Zoom’s Anand Bala on the importance of digital communication and collaboration platforms for MSME growth

Businesses, particularly in the small and medium enterprises (SME) space, now understand that digital communications and collaboration systems are mission critical to their success, particularly due to external factors like the global macroeconomic conditions and internal ones such as the need for flexible working conditions for employees, Anand Bala, Business Leader, Mass Market - India & SAARC, Zoom said.

Speaking at ET MSME Talks, a conversation series being hosted as part of the ET MSME Awards programme, Bala said, “The adoption levels for collaboration and for video communication have been phenomenal. And some of the use cases that we've come across have been truly unique.”

He was speaking to Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at a webinar hosted by ET Digital on ‘Embracing Technology to Scale in a Digital Economy.’ This webinar was the first in a series of conversations as part of ET MSME Talks ahead of the ET MSME Awards - a flagship initiative by ET Digital to celebrate, reward and recognise the top Indian MSMEs powering the Indian economy.


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With more and more people asking for flexible work format, the concept of office space is also changing with employees undertaking their general day to day work either in a room, a home office or even on the road and only coming in occasionally to the office. However this works the other round also by allowing companies to hire and recruit top-level talent from tier-II and tier-III cities, which has further boosted the demand for an effective digital communication and collaboration platform, Bala said.

When it comes to their digital communications and collaboration systems, organizations, especially SMBs, need a simple user interface that's able to work across devices, have different use cases, is easy to use, secure, and works exactly the same way, irrespective of the device that’s used or the use case in which it is being used – something that Zoom is working on to fulfil, Bala said.

He also elaborated on the wide range of innovative features that the SME segment is asking for. They include live translators, security, video kiosks, etc. to be integrated or customised for them on these platforms.

“The functionality just keeps growing the more you start integrating with applications, the more you start integrating with business use-cases, and cloud collaboration platforms can make that happen… The key, I think, is in the design of the collaboration solutions that you choose. Is it based on human connectedness? Are you able to deliver that experience where communication just happens?,” asked Bala.

Answering a question on how companies can select the best communication tool for their business from the many options available in the market, Bala pointed out some of the key things to consider include ease of use, integration with existing applications, security features, low bandwidth adaptability, and ease of adoption, among others.

About the ET MSME Awards:
The third edition of ET MSME Awards 2022 aims to celebrate the success of the Indian MSME sector and will act as a defining platform for rewarding Indian MSMEs who are raising the bar by demonstrating excellence and exceptional achievements in business performance along with significant contributions to the economy and society at large.

ET Digital is inviting applications from Indian MSMEs across the services and manufacturing sectors as well as key enablers of the MSME ecosystem to be recognised under any of the 26 award categories of the ET MSME Awards 2022.

This year, the awards feature several new category additions such as the ET MSME Enabler Awards that focus on enterprises supporting MSMEs in the fields of tech and financing, ET MSME Special Awards Category that focuses on women entrepreneurs and sustainability, and ET MSME Industry-focussed Awards that focuses on industry-specific awards.

For more details about the MSME Awards event or the upcoming sessions, please visit, ET MSME Awards2022