August 13, 2009 — 9:51am ET | By Pete Wylie

A new Forrester report confirms that small businesses and enterprises alike increasingly are adopting managed services offerings. But instead of cost savings, the current mantra during the deep recession, the report found the main reason these businesses went the hosted route was the desire to focus on core competencies. The latest "Enterprise and SMB Networks and Telecommunications Survey" also found continued enterprise and SMB traction for unified communications as well as gradual growth in desktop VoIP installations.

"While the down environment is making most technology areas suffer, managed services is getting a boost as firms look for more flexible payment models that limit capital expenditure but also can keep them current with technology changes that help their firm," Ellen Daley, vice president and research director at Forrester, said in a release. "This further accelerates an industry move to a more flexible services model for fulfillment of telecom, network, and IT technology changes."

According to the survey, 47 percent of enterprise and 37 percent of SMB respondents have purchased a hosted offering.