Tablet usage among India SMBs will continue to skyrocket: AMI

In the immediate future, India small and medium businesses

indicate a rapid anticipated growth trend for tablet acquisition.

An 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, as per the findings of

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 often-used applications are online file storage, CRM,

completing finance/accounting-related tasks, e-mail, 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 percent of

firms planning to purchase tablets are considering iPads next

year,” Chakravarty continued.

“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.”

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.

 

Tablet usage among India SMBs will continue to skyrocket: AMI