I came across an article that showed the results of surveying 550 startup staffers. Although it’s somewhat dated (07/2011) it is interesting to learn of the preferred software choice in various categories among small business personnel. Small businesses tend to operate on tight budgets. We try to spend our dollars wisely. So, needless to say, I was very interested in seeing the results.
Most of the respondents work in technology, digital media and professional services and all are in companies with 100 or fewer people.
Let me highlight a few of results for you.
Company Email: Google Apps (gmail) 57%
I was surprised by the huge gap between the first and second place. Second place was Outlook at 13%.
Accounting: Quickbooks 77%
Quickbooks was a huge winner. The next one in line was Excel at a merely 5%.
Web Analytics: Google Analytics 70%
Another big winner in this category. The other finishers were at 1 or 2%.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Salesforce 59%
Again, the huge gap between 1st and 2nd place was surprising. The second place finisher, Sugar CRM, was at only 6%.
Storage/Backup: Dropbox 39%
I am surprised that Dropbox was so far out in front of the other players. I use dropbox to share files online, and I use Carbonite to backup by laptop. Carbonite was in 3rd place with a mere 4%. Amazon is in second at 10%.
Payment Processing: Paypal 27%
The percentages start to dwindle in this category. I’m assuming because not as many companies do online payments. But, again there was a significant winner compared to the other top finishers.
Others
Project Management: Basecamp
Note Taking: Evernote
Company Credit Card: Amex
Email Marketing: Mail Chimp
To see the entire report, go here.