How smart are IBM's SMB biz solutions

BANGALORE, INDIA: In the changing landscape of mid-market business, what separates those who do business from those who thrive is the commitment to innovation. That underlines IBM's strategy to choose the right interface with its customers and offer smart technology that is affordable and accountable too.

In today's regulatory environment, customer demands accountability, and resource optimisation acquires foremost importance for organisations.

Accountability for use is fundamental to virtulization and cloud, which IBM categorises under its shared offering. Certainly, if last decade was about creating data, this decade is all about analysing it. "It is about using data. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the first step towards putting the process of collecting data. It will yield results only if you pick up the data and act upon it," says Jyothi Satyanathan, vice-president, mid-size business (India/SA), IBM.

With a deep understanding of mid-market needs, IBM offers its cloud services to companies and individuals, including students, who want to use it for their projects and charges them as per use. "Our focus has been on virtualization. We have to make customers cloud ready so they start using their resources much more efficiently. When you want to use IT, you need to decide how you consume it. If you want to consume without owning then cloud structure could be the right platform," says Jyothi.

IBM has laid out a clear plan for the next year. Swearing by innovation, it wants to grow in the verticals it has already established its presence like retailing, manufacturing, jewellery, food processing etc. IBM offers comprehensive capabilities in each of these areas where mid-size companies typically encounter challenges.

These industries have multiple needs and there is no single solution for them. "Their needs are different, but they are ready to take the leap as they see value. So, when the things move faster, they will have no qualms about investing," he says.

"When we entered these sectors, there was tough competition, but we had a clear thought process to see that we will do something better but not drastically different," he says.

What essentially is the foundation of any company is the value proposition. "Once you have the value, decisions are faster. Every CIO thinks of how he can increase the number of customers? How he can increase the profit or decrease expenses? Here, IBM offers them the appropriate customised solutions in that direction."

Unlike in large companies, dealing with mid-market companies, he feels, is comfortable and predictable. "Here, once the decision is taken, it is a pretty predictable cycle. In large companies, you normally enocounter the unexpected as you won't know when you will get stuck or who will jump into it."

What makes IBM solutions different from others is its knowledge of the domain. "Our experience of working with customers helps us address their needs. The process knowlege we bring in is beneficial for companies. We offer best of performance and best of domain knowledge to customers."

So, what next? It could be anything, if you go by what Jyothi has to say. "It can be anything. Right now we don't have a technology to share storage space on PCs. Many people don't have electricity generator at home, just because they can't afford it though all it requires is a technology to plug it. So it is all about making technology innovative and affordable."

Will CMOs take over the role of CIOs?

"No. When your key thought process is to increase sales, CMO is important and CIO will deliver what CMO wants. Unlike in big companies, it's all merged in small companies. CMOs are becoming key decision makers in IT. In mid-market companies, decision is taken by CEO while in large enterprises, value decisions are taken by the higher-ups and when it comes down, they are broken into components," he says.