In a short span of about two years, Ramco has achieved a customer base of over 150 with more than 2,000 users—an impressive figure for an Indian product company that has been using a new delivery model—SaaS.

“We are seeing a huge growth in demand from Indian SMBs, and expect demand to grow at more than 50 percent on the SaaS front in the next fiscal year,” says an optimistic S Sunderaraj, Senior VP, India Operations at Ramco Systems. The SaaS-based solution is apt for SMBs with pricing starting as low as Rs 5,500, deployment time of six weeks, and since there is no need to buy hardware.

A case in point is Srinisons Wiring Systems, a manufacturer of automobile wiring harness, which chose Ramco’s SaaS-based ERP over traditional ERP systems. “In addition to the cost savings, we also find the SaaS model attractive as payments are tied down to the quality of the software and support provided—which is critical for an SMB with a small IT team,” says Kesavan Srinivasan, Executive Director, Srinisons Wiring Systems.

Srinisons has been using the SaaS-based model for a year now, and believes that the SaaS model is perfect for SMBs since it allows companies to scale up the software as they grow.

The huge demand for SaaS-based solutions can also be seen in the third quarter results of Ramco—of 29 new customers that the company added in this quarter, 14 were from the SaaS segment. Key order wins include companies such as Shakti Cords, GD Textiles, Ganapati Industries, Kauvery Textiles, Mark Engineers, Sievert India, Rajapur Shipyard, LPS Industrial Supplies, Vinayaka Industries, Max Cards, S P Mani & Mohan Dairy, Metco Roofings, Raunaq Automotive Components and Electrica Engineers.