Surprise, surprise! According to Forrester Research, an analyst firm, small businesses buy and use software differently than their larger brethren. More than 2,200 IT executives and technology decision-makers in North America and Europe were polled, and the findings show that:

• small businesses are more likely to purchase software than build their own
• they are wary of open source software because of security and support issues
• interest in SaaS is growing but total cost of ownership is a concern
• they are more optimistic than big businesses and will allocate a greater portion of their IT spend on software

These conclusions come from the recent Forrester Research report The State Of SMB Software: 2009 and data from Forrester’s Enterprise and SMB Software Survey “Enterprise Versus SMB: Who Influences Your Software Purchasing Decisions?” and “Software Budget Outlook And Preferred Purchasing Channels By Company Size: 2008 To 2009”. You can purchase the research at Forrester’s website or go to bMighty to read a summary. Do you agree with the findings? Let us know – we’re interested in what you think.