Squeezed by the twin assault from Android and iOS, BlackBerry maker RIM is hitching its wagon to the SME segment
By Heena Jhingan
Remember “We are the BlackBerry boys” ad? In a move reminiscent of the smartphone maker’s belated and somewhat desperate bid to extend its appeal beyond the “corporate suits,” Research In Motion (RIM) has come up with another tactic. Only this time, it’s the millions of SMEs spread across India that the once-iconic company has on its mind.
The company has roped in digital marketer Getit Infoservices to make its enterprise products and services available to the latter’s huge database of small and medium enterprises. Bundled offerings include free BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express services (up to 75 users), EMI options and device buyback schemes.
While a growing number of young people are seen sporting their BBs and typing furiously on the attractive chat application, will the SMEs feel as excited about the new goodies?
The current scenario
According to industry estimates, over 50 million mobile handsets are sold in India every three months. Of these, smartphones make up a tiny proportion (a little over 5%) – but account for as much as a quarter of handset revenues. RIM estimates that the India smartphone market will grow at 57.5% from 2011 to 2016, making it the fastest growing in the world.
At the moment, RIM does not seem to be positioned very well in the smartphone pie. Figures compiled by CyberMedia Research for the JFM 2012 quarter put Samsung in the lead (40%), followed by Nokia (25%) and then RIM (12%).
However, despite the low numbers, there are many things that are going in favor of RIM when it comes to corporate usage such as for email and business applications. Here, a lot of “suits” still prefer BlackBerry – be it by habit or by dint of its BES, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which is considered to be the most secure and reliable in the industry. In the CIO community too, a significant number of executives can be seen fiddling with their BlackBerrys.
Another aspect that has thrown the market open for any smartphone vendor is that the mobile application segment in India is miniscule and fledgeling. Anyone with the right approach and offerings can take a lead and capture mindshare as well as marketshare.
It is the enterprise mindshare of BlackBerry that the vendor is trying to extend to SMEs through the Getit tie-up. Says Sunil Lalvani, Director of Enterprise Sales, RIM India, “Indian SMEs may appear to be price-sensitive, but when it comes to choice of technology, management and security of their corporate data, they are not ready to settle for anything less than the best. A solution to this is our offering around Blackberry Enterprise Server Express along with BlackBerry Balance technology. This zero-cost software provides SMEs the Mobility platform to deploy corporate email and applications on BlackBerry devices and manage them securely, without the need of any additional license cost on their BlackBerry device.”
He emphasizes that BES Express can be deployed on an organization’s existing application server to wirelessly synchronize Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino with its employees’ BlackBerry devices. The software is free for up to 75 users. The need for an additional server and license arises only when the usage goes beyond that.
Among the key pulls for SMEs? The ability to enable over 90 IT policies through BES Express and the confident edge SMEs can get from BlackBerry Balance – the software that virtually compartmentalizes personal and corporate data, enabling them to have the reliability, security and manageability of corporate data even on employee-owned devices. Given the growing trend of BYOD (bring your own device), this could make eminent business sense to SMEs.
The SME challenge
The SME segment in India, given its huge geographical spread, and cultural and business complexity, often proves to be a tough nut to crack for most vendors. And RIM is not the first one among the mobile vendors to woo SMEs. In the past, Nokia had launched a GPRS-compatible mobile order management system, Nokia Tej. The solution is reported to have been purchased by over 100 SME customers, especially in the distribution and logistics segments, but its success at large still remains to be seen. What’s more, Nokia has been buffeted by the Android wave more than any other handset vendor.
However, if RIM plays its cards right, it could have a game-changer on its hands. A lot will also depend on how the new partner, Getit Infoservices, is able to lend support. As of now, the company seems gung-ho about the initiative. Says CEO Sidharth Gupta, “Today most businesses use email extensively, especially through mobile devices. The partnership with RIM will help our customers achieve enhanced mobile productivity.”
Vishal Tripathi, Principal Analyst, Gartner, is of the opinion that RIM is trying to offer an alternative to Android devices and open-source platform by offering a secure solution. In terms of price competition from Android (where $100 devices dominate), he says, “The SMEs in India might not be using the higher end BlackBerry Bold devices, [but] they definitely can afford other lower end RIM handsets.”
Fundamentally, what RIM is trying to build on, besides the secure push mail services, is its pool of over 38,000 application developers on the BlackBerry platform in India that are engaged in developing specialized applications for healthcare, education, pharma, manufacturing, retail and distribution, BFSI, travel and hospitality segments.
“Several of our ISV partners, who specialize in these vertical applications, have been aligned with some of our key SME customers. With our cloud-based application ecosystem, an SME has the option to upload a Microsoft Excel file onto the cloud and obtain an easy-to-view dashboard (a customizable pie chart or graph, for instance) without the need to deploy any in-house hardware or middleware. It can be a subscription-based model, payable by the SMEs on the basis of use and seasonal business requirements,” Lalvani explains.
The winning proposition for RIM is its attempt to bring a complete offering of software and services bundled with its smart devices, making it a sensible investment for SMEs that are now demanding reliable, secure and cost-effective mobility solutions.
Going forward
BlackBerry has traditionally been synonymous with large enterprise mobile solutions. However, under pressure from Apple and Android players like Samsung that have been entering the enterprises as a result of the BYOD phenomenon, RIM has been toying with newer ways to compensate for the loss.
At this point of time, the SME focus for the company is obvious: currently, RIM is said to enjoy about 20% share of the overall mobility spend among Indian enterprises, a significant number of which are large companies with thousands of employees. Market watchers say that three to five years down the line, the SME segment is expected to embrace mobile technologies in a big way. So, now seems to be the right time to prime this market with cost-competitive offerings. According to the SME Chamber of India, in FY 2012-13, SMEs are expected to contribute 22% to the country’s GDP. And as their hunger for growth increases, so will their tech spend—including mobile solutions.
RIM believes that the SMEs are increasingly becoming tech savvy and their needs are growing beyond email on the move. For instance, until now, Delhi-based Dollar Enterprises, a pharmaceutical trader, used to connect its team members through ordinary web mail. However, the company was looking at mobility for all of its ten employees and looked at BlackBerry as an option. Says Naveen Verma, Director, Dollar Enterprises, “Our prime requirement is push mail that makes our workforce more mobile. We do not have corporate mail accounts, but still want our mails to be secure; that is why we chose to buy BlackBerry devices,” Dollar is now evaluating how it can benefit from the BES offering.
It is early days yet to find out if more SMEs like Dollar gravitate toward BlackBerry as their mobility platform of choice. But if they do, it’s here that the action would start for RIM.
