'Involve top mgmt in IT investments'

HYDERABAD: SMBs with their unique characteristics in terms of size and nature of business have needs different from a large organization. And value for money lies at the core of every decision made.

Addressing Cyber India Online (CIOL) SMB Forum event held in Hyderabad for the first time, Abraham Mathew, President, CIOL, spoke on 'SMB scenario in India'.

Endorsing the theme ‘Paisa Vasool from IT’, Mathews listed out on what SMBs want. He said, " There is no doubt that IT implementation improves the business environment. However for good RoI, it has to pay back fast, should automate difficult processes and more and more people should use the application. In brief, ease of use, scalability and adaptability to future needs and pay for what they need is what an SMB wants."

CIOL’s first SMB Forum in Hyderabad drew good response with 70 Hyderabad-based SMBs from across verticals participating in the Forum.

The panel discussion on the theme ‘Paisa Vasool from IT' comprised of Subrahmanyam, the IT head of Nagarjuna Fertilizers, Ramakrishna Sachdev ­ CIO of Dr Reddys and Ravi Kumar CIO of Gati shared their experience of automating the processes and the issues they faced.

When Gati took to IT three years back there was no readymade package that fit its need and inducing users to log on to intranet was also a challenge. Yet they opted for a big bang approachand today they are reaping the benefits of automation of processes at 20 locations and 300 offices, recalled Kumar.

Ditto was the case with Nagarjuna Fertilizers. Its IT head Subrahmanyam vouched for Lotus Notes and SAP. “Lotus Notes has cut down our communication costs drastically,” said Subrahmanyam. His company has implemented all modules of SAP. “And one of the group companies Nagarjuna Agrichem has gone for the latest version of SAP,” he added.

Large organizations no doubt benefit from SAP but how productive it is for SMBs was the question. Sachdev of Dr Reddys which has SAP for its IT infrastructure took lead in answering it. “There are a whole lot of solutions available in the market but one has to choose what is fundamental to business. One has to take a step approach and critical processes have to be automated first,” he said.

As one grows in size and complexity, one can automate starting with what is critical to business. “Involving top management in IT investments goes without saying,” said Subrahmanyam who also advised that there is no need to rush into IT investments and there are a lot many cost-effective options available in the market.

Another piece of much appreciated advice came from Sachdev who said, “First put good processes in place offline and then go for automation.”

With most of the participants looking for IT implementation in their organization they lamented the need for good consultants who can advise them on what are the products most suitable for their organization.

Well, help is here. The CIOL SMB Forum in its online version is a place where the SMBs can share their experiences and can also have the advantage of having an expert on call to help prioritize their IT requirement.

(CyberMedia News)