IBM,Microsoft,Oracle And SAP Eyes Coimbatore

Smart, Growing and wired — these are the apt adjectives to describe the small and medium business (SMB) segments in India. With high concentration of SMBs, Coimbatore has become the choice destination for IT giants like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and SAP to market their enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools and set their cash registers ringing. Coimbatore is home to nearly 30,000 SMBs, mainly engaged in engineering, auto components, textiles and now IT and ITeS sectors. Microsoft India, which recently opened its office in the city, has adopted a hub and spoke business model to tap the texcity and the adjoining centres.

Coimbatore has become the choice destination for IT giants like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and SAP

S Balaji, director (sales), hoped it will provide a considerable fillip to IT adoption by local businesses. Earlier in 2007, Microsoft India identified Tirupur as one of the clusters under its Project Vikas for information communication technology (ICT) solutions and applications. IBM too marked its presence last year in the city. Without disclosing the numbers, Ramesh Narasimhan, director (SMB), IBM India, said, “Coimbatore, a strong manufacturing and resource hub for many industries, will be an important market for IBM”. Some businesses that have adopted IT solutions recently include KGISL, Shanthi Gears, Suguna Poultry, Pricol, Xenos Technologies, Precot Meridian, LG Balakrishnan & Bros, Super Spinning Mills, among others.

Germany-based SAP is said to have added over 1,500 new customers in the last 12 months taking its customer base to 2,300. With this new landmark, SAP India claims to have achieved a strong foothold in the SMB market. “We have been working closely with Indian SMEs over the years to understand their business needs and growth aspirations. Tier-2 cities are now waking up to an economic boom and we know that the SMEs want an enterprise technology solution that not only incorporates industry best-practices into their organisation but also acts as their foundation for competitive differentiation,” said Mr Nagaraj Bhargava, vice-president (marketing), SAP Indian sub-continent.

How do these IT tools help in the functioning of an organisation? A Venkatesan, senior vice-president of Pricol feels that with a synchronised business process through SAP his company is eliminating redundancies, minimising departmental conflicts and controlling costs thus saving a lot of time. According to Access Markets International Partners (AMIP), a market research firm, the IT penetration in SMBs is very low and their IT spends in the past have been less than 2% of their turnover. But now, as they align businesses to global needs, they are looking at IT solutions for a wide range of applications — from backing up data, networking to streamlining supply chains and automating customer handling. For IT companies this means entering newer geographies/verticals and for SMBs it is a means of staying competitive.

30.03.2008.

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