Tech vendors bet big on SMEs

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) market is no longer the segment that needs scaled down versions of technology solutions that were built for large enterprises. Having come into its own, it is now grabbing the mind and solutions share of ICT vendors and looming large on their radar screens.

No longer is it unfashionable to be small, or medium-sized. At least that is what the SMEs are discovering, as they suddenly find themselves on the radar of leading technology firms.

There was a time, when only big was considered significant by the leaders of the ICT sector. India too was privy to this trend, with most IT hardware and software organisations focusing their attention on large companies, with mega IT budgets and large shopping bags. It was these extra large players that were considered IT savvy and technology aware. They were the discerning users of technology companies that knew exactly what they wanted in terms of products and services and had the deep pockets to purchase these offerings.

The SME brigade on the other hand, was a segment, whose requirements were not clearly understood by vendors, and tended to escape the attention of ICT solutions suppliers. Not only was this sector low on technology awareness, thereby requiring immense and costly hand-holding by the service provider, they also worked with meagre budgets, making them an unviable business proposition.

However, that seems to be a thing of the past. Over the past few years the SME market has undergone a transformation. It has nowtaken the centre stage and command the attention of the ICT vendor community. The reasons for this change are obvious. The SME market is no longer the backward child of the industry. It is the growing, aspirational segment that knows its bits and bytes and requires sophisticated IT solutions to fulfil its requirements.

India is clearly entering the SME era. Small and Medium companies are becoming vital to the country’s development and gradually upping their contribution to India’s GDP growth. By all accounts, SMEs represent nearly 80 percent of India’s industrial units, approximately 40 percent of the industrial output and a healthy 35 percent of the country’s exports.

This segment also represents vast, untapped business terrain (as opposed to some of the larger players that are reaching a plateau in terms of IT absorption). Quite clearly, Indian SMEs are emerging as the next generation of growth drivers for the ICT sector.

Recognising the business opportunities being thrown up by the SME market, Indian ICT players are addressing this emerging segment with a rapidly expanding bouquet of specially designed products and services. This is, however, not an easy task for the ICT vendors who face considerable obstacles when it comes to the SME sector, which is obsessed with cost cutting and return on investments, without much concern for the long run.

Therefore, instead of essentially ‘souped-down’ versions of their enterprise class systems or ‘just hardware, just software’ offerings, ICT vendors are now targeting SMEs with ‘complete solutions’ that are tailored to their exact needs
Most ICT vendors are now geared up to cater to what is being touted as the market of the future. Avaya, the global convergence pioneer, in fact has delivered special offerings for the SME segment, including its flagship product, the Avaya IP Office.

The all-in-one solution has been specially designed to meet the communications challenge facing SMEs. Due to its modular design, the solution can scale up to 480 ports to meet the needs of home offices, stand alone businesses, and networked branch and head offices. Built on the latest in converged voice and data technology, the small to mid-sized businesses can benefit from many of the advantages sophisticated communications deliver to their operations.At the end of the day, what is becoming clear is that no IT company worth its salt can afford to ignore the SME segment today.

Head Of SME Business, Avaya GlobalConnect