CIOTechOutlook >> Magazine >> December - 2014 issue

Niqotin: Enabling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to Compete Locally and Globally

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There are nearly 550 Million MSMEs across the globe but they are laggards in Enterprise IT adoption. India itself has its own share of nearly 50 Million Micro and Small Enterprises. But only 20 percent of them adopt IT tools like ERP, CRM, SCM, PLM etc., to manage their day-to-day activities. Almost 50 percent of these MSMEs are located in rural areas and 95 percent are micro in nature. The main barriers of technology adoption are Lack of Affordable Solutions, Lack of Suitable Products, Lack of Knowledge, Lack of Skilled Professionals, Lack of Infrastructure and High Cost of Maintenance. Niqotin, a Chennai based Enterprise Application Service provider caters to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with a vision to become the 'Technology Enabler for MSME Ecosystem'. “We develop simple and affordable enterprise solutions for MSMEs who can compete with the technologically advanced counterparts both locally and globally. We wish to bridge the Technology divide - Rural or Urban, English or Non-English – to bring the inclusive growth among the enterprises and we call it as ‘Enterprise Digital Inclusion’,” says Surjith Singh J, Chief Experiment Officer, Niqotin.

Niqotin innovates on indiERP, a Social Cloud ERP for Micro and Small Enterprises with Content, Community and Commerce apps to improve the Process, Productivity and Profit. indiERP helps micro and small businesses manage their businesses effectively and efficiently in their Local languages. Anybody who can read and write their own language can use indiERP to manage the day-to-day activities like Sales, CRM, Production, Quality, HR, Point-of-Sale, Finance etc. The integrated Content, Community and Commerce tools with inbuilt Translation and Cloud telephony features benefit the semi-skilled or unskilled workforce to understand the intricacies of Enterprise Planning. It connects all the Direct and Indirect stakeholders (Customers, Salesforce, Shop-floor, Human Resource, Vendors and Suppliers, Shipping & Logistics, Sub-Contractors, Quality Control, Accounts & Finance, Banks, Clearance Agents etc) of the enterprise ecosystem which is missing in traditional ERP systems.

Sensing the opportunity
“While developing CRM applications to our customers in Tamil Nadu we were facing several questions and challenges. Most of the MSMEs (in our case) are running as a family owned or backed enterprises. The older generation has yet to adopt or embrace the Technology as a tool to improve their businesses. But the current generation is ready to board the so called missed Tech Bus to run their businesses professionally. So, we sensed a bigger opportunity to address and indiERP/RuralERP was born,” adds Surjith. indiERP and RuralERP suite of apps will be part of the MSME Ecosystem which is facing challenges like lack of Infrastructure such as Power, Internet, Computing etc to keep pace with their global counterparts. indiERP and Rural ERP in local languages helps MSMEs manage their day to day activities effectively and efficiently. Niqotin has plans to introduce voice features to connect the Micro and Small businesses with last mile connection in mind.

“We anticipate in enthusiasm that with the help of Rural Broadband policy which will benefit lakhs of village level panchayats with broadband connectivity and widespread presence of 4G in 2015 will improve the much needed connectivity for cloud infrastructure. As a mobile first nation we have started building various Enterprise Apps for mobile platforms to benefit the enterprise mobility. We must invest much needed time and money to educate the MSME market about the necessity of investing in Enterprise tech to improve the ecosystem,” concludes Surjith.


Concentrating on emerging markets
Niqotin is working on a Marketplace model for MSME along with indiERP suite to connect/showcase/sell/cross sell through MSME Marketplace. The company is also working on Internet of Things (IoT) products (smart devices) integrated with indiERP apps which could help to manage the Retail outlet and Shop Floor of a manufacturing unit. Niqotin is concentrating on emerging markets and it has plans to touch the lives of at least 10000 MSMEs in the next three years.

Accolades won by Niqotin
Top 10 Ideas - Bloomberg UTV - The Pitch Season 2
Finalist - Microsoft Bizspark India Startup Challenge 2012
Winner - The Economic Times Power of Ideas 2012
Winner - Nasscom Emerge 50, 2012 - Innovation Category
Winner - The Manthan Award South Asia & Asia Pacific 2012 - eBusiness& Enterprise Category
Top 100 Innovations - DST-Lockheed Martin - India Innovation Growth Program 2013
Finalist - ET NOW Lufthansa Runway to Success 2013
Nominee - eBusiness& Commerce - World Summit Award 2013
120+ Innovative Product Companies – Nasscom Product Conclave 2014
Small Business Technology Partner of the Year 2014 – Small Business Congress 2014 – Franchise India
Winner – HOT100 Technology Companies 2014 – www.hot100.technology

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