"There needs to be more than just a phone service -- there needs to be people on site who understand the politics, priorities of the company and see who within the business gets things done... they need to be a part of the business wherever possible," he said.

Jim Longwood, Gartner Research VP, said SMB outsourcing is more of a niche market.

"In general there are single-service providers. But just because a company is smaller doesn't mean it doesn't need the same services [as larger businesses]," Longwood said.

"The scale is quiet different, but they still have the application requirements and they need to make sure they aren't hit by spam or security problems. If their systems go down it is much more catastrophic."