Small and Medium Business Tech Trends for 2013

There’s no telling what technology will look like in one year (let alone one month). Some trends are discernible, however. So what’s in store for small and medium businesses? Massachusetts-based SMB Group has come up with its 2013 Top 10 SMB Technology Market Predictions. Here are three (for the full listing, click here):

 Small and Medium Businesses Prepare to Optimize for Mobile Computing

Though small and medium businesses are using mobile technology more than ever before, the explosion of devices, apps, and the “bring your own device” (BYOD) phenomena have proved challenging to manage. Watch for small and medium businesses to become more strategic concerning mobile investments, specifically on management and security, and on integrating apps more effectively.

 Social Gets Serious

Fifty-eight percent of small and medium businesses were using social media in 2012. But a related study by SMB Group revealed only 28 percent are using it strategically. The majority take an informal, casual approach. Planning a strategy for social efforts will become a key focus in 2013, putting pressure on vendors to introduce affordable, easy-to-coordinate solutions.

 Information Overflow Drives Demand for Infrastructure and Data Protection Solutions 

An unprecedented amount of data is being created daily. In turn, businesses are putting more time and effort into protecting theirs—both from security threats and basic human error. SMB Group predicts investments to increase in 2013 for data backup (55 percent), security (50 percent), server virtualization (34 percent), and desktop virtualization (36 percent).

 What kind of influence might these potential trends have on your business? What about your office and the employees who occupy it and the emerging behavior patterns these technologies create? As Ryan Anderson, our Director of Future Technology, notes, “understanding these new behaviors will allow architects, designers, facility managers, and manufacturers to usher in a new era of workplace design.”

 To learn more about technology, and changes to worker behaviors, read here.