A well-known name in the industry, Jaspreet Bindra is the CEO of Getit Infomedia. Prior to joining Getit Infomedia, he was the Country Head for Microsoft India –Internet business and was a part of the founding team for Baazee.com – now known as eBay India. Jaspreet is also involved with different start-up accelerators. Using his expertise of working in the MNC environment coupled with his tryst with the startup ecosystem he took on the reigns of Getit Infomedia as its CEO.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, he talks about his journey so far at Getit Infomedia and the importance of digitization for SMEs.

You are close to completing a year with GetIt Infomedia Services. How has the journey been so far?  

I joined Getit Infomedia in February 2013 and since then it been a roller-coaster ride, filled with tonnes of exciting moments. The past few months have been a great time of change, focused at building Getit as the leading platform making local businesses digitally discoverable. This journey had started with building a star team. Together, we have created some exciting products and have also established some strong partnerships with Google, Nokia, VeriSign and Yahoo. And we are sure with a great team, a superior product proposition, and leading partners, 2014 will be filled with successful milestones for GetIt.

GetIt offers a gamut of digital products and services, which platform do you think drives in more traffic- internet or mobile internet?

Getit Infomedia has a gamut of digital products and services. Both our platform – internet and mobile are doing well, however, with the growing evolution of the mobility in the country, we see mobility driving a lot of the global businesses and therefore emerging as a stronger platform for us. However, we will continue focusing our energies on both and will try and get the best of both the worlds.

What is the business model of GetIt Infomedia?

At Getit Infomedia, we follow the freemium model that entails all our basic products and listings which are free for the SMEs, helping them to be discoverable and also free for the consumers to search for the right SME. With more than 6 million SMEs in our database, this model offers a win-win situation for both the parties. The paid model is for the premium listings on platform like web and mobile and also for lead generation for the SMEs.

Early in 2013, GetIt acquired YellowPages and AskMe from Network 18. How would you say GetIt has been able to value add to these two?

The combined entity formed by the acquisition of Infomedia is known as Getit Infomedia. The acquisition of the company has brought in with it the legacy of its brand AskMe. And with this, we have two very strong brands in our portfolio – Yellow Pages and AskMe, thus creating a symbiotic relationship between the two, complementing and adding value to each other. This relationship has helped Getit Infomedia to bring on-board a robust digital DNA and a robust business model.

Comparing digital to print, which one is a greater source of revenue for GetIt?

As mentioned earlier, mobility is one of the key drivers for us today. The digital portfolio of Getit Infomedia is catering to its mobile consumers making it a greater revenue generator.

At a time when India's internet penetration is only growing, how far do you think is digitisation important for SMEs?

According to a recent FICCI report, India is stated to have 300 million internet users by 2015, out of which 3 million would be SMEs. Currently 51 per cent SMEs use online advertising, 49 per cent SMEs own websites and 27 per cent SMEs engage in e-commerce. These numbers are a clear indication of the importance of digitisation for the SMEs as a tool to expand their businesses. With almost the entire population connected via web of internet and mobile, a digital presence is essential for businesses to get discovered, interact with the consumer and lead to a transaction which results in their growth.

Can we expect any new acquisitions happening in the near future?

Nothing as of now, however, we will share any updates when we do so.

Mobile is being seen as the 'next big brand and communication tool'. How can SMEs leverage it as a marketing tool?

Rightly said, mobile is being seen as the 'next big brand and communication tool'. From SMS to apps, to mobile SEO and QR codes, mobile as a platform has the ability to connect with the masses. Mobile as marketing tool is being used world over especially by SMEs due to its targeted reach and affordability. As a platform SMEs can utilize this tool by reaching out to the consumers through mobile apps, m-commerce, WAP sites and in app advertising.

How has been the uptake of wap.GETIT.in?

WAP has been becoming omnipresent in handsets, with virtually all mobile subscribers having full web browsing capabilities. With mobility as a key theme today, most of the users consume infotainment through their phones. Bridging the gap, Getit Infomedia had formed a strong WAP platform- WAP.Getit.in. Today it has been bringing in one-third of the traffic across all our portfolios. 

Share with us the furture plans of GetIt Infomedia.

Our plan is to build a platform that will digitally empower SMEs to be discovered, interact with the consumers and results in transactions. We have innovated and reinvented the processes to create customized bundles for the consumers. We also aim to create some great mobile first products.