A recent piece by Aditya Ghosh in Hindustan Metro put a number on something I've been watching for years.

Around 63 million MSMEs in India have adopted digital tools. Cloud platforms, billing apps, booking systems, CRMs. The works.

But nearly half of them are still stuck in early usage. Logging in once a month. Using 10% of what they paid for. Or quietly going back to the notebook.

That number should bother us. Not because the businesses failed. Because the software did.

Why do small businesses in India stop using software?

I walk into small businesses every week. Cafes, gyms, clinics, salons across Hyderabad. And I see the same thing over and over.

There's an app installed on the owner's phone. Sometimes two or three. A billing tool. A booking platform. Maybe a CRM someone sold them at a trade expo.

And then there's the notebook on the counter. The real system.

The owner didn't go back to the notebook because they're "not tech-savvy." They went back because the notebook does what they need in 5 seconds, with zero confusion.

The software couldn't say the same.

The three most common reasons small business owners abandon software:

  1. Setup is too complex. A salon with two employees doesn't need a 45-minute onboarding wizard with cancellation policies and automated email sequences.
  2. The tool solves the wrong problem. Owners need to know "who's coming today" and "did we get paid." Not dashboards with 14 tabs.
  3. It doesn't fit their workflow. If a customer books via WhatsApp, the software needs to work with WhatsApp. Not replace it.

What happens when small businesses try software?

I worked with a fitness studio owner in Hyderabad last year. She signed up for a booking platform. Paid for three months. Never made a single booking through it.

She tried. She sat through onboarding, watched the tutorials. But the system wanted class types, instructor profiles, pricing tiers, cancellation policies, and automated emails set up before she could take one booking.

She had two instructors and four class times. She needed a way for someone to say "I'm coming to the 6pm batch on Thursday."

So she went back to WhatsApp. Because "coming tomorrow 6pm" just works.

Why does software fail small businesses in India?

Every few months, someone publishes a report about "digital adoption" in India. The framing is always the same. Businesses need to get on board. They need to be educated. They need training.

But the problem isn't awareness. These owners already bought the software. They already tried.

The gap is empathy. The people building these tools have never spent a day standing behind a billing counter in a 200 sq ft shop. They've never watched a salon owner toggle between WhatsApp, a notebook, and a calculator to manage her day.

If they had, they wouldn't build software that needs a 45-minute setup wizard.

How should you build software for small businesses?

At Ripple Design, we don't start with features. We start by watching.

Before we write a line of code, we spend time in the business. We watch how the owner actually works. Where they pause. What they reach for. What they ignore.

Then we build for that reality:

  • If they track inventory on WhatsApp, we don't build an inventory module. We build something that reads their WhatsApp updates.
  • If they need 5-second check-ins, we don't add a login screen. We build a single-tap flow.
  • If their busiest hour is 6pm, we test the software at 6pm, standing behind the counter, with the queue building up.

That's design thinking applied to real businesses. Not as a buzzword. As a practice.

63 million businesses tried. The question isn't how to get them to try again. It's whether we'll build something worth trying.

Frequently asked questions

Why do Indian MSMEs fail at digital adoption?

Most MSMEs don't fail at adoption. They try the software and it fails them. Tools built for enterprise workflows don't fit businesses with 2-5 employees, limited time, and customers who book over WhatsApp. The issue is product-market fit, not digital literacy.

What kind of software works for small businesses in India?

Software that fits into existing workflows instead of replacing them. Tools with minimal setup, no jargon, and interfaces simple enough to use between customers. If it takes longer than a notebook, it won't survive the first month.

What is design thinking for small businesses?

Design thinking for small businesses means observing how the business actually operates before building anything. Instead of starting with a feature list, you spend time in the shop, watch the owner's daily routine, and build software around their real constraints: time, space, skill level, and customer expectations.

Sunny Haladker is the founder of Ripple Design, a design studio that builds custom software for businesses that don't have IT departments. He's spent 8 years working with non-tech businesses across India, applying design thinking to build tools that actually get used.