Microsoft bets big on SMEs in India

India has over 40 million small businesses that contribute about 45% of India's industrial output

Microsoft is betting on the small and medium enterprises segment for the expansion and adoption of its cloud offering like Windows Azure, Office 365 and Dynamic CRM Online.

India, according to Microsoft, has over 40 million small businesses that contribute about 45% of India's industrial output. According to findings by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), over the past three years IT-enabled SMEs grew their revenues 20 percentage points faster and cloud services are playing a key role in SME growth.

In fact, Microsoft's Office Productivity Suite is used by 94% of Indian SMBs considered to be leaders in IT adoption and almost 70 per cent of these leaders use Internet Explorer, and nearly 40 per cent use Dynamics for business applications.

"SMEs are a critical growth engine for jobs and economies today. The need for investment in hardware, software, and technical expertise were previously barriers to Indian SMEs fully leveraging IT. Today, the availability of services delivered through pay-as-you-use cloud computing is enabling SMEs to substantially reduce upfront investments in server and networking infrastructure, and allowing them to direct capital to other areas that can drive growth," said Meetul Patel, General Manager - SMS&P, Microsoft India.

Patel said that for Microsoft in India the SME business is fastest growing unit and where its cloud offering has received good adoption. "We also have a huge partner network. We have about 10,000 partners in India spread in 250 cities. In India alone, approximately 2,000 customers are adopting Windows Azure every month," added Patel.

To attract Indian SMEs, Microsoft recently announced a first of its kinds move, and launched 'Trade-In' scheme for its cloud platform, Windows Azure. Under the scheme, which is currently limited only to India, SMEs can sell their old hardware and opt to use proceeds from the same to migrate to Windows Azure.

Patel believes that cloud platform is the best for SMEs as it allows them to save cost by opting for pay-as-they go option. "More importantly, SMEs also have problem of access to the right talent pool, that the cloud offering takes care of," he added.

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