IT on easy-pay mode for small businesses

This will eliminate upfront capital expenditure and need for additional resources.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, according to analyst reports, are set to spend around $8 billion to beef up their information technology (IT) infrastructure (hardware and software) in the current financial year. Taking a cue from the analysis, IT companies are now busy providing them sources for easy spending.

Microsoft, for instance, recently launched its Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Prepaid Edition in India to cater to this segment. The pre-paid edition is available at a 6-month subscription.

Earlier in the year, Microsoft had made available its Dynamics Suite of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications as a subscription service in India.

Through this scheme, the customer would have to pay on a per user per month basis. Therefore, eliminating upfront capital expenditure and also eliminating the need for in-house IT resources and additional infrastructure.

Realising the importance of this upcoming segment, global giant Google, too has launched special editions for SMEs. "SMEs are eligible to sign up for the Standard Edition (free) or Premier Edition ($50, approximately Rs 2,000 per user per year)," explains Rajen Sheth, Senior Product Manager, Google India.

"We see great opportunity to work with small and medium-sized businesses,"says Sheth.

"With Google Apps, businesses can tap into an unprecedented stream of technology and innovation at a fraction of the cost of traditional installed solutions. We've seen an enthusiastic uptake of Google Apps, with 1,500 businesses a day signing up for the service," he adds.

Sharpening its focus in the SME space, IBM India had also launched its 'Express Advantage' initiative for mid-market businesses and introduced a host of cross-industry solutions for SMEs.

Given the specific focus for SMEs through this programme, there is no price differential in the products under this scheme. IBM has launched its IBM Financing Advantage programme.

IFA offers customers and business partners complete single-source financing at competitive rates, featuring easy access to leases and loans for IBM and non-IBM hardware, IBM software and IBM services, and a full range of buyback, recycling and scrap services to help manage costs, while simultaneously funding growth.

"Our Small and Medium Business division is the fastest growing sector in India with the Global Small & Medium Business (GSMB) unit accounting for about 20 per cent of the company's total revenue worldwide, and almost 60 per cent of the business here in India," says Ramesh Narasimhan, director, GSMB, IBM India/ South Asia.

Indian companies are also now turning towards such easy-payment schemes for the SMEs. Hyderabad-based IT and consulting company, Satyam Computer Services, recently launched its new enterprise applications delivery model "" software as a service (SaaS).

Under this model, the company will provide web-based enterprise application platform (EAP) for use by SMEs to run business operations like sales, purchases, production, shipment, finance and accounts.

The company's manufacturing and automotive business director and senior vice-president, Subu D said the model is an upcoming development where companies pay for IT systems based on usage.

According to him, Satyam views this model as a perfect fit for the needs of SMEs in India and has plans to encourage the same among this business segment by offering an affordable and predictable monthly payment scheme with low initial investment.