NASSCOM Product Conclave

• Gulshan is the Founder & Director of Wellness, a fast growing retailer with high ambitions. Mr. Gulshan is always looking for software to simplify business and  make it more productive
• Shailesh Patil is the CEO of  Kesari, trusted  name in travel in  India, with millions of satisfied customers. Kesari established the systems and automated the processes to deliver quality services to every single guest and continous engagement with guests for maximum repeat guests. Shailesh built most of the software applications used at Kesari himself
• Suresh was the Founder & CEO ESolutions (P) Ltd, a software company that addressed the SME market. ESolutions offered an integrated business operating software for the retail, distribution and services organizations. In his current role as strategy consultant in TCS, Suresh is responsible for engaging with customers to help them make investments in IT more accountable to the business outcome
• Kumar is the Founder & CEO of GoFrugal, a software company targetting the MSME segment of retail and retail distribution business in India. Kumar is a co-founder of Zoho and was its President & COO from inception till he founded GoFrugal in 2004

Format & Discussions

• 5 minutes Introduction : Introducing the panel
• 5 minutes setting the stage : Quick take on purpose of session  and characterizing typical MSME environment
• 15 minutes SME Expectations & Unfulfilled Needs : Discussions on MSME perspective on the challenges, the unfulfilled needs and the resultant missed opportunities & how they can be addressed
• 15 minutes discussions on Software vendor perspective : Discussions on the challenges & how they could be overcome
• 15 minutes audiance engagement : Q & A
• 5 minutes Summary

Take-away

• What are the last mile challenges & some possible ways to address them for a win-win for both MSMEs and software vendors

Format: Four panelists, two 18-minute sessions; in the first session, the panel takes the position of "No way"; in the second, "Of course". 18 minutes of Q&A and a final Audience Vote.

Panelists: People who sell to SMEs and at least one person who has sold to SMEs AND Enterprise customers.

Discussions:
- Is there even a market that big?
- Can there really be ONE set of products that sells to MULTIPLE SME companies?
- Do they have the money to buy?
- Is the effort worth the results?
- Is there an appreciation of technology at all in this segment?
- Is it not faster/cheaper/better to put people to work than technology?
- Are there incumbents that can grow better than newbies?
- Do foreign providers have a better chance here? Are they even interested?
- Can you get investors interested in this kind of a business?
- How important is Brand in this segment?

Take-aways:
1 Key differences between selling to SMEs and to Consumers/Enterprise
2 Challenges in relying on that one space
3 Issues of scale to get to $ 1 BN.

Issues:
- May be difficult getting panelists who've "been there, done that" in the segment
- Willingness/ability to argue both sides of the coin in an engaging manner may be challenging
- May need more-than-normal initial goal-setting with panel and with audience.