IBM bets on SME activity

In a bid to capture more market share in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space, global information technology major IBM today inaugurated its SME operations in Nashik.

The new venture is a part of IBM's initiative that was announced last year, wherein it planned to extend its presence in 14 non-metro cities. Since then, IBM has launched operations in Bhopal, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Goa, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Nagpur, and Vizag.

The initiative is expected to help SMEs in and around the Nashik region to avail IBM's services. IBM will further expand operations to four additional cities including Surat, Bhubaneswar, Madurai and Ludhiana over the coming months.

The SME segment is the fastest growing sector for IBM India. Over 50 per cent of the company's revenues in India come from this emerging segment, while 20 per cent of the global revenues of the company are catered for by this segment.

"We believe in a simplified solutions perspective. We wanted to make buying for mid-market businesses simpler by making our offerings easily available to our customers. We have varied offerings for the SME market which will help our customers compete more effectively, and realise greater business success. SMEs are growth engines of the Indian economy, and we are committed to providing them with access to the right information, tools and technologies that helps them succeed," said Chetan Naik,vice-president, Global Mid-Market Business, IBM India/South Asia.

IBM has invested in the development of products and services, specifically priced and designed for the SME marketplace, under the brand name 'IBM Express Portfolio', that provides mid-market businesses access to a network of local IBM business partners and customer experience capabilities.

The company had also recently announced the IBM Express Advantage initiative that provides SMEs with a unified end-to-end approach to help them innovate and expand.

IBM caters to its clients, through a sales and marketing team comprising 6,000 people and a network of 90,000 business partners, organised in 243 local sales territories around the world.