“We make available the most comprehensive portfolio of enterprise-grade cloud services to help them increase productivity and competitiveness. Office 365 is already available in the open catalogue and now with the addition of Azure, SMBs will be able to quickly build and deploy applications at reduced costs with flexible monetary terms and achieve faster return on investment,” he added.

According to a study by Nasscom and Frost & Sullivan, SMBs are expected to spend about USD 18.5 billion (1.11 lakh crore) on information technology by FY2018, driven by growing adoption of cloud and mobility solutions, compared to about 47,200 crore (USD 8.7 billion) on IT in FY2013.

Of the USD 8.7 billion, 45 percent was spent on hardware, while 40 percent was on IT services (implementation, support and training) and 15 percent was on software licensing and software as a service (SaaS).

The report further said SaaS adoption by SMBs in India is growing at a CAGR of over 25 percent and is expected to reach 2,000 crore (USD 370 million) by FY2018.

“Over the years, our customers have been able to adopt and benefit from new technologies though the support of our 10,000 strong partner network. By making Azure available through local partners, we are further helping India’s SMBs secure the great benefits of cloud computing,” Mr. Patel said.

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