Sify sees big scope in tapping SOHOs, SMBs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sify Technologies has spotted two significant sections of business that were by-passed in the great Indian IT-enabling run, namely the small-office home-office (SOHO) and the small and medium businesses (SMB), and is launching a package for them to board the technology bus.

“Only 15% of the SOHOs and SMBs are connected to the internet, and even among them only 4% have a broadband connection”, says Natesh Mani, president of Sify Technologies’ consumer infrastructure services.

An even more striking statistic says that only 1% of SOHOs and SMBs have a website, severely hampering the business prospects of a good number of them, particularly those who are involved in sectors like export business.

Spotting the opportunity in this largely untapped market, Sify Technologies is rolling out its ‘Platinum’ package aimed at home office, retail outlets, small businesses, cyber cafes and similar other small-time businesses. “Proprietary businesses would not have an IT department and would generally be looking for a connected environment, guaranteed speed and reasonable bandwidth. We see a big opportunity there”, says Mani.

He says the industry estimates pointed to the SOHO and SMB sector being valued at close to Rs 50,000 crore and that they contribute roughly 60% of the GDP, while their IT spend was only 30% of the total national spend.

Sify Technologies has completed pilot studies in Chennai and is rolling out the services in 15 cities and their peripheries, considering that a large number of SOHOs and SMBs thrived in and around a city environment. Mani says the service had the extra advantage of being a wireless operation, that ruled out connectivity problems normally faced in the mofussil areas.

The company is expecting a number of small businesses ranging from exporters and travel agents to shipping agents to benefit from its ‘Platinum’ package, which will offer a domain id, three personalised e-mail ids and a website tool builder among others, to clients.