Tiny targets

Calcutta, March 5: Hewlett-Packard India Pvt Ltd (HP) will aggressively target the small and medium business (SMB) units in smaller towns with innovative products that suit their needs. The company will also develop micro-verticals to cater to specific SMB segments.

The shift in Hewlett-Packard’s client focus stems from the fact that the SMB sector was the largest spender on information technology in 2004.

More than 50 per cent of the IT spends in 2004 was done by the SMB sector, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) statistics.

The IT spends included networking, peripherals, software and hardware.

The company, in association with HP Financial Services, offers end-to-end solutions for SMBs.

“Hewlett-Packard plans to concentrate on the mid-market segment of the small and medium business sector having a user community between 500 and 1000,” said Ashok Pamidi, director commercial accounts and base business, Hewlett-Packard India Pvt Ltd.

This category typically includes nine lakh industrial customers.

Of this, Hewlett-Packard currently has 1.5 lakh with an addition of 20,000 customers every quarter.

“Hewlett-Packard caters to three basic problems of the segment ? constant availability of technology trained personnel, high upfront capital investment and the possibility of product obsolescence and additional investment. However, the per deal value is very less,” Pamidi pointed out.