SMB Group, a research firm that specializes in following technology trend for small and medium-sized businesses, put out their annual list of technology trends they see for the coming year (download the PDF here). InformationWeek has a good roundup of the four biggest trends, and not surprisingly, two of them have to do with the expansion and improvement of mobile use in to businesses, and one directly with field service.

4 Tech Trends For SMBs In 2012

Mobile Grows Up. With the smartphone now ubiquitous–and the tablet perhaps not far behind–McCabe expects SMBs will begin mobilizing their core business applications en masse in 2012. While email and other collaboration tools might already be second-nature for mobile users, areas such as mobile payments, time tracking, and field service apps should see large adoption increases. McCabe notes that industry-specific apps will also grow exponentially in the year ahead. Ease-of-use and efficacy will be key for developers–the apps that explode will be those that help, not hinder, the business user. For vendors, McCabe said product development plans will simply have to incorporate mobile as table stakes–not as a future enhancement for the roadmap.

Read more in InformationWeek.

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