We recently fielded an SMB Pulse survey of 500 principals of U.S. companies with up to 500 employees. Among other things, we wanted to understand their 2022 tech purchase outlook, with a focus on major application categories.

First, we asked SMBs what they plan to upgrade. Among both very small businesses (VSBs, 1-19 employees) and midsize businesses (MBs, 100-500 employees), users of design and illustration apps like Adobe, Canva or Corel are most likely to upgrade. Small businesses (SBs, 20-99 employees) are most likely to upgrade their collaboration software – for example Asana, Slack or Zoho Projects. After that, regardless of size, SMBs are most likely to upgrade their customer service solution, such as Freshdesk, Salesforce Service Cloud or Zendesk. VSBs and SBs are third-most likely to upgrade marketing and ecommerce applications such as HubSpot, Keap or Mailchimp; MBs, their videoconferencing solution – e.g., Teams, Webex or Zoom.

SMB 2022 Upgrade Plans

We also asked what new tech SMBs will acquire in 2022. VSBs are most likely to adopt laptops and desktops, followed by document creation and management applications such as Dropbox, DocuSign, Office or Workspace, and financial management apps such as FreshBooks, QuickBooks or Sage. SBs are most likely to adopt internet access, followed by marketing applications and accounting solutions. For their part, MBs are most likely to adopt CRM solutions such as Active Campaign, Salesforce or Thryv, followed by payroll/HCM solutions such as ADP, Gusto or Paychex, and laptops and desktops.

SMB 2022 Adoption Plans

Overall, the adoption outlook for SMBs is very positive across a wide range of application categories, especially among those with 20 or more employees. Learn how to reach SMBs considering your tech offerings, and the messaging that works best, in our webcast.

Need help understanding and/or engaging SMBs? Bredin can keep you up to date on evolving SMB needs and challenges through quick-turn, actionable market research. We can also help you develop high-value content and social posts to boost SMB awareness, brand perception, leads, conversion and revenue.