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Microsoft sees growing awareness among small and medium businesses in non-metro locations for adoption of cloud technologies.
“Tier-2 and Tier-3 locations are catching up fast due to broadband penetration and advancements. Also, small business units see some value in going for cloud services. We will say India is a value-sensitive market, not price-sensitive one,” Rajiv Sodhi, General Manager – Commercial Partner, Microsoft India, said here.
Echoing his views, R Venkatesh, Executive Vice-President, Redington India, which manages resellers of Microsoft products and one of the major partners of Microsoft for providing cloud solutions, said the small and medium enterprises started to see the benefits of cloud technologies.
“Of course, SMEs start in small way initially by putting their email services and company portals on cloud. After seeing the advantages and cost savings, they put their critical applications also on cloud,” he added.
In India, the opportunity for cloud services is estimated at $107 billion. Microsoft works with over 9,000 partners in the country and. It adds more than 430 new partners to Microsoft’s partner ecosystem every month. Its cloud services’ partners include over 2,000 start-ups in India.
Sodhi explained that Microsoft reorganised itself to tap the emerging opportunity in the intelligent cloud space and simplified its operating model to help its partners.
Also, it facilitated partner specialisation model for more gains. The segments include independent software vendors (ISVs), which build IPs and products; system integrator (SIs), which do projects and system integration; managed service provider (MSPs), which offer managed services and channel development partners.
He also highlighted about Microsoft’s recently-launched global initiative for start-ups. The programme is aimed at helping start-ups building on a trusted cloud platform that scales with them.
Microsoft is committing $500 million over the next two years for this initiative. It will provide up to $120,000 for start-ups initially and will increase the amount at various stages. The programme will also help start-ups access technology, connect with new customers and channel partners through over 40,000 Microsoft sales representatives and thousands of partners.
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