Indian SMB IT spending shows 8% growth QOQ |
 |
By Yuga Chaudhari, Principal Correspondent
15 Jan 2010 | SearchCIO.in |
|
|
According to a recent report by New York-based IT research firm Access
Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc, the Indian SMB (small and
medium business or companies with up to 999 employees) segment shows a
sign of revival, as it's set to spend US$4.49 billion on ICT in the
first quarter of 2010.
As compared to the previous quarter, the percentage of IT
spending has increased by 7-8%. "This shows healthy prospects and
the industry's positive outlook," says Rati Ghose, the senior manager
for market insights at AMI-Partners.
As per the study, there is a significant increase in investments for
new customer acquisition among verticals such as transportation,
construction, healthcare and FIRE (banking and financial services,
insurance and real estate). In the retail sector, over one fifth of the
Indian SMB respondents mentioned data management as another key focus
area for technology adoption.
"With limited spending resources due to recent economic conditions, it
has become even more important to see where the pain areas of these
verticals lie," says Ghose. For instance, the FIRE sector today
accounts for about 6% of the Indian SMB segment, and close to 10% of
IT/telecom spending. Other than the large enterprises that have always
been at the helm of technology adoption, Indian SMBs in this segment
are continuously coming up with innovative product portfolios, and
intend to move to the next wave of IT adoption.
The key IT spends drivers for this segment include capabilities to
offer value-added services to clients, gaining a competitive edge,
excellent connectivity, and access to information. Security is another
thrust area for them. Some of the key security requirements on this
front for these companies include enhancing IT security and privacy via
firewall, encryption, and antivirus. Around 73% of FIRE SMBs are
spending in these solutions. "Other areas of interest are line of
business software to improve daily operations, increase in efficiency,
and reduction of dependence on manual intervention. In the last six
months, 79% of FIRE SMBs have invested in business
intelligence, data mining and analytics solutions," says Ghose.
|
|
|
|
