Sign

The 2022 small business
forecast
How 1000+ small business owners and leaders are thinking
and acting in 2022z

SMB outlook 2022:
optimism, uncertainty,
and resilience
2022 is a year of cautious optimism for small andmedium businesses (SMBs) with between 1 and 500
employees. Though 57% of SMBs have an optimistic
business outlook for the year, they’re also treading withcaution as 35% prioritize “stabilizing the business” andanother 35% focus on “overcoming previous losses.” This cautious optimism is just one of many insights weuncovered by teaming up with research agency
CensusWide to survey 1000+ SMB owners and leaders.

In this report, you’ll learn how the fast pivots required tosurvive the past few years are giving way to an emphasison core functions: optimizing operations, automating
sales and marketing processes, getting back to aproactive stance with compliance and fraud, and solving
the still open question about attracting and retaining
talent in a competitive labor market.

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Table ofcontents

Business outlook:

SMBs are entering 2022 with cautious optimism 04

Technology:

SMBs’ technology focus is skewing operational

07

Talent and employees: 

SMBs are leaning remote amid a talent shortage

09

Security:

Fraud is a rising security concern

12

Sales and marketing:

SMBs are racing to deliver on digital

14

Compliance and regulations:

Addressing mounting compliance expectations

16

Business outlook

SMBs are entering2022 with cautious
optimism

Small business leaders are hoping that 2022 will be abounce-back year, with 57% saying their net businessoutlook for 2022 is optimistic, much more than the 21%that are pessimistic.

The source of this optimism is, as analyst, author, andpodcaster Ben Eubanks explains, “Companies are seeing
more opportunities than they ever have. That’s reallyeasy to be optimistic about when you see new customer
relationships and new chances to go out and serve
people. There’s also no longer this dark cloud hanging
over businesses. So part of the optimism is runningaway from that dark cloud, and part of it is runningtowards something new and exciting.”

4How SMBs are acting on thisoptimism
Despite a sunny outlook, SMBs are still setting
conservative sales goals

Small business leaders are still focused on the same goals
as 2021: stabilizing their businesses (35%), overcoming
previous losses (35%), and increasing profitability (35%).
2021 sales goals#1 priority

Stabilizing the business (36%) 

Increasing profitability (36%)

Overcoming previous losses (36%)
2022 sales goals#1 priority

Stabilizing the business (35%)

Overcoming previous losses (35%)

Increasing profitability (35%)

Small business expert Ramon Ray points to a practical
approach to uncertainty as a reason SMBs remain
conservative going into 2022: “Even though SMBs are
optimistic and can see a path forward, even though they
think ‘I’ll be okay’, there’s a practical understanding thatsales will likely be less in 2022. SMBs know thatchallenges will likely come up and so they might lower
their numbers a bit. And if they’re wrong, so what, they’ll
be pleasantly surprised.”

Tom Rossiter, CEO of real estate platform RESAAS, seesa wider economic perspective to the conservative plans
for the coming year: “There’s a distinction between how
an SMB operates and how the market operates . . .
Targets are being clipped due to broader
macroeconomic factors that are leading to hesitationand conservative outlooks. That’s a reason targets arebeing clipped. We don’t know fully what the future looks
like for the wider global market.”To realize these sales goals, SMBs are looking to newmarkets

Small businesses consider their most important driverfor growth in 2022 to be “expanding to new markets”(38%). As Tom Rossiter explains, SMBs are broadening
their targets because “using technology as we do now
has allowed SMBs to reach a much broader audiencefrom different markets around the world . . . When a
primary market is, it's a fairly intuitive set of next steps
to look at selling what you're already selling and expand
into new regions and territories globally.”“Even though SMBs are optimistic and can see a path forward, eventhough they think ‘I’ll be okay’, there’s a practical understanding thatsales will likely be less in 2022. SMBs know that challenges will likely
come up and so they might lower their numbers a bit. And if they’rewrong, so what, they’ll be pleasantly surprised.”— Ramon Ray, small business expert

5Small business’ priorities shift with scale

Unsurprisingly, different-sized SMBs have different
operational priorities. We found that those with 100+
employees are more likely to view IT operations as a
crucial business operation in 2022.

Sole traders and smaller SMBs, however, were moreconcerned with sales, with 31% of sole traders citing
sales as their most crucial operation.

Ben Eubanks explains, the reason for this discrepancy:“When we hear the term business agility, we think it has
to be a company with 10,000+ employees. But thetipping point for business agility actually sits at around
100 employees. Once you hit that you need otherinfrastructure, other resources, other tools to make sure
you can support the workforce you have… and a big partof that is the technical resources that help employees
get work done every day.”
Additionally, small business expert Ramon Ray points toa change in founder mindset as a reason for differing
SMB priorities. “For the smaller businesses, it’s you, it’s
your face, it’s on your back. We’re seeing it all andsigning all the checks. But as you go up the food chain
and get to 100 or more employees, the systems andprocesses are already built, so the owner isn’t necessarily
signing every check anymore. At that stage of business,you’re looking at areas to increase profitability andscalability. When you’re under 100 employees it’s about
feeding your family. When you get over 100 employees, it
becomes more about shareholder value.”“When we hear the term business agility, we think it has to be acompany with 10,000+ employees. But the tipping point for businessagility actually sits at around 100 employees. Once you hit that you
need other infrastructure, other resources, other tools to make sure
you can support the workforce you have… and a big part of that is thetechnical resources that help employees get work done every day.”— Ben Eubanks, analyst, author, and podcaster6

Technology

Technology priorities
are skewing
operational

Rather than using technology to address scale
problems—like marketing (24%) and procurement(24%)—as in 2021, SMBs are looking to technology
investments to unlock greater business efficiencies—IT
operations (25%), finance (25%), and legal (25%)—in
the hopes of greater productivity gains.

This refocusing on operational technology is further
borne out by “increased productivity” emerging as a top
motivation for new technology investment (36%).

Ben Eubanks puts this shift in technological priorities
down to talent shortages. “This technology adoption is
also driven by the talent shortage. Because of that,businesses are asking, 'where can we be more efficientor where can we automate a step or add in something
to connect data sources so it’s not a person doing thedata input?’ That’s the reason we’re seeing companies
leaning into operational technologies.”7

2021 technology priorities

2022 technology priorities#1 priority

Finance (24%), Marketing (24%) 

Procurement (24%)

Finance (25%) 

IT operations (25%) 

Legal (25%) 

Sales (25%)#2 priority

Customer service (23%) 

Security (23%)

Customer service (24%)#3 priority

IT operations (22%)

Sales (22%)

Security (23%) 

Procurement (23%)

While these technologies are all the rage today, businessfuturist and digital transformation expert Greg Verdino
cautions SMBs about looking at technology as a oneand-done solution. “For SMBs in particular, if they arefocused on operational efficiency today or through thecourse of 2022, it's important not to get trapped there
and think that they've done the job once they've applied
technology to the core business. Instead, keep the footon the gas, look and think more broadly about how
technology transforms the essence of the business, notjust the operation of the business.”“For SMBs in particular, if
they are focused on
operational efficiency todayor through the course of2022, it's important not to
get trapped there and thinkthat they've done the job once
they've applied technology to
the core business. Instead,keep the foot on the gas, lookand think more broadly about
how technology transforms
the essence of the business,
not just the operation of thebusiness.”— Greg Verdino, digital transformation expert

8

Talent

Small businesses areleaning remote amid atalent shortage

Small businesses are anticipating a competitive talentmarket in 2022. Competing with other companies (18%)
ranked as SMBs’ main barrier to hiring in 2022, with alack of experience (17%) and lack of candidates (16%)
coming close behind.

So what’s behind this talent shortage, and will it last?
HR analyst, author, and podcaster, Ben Eubanks
explains, “Every company is struggling with talent . . . inthe past few years, more people have opted out of theworkforce when they may have worked 4 or 5 more
years. This is shrinking the number of people who cando the work. And at the same time companies have had
unprecedented demand for the work they’re doing.
There are more job postings right now than people
qualified to do them.”
9The result of this talent shortage, Tom Rossitercontinues: “Employees have a lot more choice now. It’s
something we don’t expect to slow down. We’ll see
more competition when it comes to recruiting, morejuicy offers, and more lucrative packages come to thefore as companies jostle to fill the talent pipeline.”
Remote and hybrid work is slow to catch on—
pandemic or not

When asked where employees will work in 2022, 52% of
SMBs say either fully remote or a hybrid arrangement.

Surprisingly, just under half (48%) of small businesses
are still pursuing traditional office and in-field set-ups. A
reason for this, Ben Eubanks explains, is “a tremendous
number of companies are concerned about what hybridor remote can do to their culture. When you’re a small
company of 10 or 50 people, hiring one more person cansway the values of your company. When you go remoteor hybrid, you give up some semblance of control andvisibility over that culture. We’re hearing from leaders
who are saying, ‘We want our people here, because I feellike we work better as a team when we’re together.’
What these companies need to realize is that they’recompeting with businesses that are willing to let
employees see the benefits of remote work.”
How SMBs are responding to the talent shortage

Remote and hybrid is the #1 talent strategy Despite limited remote and hybrid uptake, remote work
is still the top strategy for attracting and retaining talent
in 2022. Flexible working arrangements (23%) topped
the list of strategies to attract and retain employees in
2022, with employee referrals (20%) and creating an
attractive brand (21%) close behind.

“Employees have a lot more choice now. It’s something we don’t
expect to slow down. We’ll see more competition when it comes torecruiting, more juicy offers, and more lucrative packages come to thefore as companies jostle to fill the talent pipeline.”— Tom Rossiter, CEO of RESAAS

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“The word hybrid ispermeating our language fora reason. There’s no goingback. The genie is out of thebottle with regards to fulltime on-premise work. You’regoing to have a portion ofyour team being hybrid nomatter what. If you’re notflexible, you’re not going to
win over your competition forhiring.”— Craig Fisher, founder of TalentNet Media

Craig Fisher, founder of recruitment marketing strategy
firm TalentNet Media explains the reason for thisdiscrepancy: “The word hybrid is permeating ourlanguage for a reason. There’s no going back. The genie
is out of the bottle with regards to full-time on-premisework. You’re going to have a portion of your team being
hybrid no matter what. If you’re not flexible, you’re notgoing to win over your competition for hiring.”
SMBs are emphasizing meaningful work over pay andbenefits

Offering benefits or higher pay were the lowest
strategies for SMBs to attract and retain employees in
2022, at only 18%. The reason, Ben Eubanks explains, is“The challenge for SMBs is you’re competing withbigger budgets. You can’t get into a bidding war
because you’re going to lose every time.” But there’s away to challenge big budgets, Ben continues: “So SMBs
need to differentiate themselves to show how they careabout employees and will take care of them.”

Craig Fisher builds on this sentiment. “What we’refinding is that workers are seeking out interesting SMBs
that offer interesting work and meaningful work.
Workers are realizing not everyone can work for big
tech. You want to advertise the fact that you’re flexible
and that you’re doing something that’s impacting the
lives of global citizens every day. And having thatmessage of meaningful work and opportunity.”
SMBs are divided on the best retention approach

When it comes to improving the employee experience,
SMBs are favoring team-building events, but responses
were nearly even across all areas of the employee
experience. Team building events (33%) topped SMBs’
employee experience priorities for 2022. However,workplace safety (32%), training and development(32%), and employee onboarding (31%) all also featured
prominently. 

“In the past, it was about how theoffice was set up, where does thecoffee machine go? Now, all thoselogistics are off the table, it’s anopportunity to be flexible— Ben Eubanks

As Ben Eubanks points out, small businesses need torethink how they create and maintain culture. “In thepast, it was about how the office was set up, where does
the coffee machine go? Now, all those logistics are off
the table, it’s an opportunity to be flexible. But it also
creates a burden for leaders to ask ‘how are we going tointentionally create an experience around the people
we’re working with that connects with them and makes
them feel like they’re part of something bigger?’
Because if you don’t, they’ll feel transitory and they’ll
leave.”
5

Security

Security concerns
are lingering

Fraud is the leading security concern for SMBs in 2022 Small businesses list customer fraud (34%) andemployee fraud (34%) as two of the top concerns
regarding security in 2022. However, cybersecurity
threats are still a significant concern for SMBs with 34%
of SMBs listing data breaches as a cause for concern.

Tom Rossiter posits that small business leaders could
have increased concerns about fraud now because ofprevious technology investments made in a rushed
response to the pandemic: “Companies jumped into tools
like Zoom, Slack and HelloSign [now Dropbox Sign] toquickly check the boxes and meet the demands of theirremote workers. That inherently brought security issues
without the time to plan for oversight and governance.”
5

How SMBs are addressing security in 2022

Despite fraud leading all security concerns, SMBs are
squarely focused on addressing cybersecurity threats in
2022, listing threat detection (40%) as the top security
practice they plan to implement in 2022, closely followed
by staff education (39%) and file encryption (38%). Fraud
prevention technologies like audit trails ranked lowest of
all the practices SMBs plan to adopt (34%).
Why aren’t SMBs more focused on fraud prevention
measures like audit trails despite it being their top
security concern? As Ben Eubanks explains, “When you
use the term fraud, it seems like a big amorphousconcept.

Most SMB leaders are experts in the products andservices they deliver, not in fraud. They need someone toguide them in that area. SMB leaders need something
very practical. It might be someone saying, here are thethree ways fraud happens and you should be aware ofthat. If you said, for example, one way is to prevent this is
to have clear audit trails, so you can go back and review
procedures and processes and know the right steps aretaken. Examples like that let leaders look at other areas of
the business.” “Companies jumped into tools like Zoom, Slack and HelloSign [nowDropbox Sign] to quickly check the boxes and meet the demands oftheir remote workers. That inherently brought security issues without
the time to plan for oversight and governance.”— Tom Rossiter, CEO of RESAAS

SMBs are pursuing software vendors with greater security
Greater security (19%) was the main reason SMBs
would consider switching software vendors in
2022, ahead of ease of use (18%) and changing
business needs (18%).

5

Sales and marketing

SMBs are prioritizing
digital sales andmarketing

Small businesses are planning to invest in digital sales
and marketing tools

25% of small businesses plan to prioritize sales technology
investments. Additionally, marketing is both the top area inwhich SMBs are planning to invest in new technology
solutions (36%) and the primary motivation for SMBs toinvest in technology solutions during 2022 (36%).

The reason small businesses are prioritizing new sales andmarketing technology in 2022, Craig Fisher explains, isbecause “If you think about how we buy things now, we buy
most things from our digital device. So the web experiencehas to be really good. If customers are constantly battlingwith sign-in problems and signatures over email, and otherthings that inhibit your ability to consume, then they’ll
move on to something that’s easier. The customer
experience with your platform is very, very important.”
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How SMBs are approaching sales
and marketing in 2022
Automation is a main focus for sales and marketing

The trend of making more operational tech investments
has carried over into sales and marketing, too. With
more business happening online, SMBs are looking forways to do more with limited employees and resources—and automation offers a path to scale efforts.

SMBs believe they would greatly benefit frommarketing and sales automation in 2022 (33% and
32% respectively), above HR and procurement—while
39% of SMBs listed greater productivity throughautomation as an aspiration for 2022.

As Craig Fisher says, “If you can do more with fewer
people, it just goes to show that you don't have to pay
salaries in order to get that done. A little bit oftechnology goes a long way. Before, you had to have ateam of call center people following up or sending
emails or phone calls. And now we get automated text
messages, we got automated voicemails, everythingcan be done by a robot. So certainly there's profit inthat. And if you realize you have a large untappedmarket of these cold prospects, you could actually turnthem into customers. It doesn't cost very much, so why
not do it?”

Similarly, two of the top three areas of the sales cycle
SMBs plan to improve in 2022 are following up on sent
contracts (35%) and prospecting (34%). Both are ripe for
automation, perhaps a reason SMBs list “sales
automation” as the third-biggest area that would benefit
from automation (32%). 

Tom Rossiter explains just how valuable automatingthese tasks can be for small businesses: “There are
more tools on the market today to help SMBs seem likethey're responsive by automating and managing
inbound prospective sales inquiries. And I think they'vebeen gobbled up. I still believe that being quick to
respond and being first to the post is essential in all
forms of sales, whether it's real estate, or software, or
any field.”
Customer insights, data, and personalization leadmarketing aspirations for 2022

The biggest expected marketing gains for 2022 aregreater customer insights and data (41%), improved web
experiences (40%), and greater personalization (40%).  

Ramon Ray explains how these tools can help SMBs do
more: “Now that people have opportunities to restart
what they’re doing, they’re looking for new opportunities
and digitizing themselves. They’re realizing they’ve
already been marketing to one sub-set of customers, so
why not use sales and marketing software to see whatelse you can sell to them? It’s a missed opportunity if
you’re not using technology to mine information andleverage that data.”

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Customer insights, data, and personalization leadmarketing aspirations for 2022

The biggest expected marketing gains for 2022 aregreater customer insights and data (41%), improved web
experiences (40%), and greater personalization (40%).  

Ramon Ray explains how these tools can help SMBs do
more: “Now that people have opportunities to restart

what they’re doing, they’re looking for new opportunities
and digitizing themselves. They’re realizing they’ve
already been marketing to one sub-set of customers, so
why not use sales and marketing software to see whatelse you can sell to them? It’s a missed opportunity if
you’re not using technology to mine information andleverage that data.”“There are more tools on the market today to help SMBs seem likethey're responsive by automating and managing inbound prospective
sales inquiries. And I think they've been gobbled up. I still believe thatbeing quick to respond and being first to the post is essential in all
forms of sales, whether it's real estate, or software, or any field.”— Tom Rossiter, CEO of RESAAS— Ramon Ray, small business expert
16Compliance and regulations

Compliance is a growing
challenge for SMBs

Compliance and legal obligations (20%) was the thirdbiggest pain point for small businesses in 2022.

Specifically, the biggest compliance and regulatory
challenges for SMBs are changing complianceobligations (36%) and, perhaps relatedly, information onwhat to do is hard to find (33%) and the process is toolong and complicated (32%). 

Why have regulations and compliance become such asignificant challenge for SMBs? As Greg Verdino
explains, the changing business landscape influences
regulations, and because we’re seeing a lot of change,
we’re seeing a lot of changing regulations. “There are awhole range of factors around workplace safety. Someareas have mask mandates, or vaccine mandates, andothers don’t.

17

“There are issues related to diversity and inclusion andthat has implications for everything from the makeup of
your workforce to fair and equal payment across theworkforce to paid leave policies. 

“Also, changes to the tax code are always confusing.
And I think it's likely to become an even thornier patchin 2022 and beyond… as more organizations invest in or
take payments in alternative or digital currencies, thetax implications go into hyperdrive.

“Finally, before your workforce might be relatively
contained within a specific geography, but now you
have a workforce that's potentially distributed globally.
You have to think about all of the different regulations—a regulation in India versus a regulation in the UK. All ofthese things are changing almost day by day.”“Every company is upping
their game. Everyone wants
to be better with complianceand legal issues because
everyone wants to know how
they can find an edge in theirindustry.”— Ramon Ray, Small business expert

What SMBs are doing about turbulent compliancechanges

Small businesses are looking to technology, andspecifically automation, to solve compliance challenges
in 2022. Technology (27%) was the biggest tactic for
how SMBs plan to meet their regulatory obligations in
2022. 

Legal and compliance (32%) was the third-biggest area
in which SMBs are planning on investing in newtechnology in 2022, only two percentage points behind
HR (34%) and two more behind marketing (36%). 

And SMBs are looking to automation specifically as theanswer to compliance demands, considering compliancethe area of the business that would most benefit fromautomation (34%), ahead of both marketing (33%) andsales (32%). 

As Ramon Ray explains, “Companies themselves want tobe more compliant. Getting a proposal done right,
walking the proposal through the process, and once thecontract is rewarded, dealing with all the many
compliance issues in the industry—it’s so much
paperwork. The better they can automate and leveragetechnology to be compliant, the easier they can rest. No
CEO wants to wake up with a regulatory agency on theirback.” And there’s a big advantage to it, he continues:“Every company is upping their game. Everyone wants tobe better with compliance and legal issues because
everyone wants to know how they can find an edge intheir industry.”18

Thriving businesses
put people first
It’s an exciting time as businesses move towards a more
operational and automated future, but it’s importantthey don’t forget about the people side of the equation—
especially as employees move out of the office and outof business owners’ sights.

That’s the only true way to attract and retain talent, andultimately build a sustainable SMB for years to come.
As Tom Rossiter says, there is a silver lining to all of thischange: “In this post-pandemic corporate world, there's
less focus on frills and things that don't matter, andmore focus on the individuals that make up theirorganization. When that's the case, you build more
people-forward organizations, which time and timeagain is proven to produce better products and produce
better results.”

Methodology

The survey was conducted online by Censuswide on behalf of HelloSign (now Dropbox Sign) between November 06, 2021 and December 22, 2021,
among 1,051 18+ founders, CEOs, and senior leaders at businesses with between 1 and 500 employees. Specifically, this research targets respondents
working in professional services (258), technology (260), finance (267), and real estate (266). Censuswide abides by and employs members of theMarket Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct which is based on the ESOMAR principles. Doing your own research? Get the raw data.

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