In the
immediate future, India small and medium businesses indicate a rapid
anticipated growth trend for tablet acquisition. A deep-dive analysis of the
India SMB expenditure on these devices shows that small businesses are the
major contributors to this accelerated spending, outpacing their medium
business counterparts. Moreover, total tablet penetration is projected to
increase dramatically within India SMBs over the next three years. Nearly two
thirds of PC-owning SMBs in India have stated plans to purchase one or more
tablets in the next 12 months. These are a few highlights emerging from the
soon-to-be-published "2013
India SMB Mobility Landscape, Opportunity Assessment & Outlook" study conducted by New York-based AMI-Partners.
India SMBs are indeed considering tablets an essential workplace companion. There are several components to the overall tablet spend. AMI research indicates that more than six in ten tablet-owning SMBs would like to utilize keyboards and other add-on devices. A similar proportion of these SMBs have realized the enhanced need for data security and access control. The need to access data while on the move is key for tablet users. Hence a large majority (over three quarters) of India SMBs connect to the internet via their tablets through either Wi-Fi or some kind of data plan such as 3G. In turn, spending on tablet data plans will display high double-digit growth rates in the near future.
There is no doubt that the need to access and work on
files/documents on the move via cloud applications has been a significant
growth driver for tablet usage. When considering key business applications,
India SMBs tend to utilize tablets for productivity suite applications -
viewing and editing documents on the go. Other oft-used applications are online
file storage, CRM, completing finance/accounting-related tasks, email,
messaging and accessing calendar and contact information. On a personal level,
tablets are used to connect to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
As expected, when comparing tablet applications usage by India SBs versus MBs,
MBs are significantly greater users of these applications.
AMI has analyzed the distribution of tablet operating
systems as a part of its study. "Research reveals that Android is the most
dominant OS among India SMB tablets at present. Apple iOS and Blackberry OS
follow far behind,", says Dev
Chakravarty, Research Manager, AMI-Partners India. "Apple has been
more consumer-centric in the India market, although it has shown an increased
acceptance in its bid to become one of the market leaders. Over 40% of firms
planning to purchase tablets are considering iPads next year," Chakravarty
continued.
Vendors would be interested to know what the key factors
are that influence India SMBs prior to purchasing any type of tablet. "AMI
research reveals the major factors that these companies consider before
purchasing a tablet include: processor speed, high-speed wireless broadband
capability, reliability of service and support, built-in security capabilities,
extended battery life and overall brand image," stated Mr. Chakravarty.
"It is noted that for India SBs, where the major purchase decision makers
are the owners/CEOs, more emphasis is placed on brand image and a larger screen
size. For MBs, where internal IT personnel have greater input into decision
making, processor speed is a key criterion. MBs also place a good deal of
emphasis on the availability of memory expansion slots due to their higher data
management needs," explained Chakravarty.
When examining the channels India SMBs use for tablet
purchases, local computer dealers/resellers are still preferred by a majority
of SMBs due to their long-standing relationship with the companies, established
trust, and reliability. Tablet vendors who are contemplating the ideal
route-to-market to target India SMBs should definitely focus on this channel.
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