Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc has published a study, ?2013 India SMB Server and Storage Study.? The study forecasts that the Indian small and medium enterprise (SMB) server market will grow from $300 million in 2013 to $500 million by 2017.
Indian SMBs operating in the manufacturing and IT/ITeS space are going to be the key growth drivers for the server market. Meanwhile, the manufacturing vertical is expected to contribute to the increasing demand for servers. Currently, customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) are the most commonly used applications by Indian SMBs.
AMI Partners says that SMBs are slow to adopt technology. The majority of such companies are in the process of setting up their IT infrastructure and are still dependent on basic IT components. SMBs utilise servers for basic tasks such as file printing and sharing and email.
AMI Partners points out that with the advent of social media, a vast amount of information is available to SMBs online through a host of interactive platforms such as blogs and reviews. However, this has not impacted the role of channel partners, who act as the last mile in the distribution chain. Channel partners continue to play a crucial role in the decision making process of smaller companies. In fact, the relationship between SMB customers and channel partners is not merely of a transactional nature. Instead, channel partners act as an important source of information for SMBs ? right from advising them on pricing related information to offering suggestions on which brands to shortlist and buy.
Going forward, vendors are focusing on ensuring partner efficiency through regular partner programs. The focus is on training the partners for basic box servers as well as high-end servers and emerging technologies such as cloud computing and virtualisation. These programs are aimed at both the partners? technical and the sales teams. Vendors are clearly focusing on engaging the end-customers with a more collaborative approach.
