Small Business Owners Thinking Big When It Comes To Using Technology

Toronto, ON - Three in four small business owners (73%) feel increasing productivity is a "major priority" for their business, according to a new Ipsos Reid national survey of small business owners conducted on behalf of Microsoft Canada. And the very strong majority of small business owners (81%) disagree with the statement that "increasing productivity is something that big business and government need to worry about - it's not important to small business owners like me" (47% strongly disagree).

So what areas of business operations are these owners looking towards to increase the productivity of their business? Most (82%) agree that adopting technology is the key to increasing their company's productivity and competitiveness. Nearly the same percentage (79%) say that they leverage technology like computer software, hardware, and mobile devices to make their business more productive. In fact, two-thirds (66%) would say that technology is already helping their business become more flexible and mobile and they no longer feel chained to their businesses.

But there are barriers for small business owners when it comes to making their company more productive and efficient - namely time and money. Sixty-two percent point to a "lack of funds" (62%) as one of the biggest barriers to improving productivity and 41% say that there is "not enough time to think about new ways to increase productivity".

Similarly, when asked what is the biggest barrier for their business when it comes to adopting new technology, like computer software, hardware and mobile devices that can make their company more productive, 70% of those who leverage technology in their business mention that it is too expensive or they don't have the budget. However, there is an underlying sense of wariness among these small business owners when it comes to the actual technical know-how aspect of new technology: half (48%) say they are unsure about which technology would best meet their business needs and 37% feel they would need assistance to use/implement technology in their business.

Even with these barriers, the majority of small business owners (59%) say they plan on investing in computer technology for their business within the next year. Sixty-four percent indicate that they plan to "invest in updating software" in the next year, while substantial proportions say they will "implement new business processes" (48%), "develop a new website" (44%), and "invest in faster computers" (41%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted from September 15th to September 20th, 2005 via a regionally representative online Canadian sample of 855 small business owners (small business was defined as 20 or fewer employees). For this sample, results can be considered accurate 95% of the time with a 3.4% margin of error, of what it would have been had this entire population been surveyed. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Paul Orovan
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900