Tablet Usage Among India SMEs Will Continue To Grow: AMI

In the immediate future, India small and medium enterprises indicate a rapid anticipated growth trend for tablet acquisition. A deep-dive analysis of the India SME 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 SMEs over the next three years. Nearly two-thirds of PC-owning SMEs 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 SMEs are indeed considering a tablet as an essential workplace companion. There are several components to the overall tablet spend. AMI research indicates that more than six-in-ten tablet-owning SMEs would like to utilise keyboards and other add-on devices. A similar proportion of these SMEs have realised 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 SMEs 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 also display high double-digit growth rates in the near future.

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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 SMEs tend to utilise 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 analysed 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 percent 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 SMEs 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 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 SMEs use for tablet purchases, local computer dealers/resellers are still preferred by a majority of SMEs 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 SMEs should definitely focus on this channel.