4G Identity Solutions Announced Leader of Tomorrow (IT/ITES-BPO/VAS category)

A doctor, a visionary, an entrepreneur and now a prestigious award winner. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector is proud to treasure Dr. Sreeni Tripuraneni, Chairman & CEO, 4G Identity Solutions, as one of its precious gems who was felicitated with the 'ET NOW-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Award 2011' at the Felicitation Ceremony in Mumbai recently for his laudable contribution under the IT/ITES-BPO/VAS category. He received the award from Mr. NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Technologies, who was the chief guest at the Ceremony.

The 15 different categories (13 across sector & two special recognition) of 'ET NOW-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011' received over 50, 000 nominations across India. 4G Identity Solutions validated its metal and clinched the most sought after award in the IT/ITES-BPO/VAS category, outshining others.

Ecstatic after bagging the award, the Hyderabad-based company owner Dr. Sreeni Tripuraneni said,“This award recognizes our high standards of quality and the significant investment we have made in identity innovation. Our unrelenting efforts have resulted in implementation of national scale Unique ID solutions and improved Government services delivery. This honor acknowledges the pioneering efforts we have made over the years and I extend my thanks to all the people who have contributed in transforming the dreams to reality”.

Under Dr. Tripuraneni's leadership, 4G has evolved from its inception in 2003 as a thought-based company to a fully integrated multi-modal identity management solutions enterprise encompassing a well balanced business portfolio of solutions and services with a research focus on Iris recognition technology. A vascular surgeon by training and a young entrepreneur, he has a long-standing passion for applying biometric technologies to uniquely identify individuals. His vision at 4G is to design, develop and deploy large-scale identity management solutions for the fast-growing countries.

By winning the pre-eminent Award, 4G Identity Solutions will inspire several other players in the space to do better, stay inclined to achieve success and win this Award next year.

Market Insight Consultants Gains Foothold in the Market

Every company has a story to tell and Market Insight Consultants is no different but what distinguishes it from others is its interesting journey that began in 2002. Coming out from the blocks of an engineer’s mind, the company saw the light of day when Mr. Sanjay Nagi, Proprietor of the company decided to put his plan into action. He shares, “We started Market Insight Consultant on 6th June, 2002 and are positioned as a decision support consultancy so essentially we help our clients to take decisions about their business.” Today, it is established as one of the leading names in decision support system and specialises in social and market research, offering market planning services and strategic market planning diverse service basket.

http://www.indiamart.com/corporate/success-stories/market-insight-consultants.html

Obstacles on way to the top makes success even more special and Mr. Nagi acknowledges this fact. Encountering challenges in different stages of business made him more determined to realise what he had set out to achieve. “There are numerous challenges which entrepreneur has to face or a business has to face in different stages of the business and the first challenge we had was to essentially to get known to set of people that known to global customers then get in the right resources, that time laptop was not so cheap so it was difficult to get the resources but its still a challenge to get accepted as a small medium firm to the foreign biggies.”

One of the early adopters of cloud computing, Mr. Nagi has reaped positives by investing in the new age technology and been appreciated for it too. “One of the compliments we got from the vendor was that they had seen very few small companies investing into cloud like we had. We did it and gained benefits out of it. I would definitely encourage young entrepreneurs to adopt the cloud for their computing needs,” says Mr. Nagi.

Expert Speak: Mr. Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Vritti i-Media

Affordable advertising solutions for SMEs in Maharashtra

Rural markets have grown to be a bigger market for every category of business in India. It’s no surprise that the Indian rural markets have become the center of attention for every product or service eyeing the Indian market.  While the rural consumer is ready to dissect the billion dollar opportunity, companies are in process of modifying their products and services to suit the needs of this class of consumers.

The consumer spending in rural areas has taken a drastic hike giving enough growth opportunities to small and mid-sized businesses.  SMEs operating at a local level can make best of the changing market scenario as they understand the market better compared to the giant competitors. For instance, in case of the consumer products category, it has been observed that consumption of such products has increased radically in rural areas. This has resulted in a surge of multi -national FMCG brands like HUL and P&G spending more time and resources in understanding the rural markets and enhancing their distribution networks in such areas. On the contrary, mid-sized FMCG companies who have a wider presence in rural areas can make best of the opportunity by creating an effective presence of their brand. Along with strengthening the local distribution network, companies also need to lay focus on a robust advertising plan to have better recognition of their brands amongst the consumers as compared to the established brands.

Advertising plays a vital role in establishing a brand amongst the target audience. It has played a vital role in transforming mere products or services into brands.

Branding and advertising are essentials for any SME to grow big. However, SMEs face a significant challenge of limited budgets and resources. In such a scenario, cost effective advertising is what can ease the problem of SMEs.

Vritti i-Media, a next generation advertising solution provider in Maharashtra has come up with innovative audio advertising solution for advertisers. Vritti i-Media has partnered with Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to run audio advertisements at various district bus terminals. They have been appointed as the Sole Authorized Agency by MSRTC to run commercial audio advertisements that are played along with the Buses’ arrival/departure announcements. Thus ensuring 100% compulsory listening for small towns and rural market consumers who travel frequently in MSRTC Buses. Since the advertisements are aired through centralized web server, Vritti i-Media has been able to connect with consumers in the most remote villages of Maharashtra. The audio network of Vritti i-Media is currently spread across 80+ locations of MSRTC bus stands covering key centers, investor hubs, all districts, important taluka places and pilgrim centres in Maharashtra.

Advantages of Vritti i-Media’s audio advertising solution to SMEs in Maharashtra:

• Reach of 103 Million people
• On-air time morning 6am to night 10pm daily
• Broadcasting every 30 minutes
• Passengers on an average change every 30 minutes and that assures your advertisement is heard by new person every time
• Every District bus stand - Average 40000 passenger footfalls every day
• Per persons cost is almost 10% compared to other media and impact is 100%
• Audio advertisement in local language can reach out to illiterates as well
• Advertisement releases at various district place bus stand and repetition throughout the day and month create a brand image
• Advertisement is heard across bus stand and up to 100 meter periphery
• Mandatory listening as the advertisement is coupled with the bus departure announcement. Passengers are actually waiting to hear the announcement
• 100% battery backup to ensure 16 hours running of system
• Advertisement can be changed within 30 minutes

Vritti i-Media assures wider reach for SMEs in cost effective budgets. This innovative concept of audio advertising solution has also won 2 Gold and 1 silver awards at the Outdoor Advertising Awards, 2011.  Gold Award for most coveted “Media owner for western region”, Gold Award for “Best Transit Media and Silver”  Award for the Best Format Innovation – New Media category.

Vritti i-Media has been responsible for making various brands a house hold name in rural and semi urban areas of Maharashtra. SMEs like Kirti Gold, Maharashtra K knowledge Corporation, Gujarat Tea traders - Vikram Tea, Pitambari, Kalnirnay publications and many more have been successful in building a brand name in rural and semi-urban parts of Maharashtra with the help of Vritti’s advertising network.

For more information on advertising solutions by Vritti i-Media, visit:
www.vrittiimedia.com

The contributor for the blog is Mr. Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Head-Marketing, Vritti i-Media

Make Cost Cutting Your Greatest Trick To Success

If you own or run an SME, this is probably a great time for you. Everyone is seeking cost effective options and SMEs that offer top-notch products and services are their best bet. As you go about offering such exciting deliverables to a client, a niggling issue at the back of your mind is cost. Cost cutting is important if you want a rising bottomline without passing on the burden to your client. Smart companies are making decisions that might be difficult but prove effective in the long run.

The first of them is to retain smaller costs that might look tempting to get rid of during a slow time but are highly beneficial in the long run. Say reducing some infrastructure or people who might offer great benefits in the long run. The other interesting way to cut costs is to reduce high-maintenance customers who require tremendous time and resources with offering equivalent profits. Best Buy has done that by eliminating customers who do not pay on time or bargain to an undesirable extent.

Sure, we don’t want to cut costs that would directly hamper your end product. Therefore, you want to keep certain costs as they are. You want to have the right people in place, appropriate machinery and desired technology. So curtailing costs requires you to see what are your biggest costs and are they worth it? You also need to weigh one time and recurring costs. With all these things to consider, what are the places an SME can safely cut costs? We look at some big and small costs for SMEs and what can be done to control them.

1. Making office space viable
Office space is costly and it is important to make sure that you are saving up some money here. Mobile office is the key and it means a lot of saving for any SME because employees save time and money commuting to office and it also means a reduction in electricity and hardware costs. Therefore, encourage employees to work from home or to work at their convenience. This also means you require a smaller office space. Shared work spaces are also a great way to have a functional office at low costs.

2. Saving benefits with technology
Investing in the right technology is a simple and effective way to cut costs. SMEs are therefore investing in cloud computing options. This means you do not have to visit numerous offices because meetings can be held online and you cut costs on moving around. Most of the information can also be shared online, which reduces a lot of costs related to discussions. It also means you do not have to invest heavily in IT infrastructure. 

3. Planned outsourcing
Outsourcing to the right people at the right costs is the key to cutting costs. At the same time, you want to make sure that outsourcing is the better model for you.

4. Changing purchase perceptions
To cut costs while maintaining the quality of your product, you want to ensure that you source good suppliers. The suppliers should also be able to provide the products in the desired timeframe and in exactly the way you want. Having good relations with suppliers also helps because you can bargain for better price and T&Cs. 

Costs are a necessity for any business. The trick is to knock them on the head in manner that does not hurt them or your business.

Raj Surgical Works: A Vision to Fulfill

The flag has been flying high for Raj Surgical Works since it was hoisted in 1991. It firmly stands on its belief of providing flawless products to its clients which has helped them grow leaps and bounds. The company is a prominent name in manufacturing and exporting of orthopaedic implants and instruments and is headed under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Krish Kumar, Business Manager. “We started our business in 1991 with a small capital,” says Mr. Kumar.

http://indiamart/corporate/success-stories/raj-surgical-works.html


During their initial years of operations, the company faced many hurdles. The company operating on low cost faced many challenges in taking their products to people and felt that they were left behind in absence of a marketing strategy. “Initially, we had many problems in marketing our products and reaching out to new customers.” shares Mr. Kumar.

But the trying times could not keep them down for long nor did their spirit to succeed was diminished. Their continuous hard work and focus towards achieving their goals were finally rewarded. “When we started in 1991, we were working with 4-5 people. Today, we are working with more than 30 persons. Our product line is DHS Plates, locking plates, strip boards which are used in different parts of body like smiles, joints and traumas etc.,” says Mr. Kumar. The company now proudly owns a sound infrastructure and has skilled manpower to cater to needs of their ever-increasing client base.

Absence of loans, high interest rates affecting Indian textile SMEs: Rita Menon

The lack of loans and high interest rates are heavily impacting the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the textile sector, said Ms Rita Menon, Textiles Secretary. 

 

Ms Rita Menon, said, “SMEs in sectors like silk sector, power-loom and spinning are hit because of lack of working capital and high interest rates.” This statement has come on the sidelines of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) function here. 

The Union Finance Ministry is reviewing a loan restructuring proposal for the textile sector and a decision may come soon. 

The Textiles Ministry is not eyeing for 'cash outgo but a moratorium on loans for two years so that the working capital could be secured for that time period. The step of suspension of loan repayment for two years would be helpful in protecting the units from becoming non-performing assets.

Read more at: http://news.indiamart.com/story/absence-loans-high-interest-rates-affecting-indian-textile-smes-rita-menon-152189.html

'MSME sector needs package due to economic slowdown'

Demand has been made in the Lok Sabha yesterday by the member of parliament (MPs) with the aim to give package to the micro, small and medium enterprises, which have been witnessing problem due to the economic slowdown. 

Reports suggest that members from different parties have made the demand while discussing the Regulation of Factors (Assignment of Receivables) Bill, 2011. Mr Shailendra Kumar (from SP) has requested Centre to establish a special fund to help the MSME sector. 

Gorakhnath Pandey (from BSP) has stated that the MSME sector, which employs many lakhs of people, is facing many problems due to the economic slowdown and there is also requirement to offer subsidy to these units. 

Read more at: http://news.indiamart.com/story/msme-sector-needs-package-due-economic-slowdown-152076.html