What was that about the best laid plans? Many of you enjoying the freedom – albeit enormous responsibility – of having your own business possibly didn’t plan to hang a shingle. The Great Recession might have had a lot to do with your decision to start your own business. In the U.S. alone, there were 60,000 more businesses started per month in 2009 than in 2007, according to the Kaufmann Foundation’s Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.

Why you launched your own business is no longer the issue. The opportunity you have ahead of you is. Security software provider Symantec recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to look at the new businesses launched during the past four years. The results of interviews with over 300 IT business decision makers from small-to-medium sized businesses indicate that you’re poised for ‘explosive growth.”  In fact, 46 percent of you who founded businesses after 2008 expect to double the number of your employees in the next two years, and 75 percent of you expect your revenues to grow more than 10 percent

Technology matters

Cloud computing (see: Big Trends for Small Business) is making a difference for those of you who founded your business in the last four years. You trust applications to the cloud, with 51 percent deploying cloud software and 26 deploying cloud security. This compares to 39 percent and 16 percent respectively of small business established before 2008. Amongst all small businesses, Forrester found aggressive adoption of cloud storage and backup.

Software decisions also vary among pre and post 2008 small businesses. Those of you who started your business post 2008 tend to rely on software – whether financial/accounting/ERP, collaboration or security – that you personally used or used in your previous position. Those of you already in business before the recession generally rely on the recommendations of a VAR.

Personal passion, lifestyle decision, returning to the workforce – any number of reasons may have led you to chart your own course. The fact is that you are the driving force of the economy and you’re leveraging new technology to reap the rewards.

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