“SMBs should think big”

BANGALORE: IT vendors are hitching their future growth on the SMB segment,

which is not surprising considering the potential of the segment.






Research agency ACNielsen recently completed a study and estimates that 51, 891
SMB companies in India spent a staggering Rs 21,369 crore on IT in 2005. By

2008, it expects the spend to increase to Rs 26,709 crore.






At a summit on “SMB Revolution and Technology Roadmap” held here on Wednesday,
ACNielson shared some of the data from its survey of SMBs conducted over eight

cities. Firms, which clocked turnover ranging between Rs 50 crore and Rs 400

crore, were chosen for the study.






Highlighting the technology priorities that the segment is looking at this year,
Monica Deveshwar, technology director, ACNielsen, said that enabling and

enhancing e-commerce, automating and optimizing supply chain, customer

relationship management and security.






Some of the common barriers to IT adoption among Indian SMBs are inadequate
budgets, lack of alignment between business goals and IT efforts AND difficulty

in providing the value of IT. The main verticals that went for IT adoption

included manufacturing, transportation and logistics, banking and financial

services, IT and IT services and pharma.






In his keynote address, S Sadagopan, dean, International Institute of
Information Technology, urged SMBs to think big. “Even big companes are going

after the SMB segment and its time you dictate the terms,” he said. Citing

examples like the low-cost airline Air Deccan and the Bombay dabbawallahs who

have earned renown for their flawless logistical execution, said that a lot of

innovations were born in SMBs.






Suggesting ways in which they could leverage IT, he said that companies should
try to avoid complex IT solutions and instead go for simple solutions and also

look at IT deployment from the cost point of view.






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