Microsoft India finds retail & SMEs hot 26 November 2005

For almost 15 years, ever since started experience to the end user," said Neelam Dhawan, operation in India in 1990, much of its business the recently appointed managing director of focus has been on the area of enterprise and Microsoft India. "Technology has changed the way institutional segments or larger businesses and the consumers work and play the world over. We have retail as well as the small business segment products to meet their needs in all areas of always played a second fiddle. But now, as India's entertainment and education ... whether it's related economic boom has given rise to a burgeoning to music, TV and movies, games, communication consumer market, Microsoft India is changing its or sharing their cherished memories." focus. She added that, "These offerings have been It is now carving out a different India strategy that, appreciated by consumers worldwide, and we are for the first time, puts an increasing focus on the happy to present them to Indian customers today. retail and the small and medium enterprises (SME) The recently set up consumer division will segments, which Microsoft believes currently offers spearhead our foray into this segment, bringing the company a greater growth opportunities for the together all of Microsoft's business units and future. offerings in a comprehensive manner."

In its most ambitious retail initiative yet Microsoft Microsoft says that its retail strategy is based on India announced this week a retail strategy that two broad planks. One is that India's burgeoning involves opening of 500 retail outlets across eight computer user group which is basically thriving on Indian cities in the next six months and introduction using pirated to a huge extent -- Microsoft of a range of products and devices in the areas of reckons that almost 74 percent of the IT industry entertainment, education and learning, gaming, does not use genuine software -- gives it an productivity and communications that Indian enormous "revenue opportunity" in the retail consumers hardly expected out of Microsoft. It segment. includes the introduction of Center 2005 for the first time in the country, and launch of And, the other is the fact that increasingly Indian a slew of digital music devices, smart phones, and consumers are getting tech conscious, but that educational software for the home user. demand remains largely untapped.

The outlets would be opened in partnership with "Urban consumers today are extremely tech the store owners. Microsoft India said it will invest conscious, they want the latest and the best in in the infrastructure required for showcasing, and software whether it's for entertainment, provide its retail partners with marketing support as communications or education," said Ranjivjit Singh, well. And although company officials were mum on Group Director of MS India's consumer business investment numbers, analyst said that the division." partnership plan with storeowners is a smart move since "that way, its mega retail plans would come "But the actual buying experience leaves a lot to be at least financial investments." desired," he said adding which is one important deficiency Microsoft's retail centers will address. The retail strategy, says officials, aims at helping Indian consumers embrace a "Digital Lifestyle" with "It will bridge the gap between the consumer and the help of "a rich constellation of Microsoft the need for information on and access to new products, services and partnerships." products. A consumer will be able to come in, look at and play around with our products, with experts "Microsoft's consumer offerings provide a fantastic helping them through the process -- and walk away

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knowing how Microsoft software can help her have According to the industry sources its growth has more fun, get more done and stay in touch," he been "gentle" with its core area of PC operating said. systems and suites being impacted by piracy and Linux nibbling continuously at MS India's markets. Indeed the retail push is going to be big. Because besides partnering with store owners, Singh Still, the company remained committed to its informed that Microsoft also plans to partner with enterprise and institutional segment and launched original equipment (OEM) vendors, and retail newer products. For instance, it launched "Score- financiers to create "financing schemes, and Office as Smart Client" that caters to users of other alternate delivery models to make these offerings ERP or legacy systems and BizTalk Server 2004, more affordable for consumers." its integration server offering for enterprises.

To check piracy MS India says that it will release In peripherals arena, it launched a range of low-cost versions of its Windows software. The low- "biometric-enabled" hardware like mouse and cost Windows starter version for India will be keyboards, wireless optical desktop comfort edition available in Hindi and English at around $22, which mouse, optical desktop unit with fingerprint reader, would also help reduce entry-level personal wireless intelliMouse explorer with fingerprint computer prices to around $250. reader, and the likes.

"We are spending a lot of time in educating The company also continued with e-governance individuals and businesses on why they need to initiatives like the Bhoomi project in the Indian state buy genuine software and the benefits accruing of Karnataka, the Postal Department, Project from the same," says Dhawan, which she feels has Bhasha (language) and Project Shiksha a more profound impact in the long term than "just (education), which have now been rolled out in policing." seven states.

The retail strategy comes close to the company's During the year MS India also concluded multi- focus on small and medium businesses space that million dollar software partnerships with two of was announced about a month back. This strategy India's leading outsourcing firms Infosys and Wipro, too has the same of it retails strategy which which Microsoft CEO signed during is a new licensing program that reduces initial his visit to the country last November. purchase cost by allowing companies to pay for software over a three-year period. Copyright 2005 by United Press International

When evaluating a technology solution, SMEs look for three things; "A solution that will help address their business need can be easily implemented, and finally a solution that is cost effective in the short and the long term," said a company official.

The company added its plans for the SME segment, "which would be another key growth driver", includes extension of reach from 16 cities to 32 cities across India by the end of this year. According to IT industry lobby NASSCOM, the SME segment currently contributes about 15 percent of all domestic software revenues and is expected to surge substantially by 2008.

The year 2005 has been busy for MS India.

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APA citation: Microsoft India finds retail & SMEs hot (2005, November 26) retrieved 24 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2005-11-microsoft-india-retail-smes-hot.html

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