In a bid to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to go digital, Google India has come out with a mobile-based App called, ‘Google My Business’, aiming to get 20 million SMEs online by 2017.
“The (App) will help businesses to create and manage their business information across Google products for free in both Hindi and English,” the company announced here on Tuesday, adding that SMEs can get online presence on Google search and Google maps, without having to invest in a website or domain. “There is a massive information gap for local businesses on the Internet today, out of the total 51 million SMEs in India, less than 5 to 6 per cent have an online presence.
With this new product, Google aims to bridge this gap through a massive feet-on-street initiative,” a company release said. Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google South East Asia & India, said, “Indian SMEs have struggled to build and maintain their online presence. Search experience for local business in India is broken today and we want to fix it by connecting businesses with their customers.”
New initiative He said, “Google My Business is our first mobile-based product initiative for SMEs and we have seen immediate adoption in India. In the last five months during our pilot phase, over a million SMEs have found a place on the Internet, and we are engaging 25,000 new SMEs every week.”