Parallels, the hosting and Cloud services enablement leader, today released the key findings of Parallels SMB Cloud Insights™ for the Netherlands, a report that illustrates how service providers can profit by delivering Cloud services to small and medium businesses (SMBs). Parallels estimates that the Dutch SMB Cloud services market opportunity is €150m and growing, with many companies reporting plans to increase their net spending from 10 to 26 percent on paid Cloud applications alone. The research will be presented today at WorldHostingDays Local (WHD) Amsterdam, where industry leaders will gather to discuss current trends in hosting and Cloud services.   

Parallels SMB Cloud Insights for the Netherlands addresses the types of Cloud services that hold the most appeal for SMBs, and details the best opportunities for service providers to drive growth and revenue in the Dutch hosting market. Parallels concludes that service providers should focus on delivering profitable, value-added services beyond basic hosting, such as Web and social media presence applications, content management and online customer relationship management (CRM) tools. In addition, the report identifies the opportunities to provide Cloud-based operational services such as hosted infrastructure/hosted communications, online backup and storage and hosted E-mail and archiving. Parallels estimates that the hosted infrastructure market is €85m and the Web presence services market is €65m, with both categories contributing to the overall €150m Dutch Cloud services market.

"The migration to Cloud services continues to have a major impact on how businesses acquire and manage their IT services. The challenge to service providers is to identify and profitably deliver the most in-demand services,” said John Zanni, Vice President of Service Provider Marketing and Alliances, Parallels. “Parallels SMB Cloud Insights for the Netherlands provides a precise roadmap for service providers so they can profit from the €150m and growing market opportunity to deliver Cloud services to SMBs.”

Additional key research findings in Parallels SMB Cloud Insights for the Netherlands include:

• Web Presence
  • More than 75 percent of Dutch SMBs have a website, a penetration rate that’s among the highest of all SMB markets in developed countries. Among those SMBs with websites, nearly 50 percent are already using a service provider to manage their web presence.
  • 25 percent of SMBs who use a stand-alone web hosting plan intend to increase their spending in the next three years.
• Hosted Infrastructure
  • SMBs are becoming aware of the advantages of hosted servers, and of those that currently have in-house servers, 48 percent either definitely plan to or are considering the switch to hosted servers in the next three years.
• Hosted Communication and Collaboration
  • 55 percent of SMBs are using hosted email, but only 7 percent pay for it. The penetration of paid hosted email among Dutch SMBs is behind some developed countries, such as the U.S., where 14 percent of SMBs pay for premium hosted email.
  • 51 percent of SMBs are either definitely planning to or are contemplating switching from in-house e-mail servers to paid hosted email in the next three years.
  • Price is a leading concern among SMBs with in-house PBX systems. 44 percent named price as the main reason they haven’t switched to hosted PBX, and 29 percent indicated they were concerned about sunk costs in their current in-house PBX system.
• Other Online Applications (SaaS)
  • More than 50 percent of Dutch SMBs are using some form of free or paid online applications.

Parallels recommends that service providers consider up-selling existing customers by augmenting their core hosted offerings with new value-added tools or services (for example, a Facebook plug-in for customers that use their web hosting service). Parallels also envisions that basic hosters can quickly evolve to full-spectrum providers by adding hosted unified communications and collaboration services (such as hosted e-mail and hosted PBX) as well as other online applications, including content management, e-mail archiving solutions and file sharing.