Press Releases

Budapest, September 28, 2011 10:30

Companies employing 1-9 people plan on minimal spendings for the safety of their IT systems. Although more than half of the Hungarian micro enterprises (employing 1-9 people) use the net regularly in their activities and for more than 60 percent of them IT systems are of critical importance in their operation, only 1 percent plans to invest in IT security related to their equipment in the coming years. However, 23 percent of the smallest companies attach importance to securing the safe operation of their enterprise IT system, as revealed by the most recent  Magyar Telekom survey*.

In May 2011 Magyar Telekom surveyed the efficiency of Hungarian SMEs' customer service**, in August this year enterprises employing 1-9 were asked how important they viewed the secure operation of their IT systems..

The recent, representative survey revealed that for almost 200 thousand small enterprises the IT background is important for their operation. This is no surprise, as 580 PCs and portable computers are used by the basic sample of the research, composed of 350 thousand enterprises employing 1-9 people, as well as individual entrepreneurs - hence almost 75 percent of employees are connected to the web through these terminals.

Despite the high computer and Internet penetration, more than two thirds of enterprises fail to make substantial investments in the operation of IT systems, although one third already recognised to need to spend on continuous development. 10 percent of the companies use IT security solutions, however the majority avoids using external solutions, like paid virus protection, firewall or anti-spam solutions. Therefore there is a dual approach taken by the smallest Hungarian companies towards their IT systems: although the majority invested in infrastructure, but few plan to also invest in development, including security programs, services or renewing equipment. This finding is confirmed by the fact that only 1 percent of interviewed companies plan to introduce new IT security solutions.

When making IT system related decisions, the relevant managers primarily lean on the views of their friends and family members - 68 percent trust their views more than professional solutions. However, 23 percent of the enterprises already use the services of a system manager or professional IT company.

Companies primarily expect IT system related investments to increase their efficiency and lower costs, including customer relations activities. Companies reviewed primarily communicate through the Internet with their customers by using email (50 percent apply online mails), while only 10 percent use corporate websites and applications, and only 5 percent use the web based telephone and chat programs.

Part of the Hungarian micro enterprises already recognised the importance of info-security. Thanks to modern solutions - earlier considered to be the privilege of large companies only - different outsourced services (i.e. server hosting, backup)  are already available against paying a monthly fee, not requiring major investments. Using these services the small companies do not need to deal with IT problems on a daily level.

* BellResearch carried out the representative survey about Hungarian SMEs in August 2011 under the assignment of  Magyar Telekom, involving 1,188 companies employing 1-9 people (bearing registration numbers), and individual entrepreneurs.
**In May 2011 in the joint survey of Magyar Telekom and Medián Public Opinion and Market Research Institution the telephone customer service (CRM) of hotels, horeca outlets and private education institutions was surveyed involving 180 Hungarian SMEs.