SMEs embrace cloud computing to boost efficiency

To drive efficiencies in a cost-effective manner, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are embracing the cloud to build, test and run critical applications. With the cloud, they are also scaling up infrastructure as and when needed with the click of a mouse.

Comparex India Private Limited, one of Microsoft's solution partners, grew by 45 per cent in cloud seats across the country in 2013-14, compared to 2012-13. Also, it registered 20 per cent year-on-year growth in business, riding on higher adoption of Microsoft Office 365 among its SME customers, who account for 50 per cent of its customers.

Further, to facilitate adoption of the cloud among SMEs, Microsoft recently started offering Azure (an open and flexible cloud platform that offers a collection of complimentary services like computing, storage, data, networking and apps) via the open licensing model in India. Office 365 has already been available via open licensing.

With this, Microsoft's partners across the country will be able to offer cloud services from Microsoft to their customers. The addition incentivises these partners to do more for their SME customers by exploring the potential of bringing in enterprise grade Microsoft cloud services to them on the 'operating expenditure' model.

Elaborating upon how Microsoft Office 365 has propelled business, Salil Mathur, CEO, Tech Tier Solutions Pvt Ltd, said, "Microsoft Cloud is helping us enhance our competitiveness in the market. We are connected with our customers in real time and are seeing a great degree of efficiency and collaboration being driven within the ecosystem, since we transitioned to the Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 allows us to use products such as MS Office, Excel or Power Point without having to install them."

Tech Tier offers solutions in the areas of customised app development, e-commerce, social media optimisation and optimised web development.

Cloud computing has caught the fancy of SMEs, as it reduces their capex substantially and also saves time spent on negotiations with banks for loans, procurement efforts, complex system deployments and the management of IT environments.

By leveraging cloud services, SMEs businesses are becoming more productive, enhancing efficiencies and collaborating with overseas business partners and customers. SMEs are also able to quickly build and deploy applications at reduced costs and achieve faster return on investment.

Navin Kapur, managing director, Comparex India, said, "Of our customers 50 per cent are SMEs. They are embracing the cloud to drive efficiencies in a cost-effective manner. With Office 365, we have been able to address the IT needs of diverse verticals such as IT, media, BPO and education consulting over the past year."

A vendor associated with a company that provides cloud services said, "There is immense potential for SMEs to reduce operational costs by embracing the cloud. The rising acceptance among SMEs has motivated many companies to offer cloud computing in one form or another. Companies like IBM, Oracle and Symantec are all offering the cloud. SMEs need to shift from the capital expenditure model to the operating expenditure model."

However, while MSMEs look at the cloud as an innovative concept, they also have concerns around data security, especially in businesses like IT/ITES and banking, financial services and insurance. They also believe that further awareness needs to be built, in order to give them the confidence to invest.