MotionMedia - Sample Digital Agency Business Plan

42 © BPlanExperts.com Wireless LAN deployment increased by 30% over the last year as SBs strive to enhance the functionality of their regular office LANs. This explosion in adoption is apparent as SBs spent roughly $0.53 billion on wireless LAN solutions in 2003, a 50% hike over the total amount spent last year. The number of businesses using VPNs nearly doubled over the last 12 months as SBs finally perceive VPNs to be a secure and reliable form of communication. ISDN usage continues to drop as SBs increasingly favor high- speed broadband access and affordable connectivity solutions. Rapidly falling prices allowed DSL and T1/T3 Internet access to command 31% and 33% year-over-year growth, respectively. Apart from this, enhancing employee productivity and reducing latency between transactions will drive a significant amount of investment in upgrading enterprise Intranets over the next 12 months. AMI-Partners' survey results indicate that SBs are deploying enterprise software applications in order to retain and grow their customer base and optimize business processes. With the efforts of companies such as salesforce.com and Microsoft releasing affordable software applications catered specifically for the SB market, spending on such products increased considerably since 2002. There was a 26% year- over-year growth in the number of businesses using CRM/SFA applications. The need to establish electronic linkages with larger companies ensured that ERP/SCM deployment increased by 16% over last year. The shift towards automating existing transactions with suppliers and customers indicates that enterprise software applications will continue to be a 'hotspot' among U.S. SBs.