Tally Xcelerators helping in accelerating SME Business

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has emerged as a dynamic and integral sector of the Indian economy. MSMEs not only provide large scale employment opportunities at a lower cost but are complementary to large industries, contributing to the socio economic development of the country.  According to the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises’ Annual Report, the SME sector contributes about 6 percent to India’s GDP, 33 percent to manufacturing and 45 percent to the Indian export sector. Moreover, the sector provides employment to more than 80.5 million people, making it one of the key sectors that will continue to drive growth in the country. 

To assist SMEs achieve greater heights, Tally has announced the Tally Xcelerator program to offer business consultancy services to small and medium businesses. A pioneer in the business software products arena, Tally’s simple yet powerful products have been revolutionizing the way businesses run for over 30 years. Tally is synonymous with going digital for Small and Medium businesses in India, and understands the challenges this segment faces in day-to-day operations. The program aims to eliminate and address these pain points in such a way that it encourages growth of innovative and highly competitive SMEs in India, thereby contributing to the development of a dynamic private sector and entrepreneurial culture within. 

Joyce Ray, India Business Head, Tally Solutions, says, “The Tally Xcelerator program is designed to help small businesses sharpen their vision in a highly competitive environment. While large enterprises usually have an easier access to financial and intellectual capital to invest in their organization’s growth, their smaller counterparts find it difficult to even have access to expert guidance and knowledge in this area, and struggle to balance between day- to-day operations and long-term goals.”

Under this program, Tally appointed partners, called Tally Xcelerators, will extend business advisory services playing the role of a coach, mentor and trainer to all of Tally’s partners and small businesses across the country. The program aims to help SMEs realize their trade and investment opportunities and become competitive in both the domestic and global markets.

“At a broader level, our Xcelerator partners work with diverse businesses, advising them on best HR, IT, financial and many other practices. They do so at a reasonable cost, and at the owner’s convenience and time. Since the introduction of the program last year, businesses have already started reaping the benefits, and we are confident of adding value in the coming time.”Added Mr. Ray.

Currently the program consists of 25 TX partners, spread across different geographies in India. In an exclusive chat with VARINDIA, three Tally Xcelerators –Virendra Ingle, Proprietor, Velocity Infovision; Amit Sharma, MD & CEO, Dynavision Technologies; and SivaramRajangam, CEO & Founder, Skillplan Consultant LLP, explain the role of an Xcelerator and how they are helping SMEs to grow.

Role of Tally Xcelerators –

•    TX Programme and SMEs
“In India, SMEs’ contribution towards GDP is nearly 50%. The importance of SMEs for large companies, both as suppliers, sub-contractors and sellers of their products, has been constantly increasing. However, to benefit more from the present market scenario, i.e. GST, demonetisation,etc, there is a need to assist our partners and SMEs in general to realize their trade and investment opportunities and become competitive both in domestic and global market.
 

The prime objective of the Tally Xcelerator Programme is to provide entrepreneurship development and in turn promote overall SME development in the nation by promoting entrepreneurship, accelerate individual entrepreneurial capabilities, making institutional capacity and last but not the least encouraging employment creating investment,” says Amit Sharma, MD & CEO, Dynavision Technologies. 
 

SMEs continue to face various challenges like banking, finance, limited capital, lack of skilled manpower,etc in their day-to-day business which create a hindrance in their growth path. Tally Xcelerators are independent and experienced experts, who are equipped to offer hands on practical help, advice and support in specific business areas that will help make a difference to business success. Post GST and demonetization, businesses specially SMEs need sufficient guidance to boost their morale and give them the confidence to succeed. 
 

“While the SMEs’ contribution to the nation's economy is really commendable, the sector does not get the required support from the concerned government agencies, banks, financial institutions and other stakeholders, which is an obstacle for them in becoming more efficient and competitive in their business operations. Inadequate and timely banking finance, limited capital and knowledge, non-availability of suitable technology, skilled manpower, low manpower productivity, ineffective marketing strategy, limitation of identification of new markets, constraints on modernization & expansions, and non-availability of highly skilled manpower at affordable cost, are some of the common issues faced by SMEs.
 

The TX Program is a unique platform for various SMEs to approach the Tally Xcelerator who is a consultant by profession and an expert, who can help the SMEs to identify the problem areas in their line of business, mostly from the abovementioned list and train them to handle and excel in management skills to become an entrepreneur. TX platform will also help SMEs to design the effective marketing strategy and enhance business productivity resulting in growth,” explains Virendra Ingle, Proprietor, Velocity Infovision.
 

“TX services will help SMEs to manage their risks and grow better business in various segments. Many SMEs are not even aware of the importance of building next-level managers and having productive teams. Therefore, they face tremendous problems during the peak time of their business and fail to reap the fruits.SMEs will get an opportunity to understand the fundamental importance of various cost-effective advisory services which they can afford in their size of business,”adds Virendra Ingle.
 

The TX programme is a huge support for the SMEs as the Tally consultants will be able to provide guidance according to the requirements of SMEs.

“With many new businesses being set up both within and outside the Tally ecosystem, they require expert guidance in planning their business, advice on HR/organization practices, business finance and acquiring new customers. The TX Programme has been introduced with the objective of addressing these requirements of SMEs in a professional and credible manner,” views Sivaram Rajangam, CEO & Founder, Skillplan Consultant LLP. 

•    Helping businesses to address potentials

Under the program, businesses are offered 2 types of services - Business Advisory Services and Basic Services. While a new business entrant may prioritize funding and market entry, a more established undertaking will prioritize new market penetration, change management, innovation and effective governance. Businesses can customize the services on the basis of their requirements or select a pre-packaged pack. 

“The TX Advisory Services includes SWOT analysis for companies andproducts, Goal Setting, Business Planning and Tasking, Market Mapping/ New Product Launch, Manpower Consultancy, HR Outsourcing, Leadership Training, Sales & Marketing, Process Designing, Mentoring, etc.”explains Virendra Ingle.

As a Tally Xcelerator, Amit Sharma of Dynavision Technologies identifies potential entrepreneurs and assist themin developing their entrepreneurial skills, by helping them in accessing business development services. He says, “As a Tally Xcelerator, we provide mentoring and coaching to businesses and the owners, to strengthen their business skills, and help to arrange mutually beneficial links with larger network. We also put in place long-term support systems intended to facilitate the growth for businesses.”

The program not only helps businesses in resource hiring, training, certification but also instills a can-do spirit by building self-confidence and making a business owner aware of his/her potential and competitive advantage in the market place.

“As a TX partner in Chennai and Bangalore, we offer both basic and advisory services to our aligned channel partners. The expert TX team members support the channel partners in their Resources Hiring assistance, Onboarding, Training and Certification.We also work with the partners to help them with their new customer lead generation and customer relationship initiatives.As part of our Advisory Services, we offer through our network of Expert Consultants, services in Business Finance, CRM, HR Systems, Organization Development programs and Individual Business Owner Mentoring support,”asserts SivaramRajangam.

•    Support to Business
Talking about various services provided to organizations, Amit Sharma mentions, “We have provided advisory services to different organizations like Business Process – Marketing Assistance, Statutory – Timely filing of statutory requirements, i.e. GST Return, Mentoring-Fine-tuning the fitment of existing resources, Mentoring – Periodic Training on core subject Domain – GST, Taxes, etc.”

One of the challenges faced by channel partners is productive manpower, which can provide mileage to organizations. Businesses understand the importance of skilled resources and are actively seeking help in areas likerecruitment, training, productivity enhancement, etc. 

“It is important that the manpower is productive and highly motivated to work for the achievement of organizational goals. A motivated employee will have a successful and long tenure in the organization. So mostly recruitment, competency mapping, training, productivity enhancement and managing attrition are the key areas where we are assisting channel partners.

Secondly, few channel partners are interested in  professional services also like business planning, AOP designing, marketing strategy, competency mapping, SWOT analysis, conducting training for drive for success, daily tasking, leadership, team building,etc,” describesVirendra Ingle.

And so…
India is a high potential market for investors and entrepreneurs in terms of business scope. Since SMEs contribute towards a major segment, the scope of business opportunities is immense.

“In India, the small and medium businesses can be seen in every sector –financial services, telecom sector, automobiles, media, food, real estate and so on. This makes India a hub for best small business opportunity in various segments. Thus, one who wishes to explore business opportunities in India must have a look at the SMEs and retail businesses to get an idea about the business scenario in India,”views Amit Sharma. 

SME consulting services has a huge scope in the market and the TX programmecan be of critical importance to the SME segment.

“There is a large scope in the SME Consulting market for creating a credible and affordable brand which can offer a range of services. The TX programme with Tally backing can play a vital role in this segment as many first-time entrepreneurs feel the need and are willing to take support for their individual/business development.The future is very bright for the SME Consulting Services,”concludes Sivaram Rajangam.