- Plans to increase its SME coverage in Karnataka with a 3-pronged approach focusing on Coverage, Intelligence and Automation
- Aims to increase and double the regional channel partners to cover local SME customers
- Launches six vertical-specific value propositions
- Unveils Ready Business 2.0 for SME
- VBS cloud platform to act as a one-stop shop for IT and business critical needs of SMEs
Bengaluru: Vodafone Business Services (VBS), the enterprise arm of Vodafone India, today unveiled its growth strategy to double its target of the Small & Medium Business segment (SME) in India and specific to the state of Karnataka. Reiterating its commitment to the Government’s vision of Digital India and Make in India, VBS aims to adopt a three pronged approach focusing on coverage, intelligence and automation to double its channel network by FY 2016-17 across India. Accordingly, it will increase the channel partners to cover the increased SME customer base in this region.
VBS has launched three SME focussed initiatives which include Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cloud-based offerings; six new vertical propositions specific to a industry and Ready Business 2.0, a value proposition empowering SME to overcome their business challenges and take advantage of the future opportunities.
Popularly known as the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru has played a critical role in shaping the IT industry of the country and making it technologically empowered. With a GDP of $83 billion, Bengaluru is among the richest cities of the country. The boom of IT has resulted in the development of more than 150,000 small and medium enterprises in the state of Karnataka, and the number keeps growing at a rapid pace month-on-month. Currently VBS is working with customers in varied sectors such as IT/ITES, Startups, E-commerce, Automotive, Construction, Manufacturing in this region. There is a clear demand for enterprise solutions that VBS is offering to the SME segment within the state.
Announcing this initiative, Ajay Sehgal, National Head – Small and Medium Enterprises, Vodafone Business Services, said, “The SME vertical is the fastest growing business segment for Vodafone Business Services. Leveraging the advantage of our global expertise and our experience in India, we will support emerging SMEs to enhance their productivity and business efficiencies. We are commitment to foster the Government’s vision of Digital India and Make in India. Bengaluru is the IT capital of the country and we are looking forward to building strategic ICT partnerships with SMEs and channel partners to fuel the growth and development in the region.”
SME Coverage – Engaging channel partners to drive adoption
VBS aims to enhance its SME reach through its new channel strategy; strengthening the width of coverage with primary Channel Partners and leverage the infrastructure available in the market for extended reach with Advanced Resellers (partners who already have an existing IT relationship with SMEs). In addition, VBS will also empower its existing selected high performing retailers to graduate to working with SME customers for addressing their ICT needs.
SME Automation – Making Vodafone the easiest operator to do business with
- Effective utilization of Sales force tool in alignment in Vodafone way of selling
- System Access Partner Portal – Making Vodafone the easiest operator to do business with
- Partner Operating System – To create standardization across SME Channels to improve efficiency and productivity
VBS will use technology in a significant way to make it easy for the channel to interact with it in a fair and transparent manner, making VBS the easiest operator to do business with.
SME Intelligence – Empowering businesses through our understanding & leadership (vertical propositions & VBS cloud platform)
Launch of additional six new vertical propositions for the SMEs
VBS will launch a total of six Vertical Propositions for SMEs this financial year leveraging its global SME leadership experience, and the understanding of their core business. It has already launched six verticals namely; Ready Construction, Ready Manufacturing, Ready Logistics, Ready Hospitality, Ready Healthcare &Ready Professional Services.
SaaS on VBS cloud platform
The newly launched VBS cloud platform caters to the Indian SMEs by addressing their connectivity, collaboration and productivity needs by making relevant ICT business solution available on cloud. Acting as a one-stop shop for SMEs for their IT related business needs, the VBS cloud platform will allow access business applications in pay-per-use Software as a Service (SaaS) model, while allowing them to focus on their core business. The pay-per-use model will make SME customers’ business future ready and also take part fully in Digital India and Make in India. Ease of one-stop billing and seamless support from VBS will take care of the technology upgrades and scalability worries for the SMEs.
Ready Business 2.0
To catalyse the growth of Indian businesses, specifically Small and Medium Sized Businesses, VBS has introduced Ready Business 2.0 – an integrated technology solutioning approach that uses Vodafone’s suite of Total Communications solutions to provide answers to business problems, designed for making businesses more agile towards taking on future challenges.
Adding more on the value proposition, Ajay said, “Vodafone Business Services will help growing businesses become ready for their next phase of growth. Our newly launched cloud platform will act as a one-stop shop for SMEs for all their ICT related business needs. With our Ready Business 2.0 proposition, our fixed, mobile and cloud solutions can empower SMEs in scaling up faster, enhancing operational efficiencies and building a more connected and productive workforce, thus making their business more responsive to customers.”
According to a study undertaken by Department of Science and Technology, there are approximately 4 million Small and Medium Enterprises across various industries, employing 106 million people in India. The MSME segment has the potential to emerge as a backbone for this economy and act as an engine for growth, given the right set of support and enabling framework.
About Vodafone Business Services
Vodafone Business Services, the enterprise arm of Vodafone, provides total telecommunications solutions across both mobility and wireline platforms and enables Global Enterprises, National Corporates, SME’s and Government segments to communicate, collaborate and connect. Today with more than seven million mobility corporate customers, VBS is providing services to global and national businesses equipped with a robust and superior network infrastructure and a 24×7 NOC.
Through a dedicated team of Account Managers and Service Managers and applying a consultative selling approach, it specifically addresses the connectivity, Machine-to-Machine (M2M), cloud and converged communications needs of its customers in India.
With the advantage of its global expertise and knowledge of local markets, Vodafone India is well poised to significantly expand the Government’s capacity to deliver benefits and outcomes for citizens, governments and businesses. Vodafone endeavours to be a steadfast partner in the Government’s efforts towards Digital India.
VBS was recently awarded the ‘Best Enterprise Mobility Service Provider Award by Frost & Sullivan for fifth year in a row (2011-15). It was also awarded ‘Telecom Leadership Award 2014’ for Customer Service by Voice & Data and the CIO Choice awards for enterprise mobility and leased lines.
For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.in