms felt they had been aided by faster broadband.

Larger SMEs were also keen to integrate their communications media such as voicemail, e-mail, and text into a single system.

Respondents in London and the North East England were the most advanced in their use of IT, while the South West was the least interested in IT. Businesses in Yorkshire and Humberside didn’t think IT could contribute to their businesses at all.

Women were less likely than men to adopt IT, with 35% saying they would bring it in “only if we have to” compared to 25% of men. More women than men said their businesses had suffered in the recession. They also felt they had been hit harder.

A digital age gap was also revealed, with most under-30s seeing cutting edge IT as vital to their businesses, whereas less than half of those over 46 agreed with this. Where younger bosses went for mobile technologies to be independent of location and for social networking, older ones said they wanted faster broadband.

Share with others...