Google seeks partners to take SMBs online

Google India is targeting to bring all small and medium businesses online and is on the lookout for partnerships with industry bodies. The company had recently come up with the My Business tool for SMBs. The tool makes it possible for small companies to have a digital presence.

“If there are (industry) bodies which can help us accelerate the process and give us scale, we are open to partnering with them. Our eventual aim is to bring in all the SMBs in the country online,” Shalini Girish, director, Google Marketing Solutions, India, said.

The company has recently tied up with Ficci and Indian School of Business to create the Digital Unlocked initiative which helps start-ups and SMBs by providing essential digital skills, create an online presence, launch and execute cost-effective targeted digital marketing campaigns.

“In the next three years, we plan to conduct 50,000 classroom training programmes for the SMBs and SMEs so that they get to know the benefits of an online presence and may take it forward,” she said.

As per Girish, India has around 51 million SMBs of which a total 10 million have presence in Google Search and Google Maps.

Google India has also come up with a mobile app— Primer—which lets users learn digital marketing skills in an easy and interactive way.

In a recent joint study conducted by Google India and KPMG, it was noticed that out of the total SMBs in the country, around 68 per cent don’t have any online presence.

As per the report, 52 per cent of the small businesses with an online presence has been able to expand to markets other than their base cities while it is 29 per cent for the ones with no digital presence.