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It is a tenet of popular psychology that the so-called ‘middle child’ is often overlooked. If a slew of recent research is to be believed, the UK’s mid-tier businesses have long suffered the same frustration, although not for want of talent.

According to research performed by Internet-based market research firm YouGov, and sponsored by Microsoft, medium-sized organisations sit at the very heart of the UK economy, which boasts more than 85,000 such organisations, each employing between 50 and 1,000 people.  According to YouGov, this segment contributes more than £1 trillion pounds a year to the UK economy, and employs a third of its workforce.

Despite such a strong showing in this regard, the medium-sized business community has, for a long time, remained largely disenfranchised from major technological trends and developments. Simon Hughes, head of mid-markets for Microsoft, does not believe, however, that this is a sign of conservatism on the part of mid-tier players, but rather a reflection on the limited “opportunities to access and use technology”.

In the UK, he argues, the technology market has not, traditionally, been successful at providing cost-effective technology to suit mid-market needs. This observation was partially borne out in YouGov’s survey which found that 70% of medium organisations feel that their needs are often overlooked by vendors and suppliers.

To this extent however, it is the technology community that has been missing out. For the vast majority of medium-sized organisations, ambitious growth is very much part of their future agenda. Of those organisations set on rapid expansion, 85% responded that IT will play a critical role, while 12% of these organisations plan to implement technology as the engine of strategic business growth within the next 12 months, says YouGov.

IBM too, has reached similar conclusions. The computing giant’s latest survey finds that mid-sized companies worldwide across five major industries are now turning their attention toward strategic investments in a range of technologies, including those traditionally under-deployed by this segment, such as CRM, BI and supply chain logistics.

Evidently, many of the largest players have now identified that the mid-market is a source of as yet untapped revenue. In addition to Microsoft and IBM, SAP also has its eye on this segment, and all three players are now developing sophisticated selling strategies around this middle tier, with Microsoft now devoting a sizeable 3 billion of its $7 billion annual R&D expenditure on services and products for this space.

But can these giants deliver to the needs of this under-served market? Andy Pickles, managing director of The Music Factory, a mid-sized record label from the North-East that is currently in the process of developing a content-rich, multi-media platform (with the help of Microsoft .Net) believes that the market shift is already under way.

“When it comes to being a medium-sized company, you can now migrate to these kinds of solutions, because they are that much more flexible and you can programme them yourself,” he observes. “In the past, it was a case of the provider coming in and charging to make another addition to that technology. We find ourselves in a far better situation now, and can work more efficiently with the market to find a solution to fit our business.”

Mid-market moans

• 60% feel that they are overlooked by trade bodies and associations

• 70% feel that they are overlooked by vendors and suppliers

• 48% feel that the UK offers inadequate support for a mid-market company

• 9%   feel that the UK offers no support at all

Source: YouGov