Small Business Becoming Bigger Market For Tech Makers With Scaled-Down Gear; Tech spending at small firms is up 11% over last year and is still increasing.(A)

Byline: BRIAN DEAGON

Despite a tepid U.S. economy, small businesses plowed $86 billion into new technology in the past year. That was up 11% from the previous year, and more than double the overall growth rate of business investments in tech.

And there's more. Spending among small businesses will grow another 10% in the next year, says a report scheduled to be released today by Access Markets International Partners. The data suggest small businesses are making big strides in using technology that was once out of their reach.

"The high-end enterprise technologies are now beginning to penetrate the small-business sector," said Andy Bose, chief executive of AMI Partners, a New York consulting firm. "The large tech companies are paying far more attention to the small-business market than ever before."

Next year, Bose estimates, business spending on technology will be $385 billion, up 5% from this year's $367 billion. If the small-business portion of spending grows 10% as he expects, it would account for 25% of the total market, or $95 billion.

Marketers Have Awakened

With that much money floating around, the big tech providers, which historically have given most of their attention to the largest customers, can no longer ignore it.