Driven by the need to keep up with other companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are reportedly being put under pressure due to rising IT costs.

A recent report by Access Markets International Partners found that SME IT spending was set to rise this year, with most headed to storage services.

However, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) IT chairman, Peter Scargill, sounded a note of warning for these firms.

"The amount of spending continues to go up every year as new opportunities emerge in IT," he pointed out.

But some SMEs may find it difficult to keep on upping their IT budget as Mr Scargill noted that upgrading to the latest solutions is "pretty much inescapable for most companies".

He added that nearly all of the firms he comes across now have at least "some sort of content-management system, ranging from Outlook to full-blown CRM [customer relationship management]".

To try and keep a lid on these rising costs, Mr Scargill suggested SMEs may want to look at outsourcing opportunities to experts who can provide better support - possibly for lower costs.