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The number of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) seems to be growing at a rapid pace. Thanks to advances in mobile technology, social media and Voice over IP (VoIP), just to name a few, SMBs can compete with larger enterprises. By taking advantage of cloud-based hosted services, SMBs can have the same functionality as big companies at a fraction of the cost, making it difficult to judge the size of the actual company.

SMBs have bought into the cloud promise of a faster, easier, cheaper and less risky route to get the IT solutions they need to create and run their businesses. They have also been adopting mobile solutions at a fast and furious pace. Research shows that about 67 percent of SMBs now view mobile solutions and services as critical to their businesses.

TeamSupport is a company that developed powerful, easy to use business-to-business (B2B) customer support software designed to help businesses provide more seamless, effective customer support. Recently, they posted what they consider to be a few interesting facts about SMB technology use.

One thing that will always be important, regardless of company size is demographics. TeamSupport found that close to 70 percent of the 45 and older demographic is comfortable using desktop computers to access email, while a majority of those aged between 18 and 44 prefer to use their mobile devices.

If you are an SMB that relies on email as your main form of communication, it is important to know your market. While I read emails on my smartphone, the screen size forces me to constantly put on and take off my glasses, something that I prefer not to do while I’m outside on the move.

For someone like me, long emails are best viewed at my desktop, while short quick messages are acceptable while I’m on the road. It is these little things that can make a huge difference in the big picture. You have to know enough about your market to be able to build emails according to your demographics. SMBs have also found that social media is a better route to get their message across.

We live in a generation that is constantly on the move. Mobile devices have made it possible to literally work from any location. When you consider that over 75 percent of people who work at SMBs use their mobile devices to access company data, having easy-to-use and maintain, mobile-friendly versions of business software becomes a critical factor. Although checks and credit cards are still the top forms of payment that SMBs accept, there’s no question that new payment methods are growing in use and importance. Many SMBs already equip employees with mobile payment processing solutions; if they are not mobile-friendly, they will not be used.

Being a small business owner is sometimes a two-way street. On the one side you want to appear as large as possible being able to offer what big companies can provide. On the other side, you feel that you are small enough so that you do not need to function as a large corporation.

One aspect that TeamSupport found was that over a third of SMBs reported that they do not use any type of accounting software to keep track of their finances. It is sort of like balancing your checkbook at the end of each month and hoping that your numbers and the bank statement match.

This leaves a gap that can be filled by accounting software. If you are the one developing the software, keep it simple, straightforward and easy to use. In much the same way that apps need to be mobile-friendly, if you want SMBs, who normally do not have a CFO or an accounting department to use your software, then it does need to be as easy as managing your checkbook.

If you are the SMB owner, think of all the time and effort that can be saved by having a reliable accounting package. When you take into account that you can possibly not only saved up to five hours a week, but also guarantee that mistakes will not be made, you can see the need for accounting software.

These are just a few factors that SMBs and developers should keep in mind as they move forward. We will continue to see the number of SMBs grow over the next couple of years. It seems that there is a niche for just about anything you can think of and SMBs are there to fill the void. It is not enough for them to simply provide a service or solution, to succeed they have to also know who to use the technology available to them.