Google India to launch mobile app for SMBs

It would create an ecosystem to support the SMBs to leverage online advertisement platform, says the company

In an effort to bring in more small and medium businesses (SMBs) to its online platform including advertising and online communication, Google is planning to launch its mobile application for SMBs in India next month. The company is also in the process of bringing in an ecosystem to support the app, which could be downloaded and used in mobiles for free

Speaking to the reporters while launching its new campaign Google SME Heroes in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Suryanarayana Kodukulla, head of SMB sales, Google India said, "The mobile app is launched in some of the countries like US and we are planning to take it to India by the end of the year."

The app would help the SMBs to create an account and a page which the they can manage and get connected to the customer. The company is getting ready with a call centre with support in regional language and is exploring options to have extended teams to reach the small business person who is sitting at any part of the country.

"For the SMBs we want to give them products to help them be discovered by the consumers, such as AdWords, AdSense and Google for work," he said. He added that in the past more than one year, the company has been giving thrust on developing its own partner network who would interact with the regional customers.

"There are more than 1,200 partners we have tied up with. We are trying to give them more tools and techniques to help the customers use digital and adwords in a much better way. India is a do-it-for-me market and the element of human touch and the element of having an agent in between is something that play very well in India," he said.

In order to help the SMBs when the new mobile app is launched, there would be a call centre to walk through the customers on various matters, and if nothing else helps, the company would send somebody from our partners to visit the customer and help him. All those plans are under-way, he said.

Globally, over two million businesses use Google's advertising platform to fine potential buyers on internet. India already has over 250 million plus internet users and is set to overtake US in 2015 by reaching 350 million internet users. The number of internet users in smart phones are also increasing.

However, the SMBs in India have been slow to adopt the internet, what with out of the 48 million SMBs in India, only 5-6% businesses have a website, said the company.