AI accessibility at low price crucial for highly cost-conscious MSME market: Tally’s MD

The micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) are pivotal to the country’s economic growth. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) can offer a massive opportunity for the sector to grow and innovate at scale. That said, the sector faces unique challenges such as skills, financial support, and AI access that pose hurdles to its adoption. 

Tejas Goenka, the managing director of Bengaluru-based Tally Solutions, agrees. “We serve a highly cost-conscious market, so it's crucial for us to ensure that accessibility is provided at a very low cost. The current AI models and experiences are quite expensive—they require significant power and computing resources, making them less viable for our needs,” Goenka told TechCircle. 

Tally Solutions is a three-decade-old company that offers business software solutions for MSMEs. The company is now focusing on solving this challenge along with privacy and security in dealing with the financial data of businesses.

“In the SME market, especially in regions like India, we've noticed that businesses expect enterprise-level service, even though they typically don't have dedicated IT staff. Small traders or service organisations usually won't hire for IT roles, so our product can't be dependent on IT support, despite being a software solution," he said, adding that customers expect assistance with implementation, customisations, and training, sometimes even requiring in-person support. They demand enterprise-level service, but cost is still a major factor. Our challenge is to innovate and find ways to reach them efficiently. High flexibility and agility is also a demand among MSME customers. 

Goenka was speaking on the sidelines of the TallyPrime 5.0 launch on Thursday. TallyPrime is a flagship product from the company to meet accounting needs and streamline business operations. The fifth generation of the product comes with a connected GST feature that consolidates the interface for all online GST (goods and services tax) operations without having to visit GST portal. 

Additionally, TallyPrime 5.0 offers advanced multi-lingual capabilities that will extend Arabic and Bangla language interfaces with phonetic support. This feature will further enhance the company's position in international markets. 

“The Middle East is a significant market for us, and we're eager to expand beyond the UAE, with a strong focus on Saudi Arabia. Africa also remains a major area of interest, particularly East Africa, with Kenya as a key market. Southeast Asia is also on our radar, including Bangladesh. The rest of Southeast Asia remains highly attractive to us as well,” said Goenka. 

The company has offices in 25 locations in the country, and an international presence in places such as Nairobi, Dubai, Saudi, Qatar, and Bangladesh. It also operates in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Nepal, among others through partners. The company has a workforce of 1,000 people with 45% engaged in engineering and productivity roles.