Small and medium-sized companies have been warned to smarten up their attitudes to IT or lose business.

Research of businesses and customers for BT Business and Cisco suggests that not engaging with IT causes SMEs to lose out to larger competitors.

Some 85 per cent of business respondents thought their business needed to be "more agile", cbronline.com reported.

In addition, 65 per cent reported that, while they made efforts to open up new opportunities, they thought they could be doing more.

Chris Hill, chief executive of strategic events agency McMenemy Hill, said: "IT decisions are often made based on the knowledge of decision-makers.

"A small company may not have that required knowledge if they cannot afford to hire an IT specialist."

He added that his company had commissioned outsourcing for some of its IT work.

Cisco recently reported on a Microsoft survey that found 81 per cent of respondents thought it more important than ever that local businesses needed to have a professional-looking website.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).