How these companies are enabling Indian MSMEs to digitise: top SMB Stories of the week

Digital contactless payments are here to stay. Small businesses, kiranas, and merchants have learned the importance of digitising their business, transacting digitally, and enabling online shopping amidst the pandemic-induced lockdown. 

This week, SMBStory spoke to companies in the digital transformation space to  understand how the road to digitisation for SMBs can be made easy. 

Mastercard

A recent Mastercard study found that 49 percent of Indian consumers are planning to make more purchases online, while 68 percent of consumers think reduced in-store shopping is here to stay. The technology for digitising purchases and payments can introduce simplicity, streamline business processes, reduce timelines, and improve overall efficiency for SMBs.

Mastercard, the US-based leading financial services corporation, is seeking to leverage its network, insights, technology, and partnerships to help Indian SMBs quickly adapt to digital transactions. 

In India, it has committed Rs 250 crore over the next five years to help reboot and energise SMBs. In a video interaction on SMBStory’s Digital Playbook for SMBs on ‘Quick and Easy Ways to Take SMBs Online,’ Vikas Varma, COO - South Asia, Mastercard, says, 

“A lot of these SMBs are completely new to digital. They may have never transacted digitally. Making their user experience seamless, safe, and secure is a critical success factor for the uptake of digital payments by SMBs. If the solution is clunky, takes training, breaks down frequently, or costs a lot — it will be met with resistance. Taking SMBs online is about keeping the solutions simple, modular, and affordable.”

Read the full story here. 

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Zoho Corp

Cloud technology is another tech-based solution that is being picked up by SMBs for business continuity. It allows CRM, ERP, web servers, enterprise applications, IoT solutions, etc, to be hosted online by a service provider. Cloud technology and applications help SMBs communicate, monitor, and delegate crucial tasks, even as they work from home. 

According to a report on the impact of COVID-19 on IT spending by IDC, 64 percent of Indian organisations are expected to increase demand for cloud computing. About 56 percent are expected to increase demand for cloud software to support the new normal. 

In an interaction with SMBStory, Shailesh Kumar Davey explains why SMBs should become more digitally-enabled and transform their technology stacks to cloud-based solutions.

Tracking real-time data and preventing its unauthorised access are other features of cloud technology. “SMBs now have the unique opportunity to transform their traditional technology stacks to cloud-based solutions. This will enable them to carry out their business and technology functions remotely and address their scaling demands without huge capital expenditure and providing rich customer experiences,” says Shailesh Kumar Davey, Vice President at ManageEngine, and one of the co-founders of its parent company, Zoho Corp. 

Zoho Corp’s enterprise IT management division ManageEngine claims to work closely with 8,000 SMBs, which have an average of 100-250 employees. Indian businesses are now poised to adopt cloud computing and software at a heightened pace. 

Read the full story here.

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Other top stories of the week-

Numero Uno

Narinder Singh Dhingra had always been passionate about denims. In the years leading up to 1987, he used to work in his father’s export business. This is when he realised he must do something for the domestic market. In the 1980s, when Arvind Mills started manufacturing and selling the denim fabric in India, he spotted an opportunity and decided to go after it. He felt that denims, which were a staple in the West — especially among the working class, must be introduced in India. This is how Numero Uno came into existence. 

Today, Numero Uno (which means ‘number one’ in Italian) manufactures denim jeans, shirts, jackets, and other denim items. It is present across all channels. The Gurugram-headquartered company has 260 standalone stores across the country and has also partnered with 500 multi-brand outlets (MBOs) like Shoppers Stop, Central, and Lifestyle. It also sells through ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart and many more. Over the years, it also strengthened and enhanced its website. All items are manufactured in the company’s manufacturing unit at Selaqui, Dehradun district, Uttarakhand. 

Click here to read how this brand, that started in the late 1980s, became one of India's well-known denim labels, and clocked a market turnover of Rs 400 crore in 2018-19.