India has potential to be AI talent capital of the world: Rajeev Singh, SAP
SME segment is responsible for nearly one-third of the country’s manufacturing output. With advancement in technology, more and more small businesses are adapting to the latest technology, including AI.
The Indian mid-market businesses are prioritising the implementation of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) at a moderate or strong priority at 96%, ahead of the rest of the world at 91%, says Rajeev Singh, Vice President & Head of Mid-Markets, SAP Indian Subcontinent, citing a SAP survey released in September. Singh also believes there is an immense potential in the segment in terms of technology adoption.
In an interaction with ET Digital, Singh says that many SMEs are still evaluating how they can make business outcomes out of AI. Edited excerpts:
The Economic Times (ET): Where do India’s SMEs stand in terms of technology adoption? Rajeev Singh (RS): We have been in India for the last 28 years and 80% of our customers are SMEs. We have closely seen the journey of SMEs over the period. When the technology transformation started happening, people called it transformation. But it was more of an automation. It all started with SMEs trying to translate their paperwork digitally using software. So, it was more of a translation than transformation.
When SAP came into the picture, some of the SMEs got hooked on it, but mainly for some basic stuff like general ledger. However, 10 years down the line, people have started realising the potential of digital transformation. The next generation of promoters of SMEs
