In an exclusive interview with SME Times, Raja Chanda, Director- Sales & Marketing, MMAD APPS INDIA PVT LTD., said that adoption of cloud technology can be beneficial in more than one ways for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Excerpts of the interview…

Please tell our readers something about your group - MMAD APPS INDIA PVT LTD.
Raja Chanda: MMAD Apps is an IT & IP services company founded in the year 2013 growing at a rate of more than 100% year on year. MMAD Apps is a nationally managed Microsoft System Integrator (SI), Microsoft Gold certified Cloud Platform partner, CMMi L3, ISO 9001 & ISMS 27001, specializing in the areas of Cloud, Mobile & Web technologies. MMAD Apps services and IP’s can be leveraged by customers from any industry segments, with some specific IPs for Govt /PSU, FSI, IT/ITES, Retail etc.

Does an SME need cloud consulting and services? Why?
Raja Chanda: It is proved beyond doubt that adopting cloud technology helps SMEs reduce cost, increase efficiency, productivity, scalability and so on but a proper planning and a structured execution is required to make it a success else it can be counterproductive. This is where cloud consulting and services from an experienced provider can make the difference.

Why should SMEs go to a cloud consulting & services provider
Raja Chanda: Adoption of cloud services does not mean all the current technology implementations becomes useless and this where an experienced cloud consulting provider will add value by understanding the current business processes and IT set up. The consultant will help by recommending an optimum cloud solution which utilizes existing IT investments, taking care future business growth and scalability.

What should they keep in mind (Do's and Don'ts) before selecting a cloud consulting & services provider?
Raja Chanda: 

• Ensuring the provider understands the business objectives of SMEs

• Expertise in a similar industry and size

• Ensuring a Proof of Concept on a workload is done and see the results

• Support and management SLA’s

• Provider certifications

Do you have products/ services especially designed for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)?
Raja Chanda: We do have quite a few services and products which can help SME’s leverage the advantage of Cloud for business benefit and some of them are as follows: -

•        Productivity and collaboration solution

•        Payment & wallet services

•        Backup and disaster recovery service

•        Enterprise business mobile apps and more

How do you assure security of data on your platform?
Raja Chanda: Since all our services and solutions are built on Microsoft Azure platform which helps secure your data, protect data privacy and support compliance with global standards. Additionally, the Government of India has certified Azure for government use.

Please elaborate on how cost efficient your services are?
Raja Chanda: We are extremely cost efficient and we continuously strive towards reducing our services cost while ensuring best of service delivery capability to our customers by guaranteeing an optimum multi location technical teams, hybrid delivery models (onsite/offshore) and cost effective technology solutions within the organization for reporting, collaboration and trainings.  

What are your future plans?
Raja Chanda: During the last 4 years we have grown in terms of revenue, team size as well as customer satisfaction, which we would like to continue. We are currently present in three cities in India- Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata and are planning to expand to fourth soon. We already have our presence in international markets (Singapore & US). Our focus presently and going forward is to come up with IPs by leveraging our experience, technological expertise and also by quickly adopting newer technologies which in turn helps customers from specific industry segments to achieve considerable business benefit.