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Empowering SMEs

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Small and medium enterprises play an important role in the growth of a nation by contributing to its GDP and generating employment. In India, the contribution of SMEs towards GDP is expected to reach 22% in 2012. In addition they create over 1.3 mn jobs every year, contributing 45% to industrial output and 40% to exports, and are the fountainhead of several innovations in manufacturing and service sectors.

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However despite the growth in size and significance, the level of IT penetration and adoption of enterprise mobility in this sector still remains dismally low even though the need for the adoption of mobility is well recognized. Today's SMEs are taking steps towards the creation of a more mobile workforce but several hurdles need to be overcome before they can catch up with the large organizations in this respect.

Addressing Challenges

The key problems faced by SMEs while looking for suitable technology solutions are lack of customized solutions to suit specific needs of the business, limited capability to invest in high-end IT infrastructure as well as inadequate in-house management capacities. SMEs also raise concerns around RoI of IT investments as benefits cannot be identified immediately making it difficult to justify the expenses incurred. Security challenges are another area of concern where SMBs tend to let their guard down owing to resource constraints.

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While trying out new technologies, SMEs are also apprehensive about a lock-in risk with the vendor which would result in higher expenditure on frequent technology upgrades or the vendor escalating service fees. Moreover, a relatively low SME focus from service providers owing to the fragmented nature of the SME sector has been another stumbling block in the way of these companies being able to proactively adopt enterprise mobility.

Benefits of Deploying Mobility Solutions

With the growing importance of the SME sector, several service providers have woken up to the huge opportunity awaiting them. Solutions tailor made for the sector have found their way into the market and promises to address the issues that have held them back so far from going mobile. Also, the introduction of cloud computing has opened up a world of enterprise mobility opportunities for SMBs by reducing the cost burden of using IT and offering scalability and flexibility-while providing on-demand services which are highly attractive for this segment. For many SMEs, one of the key advantages of enterprise mobility is the ability to deliver this enhanced flexibility to their sales teams using the mobile cloud.

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Among other key benefits is the ability to enhance communication across the organization and also enable key people to stay in touch with all the latest developments-a measurable impact that enables workforce flexibility, increases employee responsiveness, and helps in sharing knowledge and data with others. The combination of the cloud and enterprise mobility allows SME staff, wherever they may be, to collaborate in real-time. Product and solutions development can also be made simpler with the mobile cloud. These developments have resulted in an increase in IT spends by SMEs where 40% of mid-sized organizations in India have already deployed enterprise mobility solutions and another 25% are planning to embrace at least one mobility device in the near future.

Planning and Implementing the Right Mobility Solutions

Most CIOs are quite apprehensive about how well they can plan and manage enterprise mobility. Implementing the right strategy will ensure standardization of applications, security of data as well as lowers total cost of ownership.

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  • IT managers should define the mobility requirements based on the roles and responsibilities of employees and how they can benefit from it
  • Cost-efficiency is another key factor to be considered while deploying mobility solutions and should be allocated in a manner that allows the company to garner maximum value from the budget
  • CIOs should also educate their employees about the mobility policies as part of the basic technology management practice as it is important for employees to understand the effective use of these mobile devices

In fact, a sound mobile strategy must integrate with the organization's overall business strategy and selecting a customized solution can help organizations implement mobility solutions and overcoming the enterprise challenges. With the enterprise mobility market expected to cross $1 bn by 2015, businesses are constantly looking out for ways to expand their portfolio of solutions in key areas such as mobility and collaboration. In order to take complete advantage of mobilizing the entire enterprise, organizations need to think outside their department. Implementing mobility strategies that capture valuable business data at its source and go beyond just providing access to business information across the enterprise is a must.

Therefore, developing products and solutions that are SME-friendly is crucial in enabling the larger workforce to collaborate and communicate while on the move. Mobility solutions that operate on a hosted cloud model will greatly help SMEs achieve this.

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