U.K.:  “Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Australia see investment in communications as essential to support their business. They will continue to invest in telecoms but are keen to move to more OPEX-based models and seek greater efficiencies in mobilising staff,” Claudio Castelli, Ovum senior analyst, said.

A recent report from Ovum presents the results of a survey of SMEs in Australia on their progress with mobility.

SMEs in Australia look at telecommunications as a way to support their business. 73 percent of the companies surveyed believe that investing in the latest telecoms solutions can make their business more successful. This is a clear indication that SMEs will not stop spending on telecommunications during the financial downturn. However, they will focus their spending on solutions that make a direct impact on their business performance and which provide a clear return on investment.

SMEs are more likely to adopt managed and hosted services in order to avoid unnecessary up-front capital investments. 79 percent the companies prefer to have a predictable monthly recurring charge per user for telecoms equipment and services. We expect that the software-as-a-service (SaaS) approach will offer good opportunities for services providers and solution vendors.

Overall, SMEs like simplicity when dealing with their providers. 83 percent of the SMEs in Australia prefer to purchase all their fixed and mobile telecoms services from a single source. Bundling multiple services including fixed and mobile represents additional opportunities for providers. However, these bundles have to offer commercial benefits when compared to the stand-alone offerings.

Most of the SMEs (66 percent) still believe that price is the most important factor when selecting providers. Mobility in SMEs is growing but spending on mobility services has decreased.

The number of highly mobile workers has increased from an average 19 percent in 2007 to 21 percent in this survey. Moderately mobile workers have also increased from 15 percent in 2007 to 17 percent in this survey. Surprisingly, this growth has not been reflected in a growth of expenditure on mobility services. There has been a significant decrease in spending on mobile voice. This may be a result of decreasing mobile voice prices as well as behaviour changes. Users are making fewer mobile phone calls, while increasing cost efficient SMS and mobile email usage.