SMBs the future, reckons MS

NEW DELHI: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. recently announced its plans to cater to the SMB segment. Stepping up product relevance, extending partner reach, and strengthening customer relationships were identified as critical areas towards a winning shift in the Indian marketplace.

Marking out the SMB segment as a key growth driver, the company announced that it would be visible across 32 cities by the end of the year, as against 16 cities currently.

"With 1.8 million entities in India today, there is a huge section of small and medium-sized companies out there that can benefit from tailor-made IT solutions, which positively impact not just the bottom line but also the top line of the company," said Neelam Dhawan, managing director, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

"The SMB segment is a big priority for us and is clearly among the top three engines for growth over the next few years," she added.

As per NASSCOM, the SMB segment currently contributes 10-15 percent of all domestic software revenues and is expected to surge to 50-60 percent by 2008.

Elaborating on Microsoft's value proposition for SMBs in India, Rajeev Mittal, group director, Small and Medium Solutions and Partners, said: "When evaluating a technology solution, SMBs look for three things - a solution that will help address their business need, one that they can easily implement, use and support and, finally, one that is cost effective in the short and the long term."

"Our solutions are built ground up to suit the needs of a small and medium business. Our solutions are out of the box, and leverage the Outlook interface - which most customers are familiar with. This reduces the need for training, and allows the users of these products to hit the ground running. It also allows our customers to derive greater ROI from their existing investments in products such as Office and Windows," said Mittal.

The recent release of software licensing program Open Value for the small and mid-market customers and 'customisable' business management solution Navision 4.0 have been seemingly in line with this new perception.