Microsoft partners with India's Surat Diamond Association to enable 20,000 small businesses with cloud technology

Michael Cottuli

Microsoft India has been making all sorts of strides this year, and it doesn’t look like they intend to slow down any time soon. Microsoft India recently announced that they’re going to be teaming up with the Surat Diamond Association to help over 20,o00 small businesses adopt technology into their growth strategy.
The Surat Diamond Association is a group that is dedicated to helping maintain the growth of  several industries, including the diamond industry, healthcare, and social welfare. With the help of Microsoft India, it’s their hope that they can help some of the more than 200,000 businesses in Gujarat adopt the recent technological advances in the world – namely cloud technology – into their dealings.
One of Microsoft’s closest partners in advancing this initiative is MicroHard IT Solutions, which is a  “Trusted IT Solution Provider” and “has registered a 30% year-on-year growth in its business, riding on high adoption of Microsoft Office 365, Azure and CRM among its customers.” Microhard’s goal is to spread that success to the local small businesses.

Dinesh Navadiya, President, Surat Diamond Association (SDA),We are living in a technology enabled world and it is important for organizations of all sizes and sectors to adopt technology if they wish to succeed. Our association with Microsoft is the first major step in this direction. The need for this transformation has prompted us to work closely with Microsoft and we are happy that they are supporting our members in their business journey. “

There’s really no question that the adoption of new technologies can be a massive help for the small businesses that Microsoft and the SDA is reaching out to – in the words of Snehal Shah, General Manager of Ingram Micro, “The adoption of technology is no longer an IT agenda, but a key success metric for a business.”
According to the study ‘Ahead of the Curve: Lessons on Technology and Growth from Small Business Leaders,’ if the small businesses in India made a concentrated effort to adopt technology in their dealings, they stand to grow revenues by as much as $56 billion. On top of the growth in profit, they may also be creating as many as 1.1 million jobs for the rest of the community.