American small-business owners overwhelmingly believe in the power of a mobile solution or app, but they have been slow to adopt the technology. A new survey from Endurance International Group found that 71% of owners feel a mobile solution or app would have a positive impact on their companies, but only 22% of firms currently utilize such tech tools.

Barriers such as expertise, time and expense appear to be preventing survey respondents from going mobile. For instance, half of owners who don’t have a mobile solution or app attributed that fact to their inability to build one. Nearly a quarter revealed that they were too busy operating their company to run an app. Meanwhile, another 22% said it’s too expensive to develop an app, while 5% maintained that they are concerned about security risks associated with having a mobile solution. Relatedly, more than one-third (37%) of owners feel that the time and resources required to create an app presents a significant impediment.

Going forward, however, the rate at which small businesses incorporate mobile technology is forecast to accelerate. Endurance’s survey showed that half of respondents plan to begin investing in mobile solutions within the year. Others (22%) expect to get serious about mobile within one to two years. On the negative side, 16% of survey respondents said their companies would never invest in mobile technology.

Owners that are keen to get going with mobile, though, want the solutions to be easy to manage and customize. Importantly, they also want the apps to be compatible across devices and platforms.