As part of its commitment to offer SMBs better access to IT solutions,
Microsoft India announced the expansion of its distributor network. A new
sub-distributor network has been created to support the existing distribution
model. This 40 member strong network will function across 33 cities in India.
Operating on a hub and spoke model, it has the capacity to support over 1,800
3,500 additional business partners. Through this, Microsoft also hopes to
further expand its SMB partner community in India.
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The four million SMBs in India represent 99 percent of businesses and are
responsible for generating 50 percent of the GDP in the country. A significant
percentage of these SMBs are concentrated in upcountry India and they represent
over 60 percent of domestic technology sales, with demand doubling in less than
a decade, and growing steadily, even in these times of recessionary influence.
Microsoft believes that a large part of this ready market is under-serviced and
has therefore taken several comprehen-sive steps to address this. Microsoft is
now present in 16 cities across the country through which it reaches out to over
200 cities. The sub-distributor level will further strengthen the access of
Microsoft solutions for the network of Microsoft partners which in turn will
percolate to the SMBs.
Navdeep Singh, CEO, Tod Adven a Microsoft partner is in agreement and opined
on the announcement, “I think this is just the time for Microsoft to reach out
to us better by increasing setting up sub-distributors. It helps us to work
better with the credit available at our end and helps us to set-up and maintain
a healthy chain of business in these challenging times.”
Ajay Mittal, CEO, HBS Systems, another Microsoft partner added, “The
sub-distributor network will help galvanize our engagement with our customers
further.”