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by Rajen Kumar

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Technology

ICT Indispensable for SMEs: Experts

Jul 2009

In this era of globalization, increasing information technological change and demand growth, ICT has become an integrated part of the business process; it is now, a useful tool in almost all the sectors of the society.

It is felt that ICT can help the SMEs climb up the e-adoption ladder, by adapting their business processes to the digital world; they can lead in the implementation of breakthrough technologies; and by the use of ICT, SMEs can improve their performances, and realize their full potential as agents of change.

To focus on such technology-driven growth avenues for the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IndiaMART.com jointly organized a one-day conference on “ICT for SMEs” in New Delhi recently.

SME WORLD was the magazine Partner in the conference.

This was a first of its kind conference which provided SMEs' owners and managers an opportunity to understand and identify the right technology for their respective growth plans.

Speakers at the conference shed light on potential barriers to technology adoption by SMEs which effectuate various issues.

Vice President, 24X7 Learning P Ltd., John Verghese while discussing the operational flexibility said, “e-learning is really beneficial for SMEs as it is cost effective, enhances knowledge and helps in increasing ROI ”

Kartik Taneja of verisign highlighted the use of e-commerce to reach out to the potential clients globally, “use of e-commerce technologies and platforms helps you widen up your reach, have lower start-up cost, disintermediation and lower transaction costs”, he said.

“Smart use of ICT is very important for boosting ROI with minimum resources.”, said Harish Bahl of Smile Interactive technologies Group.

The conference, attended by a host of people from the MSME sector, offered brainstorming sessions on the usage of ICT in the MSME sector.

MSME Secretary Dinesh Rai said that“to ensure a healthy growth for MSME's, ICT is the only solution. There is an urgent need to adapt to the changing needs of the International standards if India has to make her presence felt with a global footprint” and informed that the Ministry has several schemes to help the sector overcome hurdles faced by them in the various Government and private entities.

Sanjay Aggarwal of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) stressed on the need for the SME's to adapt to changing norms of the global businesses by adopting ICT at the earliest.

He put forth IRCTC as an example. “The e-commerce industry in India is worth over $2 billion and IRCTC contributes 40% of this revenue every year. This has been achieved in a short period of 8 years.”

CEO, India Mart, Dinesh Aggarwal, also called upon the entrepreneurs to use ICT as an agent for change that is much required to gear up the SME sector to come out and take initiative to compete with their global counterparts.

He brought forth the positive government's role by way of rationalizing the tax regime and offering single window clearance mechanism. “There is a need to have a proactive strategy for education and infrastructure, which the sector can tap for its manpower needs.” he said.

Chief operating officer, IndiaMART, Brijesh Agrawal, said “According to an analysis conducted by us on 750 medical product companies having their own websites, they could earn total revenue of Rs. 300 crore by spending Rs. 4.5 crore”

While taking about the competitiveness in domestic market Director, Microsoft India, Rajiv Sodhi, said, “3 relevant ICT solutions for SMEs are Awareness, Relevance and Affordability”

The conference concluded that ICT is a critical tool for competitiveness and growth in today's world. It is important to note however, that to reap the far-reaching payoffs of ICT, it must be applied in the relevant manner with the right technology in the right place and time, as it is bound to improve business performance and induce competitiveness and sustainability.

Extra info.

Kartik taneja of verisign said, “use of e-commerce technologies and platforms helps you widen up your reach, have lower start-up cost, disintermediation and lower transaction costs”

Vice President, 24X7 Learning P Ltd., John Verghese said, “e-learning is really beneficial for SMEs as it is cost effective, enhances knowledge and helps in increasing ROI ”

Harish Bahl of Smile Interactive technologies Group, said, “smart use of ICT is very important”

Director, Microsoft India, Rajiv Sodhi, said, “3 relevant ICT solutions for SMEs are Awareness, Relevance and Affordability”

Ram Raj said, “there is a lack of established credible platform to establish credibility”

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