For those naysayers who contend that the typical small- to medium-sized business (SMB) is not yet ready for cloud communications services, think again, as a recent survey released by Symantec Corp. (News - Alert) found that SMBs’ desire to be better prepared for disasters is leading SMBs quickly down the path of virtualization, cloud computing and mobility.

"Today's SMBs are in a unique position to embrace new technologies that not only provide a competitive edge, but also allow them to improve their ability to recover from a disaster while protecting the information that their businesses depend on," said Steve Cullen, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for SMB and .Cloud at Symantec Corp. "SMBs cannot afford lengthy downtimes so the ability to quickly recover from a disaster is critical. Technologies such as virtualization, cloud computing, and mobility, combined with a sound plan and comprehensive security and data protection solutions, enable SMBs to better prepare for and quickly recover from potential disasters such as floods or fires, as well as lost or stolen mobile devices and laptops."

One of the main highlights of the survey was that disaster preparedness was top of mind for SMBs and many are looking to improve their disaster recovery (DR) solutions by adopting the right type of cloud technology. Specifically, in the case of private cloud computing, 37 percent reported that disaster preparedness influenced their decision to go to the cloud and 34 percent said they welcomed public cloud and server virtualization because of this focus.

For those that have embraced cloud technologies for disaster recovery, the results have been overwhelmingly positive as 71 percent of early adopters reported that their disaster preparedness improved with virtualization. In the case of private and public cloud they also saw improvement, according to 43 percent and 41 percent, respectively. And mobility increased their disaster preparedness 36 percent of the time.

The survey also revealed that more than one-third of survey participants (35 percent) are now taking advantage of mobile devices for business use; virtualization is on the radar of SMBs as 34 percent either currently deploying or already benefitting from server virtualization; and participants are quickly flocking to cloud computing, with 40 percent deploying public clouds and 43 percent implementing private clouds.

Symantec's 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey Research firm ReRez fielded this survey by telephone in February and March of 2012. The survey polled decision-makers at 2,053 organizations worldwide, each with between five and 250 employees. Of the survey respondents, two-thirds were C-level and senior management; the others were IT representatives.

In other industry news, in an effort to help SMBs in the fight against email spam, cloud communications provider GFI Software announced the availability of GFI MailEssentials 2012 UnifiedProtection, a solution that features anti-spam functionality and up to five virus detection engines, including the award-winning GFI VIPRE antivirus. The goal is simple – equip SMBs with the necessary armor to fight phishing, spam and virus-carrying emails.

"It is clear that email-borne threats are as dangerous as ever, and although spam is not a new problem, it is one that SMBs still need to adequately address," said Phil Bousfield, general manager, Infrastructure business unit, at GFI Software. "Spammers and malware writers are well aware that even the most savvy end-user can be fooled into clicking a link in an email and infecting their computer or entire company network. GFI MailEssentials 2012 UnifiedProtection gives administrators more peace of mind, knowing that far fewer spam and virus-carrying emails will make it to end user mailboxes."