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Microsoft identifies SMBs as one of its growth drivers

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

NEW DELHI: Identifying SMB segment among the top three growth engines for the company, Microsoft has announced that it would double its headcount focused on the SMB space and extend its geographical reach from 16 cities to 33 cities across India by the end of next year.

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According to Microsoft India MD Neelam Dhawan, Microsoft currently has over 300 employees in India and the target is to have one-third of its current headcount to be focused on the SMB segment.

Explaining the relevance of the SMB segment to Microsoft's business, she added,” With 1.8 million SMBs in India today, there is a huge section that can benefit from tailor made IT solutions. Backed by our experience and historic success in this segment, our stack of offerings and our partner centric approach, we are better positioned to address the needs of this segment than any other company.”

The company is targeting verticals like manufacturing, retail, textile, PSUs and auto ancillary in the SMB space. It has outlined a three pronged strategy focused on increasing product relevance, extending partner reach and strengthening customer relationships to address the needs of its SMB customers in India.

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Microsoft also launched Open Value licensing program aimed at the SMB segment and announced broad availability of Microsoft Business solutions Navision 4.0. Open Value allows SMB customers to pay for the software they purchase from Microsoft over a period of three years and upgrade to new versions of Microsoft software, as they are released, at no additional cost. Navision 4.0 is Microsoft's integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) solution for the SMB segment. This fully customizable solution uses Microsoft Outlook as the front end.

Outlining the company's SMB strategy, Microsoft small & mid market solutions and partners (SMS&P) group director Rajeev Mittal said, “Under integrated product innovation, we are launching Navision 4.0 in India. We would also have deeper engagements with Indian independent software vendors (ISVs) to create local solutions as well as develop products specifically for SMBs. Currently, we have 3,000 partners across the country. We plan to expand our geographical reach in India to more than 33 cities in the next one year.”

He added, “For increasing customer connection, we have announced the Microsoft Open Value initiative. We would also introduce Mid Market Relationship Program in a bid to stay connected with our customers during the entire lifecycle of our solution. Another initiative from our side would be the introduction of Mid Market Online Experience by March 2006 to help our SMB customers to manage the entire licensing and other relationship online.”

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