Small Business Owners Are Optimistic and Tech Focused

This year, National Small Business Week (NSBW) is held April 28-May 4 in honor of the 33.5 million small businesses in the United States. In correlation to this week, Verizon Business released the results of its second annual Latino Small Business Survey, which surveyed 500 Latino small business owners (SBOs) along with 500 non-Latino SBOs in the U.S.

Overall, the survey found that Latino SBOs are optimistic despite economic concerns in comparison to general market SBOs. Additionally, Latino SBOs are prioritizing investments in technology while tackling cybersecurity concerns.

When considering the economy, the survey showed found nearly three in four (74%) of Latino SBOs anticipated the financial security of their business to improve during the next few months, in contrast to 57% of non-Latino SBOs. The majority (78%) of Latino SBOs also responded that their business was better off today compared to a year ago, while only 62% of non-Latino SBOs responded this way. Additionally, 68% of Latino SBOs said they expect their local economies to improve during the next few months, compared to 48% of non-Latino SBOs.

However, Latino SBOs are not without concerns. Worries about tapping into personal savings to finance the business (71% of Latino SBOs versus 53% of non-Latino SBOs) as well as worries about their ability to pay bills/rent each month (64% of Latino SBOs versus 49% of non-Latino SBOs) exist. For the past two years of the survey, Latino SBOs also reported greater concerns about maintaining adequate staffing levels (71% versus 60% in 2023) and avoiding cash flow disruptions (79% versus 69% in 2023).

Regarding technology, Latino SBOs indexed higher across numerous dimensions, including naming technology as a top investment priority (41% versus 30% of non-Latino SBOs) along with e-commerce investment (31% versus 19% of non-Latino SBOs). While the majority of SBOs are concerned about ensuring the security of company networks and computer systems, Latino SBOs indexed higher (77% versus 59% of non-Latino SBOs). This may be because 30% of Latino SBOs reported a cybersecurity incident in the past year as opposed to 21% of non-Latino SBOs.

Additionally, the majority of all SBOs are looking to external support to fuel this growth. Types of support that SBOs are interested in comprise resources to transition to digital-first operations (78% Latino SBOs versus 58% of non-Latino SBOs) and support to transition to new systems or ways of working (82% Latino SBOs versus 58% of non-Latino SBOs).