Microsoft study reveals small and midsize businesses using hosted services have better financial performance

February 4, 2010 · Filed Under Business Software, Internet Software, Productivity Software, Software News · Comment 

Research suggests correlation between IT usage and business growth.

Microsoft released its global SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010,(1) which investigates how small and midsize businesses (SMBs) across multiple segments fared during the recession and how they use technology. The research finds that businesses that value IT as an enabler for better business productivity and effectiveness and those that use hosted services performed better fiscally than those that do not.

IT Critical to Revenue Growth

Despite the global recession, more SMBs surveyed in 2010 reported an increase in revenue than in 2008. Those that reported growth view IT as critical to their business success.

– In the past 12 months, 52 percent of SMBs reported an increase in revenue, up from 39 percent in 2008.(2)
– Increasing 20 points since 2008, 55 percent of SMBs view IT as critical to their business.
– Of the SMBs that view IT as critical, 60 percent saw revenues grow over the past 12 months. In contrast, among SMBs that stated IT is not important, less than 29 percent saw revenue increase.(3)

SMBs Moving Toward Cloud Computing

The 2010 index indicates SMBs are beginning to see the benefits of cloud computing; more than 40 percent of the respondents that use hosted or cloud technology reported revenue rises of 30 percent or more compared with 90 percent of respondents not using hosted technology that saw decreases in revenue. The advantages of hosted or cloud technology are viewed as reduced cost and IT management and maintenance, as well as increased business value, productivity and competitiveness.

– Awareness of hosted services is increasing with 65 percent of SMBs using hosted software to some extent, while 73 percent of the remainder have considered it, compared with only 44 percent in the 2008 Index.
– SMBs are beginning to understand the value of “renting” IT as a service — 36 percent said a pay-as-you-go model would be attractive.

Cloud computing has become a watchword for the IT industry as software and services such as e-mail, Web sites and e-commerce are increasingly available in an on-premises, off-premises or hybrid model depending on business need.

“Over the last five years, we have seen nearly 40 percent growth in usage of hosted services,” said Michael Korbacher, director of EMEA Software plus Services in the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “Using pay-as-you-go cloud technologies, small and midsize businesses can now afford and easily have access to enterprise-class, secure services across any platform.”

Correlating Business Performance With Technology Usage

The findings from the research were concluded by analyst firm Freeform Dynamics Ltd., which independently assessed the SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 to ascertain to what degree IT adoption is driving revenue growth specifically within the SMB community.

The SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 commissioned by Microsoft researched 3,193 SMBs in a cross section of private industries in 15 countries. Overall, the findings show greater awareness of the benefits of IT among SMBs and a high reliance on IT across all industries and geographies. The findings indicate a clear path toward better financial performance than for those not currently taking advantage of IT advances such as hosted services.

“Our assessment of the report tells us that an increased focus on IT correlates with good performance in all of the size categories surveyed,” said Dale Vile, research director of Freeform Dynamics. “This whole picture corroborates the notion that technology and hosted services can provide tangible business advantage, even for smaller companies, and it’s not surprising to see that investment in IT and hosting goes hand in hand with good financial performance.”

Role of IT Within Business and Revenue Change

It’s critical to our business; we cannot work without it.
– 14.38 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 34.01 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 11.56 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 25.49 percent – No change in revenue
– 14.55 percent – Decrease in revenue

It’s very important for the majority of our activities.
– 8.86 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 28.32 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 8.65 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 40.16 percent – No change in revenue
– 14.01 percent – Decrease in revenue

It’s important but not essential to the running of the business.
– 8.21 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 18.48 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 8.21 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 46.33 percent – No change in revenue
– 18.77 percent – Decrease in revenue

It complements our business but is by no means essential.
– 7.41 percent – Revenue up more than 30 percent
– 13.89 percent – Revenue up 10 percent to 30 percent
– 7.41 percent – Revenue up less than 10 percent
– 42.59 percent – No change in revenue
– 28.70 percent – Decrease in revenue

The IT Services Outlined in the Research Are as Follows

E-mail
– 67 percent SMBs have on site
– 29 percent SMBs have hosted
– 4 percent SMBs don’t have


File sharing/collaboration
– 56 percent SMBs have on site
– 23 percent SMBs have hosted
– 21 percent SMBs don’t have

Backup
– 71 percent SMBs have on site
– 22 percent SMBs have hosted
– 7 percent SMBs don’t have

CRM
– 52 percent SMBs have on site
– 31 percent SMBs have hosted
– 17 percent SMBs don’t have

Webconferencing
– 40 percent SMBs have on site
– 39 percent SMBs have hosted
– 21 percent SMBs don’t have

Web site
– 49 percent SMBs have on site
– 39 percent SMBs have hosted
– 12 percent SMBs don’t have

Server
– 59 percent SMBs have on site
– 28 percent SMBs have hosted
– 13 percent SMBs don’t have

E-commerce
– 46 percent SMBs have on site
– 33 percent SMBs have hosted
– 21 percent SMBs don’t have

The Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2010 research report was executed by Vanson Bourne  between November 2009 and January 2010. The research questioned 3,193 small and midsize businesses (up to 500 employees) across 15 countries worldwide: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.

(1) 3,193 SMBs surveyed in France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Spain, U.K., U.S., Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore in a cross section of different industries. Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2010 available on request.

(2) Microsoft Small Business Technology Index 2008. Available on request.

(3) Table showing correlation between the role of IT within businesses and revenue change

Source: Microsoft Corp.

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85 percent of US organizations hit by one or more data breaches within the last twelve months

July 14, 2009 · Filed Under Security Software, Software News · Comment 

Latest Research from The Ponemon Institute Shows Data Protection is Part of Overall Enterprise Risk Management Strategy

PGP Corporation, a global leader in enterprise data protection, announced the results from The Ponemon Institute’s fourth annual study on encryption usage in the enterprise – The 2009 Annual Study: U.S. Enterprise Encryption Trends. This year’s study surveyed 997 IT and security practitioners and identifies the trends in enterprise encryption planning strategies, budgeting and spending, deployment methodologies and impact on data breach incidents. While 78 percent of organizations have an encryption strategy in place and are moving toward a more consistent approach to data protection, data breaches continue to rise across the board. 85 percent of survey respondents experienced at least one data breach in the last 12 months, consistent with 84 percent in 2008, and the number of companies experiencing more than 5 data breaches in one year rose to 22 percent, up from 13 percent last year. For the first time, fifty-eight percent of the respondents reported that data protection is a very important part of their overall risk management. Additionally, as organizations increasingly rely on mobile technology and PDAs as their primary computing platform, 26 percent indicate they encrypt a smartphone or PDA most of the time, 51 percent said they never do.

“In our fourth year of conducting this study, we are consistently breaking new ground in identifying new data protection trends to help enterprises as they assess their risk posture,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. “Organizations are looking for more complete solutions that can protect their data wherever it may reside. The focus for 2010 needs to be on applying a strategic approach to data security across the enterprise.”

The following list summarizes key findings from the study that included nearly 1000 U.S.-based enterprise IT leaders, analysts and executives:

  • Data protection is an important part of an organization’s risk management efforts. For the first time, Ponemon asked how data protection relates to an organization’s risk management efforts. Fifty-eight percent report that is a very important part of risk management and 22 percent say it is an important part.
  • Encryption of data on mobile data-bearing devices used by employees is very important or important. More than 59 percent of respondents say it is very important or important to encrypt employees’ mobile devices – a sign that organizations recognize that valuable data is more mobile than ever.
  • More than 70% have fully executed or just launched data encryption strategy in their organization. Once again data encryption strategies are being implemented across a majority of the respondent participants. The majority of organizations, 78 percent, have some type of encryption strategy, up from 74 percent in 2008 and from 66 percent in 2007.
  • Data Breaches continue to be a huge problem: Eighty-five percent of organizations surveyed had had at least 1 data breach in the last 12 months, demonstrating that there is no let up in breaches as this is consistent with 84 percent sited in the 2008 report. Companies suffering more than 5 data breaches rose to 22 percent in 2009 up from 13 percent in 2008.
  • Encryption is mostly used to mitigate data breaches and comply with privacy and data protection regulations. In addition, there was an increase in the percentage of respondents who reported that encryption is also important to preserving brand and reputation.
  • The percentage of organizations using the platform approach to managing encryption solutions has increased. Additionally, 76 percent would strongly recommend or recommend the platform-based approach if it reduced the cost of acquiring, deploying and managing encryption applications.

“This year’s research clearly demonstrates that compliance, breaches and brand damage are driving companies to deploy more data protection solutions,” said Phillip Dunkelberger, president and CEO of PGP Corporation. “The risk migration goal is clear; take a more strategic approach to protect your data – at rest, in motion and in use.”

The 2009 Annual Study: UK Enterprise Encryption Trends was released last week and reports in Germany and Australia will be released in the coming months.

For more information or to receive a copy of this study, visit: http://www.encryptionreports.com/

Source: PGP Corporation

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Studying or Hacking? Today’s Adolescents Could Be the Hackers of the Future

May 19, 2009 · Filed Under Security Software, Software News · Comment 

A Panda Security study of 4,000 adolescents reveals alarming statistics around teenage hacking rates and exploration

Panda Security, a leading provider of IT security solutions,  announced the results of a four month survey carried out by Panda Security(1) that analyzed the online behaviors, technology knowledge, and hacking activities of more than 4,000 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. The study results indicate that more than half of adolescents use the Internet daily, spending on average 18.5 hours a week connected. The survey revealed that some 32 percent of this online activity is dedicated to studying, while the remaining 68 percent involves leisure activities, such as online gaming, watching videos, listening to music, chatting, etc.

While 63 percent of parents declared concern for the online security of their children, relating to the threats to which they are exposed (contact with strangers, access to inappropriate content, etc.), none of them expressed among their main concerns, the risk that their children could be involved in illicit activities on the Internet.

However, some 67 percent of the young people surveyed admitted to having tried, on at least one occasion, to hack into friends’ instant messaging or social network accounts, etc. Similarly, 20 percent confirmed that they had sent compromising photos of friends over the Internet or published them on the Web without prior consent.


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The survey also revealed that 17 percent of adolescent users claim to have advanced technical knowledge and are able to find hacking tools on the Internet. Of these, 30 percent claim to have used them on at least one occasion. When asked why, 86 percent said that curiosity had led them to investigate these public tools.

According to Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, “the advanced knowledge that many adolescents acquire through free tools and content available on the Web can often lead them to engage in illegal online activities. We have found cases of teenagers using Trojans to spy on their partners, hacking school servers to see exam papers or even stealing the identity of friends or colleagues on social networks.”

While there are many initiatives aimed at educating and promoting awareness of the many threats on the Web, there are far less that focus on detecting and addressing illegal behavior among adolescents.

“We should encourage young people to use the Internet as a channel for personal development, teaching them to use it in a healthy and responsible fashion. It is important to help them avoid the dubious activities which are driven by the anonymity of the Web, by educating them on the consequences and criminal charges,” urges Corrons. “Even though the percentage is very low, we still come across many cases of adolescent cyber-criminals, such as the recent high-profile case of the 16-year-old creator of the Twitter worms. We estimate that just 0.5 percent of such criminal acts are being detected by the authorities. Those who are drawn into hacking out of curiosity may very likely end-up discovering the financial potential of this activity, and become the next generation of cybercriminals.”

(1)Study carried out by Panda Security between January 2009 and April 2009 among users and non-users of Panda solutions.

Survey universe: adolescents between 15 and 18 years old.

Size and distribution of the survey sample: A representative sample of 4091 teenagers between 15 and 18 years old was taken. The surveys were carried out online, through prior invitation via email.

Sample error: Sampling error calculation has been based on p=q=0.5 for a confidence level of 95%.

Source: Panda Security

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