Business

Monday July 6, 2009

Cisco to expand SME market share

By LEE KIAN SEONG


It aims for 20% revenue from segment

CISCO Systems (M) Sdn Bhd (Cisco Malaysia) plans to expand its small and medium enterprise (SME) market and aims for 20% revenue contribution from the segment next year, said managing director Anne Abraham.

Cisco Malaysia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Cisco Systems Inc, which registered net sales of US$39.5bil in 2008 and spends nearly US$5.2bil annually on research and development.

The expansion is part of Cisco’s US$100mil investment in the SME sector globally in the next three years.

Cisco Asia marketing senior director Lauren Ventura said the group’s global strategy was to provide solutions in specific segments in SMEs.

Anne Abraham ... ‘There are about 342,000 SMEs in Malaysia and this is very critical for our busines.’

“Twenty per cent of Cisco’s total turnover was from SMEs and the segment is still growing despite the global crisis,” she said.

The SME segment currently contributes about 10% of Cisco Malaysia’s revenue.

“There are about 342,000 SMEs in Malaysia and this is very critical for our business,” Abraham told StarBiz in an interview recently.

The Government’s efforts to promote the SME segment as well as support from banks for the segment would help push the performance of SMEs and create opportunities in the market, she said, adding that Cisco Malaysia’s new portal, e-Shop, could help boost the company’s market share in the segment.

The portal, which is jointly developed by the company and Ingram Micro Malaysia, is expected to be ready by the fourth quarter of this year, and will initially display information on 40 products.

The portal is the first to be launched in the Cisco Asia Pacific market and will be replicated in regional countries going forward.

Abraham said the company was mainly targeting manufacturing companies in the SME segment, adding that information and communications technology (ICT) was essential in helping SMEs move their businesses forward.

“We have to let them understand the benefits of using technology and educate them continuously,” she said.

ICT expenses in Malaysia (for companies that have between 50 and 100 computers) were estimated to be about US$45mil last year, a 16% growth from 2007.

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