Walk into any local business hub, be it a small manufacturer, a wholesale trader, or even a tax consultancy, and you’ll likely find something impressive. Not the tech but the multitasking.
Someone's filing GST returns on one tab while replying to vendor messages on WhatsApp. Another is reconciling a bank statement using highlighters, a calculator, and patience.
These are business owners who don’t have a CFO. They have a cousin who helps with Tally. Or a part-time accountant who comes in on Fridays. And yet, most modern business software still seems to assume that every user has a finance team, an IT department, and the time to go through a 45-minute product tutorial.
That’s the disconnect.
Tech is still being built top-down
A lot of business tech still starts with enterprise use cases. It’s made for people who:
Sit at laptops
Understand dashboards
Speak fluent SaaS
But MSMEs aren’t “just smaller corporates.” They operate differently. They decide faster, adapt quicker, and rely heavily on trust.
The numbers are changing. The intent is there.
There’s a common myth that MSMEs don’t need tech. That’s not true. They just don’t want tech that slows them down and isn’t exorbitantly priced.
In fact:
Over 70% of Indian MSMEs have adopted at least one digital tool as of 2024 — up from 50% in 2023. The Hans India
MSMEs that went digital saw an average 68% growth in business performance. eGov Magazine
Nearly 60% of MSMEs intend to digitize further, and 43% plan to increase their digitalization budgets by 2025. Kinara Capital
But adoption isn't always smooth.
36% of MSMEs still struggle with tech adoption.
18% cite high costs as a key barrier. BusinessWorld
The problems are that sometimes the software is too bulky or the onboarding is too confusing, or it just doesn’t feel like it was built for them.
MSMEs don’t buy features. They buy relief.
The MSMEs are asking questions like:
Will this save me from burning the midnight oil?
Can my team member use this without calling me ten times?
Will my staff understand how to use it without training?
That’s why most MSME adoption happens through word of mouth, not performance marketing.
“Use this. I tried it. It works.”
That’s the real GTM.
That’s why the best-designed tools for MSMEs don’t just work; they get shared.
So, what should tech builders do differently?
If you’re building for MSMEs, don’t just simplify an enterprise product. Start fresh. Build like this:
Design like they’re busy, not slow.
Use fewer words. Fewer buttons. More outcomes.Mobile-first. Always.
Many MSMEs don’t even use laptops.Work without 24/7 internet.
Or with patchy power. Or both.Use regional language when needed.
Or at least don’t flood the UI with jargon.Offer real support.
Not chatbots. Real people. Or local partners. Or people, they already trust.
MSMEs deserve priority, not inclusion.
They’re not just a segment. They’re the majority.
MSMEs make up 90%+ of India’s business ecosystem.
They contribute nearly 30% to India’s GDP.
They employ over 100 million people.
And yet, most of the software conversation still begins with:
“How will this scale across 200+ employees?”
Let’s start with a better question:
“How can we save one MSME founder four hours this week?”
That's the real scale.
We have built for the MSMEs first
At Accomation.io, we’ve built our product around this idea. That automation shouldn't be intimidating. That bookkeeping shouldn't be manual in 2025. And that MSMEs shouldn’t have to work harder just because they don’t have a team of accountants behind them.
Because MSMEs don’t need tech that looks impressive.
They need tech that just works.
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