SMBs: IT partners key to success
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Businesses bet on investment in technologies
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IBM offers SMBs solutions and technologies that are critical for their survival in the challenging market.
Ramesh Narasimhan
The small medium business (SMB) market in India has evolved in the last couple of years and matured. They are no-longer just investing in basic IT infrastructure but are looking at partners to manage their ever-complex IT needs as they grow. SMBs are more focussed on their core assets to foster specialisation and are increasing their dependence on technology to reduce operational expenditure.
Focus on mid-market
In an interview, Ramesh Narasimhan, Director, General Business, IBM India/South Asia, says that IBM offers SMBs solutions and technologies that are critical for their survival in the challenging market. He feels that the market is levelling out and is expecting to see increased spend towards the end of the year. IBM has increased its focus on the mid-market. “We find that clients, especially in this segment, are increasingly conscious about ‘value’. To address this, we are working with our business partners on building and enhancing their skill levels to help them showcase the value proposition of our solutions to medium-sized businesses,” he says. At a time when its competitors are cutting back on resources for business partners, IBM continues to invest in its business partner’s success. The company continues to increase its marketing and demand generation programme spend in India so that business partners can effectively address the needs and demands of their customers, he says.
In partnership with IBM Global Finance (IGF), the company helps in arranging flexible payment terms for its clients and partners. With IGF, the company aims to help its clients manage their IT acquisitions and operational costs, allowing them to invest in growth. Business partners can exploit the power of their inventory and cash flow to obtain low-cost working capital for their businesses. By doing so, they can increase IT purchasing power and conserve financial resources for their core business requirements.
According to Mr. Narasimhan, mid-size business is vital to world economy as over 65 per cent of the world’s GDP comes from SMBs. Both SMBs and mid-size companies want to work smarter and need to gain greater insight into their customers and market trends. They are the engines of innovation and are expected to lead the world economy back to growth. IBM’s General Business (which is SMB in other words) unit is one of the fastest growing units for IBM India. It has been expanding coverage beyond the Tier-I and Tier-II cities and enhancing partner relationship to be able to address more of the mid-market opportunity.
Remaining competitive
If SMBs need to remain competitive in the current environment, he feels mid-sized organisations will have to harness their information in getting smarter solutions to innovate and grow. Customers across the board are looking at efficient management of IT infrastructure and are investing in emerging technologies such as business analytics, virtualisation, green IT and collaborative technologies. A recent IBM global study highlighted that even in tough economic conditions, over 50 per cent of Indian mid-market business decision makers expect their IT budget to increase in 2009 as compared to last year. Businesses are looking at value for money and investing in technologies that will enable them gain a competitive advantage in this market place.
“IBM is the only player in the market that can offer end-to-end leading solutions for the small and medium businesses. IBM’s tailor-made solutions help SMBs reduce cost; improve service delivery and enable business innovation. IBM will continue to invest in the mid-market. It is serious and committed to enable the growth of mid-size business. IBM’s acquisitions in software and services have given the company tremendous new capabilities to help mid-size companies prosper and grow, even during difficult times,” he says.
Technology
Businesses of all sizes need information technology that is flexible, secure and easy to maintain. SMBs want the same thing as large enterprise clients: value and innovation. Significantly, the mid-market companies face the same issues as large companies, but have fewer resources and time to address those challenges. The majority of Indian companies surveyed cited information management, supply-chain management and security management as critical business priorities for improving business performance and efficiency. Most mid-size companies also recognise that a go-it-alone strategy may hinder their chances for success, and finding strategic IT partners who can collaborate with them to realise their vision is the key to success. Some of the common barriers to successful IT implementation at growing organisations are the inability to implement and lack of required skills in-house.
SHANTHI KANNAN
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