Abstract
Conventional research segments firms by company size or industry to establish
differences in technological sophistication and identify potential target
markets. An alternative segmentation tool is cluster analysis, which is used to
classify objects into relatively homogeneous groups called clusters, based on
shared characteristics. This study presents the results of IDC' s cluster
analysis of small and medium-sized businesses. SMB demographics and technology
use are examined by the five clusters that were identified across a variety of
products and services, including high speed Internet access, VoIP, SaaS, home
page use and online selling and promotion.
"SMB 2.0 firms will be looking for more advanced solutions, helping
connectivity and productivity," says Merle Sandler, Research Manager in the SMB
Program at IDC. " Opportunities for delivering software as a service as well as
a move toward IP telephony will help drive technology investments in this
cluster."
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