I’m writing this blog post from my home office, and there’s a good chance you’re reading this blog post from your home office. That’s good news for mobile IT vendors.

With mobility becoming an increasingly important IT priority, investments by SMBs in smartphones and virtual private networks (VPNs) could rise by as much as 44% and 32%, respectively, over the next 12 months, according to a recent report by CompTIA.

The report, which was conducted in conjunction with AMI-Partners and surveyed 518 North American SMBs, found that the average SMB has 7% of its workforce telecommuting one or more days per week, while 75% of SMBs have at least one employee who works from home.

“With a growing portion of their workforce either mobile or remote, SMBs need to provide cost-effective, safe and secure remote access for these employees,” said CompTIA president and CEO John Venator in a statement. “This suggests there is a sizeable market opportunity associated with productivity-enhancing solutions such as virtual private networks (VPNs), smartphones and other applications.”

Sounds like good news for smartphone vendors like RIM and Palm. Who knows, maybe even the iPhone will find its way into more SMBs. So far, though, I’m getting along just fine with my “old school” mobile phone. It doesn’t have many cool features, but it gets the job done. Not that I’d complain if TechTarget handed me a BlackBerry (hint, hint).

As for my VPN, I’d be in a world of hurt without it. Sans VPN, instead of using Outlook, I’d have to access my email with our Web-based email service, which is far from the easiest application to work with. And that’s being kind.

So look for the ranks of mobile workers to continue to grow in the coming months and years and, with it, opportunity and profits for mobile IT vendors.

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