Indian medium businesses spent $2.9 billion on IT

A study by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. shows that medium-sized businesses in India spent over $2.9 billion on IT products and services in 2004. This spending was driven by strong adoption of connectivity, computing and productivity solutions.

The previously under-saturated Medium Business (MB) market made major strides in adopting new and advanced IT products and solutions encompassing VPNs, networked storage, WLANs, intrusion detection, firewalls, and customer-focussed enterprise applications. The overall spending on IT by the medium businesses grew by 15 percent to reach the latest figure.

MBs are looking to implement solutions that will enhance the intelligence and scalability of their network in the most cost-effective way. Growing interest in wireless LANs and the increasing need for VPNs have caused MBs to refocus their technology-adoption decisions.

More than two-thirds of Indian MBs have listed VoIP adoption among their top strategic focus areas for 2004, and 62 percent have expressed their willingness to adopt WLAN.

In an attempt to reduce inventory and increase cost control, 70 percent of MBs in India are emphasising the adoption of solutions for successful supply chain management. This is also helping to improve overall business process efficiencies.

Due to increased competition, India MBs are focussing on building a long-term, real-time relationship with customers. As a result, over two-thirds of medium businesses expressed the need for enterprise software applications such as CRM and ERP software.

In the area of information security, 58 percent of MBs in India have deployed anti-virus solutions. 22 percent upgraded their solutions within the last two years. 42 percent deployed some form of network-based firewall. India MBs have spent over $55 million during the last 12 months on security-related products and services such as anti-virus and anti-spam software, intrusion detection programmes, firewalls and other IT security measures.