As part of the partnership, WhatsApp and CII will work on enhancing business communication via CII's SME Technology Facilitation Centre for SMEs, and also develop informative content, both in digital and physical formats, to distribute among entrepreneurs.
The Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has joined hands with Confederation of Indian Industry for providing training to entrepreneurs and small media enterprises (SMEs) across India by using ‘WhatsApp Business’ app to help them grow their businesses, according to a statement. As part of the partnership, the two – WhatsApp and CII – will work on enhancing business communication via CII’s SME Technology Facilitation Centre for SMEs across the country, and also develop informative content, both in digital and physical formats, to distribute among entrepreneurs.
The SME Technology Facilitation Centre, which was set up in November 2016, enables its technology partners to increase their presence and reach out to SMEs across the country with their products and services. The centre was set up for SMEs with a primary objective to offer technological solutions that can enhance their overall competitiveness.
The two will conduct on-ground training across India for SMEs to explain the features and best practices on its messaging platform. Also, entrepreneurs located in the hinterland will get the chance to attend a training webinar that will help them grow the businesses. Globally, more than three million people are already using the WhatsApp Business app, which was launched in January this year.
The training material will be available on the CII SME website. “Small businesses need to meet their customers where they are, and in India, that’s on WhatsApp. With the WhatsApp Business app, small businesses can easily and efficiently connect with their customers, and we’ll be introducing new features in the future to continue helping them grow,” WhatsApp’s Public Policy Manager Ben Apple said in the statement.
The WhatsApp Business app was launched to help SMEs improve communications with their customers easily and more efficiently, by creating an official presence for all such small businesses in the app and enhancing their customer care.