Businesses have been getting the most out of their computer hardware investment with some owners holding onto servers and desktop PCs for up to 50 months. That’s a lifetime or two in computing technology so it’s no surprise that a significant percentage of small and medium (SMBs) size business owners are looking for new equipment now that the economic gloom seems to be lifting. A recent IT Management survey indicates the following purchase plans by SMBs:

• New desktop PCs 56%
• New laptops 55%
• New services 45%
• Printers 31%
• Network devices 27%
• Netbooks 13%

The investment won’t stop at hardware, either. Despite a difficult year for IT budgets – about 4 in 10 companies cut these budgets by an average of nearly 25%  in 2009 – senior managers are expecting to sign contracts for more software services in 2010. Virtualization solutions remain a popular outsourced service. Companies are also signing contracts with ‘cloud computing’ vendors, especially for the following:

• Anti-spam 43%
• Hosted e-mail 25%
• Online backup 20%

As businesses begin to purchase more technology hardware and services, vendors will be increasing their advertising to improve market share.

[Source: Eddy, Nathan. Small Businesses to Invest in IT Resources, eweek.com, 9.1.09]