Microsoft moots E-Readiness Centre

Hyderabad: An E-Readiness Centre (ERC) has been set up here by Microsoft under Project Vikas to facilitate adoption of information technology solutions by about 400 small and medium enterprises in Hyderabad Pharma Cluster.

Under Project Vikas, a joint initiative of Microsoft India and the National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC), the pharma manufacturers would be offered specially designed software tools, Mr Rajiv Sodhi, Director (Emerging Geographies), Microsoft India, told newspersons here recently.

About 400 SMEs in the pharma cluster would be offered Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and customer relationship management solutions developed by Microsoft’s partners, city-based B2B Technologies and Bangalore-based Enzen respectively, Mr Sodhi said.

“The price models of the software are affordable and manufacturers can choose from the mix of on-premise and hosted solutions,” he said.

The pricing is varied and dependent on the nature of services to be sought by SMEs.

Dr P.V. Appaji, Executive Director, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), which is a partner in the ERC, said the value realisation of SMEs in the industry is very small.

“Out of $7.2 billion of pharma exports from India, over 60 per cent comes from 60-70 big companies. We have 2,800 SMEs registered with as exporters,” he added.

One of the challenges being faced by pharma SMEs is implementation on information technology tools at affordable cost, he observed.

Mr Bhaskara Narayana, Director (Finance), Natco Pharma, said use of software tools would help SMEs in computer-aided drug designing, in better understanding and management of intellectual property rights and licensing issues.

The ERC has been set up at the Hitech Institute of Advanced Pharmaceutical Sciences established by Natco Trust at its premises to provide skilled manpower to the Hyderabad pharma industry. It would offer training and consultancy to SMEs on IT-related matters.