'SMBs are dabbling with newer ways to leverage IT'

Q&A: Ravi Bharadwaj, General Manager, SMB, Dell India

In February 2009, Dell shifted the orientation of its commercial business from geographic segments — the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Japan, Europe, West Asia and Africa — to three global customer segments: Large enterprise, public, and small and medium businesses (SMBs). With this reorganisation, the company is looking to take the lead in the SMB market. Ravi Bharadwaj, General Manager, SMB, Dell India, spoke to Seema Sindhu on the company’s plans. Edited excerpts:

How has Dell fared in the SMB segment after the reorganisation?
By reorganising along customer lines, we have been able to provide faster innovation, deeper solutions for specific vertical sectors, and better bundling of solutions and services targeted at our customers’ specific needs. The mammoth brand campaigns which outline Dell’s commitment to this segment, reiterate how critical the SMB space has become for Dell.

 

What sort of SMB-oriented products and services does Dell offer?
Dell launched a product segment, Vostro, to cater to the needs of Indian SMBs. We created channel partners to reach out to 200 cities in India. We offer a total solutions approach and look to partner SMBs. Our SMB strategy is aimed at fostering innovation and technology best practices.

On which technology do Indian SMBs spend most?
Besides increased PC adoption, especially laptops, we believe technologies such as virtualisation, ISCI storage and cloud will have an increasing role to play in their success and growth.

Please share some highlights of the year in context of SMBs — how their technology consumption has increased and other trends. IT has transformed the way SMBs work today. From the basic functions of emailing and printing, an increasing number of SMBs are going beyond the routine PC and laptop adoption and are using IT to gain competitive advantage.

SMBs today are looking at employing technology as an enabler — and not just a support function. From using technology to streamline processes, to enabling rural development, to creating an online repository of digitised content, SMBs are dabbling with newer ways to leverage IT.

Did the recession impact SMB spending on IT?
Like any other sector, the slowdown affected Indian SMBs and their expenditure on IT as well. While SMBs were among the earliest to be hit by the recession, they were also the fastest to recover.

What are the opportunities in the SMB segment?
According to recent industry reports, one-third of global SMBs are located in Asia-Pacific. There’s tremendous opportunity in the Asia-Pacific SMB market. According to the International Council of Small Business (ICSB), more than 500 million new SMBs will be started in the next five years, globally, and many of these new enterprises will come from fast-growing economies such as India and China.

How much of your total revenue in India comes from SMBs?
Globally, 25 per cent of Dell’s annual turnover (worldwide) comes from the SMB sector. According to the Q3 results announced recently, Dell’s SMB revenue was $3 billion, up 5 per cent sequentially.

What are your future plans in the SMB segment?
As one of our top five business priorities, we are committed to addressing the pain points of SMBs and have a range of SMB-specific PCs and enterprise products. We look to help them optimise the returns on their IT investment and to be a partner to these companies.