IBM''s e-business plans in India

American infotech giant International Business Machines, has drawn up its business plans for India, and is looking at e-commerce as a major revenue earner. E-business will be the core area of its software operations in South Asia, especially India.

IBM earned nearly a third of its global revenue of $ 81.6 billion in 1998 through e-business activities. The company offers comprehensive e-business solutions, including hardware, software, networking support, professional services, website design, maintenance and database systems. True to its status of being a one-stop shop for e-commerce solutions, IBM has a stated corporate objective of being the leader in the realm of e-commerce. It refers to this programme as becoming "King of Virtual Hall".

IBM''s world-wide philosophy today is all about transforming business processes with Internet-based technology where customers, employees, vendors and suppliers would all be linked to each other through intranets, extranets and the world wide web.

The company recently launched its Virtual PC shop on the Internet which helps Indian customers to order PCs, Thinkpad notebooks, servers, workstations, monitors and accessories. The site even allows clients to configure systems with respect to memory, networking and accessories.

In India, IBM aims to realise its objectives by gaining mindshare in the corporate and infotech community initially. IBM foresees network computing, accelerated business cycle times and a transition to digital and intellectual assets to be major areas of development in India. It has drawn up a business model for its India operations based on these lines, which it believes is suited to the country''s economic situation.