Top cost-effective technologies for SMBs
By Kukil Bora, SiliconIndia   |   Monday, 11 October 2010, 15:41 IST
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Top cost-effective technologies for SMBs
Bangalore: Development of employees and increased organizational capability are some of the key areas to focus for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to grow. They are always keen to develop their organizational infrastructure, but at the same time very price conscious too. Hence, vendors should always keep in mind this while targeting them. The solutions that the SMBs need should be affordable, cost effective and of course, deliver. Today, small and medium-sized businesses across the country are increasingly relying on new information technology (IT) solutions to strengthen their operational, marketing and customer engagement activities. With India being the second largest country in the world in terms of the number of SMBs totaling to 35 million, SiliconIndia conducted a small survey to find out the key technologies that can lead SMBs to their growth. And here are the top 10 technologies that help SMBs grow. Cloud Computing: Thanks to cloud computing, now businesses no longer have to make heavy investments in IT infrastructure and employ IT staff to maintain it. Today, an entire business platform can be stored, maintained and secured on the web. Cloud computing offers SMBs employee mobility, significantly lower IT costs, improved storage capabilities and a highly automated business platform. Unified Communication (UC): Unified communication is very effective in keeping workgroups connected and enables them to collaborate effectively, and streamline business processes. It can help small businesses reduce travel costs through the use of web-based applications like video conferencing, instant messaging, and VoIP. IBM, Microsoft and Cisco all offer UC solutions for businesses. Open Source Software: The open source software solutions are very cost effective, and therefore are beneficial for SMBs. The majority of open source software is free and can be downloaded, installed and used from the web. When considered in this context, it's hardly surprising that more and more SMBs are starting to embrace open source solutions over costly solutions. Software as a Service (SaaS): Software a solution is done on the cloud with no need for capital investment, and that can be a key benefit for SMBs. Apart from this, SaaS is web-based and multi-tenancy. Hence, a single business application can be used by potentially hundreds of employees. Social Networking: Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can be very effective in pulling thousands of new customers through to their home pages. Thus, social networking provides SMBs with a free marketing vehicle that allows it to target specific groups of people. Custom Software: Custom software is designed to perform a specific group of tasks that differs from other already available software. Custom-made software ensures the software does exactly what the company requires and is flexible enough to meet changing market conditions. Green IT: SMBs can stand to make some considerable savings by making business processes that little bit greener. Gartner suggests that businesses can become greener by keeping documents electronic. Not only will this create savings on stationary and printers, but it will ensure that workers always have electronic copies of important documents. Enterprise Resource Management: SMBs can increase their profitability using the power of modern technologies and best business practices that the ERP software provide. In order to leverage the operational efficiencies like their large counterparts, SMEs must consider the ERP solution as a technological aid.

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