Technology costs are placing an increasing burden on the budgets of small firms, it is claimed.

Peter Scargill, IT chairman at the Federation of Small Businesses, said new opportunities in the sector mean firms are under pressure to spend more money on technology each year, reports Silicon.com for ZDNet.

His comments follow research by Access Markets International Partners, which found that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) spent £6.1 million on IT products such as computing, software and networking tools, during 2007, the article noted.

Some £198 million was spent on storage services during 2007, up 20 per cent compared to the previous year, the study found.

"Now it is pretty much inescapable for most companies to have some sort of IT equipment," Mr Scargill told the news provider.

"Almost all companies I come across now would have some sort of content-management system, ranging from Outlook to full-blown CRM [customer relationship management]," he added.

Investment in internet-based training for business staff has recently been recommended by Laura Overton, director of e-learning at e-Skills UK, who claimed that it can result in "improved productivity and quality" in addition to generating a "positive staff morale and an increased take-up of learning".


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