ICT spending of Russian and Polish SMBs to cross $10 billion in 2008
Russian and Polish Small and Medium Businesses are expected to spend nearly $10 billion this year on ICT, a 15 percent increase from last year’s (2007) spending.

Russian and Polish Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) are expected to spend nearly $10 billion this year on ICT (IT and Telecom), a 15 percent increase from last year’s (2007) spending.

The study conducted by AMI has revealed that both Russia and Poland are experiencing growth over the last few years and are the two largest Eastern European markets by GDP (purchasing power parity) followed by the Ukraine, Czech Republic and Romania.

AMI-Partners specializes in IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence — with a strong focus on global small and medium businesses (SMBs), and extending into large enterprises and home-based businesses.

Based on AMI’s annual surveys of SMBs across Poland, Czech Republic and Russia, the studies are stated to track a broad spectrum of issues pertaining to budgets, purchase behaviors, decision influencers, channel preferences, outsourcing, service and support. Also covered are detailed firmographics and critically important technology attitudes and strategic planning priorities.

"About 40% of Russia’s one million SMBs are currently equipped with PCs, and generate the highest ICT spending in the region," says Pauline Courtiau, New York-based Analyst at AMI-Partners. "About one third of this amount is spent on computing—in areas such as desktop and notebook PCs, peripherals, servers, printers and handheld devices."

SMBs in Poland are on track to spend about US$3.5 billion on ICT in 2008, up some 14% over 2007. Poland is also home to about 674,000 SMBs and half of them use PCs.

Russia with its new resurgent economy is also posing itself as a natural destination for IT outsourcing and software development. They are backed by a talented pool of skilled workers. Russia is also inviting other partners to open up R&D centers. All of which leads to a greater need for networking and security products as Russian SMBs must adapt to their western clients’ technology standards.

This analysis also sees the Czech Republic as the most mature IT market with 80% PC penetration in its SMBs even though its 280,000 SMB count is less than that of Poland and Russia. The country spends slightly more than Poland’s SMBs on ICT products and services.

This growth of ICT spending is attracting companies to deploy their infrastructure in the Eastern European region. There is also a growing trend to use branded products. For example, white box desktops and servers are prevalent in Eastern Europe. However, an increasing number of SMBs are starting to switch to branded products, especially HP and Acer ( News - Alert).

"The market for notebook PCs is already brand-conscious as SMBs trust brands more to fulfill their mobility and after sales services needs," says Ms. Courtiau. "Acer, HP and Toshiba ( News - Alert) notebooks are gaining the most traction."

In Eastern Europe, the majority of SBs are still in Wave One of technology deployment, where they focus on building their basic infrastructure. MBs have already passed that stage and have entered Wave Two, in which they work on connecting the enterprise by increasing their network capabilities.