More than 500 SMEs participate in 'Free for SMEs'

Indian Express

For the first time ever, the Internet and Mobile industry fraternity came together to provide much-needed impetus to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at the recently concluded Conference on ‘Free for SMEs’.

Jointly organized by IndiaMART.com and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, the much-acclaimed conference brought fierce competitors from different verticals on a common platform to voice their opinion, share their expertise and add value on how SMEs can leverage ICT tools, services and applications for their business growth. That is, the conference equipped the SMEs with information and knowledge of these applications which they were largely unaware of.

Complimenting the industry fraternity, the audience gathering was constituted by the real SMEs. As usually observed, actual SMEs are missing in action in conferences and seminars. However, the theme was so valuable and attractive that it was successful in mobilizing over 500 SMEs to attend and benefit from this uniue convention.

No other platform than ‘Free for SMEs’ could achieve a feat of having intense competitors like IndiaMART.com, Tradeindia.com, Fibre2fashion.com, Sulekha and Yahoo! Small Business in one forum and discuss how SMEs could reap the benefits of B2B Marketplaces.

In addition, for the first time ever, the entire classified portals industry was together on one platform. The think tanks from InfoEdge, OLX, Asklaila.com, Quickr India, J9 Ventures successfully enabled a detailed understanding of leveraging their cost-effective services for brand building, promotions and engaging customers.

While Amarjit Batra, OLX highlighted the worthiness of local classifieds and methods to utilize blogs and social networking sites like Facebook, Pranay Chulet, CEO, QuickrIndiatermed the local classified portals as ‘faster, better and cheaper’ way of enhancing businesses. Believing in the tech-tonic shift in the way information is consumed, Amlan Mandal from Asklaila apprised everyone in the audience on evaluating what works better (social media) for business, segmentation of target group and timing of consumption.

An interactive platform, the one-of-a-kind conference also had panelists answering questions put forth by the engaged audience. To a question on what all aspects to be kept in mind while hiring SEO agencies, a panelist replied that objectives and deliverables are to be well-defined while understanding basics of SEO by oneself. Replying to another question on how to use social media for a B2B segment, another panelist said that companies can start groups around their area of expertise through which they can tap their target customers.

The conference concluded with the forward-looking theme of cost-effective mobile and email marketing solutions for SME businesses where One97, Valuefirst, 160by2, Sprinklr jointly enlightened the esteemed audience with their knowledge.

More than 500 SMEs participate in ‘Free for SMEs’