35% Indian SMBs plan to be in Cloud in next 2-3 years: Microsoft

NEW DELHI: Almost 35 per cent of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India are spending over 10 per cent of their revenue on technology (in comparison to global counterparts) and 26 per cent of SMBs are early adopters of new technologies, a Microsoft report said on Friday.

At least 27 per cent of SMBs are all or mostly cloud-based, a percentage that is expected to be global average in two-three years, according to the Microsoft's 'SMB Voice and Attitudes to Technology Study 2022' prepared by Analysys Mason.

SMBs are contributing approximately 30 per cent to India's GDP and providing employment to over 114 million people in the country.

"It is evident that linking technology investments and adoption with business strategies, as well as close collaboration with partners are crucial to deliver success for SMBs," said Samik Roy, Executive Director, Corporate Medium, and Small Business, Microsoft India.

Organisations, big or small, that are rooted in technology and committed to harnessing its full potential, will be able to stay ahead of the curve by becoming more agile, resilient, future-ready businesses," he added.

According to the report, SMBs in India look to technology to help them to grow their customer base (39 per cent) and improve customer retention (38 per cent).

SMBs in middle-income markets (27 per cent) are more concerned about cloud migration than their counterparts in high income markets (22 per cent).

"SMBs in India are the most likely to view competition intensity as a major obstacle (35 per cent)," the findings showed.

At least 25 per cent of SMBs surveyed in India prefer working with application developers/independent software vendor (ISVs).

SMBs in India (45 per cent) are most likely to want to improve environmental sustainability in comparison to SMBs across the markets, the report mentioned.