Over 60% of small and medium-sized business owners are optimistic about 2010, according to a survey by Cisco.

The survey of over 1,000 SMEs found that 63% of small businesses surveyed are optimistic about 2010, with 77% expecting to see an upturn in the economy within the year.

Over 50% of firms reported that they had taken steps to refocus their business on the customer to steer their business through the recession. However, 43% had taken no such action and are likely to be in danger of losing out to their more customer savvy counterparts.

"What we see here is that rather than simply adapting to the pressures of the recession, a large number of our small businesses are taking matters into their own hands and making things better for themselves," said David Critchley, head of SME and Commercial for Cisco UK & Ireland.

"Remodeling their business around the needs of their customers, embracing new technology, routes to market, and ways of communicating with their audiences, these customer kings are set to thrive in 2010."