HP Reaches out to SME Clusters Directly with BusinessNow Express

In its bid to provide innovative IT solutions built for SME clusters, HP has kick-started its BusinessNow Express program. A part of this program involves taking a bus fitted with HP’s business solutions directly to SME clusters

Typical pain-points faced by SMEs in India today include the need to enhance their productivity, reduce costs, and accelerate their business growth. That’s why, most SMEs today feel that basic IT products for email, office work, accounting, etc. has become essential for them. Slightly bigger SMEs go beyond basic IT and look for more complex solutions like cloud based ERP, good Internet connectivity, their own design workstations, etc. These are all bare minimum things required by SMEs, as they’re now all competing in the global market place.

Though IT is essential, a key challenge most SME owners face is that they’re hard pressed for time to go and choose the right IT products and solutions themselves for their business needs. Moreover, once they do get the IT products, they require the right support in getting the products delivered and for uninterrupted functioning.

Solutions Beyond Products!

Gurpreet Brar, Director-Commercial Channels, HP India

According to HP's Director for Commercial Channels, SMEs are looking at not only products, but solutions that are beyond products. "The BusinessNow Express bus therefore not only contains products but also the solutions. For instance, how do setup your email or run an accounting package, what is the right solution for graphics designing, etc.? You can’t really go and showcase these solutions at the customer’s site because SMEs are huge in numbers and spread-out. With this approach, we’re creating a walk in. Moreover, since the market is growing, competition is also increasing and compelling SMEs to cut costs and adopt productive solutions. Earlier, when a company had to cut costs, IT would get affected. But times have changed, now IT is seen as an investment.", he said.

In an effort to address these requirements of SME business owners, HP has launched an interesting program called BusinessNow Express. One part of the program is an assurance from HP for next working day delivery of any products that SMEs buy from HP.

The other and more innovative part of the program is to take a large bus fitted with HP’s products and solutions directly to where SME clusters are located. That’s right, it’s a bus tour for small businesses. Unlike traditional roadshows where a bus reaches out to consumers wanting to buy individual products, this tour is aimed at businesses who need complete IT solutions. As the bus lands up at the SME owners doorstop (well, almost!), they don’t have to waste time visiting different stores to choose different types of IT products. A centrally located bus in their vicinity, therefore creates a pull factor for nearby SME owners to walk-in.

Improve Productivity and Reduce Operating Cost

Parikshet Singh Tomar, Country Category Leader, Printing Systems, PPS, HP India

According to Parikshet Tomar, HP PPS division's country category leader for printing systems, all SMEs are concerned about cost and how to improve their productivity, and how to continuously reduce their operating cost? "What we are trying to put together here is not PC or print, but an entire solution across all devices that can improve their productivity in terms of usage of devices and bring down their costs while doing that. Our JetIntelligence laser for instance is 40% smaller in size and can print 33% more pages. This device helps an organizations improve productivity and make them more efficient."

Moreover, PCQuest has partnered with HP for this initiative, and has its own technology experts stationed in the bus to advise all visitors on how to choose the right IT products. It’s something that PCQuest has always been well-known for. We provide this advice through the magazine and online portal for our readers, but this time, even we’re going straight to our readers’ doorstep!

Customers Want Just in Time Supplies

Nitin Khondalkar, Vice President, PCPA

Nitin Kondhalkar, VP for the PCPA (Pimpri-Chinchwad Plastic Association), in Pune came for doing the ribbon cutting to kick-off the tour in the Pimpri region of Pune. He said that  “IT awareness has gone up because customers want just in time supplies, so everyone is trying to improve their IT solutions. This is a very good initiative because people who want to buy but don’t have the time to go to a computer store, would prefer to come to this, because instead of them going to the store, the  store has come to them.”

New Gen Entrepreneurs are Open to Embracing Technology

Sameer Joshi, Vice Chairman, IPI

Present on the occasion of ribbon cutting at Pimpri was Sameer Joshi, Vice Chairman of IPI (Indian Plastics Institute), Pune. He said that MIDC was once known as the biggest industrial area in Asia. It has businesses that have run for many generations. A key reason they’ve survived is that the third or fourth generations have changed with time. They’re tech savvy and therefore understand that they need technology for their business for productivity increase, sales, connectivity, etc. I’m therefore very glad that you’ve started the tour from the Pimpri-Chinchwad area. We’d be happy to work with you on such initiatives and I assure you that the association and even our students will benefit from it.

Products and Advisors at your doorstep!

R.K. Jain, Chairman, Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Vashi

R.K.Jain, the Chairman of Indian Merchants' Chamber for Vashi chapter graced the occasion and came as chief guest to do the ribbon cutting when the HP BusinessNow Express bus landed up in Vashi. Seeing the products, he said "It’s a very impressive tour where you don’t just get IT products, but also IT advisers on how to select the right products for your establishment. Second, you get a van right at your doorstop.

Pune Needs IT as its Startups have Grown Beyond Bangalore and Hyderabad

Rajeev Patayeet, Director-Vintech Electronic Systems, Pune

Lots of industries are coming up in Pune, be it manufacturing, IT/ITeS, automobile sector, chemical industry, or real estate. This is thanks to the availability of a huge ready-made talent pool from so many colleges under Pune University. The city has overtaken Bangalore and Hyderabad in the number of start-ups as a result. These start-ups need the latest products and technologies, which is why bringing a bus in Pune right at their doorstep is a great idea. It helps bring new customers to partners like us. The idea of bringing commercial products instead of retail ones on display is unique. Moreover, with next-day delivery forming a part of this initiative, it helps faster closure and helps SMBs adopt IT faster to automate, reduce their costs and increase their bottom-line.

Solutions Showcased
The BusinessNow Express bus has been fitted with HP’s solutions that cater to IT domains like mobility, printing, accounting, high-end graphics, and client virtualization. The bus has specific products that cater to these domains. These includes a variety of tablets, ultrabooks and convertibles, light-weight laser MFPs, graphics workstations, all-in-ones and thin clients for highly secure environments.

The Bus Route Map
The bus started its journey from Delhi NCR region, stopping at prime office areas in Okhla and Noida. The two locations immediately drew a lot of crowd from nearby companies. The journey then continued toward Maharashtra, with Pune as the first stop, followed by Vashi, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, and finally Nagpur.

What SMEs need
The crowd that walked in showed a lot of interest in mobility products for their workforce and also in procuring bulk orders for thin clients to secure their workplaces. There were others who were keen on knowing about the HP solutions for virtualisation and specifically for running their high-end workstations in a virtual environment. The mid-level executives were keen on exploring the ultrabooks and convertibles and wanted to understand how these devices would be beneficial in their day-to-day office tasks. The technology experts from PCQuest were on hand to answer their queries around these subjects and help them make the right choice. On a lighter note, there were several rounds of on-the-spot quiz and surprise gifts were given away to the winners. Interesting selfies were taken with the crowd’s favorite products, which can be seen on all the PCQuest social media channels.