Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India using cloud and mobile tools can expect annual revenue growth of up to 27 per cent, a study by Google and Deloitte said.
The report titled ‘Connected Small Business: Unlocking India’s Digital Potential’ said SMEs moving from offline to an advanced digital engagement could see revenue growth of up to 27 per cent, compared to those who have not begun their digital adoption journey.
“Also, businesses that are “offline” (no internet connectivity, devices or online presence) are not only not growing, their revenue is declining eight per cent annually,” Deloitte Director India Prakash C Prabhakar told reporters here.
Based on a survey of 500 businesses across verticals like BFSI, manufacturing, retail and agriculture, the report analyses the digital engagement of Indian SMBs to understand how digital technology can help them.
“India has huge potential to become one of the biggest economies in the world and digitisation is one of the important factors that can make a significant difference,” he said.
In today’s time, technology is a critical success factor and can be the differentiator between success and failure, Prabhakar added.
The report said digitally advanced SMEs can help India achieve its national objectives of higher economic growth, creating jobs and more exports.
Compared with offline SMBs, those with higher digital engagement are more likely to increase employment by up to 84 per cent, increase access to international markets by up to 65 per cent, and likely to offer new products up to 4.5 times.
“From helping SMEs grow, to going global, or connecting and collaborating with employees more easily, cloud and mobile tools can supercharge small businesses, and we look forward to helping more of them unlock their digital potential,” Google India Country Head (Google for Work) Mohit Pande said.