Other findings in the study include:

Once the economy improves, 65 per cent of respondents expect their firms will enter into new geographic markets.
* 51 per cent of respondents say their technology efforts will focus on improving processes and new ways to improve their business.
* 52 per cent of respondents said Internal IT departments will be most important to helping firms achieve success. External or outsourced service providers are also key, with one-third of respondents stating outsourced providers of managed IT services and external technology consultants (systems integrators, value added resellers or application developers) as most important in achieving IT objectives.

“The fact that SMBs continue to remain positive despite the current economic downturn is no surprise as they truly are the cornerstone of business across the globe with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and great determination to succeed,” said Ken Giffin, director of marketing strategy for Verio.

“We have already begun to see an uptick in SMBs that are managing their business more efficiently through the use of technology and are aggressively expanding into new markets via their online presence. This study further supports the fact that SMBs are resilient, more nimble than their enterprise counterparts and remain confident in their ability to achieve great success,” he added.