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paradigm shift from large enterprise and SOHO segments, the
solution providers and technology integrators see a bunch of business
opportunities within the SMB space. As it has been recognized as one
of the growing sector that typically employs 50 or more individuals,
the IT needs are becoming critical for their day-to-day business
operations. During the
SP Summit- 2011 held at Kuala Lumpur, the
panelists discussed the SMB opportunities and need for customized
approach. Moderated by Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor of ICT
Publications, CyberMedia, the panel that include Jayesh Kotak,
VP-Product Marketing, D-Link India, talked about the growing
requirements for enterprise applications and solutions around
virtualization. “It is interesting to talk about SMBs today, and
there has been a great hype around cloud within the SMB space. It is
important to know, how the solution providers can be a part of this
bandwagon,” said Ahmad, while kicking off the discussion. Many
SMBs turn to SIs and VARs for advice and service on a number of
technological advancements to accelerate business processes. The SMB
sector is showing a stronger-than average commitment to IT as a
strategic investment for both short and long-term gains. Amongst
other enterprise applications, virtualization
is slowly but steadily getting into the SMBs' parlance. A recent
survey by a research firm, Forrester also views virtualization as one
of the key technology that holds interest among SMBs. In one of its
study, the research firm revealed that majority of companies have
adopted server virtualization during the last couple of years. In
addition, SMB respondents said they expect to virtualize 61 percent
of all OS within the next two years. The findings of the survey
includes that, 53 percent of SMBs have
implemented x86 server virtualization or are in the deployment
process; and SMBs have virtualized
about 36 percent of their OS instances.
tailor-made
approach towards customer to cater to this segment, and
compliance, security and statutory requirements are some of the key
concern areas. Ranjan Chopra of Team Computers said that there SMBs
should be defined as there is apparently no clarity. “In India, we
are focusing on mid-sized enterprises that have a turnover of Rs 200
crore to Rs 2,000 crore. Typically, a company with 1000 PC users
or employees can be defined as midsized organization,” said Chopra.
He said that, they generally deal with infrastructure and can not be
a complete solution provider unless they provide complete solution.
“Building relationships is important today, and companies that fit
to our own size can be easily educated on the business benefits,”
he commented. According to Chopra, there is a need to create
trust so as to get in tune with the customers, and the technology
integrators are increasingly playing a role of security keepers for
enterprises. Chopra also said that infrastructure plays a very
important role within the SMBs. Team Computers embraced cloud two
years ago, and has been selling
solutions around it. A financial company created local backup for
20,000 users around cloud that was recently deployed by the company.
The large integrators like HCL and Wipro can not walk alone, and they
need a face for customer interface.
Gupta of Artek Enterprises
said that the solution
providers should standardize our approach around products and
solutions, before presenting themselves to customers. “We are
focusing on SMBs, and go to them with our quality-driven networking
solutions, and have better understanding,” quoted Gupta. Saket
Kapur of Green Vision said that from their perspective SMBs can be
defined as an organization with 50 to 500 users. “We do not go
by the volume of business but help companies and organizations to
integrate IT policy. During the
last two years of experience, SOHO customers are now big enterprise
today,” said Kapur. Girish Madhavan of Quadsel Systems said that
the requirements for SMBs may be huge and the top management like
CEOs and MDs are involved in whenever there is a change in need
patterns. Jayesh Kotak of D-Link said that if a company has just 50
employees, the IT needs of that company becomes very important.
Chetan Shah of Xpress Computers said that a lot of solution providers
are gearing up
for cloud, but the biggest challenge is how to present it to the
customers. Shah said that virtualization helps in SMBs to cut cost,
but however the SMBs are little apprehensive in terms of security.
“Today, everybody is talking about cloud but the lack of clarity is
creating a roadblock. Also, the billing mode has become increasingly
important for SMBs,” added Shah.