Increasing energy costs biggest impediment for SMBs: IBM

Bangalore, Nov 13 (UNI) Indian small businesses have identified energy costs as one of the biggest cost increases for them over the past two years according to the results of an IBM global survey released today.

As energy costs increase, 64 percent of SMBs in India, compared to 58 percent globally, were expressing concern about the environment.

The survey, which interviewed 1,373 businesses with between 50 and 500 employees in eight countries, indicated that most businesses surveyed expressed concern for the environment and were taking steps to reduce energy costs.

In India, 54 percent of the Indian respondents indicated that they would make energy-reducing decisions based on those environmental concerns, but only 32 percent had made or were planning to make changes to help reduce their energy costs compared to 47 percent globally.

According to the IBM survey, IT had become a priority for SMBs looking to curb energy costs. In India, 53 percent of SMBs interviewed were taking active steps toward reducing the energy consumption of their IT, including purchasing more energy efficient technology, consolidating servers or evaluating server usage and performance.

UNI