According to our recent Local Pulse Report™, 35% of US small businesses plan to increase investments in technology over the next twelve months. Up 17% from 2019, business owners plan more investments in cloud-based software to help manage various aspects of their businesses, customer relationship management tools, and online scheduling systems.

When asked about the main drivers for the increase in investments, 55% of business owners stated they want to upgrade their technology to save time, followed by 40% to increase capabilities, and 28% to reduce overall costs.

The study also revealed that businesses that have already invested in technology are more willing to spend more, with 65% saying they are upgrading technology capabilities in other aspects of their business. Eighty percent of these business owners stated that early investments have been paying off with significant improvements to business growth.

Some common concerns small business owners have around technology included the ability to stay up to date on the latest technology, having enough capital to invest in new technology and cyber-security and data privacy issues.

Even though there are concerns, nearly half (45%) feel that having the right technology in place will be critical for their business success over the next three years.

We will be highlighting some of the additional findings in an upcoming report on small business technology trends.