GoDaddy, Microsoft partner to bring SMBs online for Rs 99/mth

Web solutions provider GoDaddy has partnered software giant Microsoft to help small and medium enterprises as well as entrepreneurs get their business online for Rs 99 a month.
"We want to help small businesses take the first step to go online through 'Get Online Today' initiative. With this offering, interested businesses can have a website in the most affordable way," GoDaddy India Vice President and Managing Director Rajiv Sodhi told PTI.
As part of the partnership, customers will get a domain name, get support to build a website as well as access to Microsoft's Office 365 solution for Rs 99 a month.

Customers can choose from popular domains like .Com, .In, .Net, .Org, .Biz, among others.
Also, GoDaddy will provide technical support from their 24X7 customer care to help users set up the website, which would be mobile phone-compatible as well.
"For SMBs, cost and complexity are two biggest issues. With this partnership, we want to address both these challenges.

"If someone wants to get a website, all they need to do is just contact us and we will help them get one according to their needs within 30 minutes," Soni said.
GoDaddy will provide its web builder kit to subscribers where they can design by posting content and multimedia.

With Microsoft on board, customers will have access to solutions like professional e-mail, Lync, contacts and calendar to their custom domain name as well as cloud storage.
"Office 365 is transformational for small businesses because it allows them to easily access the same powerful tools that large companies use at an affordable price," Microsoft India General Manager (SMS&P) Meetul Patel said.
GoDaddy, which is the world's largest web domain registrar, is already a partner with Microsoft at a global level.
Based in Arizona, US, GoDaddy has international presence in Brazil, Canada, India, Netherlands, and the UK.
According to a study by Nasscom and Frost & Sullivan, SMBs are expected to spend about USD 18.5 billion (Rs 1.11 lakh crore) on information technology by FY18, driven by growing adoption of cloud and mobility solutions as compared to about USD 8.7 billion (Rs 47,200 crore) on IT in FY13.

Of the USD 8.7 billion, 45 per cent was spent on hardware, while 40 per cent was on IT services (implementation, support and training) and 15 per cent was on software licensing and software as a service (SaaS).
The report further said that SaaS adoption by SMBs in India is growing at a CAGR of over 25 per cent and is expected to reach USD 370 million (Rs 2,000 crore) by FY18.