"Hotbiz" for SmallBiz by Desiboys (and a girl)
hotbiz.com
To even the odds: US-Indian's Hotbiz.com opens up an Internet vista for small businesses
Richard Springer (et)
SAN JOSE 20 DECEMBER
AN INDIAN American-owned company has stepped in to rescue millions of small and medium-sized businesses in the US that didn't know how to tap the potential for growth offered by the Internet.
"Small businesses haven't been able to engage in the Internet revolution because of the complexity, costs and headaches," said Parul Chheda, co-founder and chief executive officer of Hotbiz.com .
"We do bundling at a one-stop site and provide a level playing field for small businesses," Chheda told the California newspaper India-West shortly after the company shifted base to Silicon Valley from Sacramento.
According to New York-based Media International, fewer than 15 per cent, or 1m US small businesses, have deployed websites, e-commerce, web services, remote-access solutions, wide area networking and broadband options. "Of the 20 million medium and small-sized businesses, only 37 per cent are online," Ms Chheda said. "This is a huge potential for us - 63 per cent of a fast-growing segment of the market."
Hotbiz was founded in 1998 by Ms Chheda, her husband and former Intel engineer Mahendra Chheda, and R Paul Gupta, the founder and former chief executive officer of Quality Semiconductor, which was acquired in 1998 by Integrated Device Technology for $35m.
Hotbiz.com offers website development, e-mail, online contract management services, business cards, a personal Hotbiz code, virtual bulletin boards, chat rooms and other services. The company already has more than 3,000 businesses in its network.
After a trial period, there are packages ranging from $20-$35 a month for up to five users, depending on the customised services required. "Our tools are cost-effective, easy to use and maintenance-free for small businesses," Parul Chheda said, adding that business services were further refined over 6 months of beta testing earlier this year. "We listened to our charter members," she said. The charter members represented a variety of businesses ranging from an individual entrepreneur selling homemade flies for fly fishing to an organisation devoted to supporting family farms.
Stan Dundon, coordinator for the latter concern, Soul of Agriculture, said he is not a computer expert, so "developing a website was prohibitive in terms of skills, time and money. The greatest feature of Hotbiz.com is that I can easily edit and format my website by pressing a couple of keys."
Soul of Agriculture has been forming collaborations with partners and vendors. "We see (Hotbiz) as a gateway to services and products that are complementary to ours,? said Dundon. Ms Chheda said she would next be looking to link up with Internet service providers, including companies in India, to bundle its services with Internet offerings. Auction and headhunter services are examples of just two areas being developed. HeadHunter.Net , a leading online recruiting service, announced in September it had formed co-branding agreements with over 6 new companies. Hotbiz.com was one of them.
"This is a simple-to-understand business that depends on good customer service," Ms Chheda said. "We want to acquire customers, and also to retain them. Our members are creating a business community and they can transact business with each other," she added.
The company was founded by private investment from the founders and a few angel investors, she said. - IANS |
