He acknowledged that the way that the workplace was changing would throw up a new set of problems. The growing use of social media, the proliferation of smartphones and the move towards a flexible workplace - with more employees on the move or working from home - all throw up obstacles. "You can't just give up because it's hard," said the spokesman, "You can't close the door completely but you just put as many obstacles in the way as possible."

The recession is set to have a harder effect on small businesses - according to the survey, 46 percent have experienced declining sales and 44 percent are expecting to cut their IT budgets.

GFI is set to take on board the smaller IT budgets, by offering some of its products for free in an attempt to pick up sales when the economy recovers. The company is set to make its Languard vulnerability management software available for download within the next month, followed by MailEssentials, MailArchiver and WebMonitor. The company is also set to add a back-up product to its portfolio within the next quarter.