Accessing and adopting technology has now become easier for MSMEs with the advent of new-age technology companies, according to a panel discussion on the role of technology in transforming MSMEs. 

The panel discussion, moderated by Aarati Krishnan, columnist, and editorial writer, The Hindu BusinessLine, was conducted by The Hindu BusinessLine, as part of the MSME Growth Conclave on in Bengaluru on Monday.

The conclave was sponsored by Dell Technologies in association with Canara Bank. SBI, Government of Karnataka, SSVM Institutions, Navnit Motors and Radio City were other sponsors.

Panelists included Khilan Haria, SVP and Head Payments, Product, Razorpay; Radhesh Shankaranarayanan, Director & GM - Medium Business India, Dell; and Ratul Ghosh, Chief Growth Officer, Dealshare. 

Talking about how the adoption of technology helps solve the problem of scalability, Radhesh Shankaranarayanan, Director & GM - Medium Business India, Dell, said: “Technology has provided the platform for businesses to scale, and has become a great facilitator of their growth. Technology has turned incremental growth into exponential growth. MSMEs will scale up and join the likes of Infosys and other big players in the near future and technological adoption will be the key element in that journey.”

The panel also discussed how technology has provided access to MSMEs to tap into broader markets. Small businesses and suppliers generally struggle from lack of access, even though they have a unique selling point in their product and design. They lack digital marketing and even the logistics, said Ratul Ghosh, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, Dealshare. 

“This is where an e-commerce platform like ours [Dealshare] can help the small businesses by creating a connection between demand and supply, which is still a problem area for small businesses,” he added. 

Although the adoption of technology is turning out to be beneficial for MSMEs, it is still seen that they face a problem with the cost incurred to enable technological services. Offering his views on this, Khilan Haria, SVP and Head Payments, Product, Razorpay, said, in the past, MSMEs found it challenging to bear the high fixed costs required to obtain technological services. However, with business models like Razorpay, which delivers services on a pay-as-you-go basis, the price of services have become the same for both large companies and MSMEs.

“We see a lot of MSMEs appreciating the value the digital platforms have created for them.  For MSMEs, the costs incurred are acceptable as they are getting access to enabling platforms that help them drive digitisation growth and generate revenues,” Haria added. 

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