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IT investment, top priority for SMBs

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BANGALORE, INDIA: SMBs are the engines for innovation and generating opportunities. It is more important to upgrade technology and move on with the world.

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As was rightly said by Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft: "Small and mid-size businesses are an important part of every economy and technology is the backbone of many SMBs. IT can help drive the efficiencies and growth that will spur SMB stability as they help lead us to economic recovery."

Due to rapid technological changes happening, SMBs have started realizing about competency, efficiencies etc,.SMBs want customized solutions and products that cater to their unique requirements. This has led to an increase in the IT spending among SMBs.

Prashanth K, CEO, 4SPL Technologies India Pvt. Ltd, a Bangalore-based company, which is into software services, said, "presently we are seeing a lot of traction in the cloud and mobility segments. We have Android for mobility and Java for cloud-based applications for the hotel and retail industry. Looking forward in 2013, our investments are quite specific. That will be be in infrastructure to build the cloud environment, resources to boost the existing team of Android developers, build sales and support teams for better customer engagement. We focus more on providing products and solutions on the mobile technology."

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According to a survey by SMB Group, 53 percent of the SMBs are now aware and using the social media platform. SMBs saw a decreased IT spending in 2012 when compared with 2011. Since 2011, there is a 7 percent increase in SMBs, regarding upgradation of cloud accounting/ERP solutions, the report said.

It's not just about investment in the IT segment, but there are SMBs outside metros as well. It's the level of maturity among SMBs, which drives them towards spending on IT

Manish Verma, Asst. VP, KITVEN said: "The association is mainly planning to invest in some specific areas in IT development. Investment priorities in various sectors such as IT, BT, Bio-tech, and Semiconductors are concentrated. Every association has its own IT mandate, according to that funds are allocated. In 2013, there is a lot of funding which mainly focuses on the new technology implementation and upgradation."

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SMBs in India have realized that IT is not just a mere investment, rather it is a survival tool which ensures the enterprise about the concern of profitability. Google and Analysis Group, MIT research scientist Andrew McAfee recently conducted a study to understand the comparative costs of a business moving to the cloud. McAfee found that the typical SMB will significantly reduce its IT costs by doing away with its on-premise technology and moving to the cloud. Websites, blogs and other web based tools, are a part of IT-as-a-Service (ItaaS) since most of the business process services today are transforming over the internet. This has become one of the E-commerce platform for SMBs.

Many SMBs are gearing up for 2013, so segment are the prime segments you are planning your investment in.

 

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