How tech giant Dell is helping Indian SMBs adapt to the new normal through its ‘SB Month’

As the world adjusts to the new normal brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic, businesses across sectors and sizes are getting back on track, and a lot of this has to do with the increased focus on digital. Today, even the remotest areas in India have internet penetration, thanks to the rise of digitised small businesses in the wake of the pandemic. 

With over 574 million active internet users, it is estimated that India’s monthly active internet user base will reach 639 million by the end of 2020. This outweighs most large markets and naturally, the world’s attention is on how India’s tech and SMB industry will recover. 

There is still a huge amount of untapped potential, with the next wave of internet consumers and businesses coming up.

With social distancing norms in place and customers preferring to buy from e-commerce platforms and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, areas such as contactless checkouts, improved digital payments and delivery order management are poised to see immense growth and scale. Furthermore, according to a McKinsey report, the productivity unlocked by digital applications could also create up to 65 million jobs in India by 2025.

According to an RBI report, the SMB sector has contributed around 30 percent to India’s GDP in the recent years, even while most of the businesses in the sector have remained offline

While SMBs are progressively tapping the opportunities within the online landscape, this has come with its own set of challenges. A joint report by Google India and Kantar revealed that while 93 percent of them were struggling with customer-related challenges, the other majority is under severe pressure to digitise.

This is where tech giants are playing a major role, by not only assisting in tech adoption but also helping small businesses reach a wider audience more efficiently and effectively. This focus of the tech giants on SMBs and startups in the form of product support, guidance, mentorship as well as capital, is helping them not only survive but also grow in the current conditions. 

Some prominent names here are Amazon, with its $1 billion investment decision to support the digitisation of SMBs as well as the ‘MSME Accelerate’ programme, Google’s Digitization Fund, Walmart’s Vriddhi Supplier Development Programme and Dell, which has dedicated programmes, computing products, software solutions and personalised partnerships for small businesses.

Dell’s Small Business Month

With a deep understanding of the pain points of small businesses, the tech giant has introduced various initiatives that help SMBs not only overcome the hurdles of tech adoption but also understand what will work best for their particular needs. These include:

• Small Business Security — data backup and cybersecurity to protect the business information
• Small Business Services — financing, deployment and equipment maintenance)
• Small Business Innovation — the latest tech products to help boost productivity
• Small Business Productivity — optimised software to increase efficiency and productivity

Apart from these, Dell launched an initiative called ‘Small Business Month’ (SB Month) over three years ago.

“Our programmes for our small business customers are focused on talking about our solutions and support services. As part of the SB Month initiative, we take the opportunity to thank our small business customers for the essential role they play in our business and communities,” said Ritu Gupta, Marketing Director, Dell India.

In the past, Dell has debuted new, full-funnel creative campaigns, large experiential events and discounted pricing on its products for SMBs, during this month. This year, while the key elements remain the same, there will be some modifications due to the changes in the environment driven by Covid-19. 

Here are a few aspects of this year’s SB Month:

• Driving awareness about Dell’s solutions for all of its small businesses’ tech needs
• Building on last year’s success and coming up with more offers for its SMB customers
• Increasing awareness of its small business tech advisors

Through this focus on the SMB sector, Dell has helped many businesses not only counter the challenges to their growth, but also scale up with ease.

An example of the impact of Dell’s services is Healthi, a healthtech startup founded in 2013, According to Healthi, it has helped users in over 250 locations across India make smart choices regarding their health and wellness. The startup was part of Dell’s Small Business Advisor programme, which helped in its scale-up journey and growth. Since its inception, it has leveraged Dell’s SMB solutions to figure out the right approach for sustainable growth. Today, the startup has a team of over 80 employees and all of them use Dell computing products.