What is Happening?  Saugatuck recently held a roundtable discussion event in Frankfurt with executives from 20 ISVs and regional small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), or as they are referred to in Germany – KMUs (Kleine und mittelgrosse Unternehmen).

The goal of this event – and of a series of planned similar events worldwide – was to develop and facilitate dialogue, understanding and interaction regarding the growth, evolution, and business promise of Cloud, between the executives responsible for IT in SMEs, and the ISVs serving these firms. The event was co-sponsored by IBM.

What is Happening? Saugatuck’s survey data analysis indicates that small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are focusing a much larger percentage of their Social Business IT investments on customer-focused applications than are larger enterprises. The data indicate, in fact, that the smaller a company is, the greater proportion of its Social Business IT investments will be focused on customer-oriented applications. Figure 1 summarizes the data from Saugatuck’s 2011 Social Business IT survey (for more on our Social Business research program, please see Note 1).

Figure 1: Bigger Firms = Broader Social IT Focus