TCS targets SME market with cloud computing

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has set its sites on the SME market, with the launch of a new product designed specifically for small businesses.

iON uses cloud computing technology with a pay-per-use business model providing HR, finance, inventory and domain-based ERP as well as e-mail, document management and website services.

The product will enhance India's global competitiveness by giving 35 million Indian SMEs access to TCS' technology tools, said the company's CEO N.Chandrasekaran. iON will be premiered in India but made available internationally, he added.

TCS' UK head A.S.Lakshmi said cloud computing will provide the company scope to reduce the overheads of serving a fragmented market. He said the problem traditionally faced by suppliers in the SME sector is that many do not fit into a single mould.