By Subramanian Ananthapadmanabhan, Senior Vice President, Midmarket, SAP APJ
As a rising global power, India’s economic vision has faithfully focused on four foundational ideas: financial independence, globalization, integration, and liberty from historical impediments. Each of these pillars has given nearly 1.4 million Indian citizens a direction for the development of not only their communities, but also the world.
This “Rising India” narrative has fueled a wide variety of economic victories for India on the global stage.
The nation now ranks as the sixth-largest economy globally ‒ behind the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom ‒ and is expected to become the third-largest by 2031. In addition, it has been rated among the top five of the world’s favorite foreign direct investment destinations.
In light of the vulnerabilities presented by the pandemic, businesses are beginning to think differently about their operations. For large enterprises, this means demonstrating the operational and financial flexibility to navigate emerging disruption. However, most of the midmarket segment is taking a different direction, using limited resources to innovate and improvise to help ensure business continuity.
A turning point for digital and business priorities
According to IDC, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) ahead of the technology adoption curve have been well-positioned to rapidly adapt to business disruption.* They can identify new suppliers to accelerate time to market and respond to surging demand, match production capacity with demand, and ensure the delivery of quality products. At the same time, they were well-equipped to address the growing requirements of regulatory compliance measures.
The 43% of midmarket businesses that still run most of their operations manually are certainly taking notice of their more digitally savvy peers. IDC reported that many of them are even going as far as increasing their 2022 IT spending to adopt digitalization areas, including cloud-based solutions. In fact, 2022 investments of cloud applications have reached a staggering 40% increase, compared to 2021.
This recognition of the vast potential of digitalization couldn’t have come at a better time for India’s SMBs. The nation’s MSME ministry launched a program to promote adoption of the latest technologies and increase awareness of the importance of SMB intellectual property rights. The innovation hub will guide and facilitate the incubation, design, and protection of business propositions that can directly benefit Indian society and be marketed successfully. It also provides financial assistance to help SMBs move forward with their ideas with greater ease and speed.
As more SMBs and startups innovate new products and services, business models, and customer engagement channels in the cloud, they can regain their footing as India’s economic growth engine. And more importantly, businesses can harness the power of data to enhance business flexibility, respond to local market requirements, and gain process efficiencies typically realized by their much-larger competitors.
Cloud innovation: A SMB bedrock for a rising India
The more SMBs become influenced by a rise of cloud-based innovation, the more likely the Indian economy will be characterized by a digital leap that reflects the realities, demands, and needs of an ever-evolving global market. And wherever digital resilience thrives, growth for midmarket businesses will know no bounds.
SAP is deeply committed to powering a digital India with the collective strength of midmarket businesses. Throughout 2022, our Transformation Express will visit major cities throughout India to showcase how the cloud can help companies transform. Business owners have an opportunity to peek into the future of their business and make informed decisions as we see a rising India marching towards a $5 trillion economy. We hope to see you there!
