The other side of the SMB story

For the past two decades Anant Pai, better known as Uncle Pai, has been
running a feature in his Tinkle magazine, namely, Tinkle tells you why. Month
after month, Uncle Pai fields questions from children across India and all over,
explaining to them why the sky is blue or why do bats sleep upside down or how
do we know that the universe is actually expanding. He patiently answers even
the most inane questions, and, even today, in the times of Google and Wikipedia,
the feature retains its novelty.

Yet, the all-knowing Uncle is grappling with something novel himself.
Technology, or to be more precise, computers. In his late seventies, Uncle Pai
has decided to master the computer in his own way. After much practice, he now
uses e-mail like a pro, replying to scores of mails that fill up the Tinkle
mailbox. He comfortably writes on a computer, though he seems to prefer the
rustle of paper and stiffness of a pen.

Nonetheless, while Uncle Pai has been updating himself, the company born in
the late 60s has already adopted the latest in printing-you can see sub-editors
scripting on Word storyboards and designers doing the layout in Quark. Even good
ol' Amar Chitra Katha has a space for itself on cyberspace, and people can buy
past issues from the website. Not content with that, the publishing group is now
embarking on a new journey, embracing the Internet, mobile and other media like
never before. Thus, India Book House (publishers of Tinkle) is as modern as any
can be.

Angelic Issues

In stark contrast is Angel Broking, a modern trading and broking firm. Even
though Angel employs the latest technology that is on offer to enable trading
via Internet, newer innovations keep Ketan Shah, CIO, Angel Broking, busy all
the time. The biggest issue according to Shah is implementing new technology
while ensuring that things continue to run smoothly. “It is really difficult to
implement a new technology in the existing infrastructure with a very small
maintenance window and least amount of downtime, as the new technology requires
a lot of effort in terms of rigorous testing during that stage. We interact with
vendors constantly to understand the product thoroughly, and during this stage
we also obtain market statistics/information about the product,” said Shah.

Anant Pai, the creator of Tinkle Comics, at his office

It is often said that SMB CEOs are stingy when it comes to IT spend and CIOs
have a tough time convincing them for IT buy-in. Not for Shah, he dispels the
notion instantly. “Any top management needs a business justification for any
investment, be it technology or otherwise. We at Angel make sure that any
technology adopted is not obsolete and is scalable enough to address the
ever-growing business requirement. We make a business case before implementing
the technology so that advantages of the technology are clearly visible to the
business and top management,” he said.

A Matter of Scale

Vishal Retail is a fast growing chain of supermarkets all across India. Starting
off in Kolkata in 1986, today the chain has sixty-six showrooms in 46 cities and
even that number might change by the time the story is printed. For Ranjan
Sharma, CIO, Vishal Retail (Megamart), change is the biggest challenge. The
systems that he puts in now should be able to bear the weight of growth in the
coming days or even years.

Often SMBs make do with home-grown solutions, but in today's racy times it
can be a risky proposition. So, after much deliberation, Sharma settled for a
SAP retail solution over the rest, simply because he wanted a system that was
not only robust but also extremely scalable. “For us, it was critical that
systems were able to bear the load. Everyday, we are handling thousands of new
footfalls at our numerous stores. We also wanted a system that could be
replicated at a new store without much fuss,” he said.

Attrition and Other Concerns

Attrition is an issue that stalks all organizations alike. SMBs have a
tougher time, as they are good poaching grounds for big firms. Often big firms
think of SMBs as a training ground for future employees. Also, the fact that
SMBs cannot afford to dole out the sum offered by bigger players, puts them in a
tight spot.

At India Book House, employees give their thumbs up for the work atmosphere,
little wonder that most of the people working there have been around for ages.
According to Sharma, attrition is a fact of business. “As we have to live with
it, why not start making adjustments. I am completely against the Ostrichian
approach, attrition is best solved if you take it head on,” he said.

Pricing is another niggling issue with SMBs. As there are umpteen number of
channel partners, the companies do not know for sure whether the price that they
are buying at is rock bottom or can it slide further. Also, since most vendors
prefer to deal through channel partners, there is no real way of ascertaining
what the channel guy is saying, except cross-checking with other channel guys.
But, that is changing as well as vendors are putting in people in each city to
deal with these issues.

Shah bats for the vendors. “In technology, pricing plays a vital role. It has
been observed that the pricing mechanism is different for every vendor as it
involves not only the product, but also post sales support, maintenance, and
services. It is also important for users to make sure that they do not squeeze
vendors beyond certain levels as it is important that they make reasonable
profits out of the deal so that they can support the same on a sustained basis.
We believe that it should be a win-win situation for both, the vendor and we as
a customer,” he said. Vendor management is an equally important challenge for
SMBs, how well they are able to handle different vendors decides how smooth the
sailing is.

Customization is another big pain point for SMBs. Till quite recently, the
solutions that were available to these companies often used to be withered down
versions of software for large companies. For instance, an ERP solution for SMB
would be quite similar to ERP solutions for large enterprises, except for frills
and features. These uni-size applications are more of a headache than a
solution. Thankfully that is changing as well, as vendors go in for micro-verticalization,
they are offering solutions that are customized and tailored to the needs of the
SMB segment. This has eased life a bit, but not entirely.

In conclusion, SMBs in India have moved up from the position where they
questioned the very need for IT and newer technology. All emphatically agree
that IT is not merely important, but critical for success. And, this heralds a
new change. As these companies consume more and more technology, the country
will, in turn, become more competitive and prosperous. It is not surprising then
to see Uncle Pai bending over the monitor and checking out the to-be published
Tinkle. If at this age and time he can master the computer, there is little
reason or excuse why anybody else cannot.

Shashwat DC

shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in