DaySmart Software, the leading provider of business management software supporting small business growth, released new research reports on technology trends impacting United States. small businesses. The national study examined how small business owners are leveraging technology to grow their businesses and the challenges they are facing along the way.

While the findings indicate that United States small businesses are growing – 63% of respondents increased their sales from 2017 to 2018 – many still worry about the challenges to running and growing their operations. According to the report, the top five challenges that United States. small business owners face are making enough money, controlling costs, finding new customers, marketing to prospective or current customers, and managing their time.

It is not surprising that many small business owners are turning to technology to solve these challenges and are succeeding in doing so. More than half (51%) have adopted business management software. Benefits associated with deploying business management software include reduced manual effort and paperwork (61%), increased customer satisfaction (49%), and improved work and life balance (48%). Of the respondents who use business management software, 42% recognize the benefits of cloud-based products, while 38% still prefer on-premise software.

Additionally, respondents who use business management software report making more money than those that do not. When asked to share their annual revenues, 73% of respondents who use business management software reported making more than $100,000, compared to 60% of respondents who do not use such software.

The survey also found that technology adoption may be generational. Fifty-one percent of small business owners who use software are 25 to 44 years old, while only 37% of respondents who do not use software fall into that same age bracket. Inversely, the majority of small business owners (63%) who do not use software are 45 years or older.

According to the findings, the number one barrier to software adoption for United States small businesses is a lack of budget resources, as indicated by 26% of respondents. Other barriers include a lack of internal expertise (23%), concerns around cybersecurity risks (20%), and an unclear understanding of which tools are required to solve business problems (16%).

As small businesses invest more in technology, their areas of focus speak to the priorities of consumers and the market. The top areas of investment in 2019 for small business owners are marketing software (36%), point of sale systems (35%), and data security (25%). In addition to technology investments, small business owners are prioritizing marketing efforts to improve sales in 2019. Fifty-three percent indicated that they plan to invest more in social media, while 39% said they are experimenting with new marketing channels. On top of investing in marketing, 27% of respondents indicated that they are hiring more employees to improve sales in 2019.

“The digitization of the way we work and live has forced small business owners to rethink their manual methods, but that is not always an easy task,” said Jeff Dickerson, DaySmart CEO. “This survey validates the importance of having a holistic software solution that can make the transition to automated and digitized operations more efficient and, ultimately, help small businesses grow faster than ever before.”