NEWS
TATA’S EARTHQUAKE
TO REACH SMES
IT MIGHT just work. Indian IT giant market before trying it on the UK or
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has its Germany. Germany has the biggest
eye on the vast sums being spent on IT SMB market in the world,” he says. It
by the world’s small businesses. The has already stated in India, but that may
company that brought you the world’s be a special case as the Indian SMEs
cheapest car at €1000 is now looking recognise the power of Tata as a brand
at providing a complete hardware, and are keen to sign up for its services.
networking and managed service, And eventually, IT-as-a-service could
plus a package of software designed be sold through channels, though not
for small business. It’s already in before it is firmly bedded down – at
use in India, and is being tested in least a year. “eW ’re looking at all the
Portugal before engaging with the big options.”
SME markets in Europe. But a lot of And it will also require localisation,
research has gone into the idea, says as well as large data centres to keep
TCS Global Head, Small Medium the SMEs’ information within the EU
Business - Venguswamy Ramaswamy.
Venguswamy Ramaswamy
for compliance reasons. But other sorts
Should the SME vendors and channel of partner might be getting involved –
start to worry? problem for SMEs, “and integration of Google for example, which is preparing
It couldn’t have been done a few the solutions is a nightmare”. a software desktop for users; Salesforce.
years ago, but such has been the So this is being presented as IT-as-a com, which has proved the way with
improvement in bandwidth globally service - “build IT as you grow”. It hosted applications for business. “But
that a viable model to give IT to SMEs will not be over-engineered – most we will ensure that the intellectual
on a large scale is now possible. enterprises have far more functions property stays with us; we don’t want
Bundling hardware, network and than they actually use. But by anything in the clutches of the any
core software in a low-cost scaleable concentrating on certain key functions other partner.”
package, TCS reckons its can transform and common business applications It will identify a price that the
the model. such as HR, CRM, payroll and common SME can pay, and wants control
The revenue model that Tata is office applications, it aims to hit the over that. Bit the model may prove
proposing is similarly breaking with spot with most. Coupled with six interesting to businesses that are a bit
tradition – the fee will be applied individual vertical applications in areas more than SMEs – although Tata says
over a period – usually monthly, so such as education, manufacturing, it is addressing markets where the
it comes out of revenue, and is not a retail, healthcare, it will aim for critical customers are below $500,000 in size;
capital expense. It can be based on the mass, and develop others as required. that is pretty big in most European
number of transactions, or number of And by offering back-up of data, and countries. And it will also service the
users, or payroll, or a percentage of the a secure system it will put forward to micro-business with a few million
income of the client. SMEs the view that their data is actually dollars in sales, and where remote
The attraction for Tata is obvious safer than if left to their local systems management might not be needed.
– looking at the vast spend of the and management.
smaller companies which is larger Hardware and networking will come OUR VIEW:
even than the top 2000 global from a catalogue – no details of the So in six months, when Portugal
companies. The SME sector is also actual supplier have been given yet, is established, and its experiences
growing its IT spend at around 24%, but the SME’s existing systems may absorbed, the drive could start into
or three times the rate of the global meet the required spec, so it is not all a the rest of Europe. But Tata has a
giants. Tata has also been researching rip and replace. And bandwidth levels five-year plan, which sees it in South
the nature of the SME customer – it world-wide are now good enough to America, Africa, and operating
finds most are dealing with an average make the remote management a reality globally. From Tata’s perspective, it
of seven-twelve vendors, while not in most places. Interestingly it is being has never really addressed the SME
being in a position to manage the IT tested in Portugal, as being close to market with its brand; it will make
properly, nor being attractive enough the Indian market in nature. “And we it look very attractive, and has the
to retain IT talent. This is a global also needed to get it right in a smaller resources to make it work.
JUNE 2008 8020 EUROPA 05
4-8.indd 2 13/6/08 09:49:24
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