Saurabh Gupta | 26 Sep, 2009
Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) or SMEs today are looking at employing information technology (IT) as an enabler and not just a support function, said Ravi Bharadwaj, Head, SMB, Dell India Pvt. Ltd. in an exclusive interview to SME Times.

Excerpts of the interview...

Do you agree that, Information Technology (IT) is one of the significant factors, which is, in general, not used by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India for their production and business process? What is the role of information technology in the growth of SME?
Ravi Bharadwaj: IT has transformed the way SMBs work today. There has been a visible shift in the outlook of SMB owners. From the basic functions of emailing and printing, an increasing number of SMBs are going beyond the routine PC and laptop adoption and are using IT to gain competitive advantage. SMBs today are looking at employing technology as an enabler – and not just a support function.

As part of Dell’s annual Small Business Excellence Awards – where SMBs in India have an opportunity to win US$ 25,000 in Dell products and services – we saw innumerable examples of how small businesses are increasingly leveraging technology in innovative ways to reach out to their customers effectively.

From using technology to streamline processes, to enable rural development, to create an online repository of digitized content, SMBs are dabbling with newer ways to leverage IT. A simple tool like social media platforms is being used to tap and communicate with consumers and potential customers.

How is Dell looking the above problem - as a challenge or opportunity?
Ravi Bharadwaj: Dell sees an immense opportunity to grow in the SMB segment. The dell approach is to understand that SMBs have unique iIT needs which require holistic, customized it solutions with excellent support. Fully aware of the challenges that SMBs are faced with, dell finds itself in a position to address the needs of this segment. Taking this as an opportunity, the SMB segment is one of the top five priorities for dell. Through affordable offerings and campaigns targeted as this space, dell aims to assist and salute the entrepreneurial of Indian business owners. Dell looks to be a partner for SMBs in India in how they use technology to become more productive and efficient and help them grow their businesses

The benefits of IT are well known, but it has been seen that SMBs are now aware about the benefits. What Dell is doing in this direction? Do you see this as a niche market?/ How is Dell offering IT solutions to SMBs?
Ravi Bharadwaj: Dell’s SMB focus is based on making sure we have the right products that cater to specific SMB needs and to build on distribution and access with a combination of our direct and channel programs. We offer a total solutions approach and look to partner the SMBs – our interactive campaign Take Your Own Path with its portal www.takeyourownpath.com as well as our first even Indian leg of Dell Small Business Awards highlight this approach.

Our SMB strategy is aimed at fostering innovation and technology best practices amongst Indian SMBs. SMBs will play a key role in economic growth especially in these times; Dell remains committed to offering simplified IT solutions that free up time and money to foster growth and innovation in this space.

Do you have some figure about how may SMBs are taking the advantages of IT and ITES?
Ravi Bharadwaj: According to recent reports by AMI Partners and IDC -

    * 1/3rd of the global SMBs are located in Asia Pacific
    * India has about 7.6 million small and medium businesses
    * More than 500 million new businesses will set up shop over next five years.
    * Most of these new SMBs will come from fast-growing economies such as the BRIC countries
    * According to IDC, total SMB spending is expected to grow from $510.7 billion in 2008 to $675.1 billion in 2013.

What are the challenges you find in Indian SMBs while promoting your products?
Ravi Bharadwaj: Our studies showed that many of the SMBs prefer to buy through their trusted channel partners and the launch of our channel program PartnerDirect last April (2008) is an important part of our strategy to reach out to the SMBs and increase our geographical access. We have also had a tremendous success with our SMB brand campaign Take Your Own Path – the campaign highlighted successful business entrepreneurs in India and it has resonated well with these small and medium business owners. In some very scientific brand tracking, we have seen that the campaign has helped increase the brand preference as well as consideration for the Dell brand in this segment.

The Dell Small business awards offer a tremendous way to reach this segment. The Awards offer the small business owners a global platform to showcase their technology use as well as work with Dell towards a smarter use of technology for their business development.

What do you think that the Government needs to do in this direction?
Ravi Bharadwaj: It is extremely vital to make SMBs IT competitive. By following a clearly regimented cluster approach, unique SMBs needs should be noted, which then should be followed with awareness building and highlighting tangible benefits to business – such as lowering costs, streamlining processes and improving overall efficiency.

In our dialogue with SMBs across the country, a need for financing schemes for IT adoption came to light. It is important that the Government as well as financial institutions align their outreach to SMBs to spur innovative IT usage and growth among SMBs.