An information technology forum organised in Kochi by IBM has emphasised thecompany's keenness to work in smaller cities and offer e-business solutions,a company spokesman told The Financial Express here on Friday. The IBMSolutions Forum 2000 took a long and hard look at the emerging trends in theknowledge-based industry, he said.

The entire sweep of the technological revolution has been taken intoconsideration as IBM India, part of the $90-billion giant, starts its driveto expand its niche, the spokesman pointed out. The IBM Solutions Forumspecifically targeted the small and medium businesses as it discussed a widerange of IBM technologies, products, solutions and services.

The company's ability to provide e-business and various industry-specificsolutions was highlighted as the IT forum attempted to bring these to thedoorsteps of key corporate influencers, decision-makers and captains ofbusiness, the spokesman said. Beside being state-of-the-art, he said, IBMtechnologies are cost-effective and are suited to the requirements of thevarious sizes of businesses.

The IT forum presentations were on industry-specific solutions like ERPsolutions, supply chain management and CRM solutions, e-business solutions,Internet service and engineering technology solutions. "These solutions arepackaged to meet the needs of Indian customers with IBM's popular technologyproducts and services," the spokesman said.

As Indian business and industry become globally competitive, their needs andbusiness issues are becoming similar to that of companies across the globe.IBM's technologies and solutions for Indian small and medium businessprovide a competitive edge in this era of globalisation, the spokesmanclaimed.

IBM's thrust will be on the use of the Internet and intranet to improvemarketing, customer service and sales. At the same time, the company wantsto impart the knowledge that e-business is not just Internet-basedtransactions but refers to all business activities from sale to operationsto inventory keeping using the Internet, intranet and the local networks,the spokesman added.