Digit Channel Connect September Issue by 9dot9 in

editorial

Cutting through the clutter

hen I glance at balance sheets, there is a thought that often crosses my mind. Why don’t balance sheets have a provision for the net worth of the total brand equity of the organisation? This intangible asset, brand equity, will stand for the strength of all the brands that the company has been able to develop, be it a product or service. A brand stands for commitment to quality, a testimonial to customer awareness and a fostering of loyalty towards the product. Now let me explain why the whole business of building brands should catch the attention of some of our best technology companies. It is the company with the strongest brands which will be able to weather the current economic slowdown. Brands stay with you through thick and thin. The immense goodwill that you have been able to generate by providing topnotch services to your client or by manufacturing a world-class product will not erode away. In fact, if I may extend my argument, I feel that Brand India took a big hit due to this Satyam fiasco. It is going to take some time for Indian IT companies to remove that negative sentiment which is bound to exist towards them.

Brands need to be constantly invested in, and much care must be taken to ensure that their core values do not get eroded. Despite the immense strides that Indian IT has taken, I will stick my neck out and say that we do not really own brands that generate instant international recall. That’s where the US of A has been successful—in developing some really strong technology brands. Sure, these companies have had a head start, but to cut through the clutter, the time has come for Indian brands to strike. To stay ahead of competition, and to stay relevant in the marketplace, you cannot stay without powerful brands in your corporate arsenal. After all, the game is about perception and recall…you wouldn’t remember the name of the second man on the moon, would you?

SUJAY NAIR Editorial Director Digit Channel Connect

sujay.nair@9dot9.in

A brand stands for commitment to quality, a testimonial to customer awareness and a fostering of loyalty towards the product

sounding board sounding board

Dear Editor, DCC is doing quite well in the market. Would like to see more news on trade association activities. Best of luck to the entire team! Great show. Pawan Jajodia, President, COMPASS

Dear Editor, We get very good information from the magazine. We will like to have a regular section on service issues, where dealers can speak about their service-related worries and get it answered from the concerned vendors. Sanjay K Agrawal, Proprietor, Mainframe Computer

Write to the Editor E-mail: editor@digitchannelconnect.com Snail Mail: The Editor, Channel Connect, KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400703

Dear Editor, We would like to thank you for distributing Digit Channel Connect to our entire dealer network in Goa. The magazine is of great value as it covers valuable information required by the channel community. This collective information is very handy and useful for us. Also, your focused cover stories are an excellent read as they talk about the current scenario and future trends. Thank you and we wish you and the magazine a great success. Ramakrishnan Iyer, Proprietor, PC Clinik, Goa

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

contents

Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Printer & Publisher: Kanak Ghosh Editorial Editorial Director: Sujay Nair Copy Editor & Sr. Correspondents: Maneka Tanwani Sr. Correspondents: Charu Khera, Soma Tah Design Art Director: Rohit A Chandwaskar Chief Designer: Abraham K John Illustrator: Shrikrishna Patkar Photographer: Jiten Gandhi Brand Communication Head: Kabir Malkani Team: Thomas Varghese, Jayant Varade, Nilanjan Ghosh, Subodh Dalvi Product Manager: Ankur Agarwal

tracking buying trends As September draws to a close, the IT industry has started gearing up for a month-long festive season with a bunch of new products and attractive promotional schemes that will bring in new enthusiasm in the channel

regulars Editorial............................................................................................................................................ 03 TRENDS........................................................................................................................... 06, 08,09,10,11

Sales & Marketing VP Sales & Marketing: Navin Chand Singh National Manager - Events and Special Projects: Mahantesh Godi (09880436623) Business Manager (Engagement Platforms) Arvind Ambo (09819904050) National Manager - Channels: Krishnadas Kurup (09322971866) Asst. Brand Manager: Arpita Ganguli Co-ordinator - MIS & Scheduling: Aatish Mohite Bangalore & Chennai: Sanjay Bhan (09341829285) Delhi: Pranav Saran (09312685289) Kolkata: Jayanta Bhattacharya (09331829284) Mumbai: Ganesh Lakshmanan (9819618498) Production & Logistics Sr. GM Operations: Shivshankar M Hiremath Production Executive: Vilas Mhatre Logistics: MP Singh, Mohd. Ansari, Shashi Shekhar Singh Channel champs Sr Co-ordinator - Events: Rakesh Sequeira Events Executives: Pramod Jadhav, Nitin Kedare, Johnson Noronha Audience Dev. Executive: Aparna Bobhate, Shilpa Surve Events Programmer : Vijay Mhatre OFFICE ADDRESS

advertisers index Canon..................................................................................................................................................................... Cover On Cover, IFC Toshiba . .......................................................................................................................................................................................... IFC Topnotch...........................................................................................................................................................................................04 Western Digital.................................................................................................................................................................................. 07 Epson............................................................................................................................................................................................09, 11 Chip Tech............................................................................................................................................................................................13 Interface............................................................................................................................................................................................15 India Antivirus....................................................................................................................................................................................17 Priya Ltd............................................................................................................................................................................................19 Gigabyte.............................................................................................................................................................................................21 Supertron..........................................................................................................................................................................................23 Neoteric............................................................................................................................................................................................25 Quickheal.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Circle Infotech.................................................................................................................................................................................. 47 Pushpam...........................................................................................................................................................................................48 Microsoft Hardware.........................................................................................................................................................................IBC

Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd., KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai - 400 703 Phone: 40789666 Fax: 022-40789540, 022-40789640 Printed and published by Kanak Ghosh for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd. C/O KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400703 Editor: Sujay Nair C/O KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400703 Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, TTC Ind. Area, Plot No. : A - 403, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400709

EMC...................................................................................................................................................................................................BC

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

cover design : kabir malkani

september 2009

trends trends

Transcend releases 600X CompactFlash card in India

hese new 600X CF cards raise the bar with fast transfer speeds of up to 92MB/s read and 87MB/s write, which makes them as ideal choice for professional photographers and enthusiasts who use digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend, said, “We are extremely proud to have once again redefined performance in the CF Cards segment with our new Extreme Plus 600X CompactFlash cards with Turbo MLC technology. We are confident that Indian photographers, both professional and amateur, and all other power users will appreciate the excellent and unmatched performance offered by this technologically superior product.” Transcend’s Extreme Plus 600X CompactFlash cards operate in quad-channel mode using Ultra DMA (UDMA) 6, the fastest speed available for flash cards. In comparison with 300X CF cards, this new version offers nearly double the read write speeds for unparalleled file transfer performance. Transcend’s 600X CF cards are able to instantly store extremely high-resolution image data, which makes consecutive shooting and non-stop video recording easier than ever. With impressive transfer speeds and enormous storage capacity, users are guaranteed to get the very best performance results from their digital cameras and share their digital artwork with the world. To assure robust, long-life durability and guaranteed performance, Transcend’s 600X CF cards are manufactured using only the most advanced Flash controllers and premium quality NAND Flash memory chips. In addition, each card contains built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) that automatically detects and corrects errors during data transfer, and also utilises a sophisticated wearleveling algorithm for consistent long-life operation. All Transcend CF cards are comprehensively tested for compatibility, speed and reliability. Available in 8GB and 16GB capacities, Transcend’s Extreme Plus 600X CompactFlash cards are the definitive storage media choice for any high-end DSLR camera.

GlacialTech launches Igloo 1100 CU Series of CPU Coolers

he 1100 CU series come in four models- 1100Cu Silent/1100Cu Silent(E)/1100Cu Silent(2B), 1100Cu Light/1100Cu Light(E)/1100Cu Light(2B), 1100Cu/1100Cu(E)/1100Cu and 1100Cu PWM/1100Cu PWM(E)/1100Cu PWM(2B). This is specially focused for all gaming and PC enthusiasts. Silencing a PC has become an important issue for many PC users, and GlacialTech’s engineers have taken this seriously, developing a slew of new products addressing issues related to noise. The Igloo 1100CU series is also available in four different models1100Cu Silent/1100Cu Silent (E)/1100Cu Silent(2B), 1100Cu Light/1100Cu Light (E)/1100Cu Light(2B), 1100Cu/1100Cu (E)/1100Cu(2B) and 1100Cu PWM/1100Cu PWM (E)/1100Cu PWM(2B). The 1100CU series models weight 451 grams as compared to the Igloo 1100 Series which is as light as 380 grams. Overlockers were also kept in mind when designing the Igloo 1100 CU series.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

Gartner evaluates maturity of 1,650 technologies

ach Hype Cycle provides a snapshot of key technologies and trends in a specific technology, topic, geographic region, or industry domain. This year’s Hype Cycle report is Gartner’s largest to date, as the coverage has expanded to include Hype Cycles on topics such as cloud computing, data center power and cooling technologies, media broadcasting, photovoltaic solar energy, and virtualisation. The “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies” is the longest-running annual Hype Cycle, providing a cross-industry perspective on the technologies and trends that IT managers should consider in developing emerging-technology portfolios. This Hype Cycle features technologies that are the focus of attention in the IT industry because of particularly high levels of hype, or those that may not be broadly acknowledged but which Gartner believes have the potential for significant impact. “Technologies at the Peak of Inflated Expectations during 2009 include cloud computing, e-books (such as from Amazon and Sony) and Internet TV (for example, Hulu), while social software and microblogging sites (such as Twitter) have tipped over the peak and will soon experience disillusionment among enterprise users,” said Jackie Fenn, Vice President and Gartner Fellow, and co-author of the book “Mastering the Hype Cycle” (published by Harvard Business Press). “Looking at real benefit, rather than the hyped expectations, we see a number of potentially transformational technologies that will hit the mainstream in less than five years, including Web 2.0, cloud computing, Internet TV, virtual worlds and service-oriented architecture (SOA),” Fenn said. “Longer term, beyond the five-year horizon, RFID, 3-D printing, context-delivery architectures, mobile robots, and human augmentation will be transformational across a range of industries.” Additional analysis on some of the technologies and trends at the peak of inflated expectations that will reach the plateau in two to five years are included below: Cloud computing: As enterprises seek to consume their IT services in the most cost-effective way, interest is growing in drawing a broad range of services (for example, computational power, storage and business applications) from the “cloud,” rather than from on-premises equipment. The levels of hype around cloud computing in the IT industry are deafening, with every vendor expounding its cloud strategy and variations, such as private cloud computing and hybrid approaches, compounding the hype. E-book readers: Sony’s e-book reader and Amazon’s Kindle have attracted a great deal of attention during 2009. However, the devices still suffer from proprietary file formats and digital rights management technologies, which along with price, are limiting their adoption and will drive them into the Trough of Disillusionment. The following have tipped just past the peak of inflated expectations: Social software suites: Awareness of social technology is high because of the popularity of related consumer social software and Web 2.0 services. Within businesses, there is strong and rapidly growing evidence of experimentation and early production deployments. The movement from point tools to integrated suites has brought broader adoption but also high expectations. Disillusionment is beginning based on the realisation that, even with a suite, much work must be done to build an effective social software deployment. Microblogging: Microblogging, Twitter, in particular, have exploded in popularity during 2009 to the extent that the inevitable disillusionment around “channel pollution” is beginning. As microblogging becomes a standard feature in enterprise social software platforms, it is earning its place alongside other channels (for example, e-mail, blogging and wikis), enabling new kinds of fast, witty, easy-to-assimilate exchanges.

trends trends

Kingmax unveils special edition of USB flash drive in India

he BJ01 comes in an eye-catching blue color, high-speed data transfer rate and cost-performance value, and is also extremely convenient device that plugs directly into the USB port of any desktop, or notebook computer, so it can be used to easily transfer e-work for students or busy office workers. “In 2009, Kingmax will put more emphasis on Indian market, because of the economic booming in the area”, stated Lawrence Chang, President of Kingmax. “We will constantly unveil series of high quality and high performance products and hold more promotional activities with local agents to let more customers understand Kingmax’s brand and popularise products deeply into market.” In response to Kingmax’s ambition on Indian market, Super Stick Mini Black edition is specially rolled out as the advanced version for this particular market. By using the patent PIP technology, the unique packaging technology makes Super Stick mini not only smaller in size and greater in content, but with the feature of waterproof, dust resistance and High/Low temperature tolerance (above 100ºC~-40ºC) without any tolerance of quality and data transfer rate. The Super Stick Mini Black is available in 2GB capacities and will unveil more capacities based on the customers’ request.

Samsung launches Samsung OMNIA HD in India

MNIAHD features 720P HD video recording on mobile as well as a 9.4 cm AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen on mobile. With its 1 Ghz Processor, Samsung OMNIA HD is a high performance full-touch screen phone that incorporates the latest multimedia features and fastest data communication, to offer a complete multimedia solution for consumers. The company today also announced the launch of its Personal Assistant Perfected - OmniaPRO B7320 in the Indian market. Based on Symbian platform, Samsung OMNIA HD is the company’s newest, high performance full-touch screen phone that brings together style, multimedia and business performance in one device. Samsung OMNIA HD has a stunning design with a sleek finish and delivers the ultimate in digital entertainment thanks to its HD capability and 9.4cm AMOLED screen. The HD video recording feature enables users to capture precious moments in HD (720p) quality, enjoy HD content on HD TV via DLNA technology. The 16: 9 screen of QHD display with 16M colour and dual stereo speaker reveal a whole new world of mobile multimedia experiences on the move, enabling users to enjoy SD (Standard Definition) /HD (High Definition) videos in cinema-scale quality. With its 1GHz Processor, Samsung OMNIA HD is a true multi tasking phone with the capability of running several applications simultaneously. Samsung OMNIA HD ensures you capture the life-like photographs of your friends and family through the dedicated 8MP camera which allows you take digital camera-quality photographs on your phone. Users can also enjoy PC-like web-surfing on the phone’s 9.4 cm. The mammoth 16GB internal memory expandable to another 32GB, allows users to store up to 48GB of data. Based on the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, Samsung gives users a mobile extension to their PC experience, with access to MS Office documents such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word. Additionally, features such as a 3-megapixel camera, FM radio with RDS and Wi-Fi. Samsung OMNIA PRO is priced at Rs 16,500.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

Epson introduces wireless all-in-one printer update

he new Epson Stylus TX550W is an update to the Epson Stylus TX400 model and improves on its predecessor with a new wireless networking capability, even more user-friendly features, and the option of using high capacity Epson INKdividual cartridges that lower the cost per page of printing for home/small business users. The new Epson Stylus TX550W is designed to maximise users’ productivity. In addition to providing users with colour printing, copying and scanning functionality in a compact chassis, the device features wireless networking capability, allowing it to be shared among multiple users and saving home/business owners the cost and inconvenience of using wired connections. In addition, it also has user-friendly features that include direct access buttons for immediate copying, photo printing and scanning to PC/PFD/email. The Epson Stylus TX550W also has memory card slots for users to directly print photos from. A large 2.5-inch LCD on the device provides users visual indications of operations as well as previews photos to be printed. The Epson Stylus TX550W’s class-leading print speed of 36 pages per minute also helps to boost users’ productivity even further. The Epson Stylus TX550W features the proprietary Epson Micro Piezo print head with Variable-Sized Droplet Technology (VSDT) that achieves a maximum print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi for extremely smooth image gradations. Working in tandem with this is Epson DURABrite pigment inks that deliver sharp black text as well as glossy photos that are long-lasting, smudge, fade and water resistant. The inks are also contained in four separate Epson INKdividual cartridges, so users only need to replace the specific colour that has run out instead of changing the full set thereby minimising wastage and maximising cost savings.

Netgear Technologies concludes second phase of the road show

he company successfully organised road shows at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Cochin, New Delhi and now at Kolkata. All the road shows witnessed more than 40 delegates each from a vast section of the channel community and was applauded too. Commenting on the road shows, Atul Jain, Country Manager, Netgear India and SAARC, said, “We are organizing 10-city road shows. This kicked off from 21st July in Bangalore and will conclude on 19th August in Pune. We have already completed our first phase of road shows in four South Indian cities from 21st till 24th of July. In the second phase Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata were covered on 3rd, 4th and 6th of August respectively. In the third phase, we willtake this road show to three major cities in West i.e. Ahmedabad on 17th August, Mumbai on 18th August and Pune on19th August.” Netgear showcased four lines of product. Netgear ProSafe Switches, Netgear ProSafe Wireless, Netgear ProSafe Security and Netgear ProSafe Storage. Elaborating on the product line up Atul Jain said, “We are giving more emphasis on storage and security solutions as these are fairly new in our kitty and have a good market opportunity for the partners,” He adds,“Each of the product lines are given two hours of duration and the scalability, profitability, and ease of operations and management are given due importance in the talks of the experts.” Atul adds, “People should be aware that we are offering enterpriseclass technology to the SoHo and SMEs. All the products are based on open standard and thus interoperable with most of the high-end solutions at the core.” “We have planned roadshows across the country as a part of our endeavour to strengthen our relationship with our partners by updating them with the various opportunities that exist for them in the market. Looking at the present business scenario, we would continue to invest along with our vendors to reach out to our partners to enable them to do more business.”

trends

Bluelounge presents Refresh – a charging station

ompatible with over 1000 products, it is also future ready, incorporating the micro USB based charging interface - a standard being introduced by most major brands. Bluelounge Refresh is offered in white, black, and pink and retails for $89.95. Refresh provides users with six universal connectors in one compact location: two iPod/iPhone connectors, a Micro USB, a Mini USB, and two USB Sockets. Bluelounges newest release offers flexibility and maximum customisation possibilities. A chic yet practical gift for any cell phone or electronics owner, Refresh brings high design to ones personal organisation with its slim, inclined form. The charging station is compatible with the following brands and more: Apple, Blackberry, Creative, Dopod, Eten, Garmin, HP, HTC, i-mate, Insignia, Iqua, iRiver, Jabra, LG, Memorex, Motorolla, Nokia, O2, Pal, Philips, Plaantronics, Qtek, Samsung, Sanyo, Sidekick, Sony and Toshiba. With the inclusion of the USB Sockets, consumers also can plug in their own connectors to charge headsets and additional devices.

APC launches 550VA back-UPS

esigned specifically to address the harsh Indian power conditions, this new UPS comes with several innovative features. It helps customers protect their valuable PC from harmful voltage fluctuations, helps prevent burnt motherboards, damage to hard disc, data loss etc and also provides a 21 minutes of backup time during power cuts. Another key highlight of this new product is its battery. The APC BR550CI-IN Back-UPS comes with one of the biggest batteries in the category (500-600VA): i.e. a 7.5Ah battery. The APC BR550CI-IN Back–UPS comes with a 2 year warranty covering both UPS and the battery. “The PC is now an extremely important element in our daily lives. We use it for bill payments, communication; education, music, entertainment, storing data and files, pictures, videos etc. However power cuts continue to be frequent, unscheduled and most often an expensive interruption, APC has always endeavored to meet the growing, changing needs of its customers and the new APC 550VA UPS is another step in that direction “ said Sridhar Laxman, Marketing Director, APC by Schneider Electric. Priced at Rs 2475 the new APC BR550CI-IN back–UPS is aesthetically designed and available through more than 3,000 channel partners across the country.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

trends trends

Kobian brings out the latest designs of iXA laptop bags

Fujifilm to launch new cameras during Onam

he bags offer comprehensive protection, ample storage and ooze style and prestige. The newest models of Pluto, Apollo, Amore and many others are designed for 15.4” &17” Laptops. Available in various colour options, these are with anti shock padding, air cells and the unique feature of Trolley strap which can be converted into a back pack. The bags are with separate compartments allowing storage of everything from power supplies to all notebook accessories. The shoulder straps and backside of the backpack have extra padding and breathable mesh to give users maximum support and comfort. iXA laptop bags boasts of its “His” and “Her” range which offer colourful and trendy designs for today’s men and women and the young generation. Fitting laptops from the regular 15.4” to 17”, Kobian has also introduced slim bags for the 10” Netbooks. The 10” range has been designed specially for the students meeting their requirement of light weight, slim and colourful bags. “The iXA Bags come in different colours and style to match the personality of individual users. It’s a nice blend of an effective carry case which has pockets and compartments for nearly everything and still is a lightweight, elegant design with superior fabric quality. It shall feel as if it is designed just for you”, said Sushmita Das , Country Manager, Kobian. The product is available with Kobian’s distributors and is priced in the range of Rs 799 to Rs 1,299.

Digilink introduces Optiplus Optical Fiber Distribution Frame

n optical distribution frame (ODF) is fiber management unit that organises fiber and fiber cable connections. They are mainly used as the interface between optical transmission network and optical transmission equipment at optical fiber subscriber’s premises or at Datacentres. ODF are usually used indoors, at equipment rooms and can vary in size from very small (12F) to large fiber distribution frames (multiples of 48F) The company offers its ODFs in 12Port (1U), 24 Port (2U), 36Port (3U), 48Port (4U) and 72Port (6U). ODF are Combination for cold rolled-powder coated steel sheets, heavy duty telescopic sliding channels and moulded fiber trays using fire retardant ABS. Entire assembly is RoHS complied, in other words lead free. The ODFs have modular design with sliding mechanism. These can be pre-installed with varity of prevalent fiber optic adapter interfaces and fiber pigtails. The optical distribution frame conform to standard 19” rack configuration is properly designed to take care of minimum bend radius of the fiber/ fiber cable inside the enclosure to avoid extra optical loss. ODFs are ideal for indoor fiber optic cable connections’ storage, distribution and management. The sliding mechanism and modular stacking provides easy access and convenience for MAC (Moves, Adds and Changes) desired in Datacentre environment The distribution frames start from Rs 4,000 onward.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

n accordance with its business strategy to capture 15 percent market share in the next three years and emerge as one amidst the top brands in the digital camera market, the company is launching two of its newest models – the Fujifilm FinePix S1500 and Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR – in Kerala this festive season. Besides this, the company is also offering special festival price discounts on its existing range of technologically superior and advanced digital camera models. During the festive season, FinePix A170 camera is available at a special price of Rs 5,999 as against its MRP of Rs 7,999 and the FinePix J27 is available at Rs 6,999 as against its MRP of Rs 7,999. What’s more, this Onam every customer across Kerala shall get a camera pouch, a battery charger and a 2 GB memory card absolutely free along with purchase of a digital camera. Not to forget the three year warranty also being offered. Buoyed by the phenomenal response that the company has received for its digital cameras in Kerala, it has even opened a service centre in Kochi to cater to its customers in the state. Kenichi Tanaka, Managing Director, Fujifilm India, said, “Kerala is an important market for us. In the recent past, customers in the state have expressed their confidence in our products. Their overwhelming response to our digital camera range has helped us grow our market share. Onam, the biggest festival of the state, marks festivities and shopping. We are very hopeful that out new models, discounts, extra warranty and free accessories coupled with our extended reach through a customer service centre in the state shall influence the buying decision of the customers.”

RSA signs on Redington as its 2nd national distributor in India

s part of its India growth strategy, RSA aims to leverage Redington’s reach and capability to enhance its national presence, penetrate difficult markets to supplement its existing channel business, and forge mutually beneficial long-term partnerships among Value Added Resellers (VARs) across the country. RSA also now will be able to leverage Redington’s experience from working with EMC to address the demand for combined solutions for storage and security. “A strong partner network is critical for our business and growth in the region. As we look towards increasing our reach and foothold in the country, Redington becomes a natural choice with its extensive reseller network and its vast reach across cities in India,” said Amuleek Bijral, Country Manager – India and SAARC, RSA. “We also foresee a growing demand for combined storage and security solutions going forward, and Redington is the right fit as it has been a distributor for EMC for several years now. This partnership will help us supplement our existing channel network and reach out to more partners and customers in the country,” he added. “It is great to be able to work with RSA and EMC in the India market. We are now well positioned to cater to a broader base of customers by leveraging the extensive portfolios of RSA’s and EMC’s solutions and synergies between the two. With the addition of RSA’s solutions, we can now provide comprehensive solutions for a secure information infrastructure that meet the evolving needs of enterprises across industry verticals,” said Neogi P S, President, Redington.

trends

Fujifilm chalks out an elaborate customer care strategy

he company is confident that this move will enable it to garner attention of the target audience and increase nationwide sales so as to meet the target of capturing 15 percent market share within next three years and emerge as one of the top three brands in the country in terms of sales. Kenichi Tanaka, Managing Director, Fujifilm India, said, “We intend to make our customers feel proud of owning a Fujifilm FinePix digital camera and also have the peace of mind that it is backed by nationwide services and support network.” Fujifilm has extensive services and support network spread across the different geographical regions. In North, it has its service centers in Chandigarh, Dehradun, Jammu, Lucknow, Ludhiana, New Delhi, Jaipur, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad. In South, it has service centres in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Madurai and Secunderabad. In the central India region, service centre is present in Indore while in the East; the company has service centres located in Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata and Patna. In West, the company caters to its customer care requirements through its centres in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Goa and Raipur. The company also intends to ramp up its branding, sales and marketing activities through a series of above and below the line marketing activities so as to effectively get across its message to its diverse target audiences. The company’s marketing plans for the current year include advertising in print and outdoor media, participating in industry and consumer exhibitions, road shows and shop-in-shop tie-ups amongst others.

McAfee Network Security Platform achieves NSS Labs Gold Certification

he McAfee M-8000 is one of two IPS devices to have received a current NSS Gold certification in 2009. The NSS Labs certification procedure is based on recurring monthly testing which measures an IPS device’s ability to adapt and defend against the latest threats. After 90 days of testing, the NSS Gold Certification is given to products that continue to prove their effectiveness against the newest threats. In January 2009, the M-8000 Network Security Platform was the first product to be awarded NSS Approved for 10 Gbit IPS Certification. “After completing one quarter of Security Update Monitor testing, the McAfee Network Security Platform M-8000 appliance has become the first network IPS solution to receive the prestigious NSS Labs Gold Award for 10Gbit IPS,” said Rick Moy, President of NSS Labs. “Because of our focus on real-world use cases, NSS Labs’ certifications are an essential requirement for organisations seeking best-in-class security products.” “At McAfee, protecting our customers is our most important responsibility. For network security, detection accuracy is the primary measure of that value,” said Rees Johnson, General Manager and Senior Vice President of network IPS solutions for McAfee.

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

trends trends

Strontium launches memory for desktops and notebooks

UTStarcom launches Internet protocol partner programme in India

he 4GB DDR3 module from Strontium exhibits higher capacity, lower energy consumption and better heat dissipation, making it an optimal memory upgrade for today’s powerful, compute-intensive hardware and software platforms. Vivian Singh, CEO of Singapore based Strontium Technology, said “Dual- and multi-core CPUs for multi-tasking operations, 64-bit operating systems and sophisticated applications require high performance memory with reduced power consumption. To address the need for a more powerful memory support, we have come up with 4GB DDR3 in a single module for our customers.” Strontium also released the all-new 4GB DDR2 800 MHz modules for desktops and laptops. These modules are a perfect memory solution for users who are looking to upgrade their existing PCs with higher density and superior performance DDR2. Ajay Kogta, Country Manager, India Sub-continent, said, “Strontium 4GB DDR-3 and DDR-2 modules would be available through our regular channel partners. Suggested retail price for 4GB DDR-3 1333MHz is Rs 14000 and for 4GB DDR-2 800MHz is Rs 9000 for desktops and laptops respectively.” According to Kogta, “Strontium will enter the Indian market for external storage in the near future. Strontium will continue to introduce new products and new versions of existing products that keep pace with technology and satisfy increasingly sophisticated customer requirements.”

TStarcom is working with more than 20 partners in developing these rich applications that can be added on to its IP-based offerings. The applications in the immediate pipeline include tele-education, gaming, social networking, gaming, widgets, advertising, messaging convergence and contextual information. Says Vijay Yadav, Vice President and Managing Director of UTStarcom’s South Asia operations, “As the recognised leader in broadband and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) in India, UTStarcom is a proactive contributor to industry growth. By building an ecosystem for IPTV, we aim to aid faster adoption of this revolutionary technology among Indian audiences by helping telecom operators create a compelling pull factor built on technologically robust and tested applications.” The UTStarcom IP Partner Program is open to partners in various fields of the IP value chain, including testing equipment, content, remote technical debugging and complaint redressal and more. Four innovative applications have already been tested on UTStarcom’s technology platform and will soon be rolled out for service providers. Some of the IPTV services being developed or evaluated under the program include on-demand education / learning, TV travel booking, movie ticket booking, interactive maps, gaming, TV video blogging, hospitality solutions, widgets (for weather, stocks, cricket scores, etc.), customer analytics (for TAM ratings), targeted advertisements, and many more.

IT services providers ramp up cloud computing services

T services providers are continuing to invest in cloud computing offerings at an impressive pace – even though ongoing hype around cloud computing is leaving many customers confused as to its potential benefits, according to Ovum, the global analyst and consulting company. Services vendors are attempting to differentiate their cloud computing services for customers through their use of technologies such as virtualisation and their IT service delivery experience, and by demonstrating the positive impact of leveraging cloud services during a recession, according to Ovum principal analyst John Madden. “Cloud computing continues to dominate discussions among enterprise IT customers as they look for better and more cost-effective ways to operate and deliver IT services,” says Madden, based in Boston. “Although cloud-based services hold great promise for customers and the vendors that offer them, for the vast majority of enterprise customers there is still far too much hype surrounding what constitutes a

cloud, the kind of services that can be delivered and how those will ultimately evolve.” Madden says cloud services continue to attract widespread customer attention – if not actual adoption – due to its potential to provide variable costs, reduce capital expenditures, and provide an ability to match IT resources to real-life business needs. In addition, for various types of services providers – including traditional services players, outsourcers and telecom/network operators offering enterprise-class services – the evolution of the cloud computing market can bring distinct opportunities and challenges for each type of vendor. “However one views the cloud market, service providers want to remain active participants in the evolution of cloud services”, Madden adds. “Even if the hype level in cloud computing remains high, providers fear that not talking about cloud as part of their services portfolio could lead to customers viewing them as lacking behind in this evolving market.”

iBall launches below 9 litre NetTop casing

Ball NetTop 009 has been designed for the Indian environment and with requirements of Indian users in mind for Intel Atom solution. This is the first chassis which is below 9 litre size and yet allows a standard ODD to be fixed in the same. iBall being a leader in PC cases in the Indian market has worked very closely with Intel to bring out this product for the Indian market. Speaking on the occasion, Rajesh Gupta , Director Sales and Marketing Group, Intel India, said, “iBall NetTop 009 is an excellent innovation and we applaud the effort put in by iBall in developing a Nettop focused chassis. During last 9 months we have seen a strong ramp of Intel Atom processor based Nettops in India. We believe that with a chassis specially engineered for Indian environment, channel

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partners will take advantage and join the efforts in bridging the digital divide in the country”. iBall NetTop 009 is with full Piano finish (Shiny finish) which is the latest trend for desktop computing products. It comes with built-in 2 USB ports on the front panel for easy usage of USB devices. Also built-in is HD Audio to get the best sound possible from Atom based solution. It is included with 150W power supply and an additional internal fan for keeping things cooler inside the cabinet. The case has been designed in such a manner that the same can be used vertically as well as horizontally thereby giving immense flexibility to the user and yet maintains the class and the looks on the desktop. The small sized case gives immense space saving advantage and keeps the desktop uncluttered.

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he market generally gets abuzz with special festive schemes floated during September and the following OND (October-NovemberDecember) quarter. This time there have been different opinions which raise a question mark on the outcome of entire practice altogether. For example, while a section of the industry feels that festivity can prove to be an effective catalyst in the sales boosting exercises generally carried out by the vendors throughout the year, the other section of the industry believes that people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look at festivity to make their IT decisions. To clear the air, we have conducted an industry survey among 100 channel partners across the country, where almost all the distinguished partners have shared their views and opinions on the consumer buying trend during the festivity and what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be like in the current economic climate. We have tried to figure out the hot selling products across computing, audio-visual, networking and a number of enterprise technologies in the areas of security, servers, structured cabling, managed

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services, etc.

No slowdown in consumer spending this quarter Technology has become a necessity these days and there is no reason for not to spend. PC penetration in India is still low and the broadband expansion will push the requirement further which will create additional demand for PC products. Additionally there will be regular cycle of up gradation for existing PC user base as well. There has not been much impact on entry level product sales. The survey results show that the present adverse economic scenario has not been able to affect the sales in the SoHo and education segments. IT has certainly come down in the priority list, but the average buying will continue to take place and consumers will keep buying as per their requirement. On the enterprise level, people are looking for products which will increase their productivity and ensure a better RoI. Spending on technology is an ongoing process, which no progressive company can afford to ignore. Most

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Over

Keeping the economic scenario in mind, do you think that consumers will be willing to spend on IT in the coming festive season?

89%

13% no

of the respondents said laptops will sell the most

and back-up solutions. Now, when the market has started looking up, it is high time for companies to make their purchase decisions. More and more consolidation is happening in businesses to save the cost. Economy has also started looking up gradually. As a result, the enterprises that haven’t spent a substantial amount on technology in the last 12 months will also start upgrading their IT infrastructure, and fulfill their requirement. Corporates will start buying in the coming OND quarter which will improve further in the JFM (JanuaryFebruary-March) quarter. There are only a few sectors like BPO and other export oriented industries which have been affected, and it will be reflected in their buying pattern.

87% yes

A survey conducted among 100 channel partners to cull out the consumer buying trends in this festive season

Laptop Desktop RAM Motherboard Microprocessor Printer & Scanner Graphic card Hard disk drive

COMPUTING Will sell Will Sell Won't sell most averagely 89.5 7.9 0 25.6 66.7 2.6 26.5 52.9 2.9 8.6 57.1 11.4 11.4 48.6 14.3 18.9 70.3 2.7 8.3 61.1 13.9 27.8 47.2 11.1

Don’t know 2.6 5.1 17.6 22.9 25.7 8.1 16.7 13.9

*Figures in percentage

AUDIO-VISUAL Will sell Will Sell Won't sell most averagely LCD monitor Projector Speaker

67.6 11.1 21.1

24.3 41.7 57.9

2.7 13.9 10.5

Don’t know 5.4 33.3 10.5

*Figures in percentage

ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Will sell Will Sell Won't sell most averagely Security 37.1 48.6 2.9 Structured cabling 14.3 62.9 5.7 Servers 17.1 65.7 5.7 Managed Services 22.9 45.7 14.3 *Figures in percentage

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of the customers have held back their IT spends. In an increasing need to secure the proliferating data, businesses will look to heavily invest in security, storage

Don’t know 11.4 17.1 11.4 17.1

Consumer psyche will get reflected in the buying trends Eighty seven percent of the respondents have given the verdict that consumers will continue to invest in consumer technology products, which proves that they are not putting their IT decisions on hold. The buying pattern has definitely changed but not decreased. Forty one percent of the respondents believe that the adverse economic climate will affect the consumer buying patterns. Personal computing products will do well. Not much is expected from peripherals and entertainment gadgets though. The purchase decision will mostly be need-based. Consumer will look to derive more value out of every rupee spent. The survey demonstrated that people have become more cautious with their buying decisions and might compromise on their choices. Customers might look for lower price options because of financial constraints. High-end gaming products will take a hit as customers look at tightening their purse strings. In the monitor space, consumers will show more inclination for all-in-one LCDs than the normal LCD monitor as they will look for products with more value for money now. Interestingly, a large section of respondents feel that customers are taking advantage of this hype created around recession and in fact using this opportunity to negotiate more.

Festivity will ring the cash register again The channel community seems to be ver y hopeful this festive season. Festive sales are a combination of best offers and best bundling. Innovative schemes will attract more impulsive buyers. The channel survey throws light on this trend and churns up some interesting facts and figures for us. As expected, computing products like laptops and desktops have topped the hot selling list with 89.5 percent

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and 25.6 percent votes respectively, while 18.9 percent of the respondents have given votes for printers and scanners. Among the other components, 27.8 percent and 26.5 percent respondents correspondingly have voted for hard disk drives and memory modules. Morethan 70 percent respondents feel that printers and scanners will see an average sales this season. About 66 percent respondents feel that desktops will also see average sales. This is closely followed by the graphic cards and motherboards with 61.1 percent and 57.1 percent correspondingly. Surprisingly, about 14 percent of the respondents feel that graphic cards and microprocessors would not get sold in this season at all, while about 11 percent respondents feel that it is the graphic cards and motherboards that will not be in the buyersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preference list. In the audio visual segment, Over LCD monitors have got 67.6 percent votes and are likely of the respondents said to be sold most. T h i s i s c l o s e ly printers and scanners followed by speakwill sell averagely ers that got 57.9

70%

Switches & Routers Wireless products

NETWORKING Will sell Will Sell most averagely 28.6 60 44.7 47.4

Won't sell

percent share and About are expected to sell averagely. Among enterprise technoloof the respondents said gies, security and desktops will sell aver- managed services agely got 37.1 percent and 22.9 percent share respectively which is closely followed by servers (65.7 percent) and structured cabling (62.9 percent). in the average sales category. Comparatively, less demand is seen in the networking products category. wireless products got fare responses with 44.7 percent votes, while switches and routers received 60 percent votes in the average sales category.n

2.9 2.6

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know 8.6 5.3

*Figures in percentage

67%

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features mobile computing

10 ways

to use your

mobile phone illustration: chaitanya surpur

as an efficient

business tool

With more and more sophisticated smart phones making an inroad in the Indian market, there are a lot of business activities that you can carry with your mobile phones. DCC offers you some tips on maximising your mobile phone productivity Charu Khera SMS: Short message service or more commonly known as SMS can let you provide excellent customer service and deliver new product notifications to regular customers. An SMS can also enable you to build your brand loyalty with existing and potential customers through games and polls. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s secure, fast, reliable and also helps you remain brief and to the point. Various services such as MyToday SMS are being used by vendors to provide information and content through the SMS channel. You can even use SMS as a To-Do list by continuously updating it and saving it in your phone as an editable draft. E-mail: One of the many gems on most smart phones today is the chance to access your e-mails. When you are away from your office/ home, an easy access to your e-mails is what you desire the most. An e-mail application can keep you connected on the go. Most phones come with built-in e-mail facility, which can be setup to receive and send e-mails very easily. Other than that, you can always download and use the Gmail app from Google to check your mails anytime. Calendar: A handy calendar in your cellphone can help you schedule meetings and appointments easily and also stay organised. You can even store important events, along with date and time, so that the reminder alarm can remind you every time you need to be at a place or do a particular thing. It can even help you recall a meeting time or product stock details. Most smart phones even allow you to sync your calendars to your Google calendar. Many even provide the facility to sync with Outlook calendar to automatically update appointments and important occasions. Camera: The camera in your cellphone can help photograph important data. For random information, notes and even white-board information, you can use your cellphone camera to snap a picture and capture the data. Moreover, most camera phones let users add photos to contacts details, which pop up on the screen when the person calls. Try and snap a picture of important people you meet, and add that photo to your contacts, so that it helps you connect faces to names in future. When 3G arrives, one can also use the camera for video conferencing on compatible phones. Socialising: Most social networking sites have a mobile optimised format. You can now stay connected with friends and clients through your phoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in-built browser or by using the various social networking applications available for cell phones. They are much simpler to use and

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the interface is less clustered. Voice recorder: Almost every phone today comes with a builtin voice recorder facility. It lets users dictate a note or task. A voice recorder can also be used to record voice calls that can be used as a reference at a later stage. Most phones offer voice recording until the memory gets full, which means on a 1GB card, a user can record for more than an hour. Bluetooth: One of the most used features on the phones is the Bluetooth. However, not many people know that it is not just for transferring music and image files with friends. Using Bluetooth, one can send and receive contact information as well as calendar notes. Moreover, you should not be perpetually worried about losing your cell phone and all your contact details in it. With in-built Bluetooth or infrared in your phone, you can transfer all your contact details in your PC. Mobilised content: While on the move, the phone can be used to access the Internet over GPRS. As most Web pages are quite heavy to load on the phone, majority of sites today are mobile-friendly and allow uploading the data quickly over the phone. You can now even use your cell phone smartly for reading content on the Internet by RSS feeds or widgets. Many sites automatically detect the browser or the device type, and display the content accordingly. GPS navigation: The next time you get lost on your way, try and use the GPS navigation software on your phone. It can easily guide you where to go and which route to take. Add to that a simple application such as GoogleMaps and you will not get lost again. It is a huge benefit especially while travelling. Not to mention that the optimised routes allow you to save time. Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is the best way to stay connected to the Internet on the phone. Although it eats up your battery power, it provides you with extra portability as well as way better speed than GPRS. With Wi-Fi, you can quickly reply to your emails, stay up to date on news and even watch live videos. As you get more familiar with your smart phone, you will find that there is a world of mobile applications that can make life simpler, entertain you, keep you informed, help run your business and keep you connected.n charu.khera@9dot9.in

features leadership

Motivate & inspire

Organisations consider motivating employees as a task. It is high time that the top management understands that this is a gradual process that should become an integral part of the organisational culture. Read on to know how you can keep your people happy and motivate them to work harder

S President Barack Obama once said that to cope with this economic recession, we need to motivate all employees of Unites States of America. Be it running a country or a business, to sustain and grow during this sagging economy motivating employees is critical. Most channel partners believe that the biggest challenge of running a small business is finding good employees and then retaining them. An industry research reveals that most companies have a high rate of attrition mainly due to the fact that their employees do not feel motivated enough to work. What most companies do not understand is that you do not need books or seminars to build motivation. Only by letting them know that you care, you can motivate your employees. It is not a complicated process; rather it is a very simple task. Some simple steps followed on a regular basis lead to increased motivation among employees and make them strong as a group.

Motivate yourself Motivating your employees starts with motivating yourself. If you hate your job, you think others also do so and if you are stressed out, you tend to believe everyone around you is affected by stress. Same phenomenon is applied for enthusiasm. If you are enthusiastic about your job, it’s much easier for others around you to be too. So it’s rightly said that ‘a great place to start learning about motivation is to start understanding your own motivations.’ Moreover, each person is motivated by different things and the key to motivate your employees is by understanding as to what motivates them. You can easily find this out by asking them questions, listening to them, getting them to fill out few surveys or even by simply observing them. If you yourself seem to be motivated and enthusiastic about your job/goals, which will be clear from your actions, others would automatically feel motivated to work alongside you.

Recognise talent Timely recognition is crucial to help your employees stay motivated to work. When your employees achieve their set goals and much more than expected of them, they should be recognised and acknowledged. You can reward them in terms of cash, gifts, certificates, promotions, etc, which is really appreciated by employees. One reason why most managers do not give recognition is because they do not get one from their peers. It is like a vicious circle and therefore if this case applies to you; try and stand at a giving end and you might soon find yourself at the receiving end too. Also, applaud and appreciate your people in board meetings, annual conferences, company sponsored social gatherings, or even in the office. When you recognise and encourage people, it acts as a natural stimulant for others

Training can be motivational Timely training session is another way to keep your employees on their toes. You can keep them updated with the best way to perform tasks as well as ask for their issues/problems. It even indicates that you care for your employees and their overall development. Moreover, such regular training session helps you get feedback about the company/management. As you set growth path for your organisation, you should also set career path for your employees. Employees need to know what opportunities lies ahead for them and what is potentially available for growth. Setting this

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career path is most often ignored by the management as they do not realise the importance it plays in the overall motivation of people.

Do you promote from within? If your answer is no, you are more likely to lose your efficient employees. Although specific requirements require you to look for talent outside your company, you should even consider internal people. By choosing this way, you will give a very positive signal to everyone. Apart from it, one should be careful in providing the right job title to employees. Job title helps boost the self-esteem of employees and if people feel good about the way they are perceived in the workforce, it helps in the overall growth of their attitude and morale. So be creative as you think of possibilities for titles. Moreover, ask for your employee’s suggestion and let them come up with ideas. To be precise, you are dealing with their pride, so be careful. A good title in turn enhances a positive attitude among employees. Timely identification and promotion in salary is another great motivation source.

Healthy work environment Though compensation is a major factor in motivating employees to stay, a good and healthy work environment is also important to keep employees motivated. Pictures on the wall, fresh plants, bright and lively paint on walls, etc. helps people feel good and fresh in the workplace. Make sure your office infrastructure; if not the latest and the grandest is not outdated. If an employee is working on a PC that takes 10 minutes to start and then another five minutes to open each file, it would simply make him lose interest in work. Enough room capacity is also a must. Have a picture taken of your entire staff and hang it in a visible spot. This will help encourage team spirit.

Social gatherings are a must It is a known fact that offsite events enhance bonding as well as productivity. It further leads to a positive work environment. Organising tours, games, costume parties, picnics, Diwali dinners, etc. are few ideas that can help your people feel motivated as well as bonded with the organisation. Keep Fridays a casual dress day or use special days for a colour theme casual days such as red and green before Christmas; orange, green and white for Independence day. This will make the workplace more fun. Moreover, occasionally allow early dismissals, late arrivals, and extended lunch periods or additional breaks. Company picnics, outstation excursions also contribute to the whole cause. All this would encourage employees to stick to the organisation for a longer time.

Manage stress In this ever increasing cut-throat competition, stress is a factor that hinders performances. Management should figure out potential ways to help their employees fight this stress. Having an in-house seminar on stress management is one of the ways to deal with the issue. Companies should also be flexible with breaks during the course of the day. One would agree that motivating employees is extremely important for an organisation’s success. The key to motivate your employees is to understand them and their needs. Companies should establish compensation systems, employee performance systems, organisational policies and procedures, etc. to support employee motivation. n

Q&A gearing up An optimistic outlook With the economy showing a positive trend, channel partners can expect the sales to pick up, says S Rajendran, CMO, Acer India in an interview with DCC DCC: What is the size of your channel partner base in India? Do you have any expansion plans in near future? Being a global organisation, what is the channel strategy that you have adopted in India?

research firm IDC India. With uncertainty gone from the market and the economy showing a positive upward trend, channel partners can expect the sales to pick up.

We drive all our business only via our channel partners. This strategy is core to our business model. We currently have a widespread chain of distribution channels across the length and breadth of the country. We are able to reach out effectively to consumers even in remote pockets with a network of over 2500 channel partners and 275 retail partners in over 140 cities and towns. This network is supported by a 450 strong group of authorised service providers across 400 plus locations to cater to the support requirements of nationwide spread of channels and end-consumers. Acer’s channel business model has been instrumental in the company’s latest success. The model encourages first-class suppliers and channel partners to collaborate in a winning formula of supply chain management and benefit from partners’ resources, allowing Acer to provide customers with fresh technologies, competitive pricing, and quality service.

DCC: What trends will shape the consumer buying behaviour during this season?

DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programmes and special schemes/offers that you offer to your partners in India?

We recently concluded the highly successful partner scheme called the “Time for an Ace” programme, where the qualifying partner was entitled to win an assured premium Tissot watch in the first phase and a Rado watch in the second phase. This program was part of Acer’s ongoing partner appreciation initiatives across the country. This is apart from all regular schemes and programs, which we run for our partners. Prior to this the schemes included foreign trips and jewellery. DCC: Will the downturn impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales?

India’s PC market grew 5.2 percent in the second quarter over the previous quarter, showing signs of a revival, according to

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The rising consumer confidence levels globally, and especially in India, is an indicator that the economy is on the recovery path with the buyers being more optimistic. A majority of people now seem to be more bullish about personal finances and their willingness to spend in the next 12 months, according to a Nielsen Company Survey on Global Consumer Confidence Levels. In tune with this positivist attitude, Acer aims to offer more reasons to the consumers to make a quality purchase. We have in store a series of offers lined up to enthral the end-customers all through the approaching season. DCC: What are some of the main channel and consumer offers planned for this festive season? Please share some product specific information and offers.

We have mapped out the entire festive season in India starting September 18th till December, 2009. This is supposed to be the biggest retail months in the Indian context. Acer is fully geared up across the board to ensure we have a whole range of exciting endcustomer offers along with incentives for our trade partners during this time period. Details of the offers would roll out as we come closer to the time period. To give you an idea even in August which was a peak for consumer buying we ran exciting endcustomer offers like ‘cash back’ and freebies with Acer SKUs. For the partners the additional incentives ranged from free holiday vouchers to jewellery to designer watches on achievement of specified goals. We plan to start announcing fresh schemes towards third week of September depending upon the locations. DCC: Highlight the products that you plan to

push during this festive season. Are you planning new launches? Give details.

Acer has an extensive product range across all categories (laptops, desktops and display products). We will also be launching Windows 7 based systems in the market in October which we believe would provide a major boost to consumer sales during the last quarter. There are also some new product launches being planned during the last quarter. Our focus during the festive season would be to ensure that across categories we provide the latest technology platform SKUs and keep our pricing and offers aggressive to gain maximum share. n

Q&A banking on channels ners for outstanding sales of its products. For its flagship TrueNet portfolio, the company recognises both TrueNet premium partners and TrueNet value partners. The TrueNet premium partners receive rebates, free sample kits, sales and technical training, along with access to sales support materials and other benefits. The TrueNet value partners also receive distribution support and promotional offers besides other benefits. ADC Krone also recognises the distributor community for outstanding enterprise and carrier sales. In 2008, ADC Krone rewarded 14 TrueNet premium partners and 17 TrueNet value partners. We just completed a special promotion for 12 of the nationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; top national system integrators. We are not doing any for the forthcoming festive season. DCC: What, according to you, has been the impact of slowdown on the structured cabling market?

Slowdown effects With the slowdown, the project life cycles are getting extended in organisations, says Jacob Mathews, Sales Director, Enterprise Networks, ADC Krone. The company, which is on an aggressive growth path, is banking on channels for its success in the Indian market. DCC: Can you talk about your channel base in India?

ADC Krone is a global network infrastructure service provider with more than 40 system integrators (SIs) across the country and more than 150 certified TrueNet integrators. Our channel strategy is our regional distributorship approach and working on different verticals with nationalised and regional system integrators. This approach has worked quite well for us. DCC: Will the downturn impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales?

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We are not really seeing a slowdown in demand. What is actually happening is that with the slowdown, the project life cycles are getting extended. Though sectors like IT/ ITeS and retail have been hit hard, others like telecom and government are showing strong demands. We look forward to the markets recovering soon. DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programs that you offer your partners in India? Any special programs planned for the festive season?

Annually, ADC Krone recognises its part-

The Indian structured cabling market accounts for 15 percent of Indian IT budget. It can thus be assumed that India is an emerging as well as promising market for structured cabling. The year 2009 has been tough for the structured cabling market but a stable government as well as new emerging segments in India (like manufacturing, telecom, education and government) offers hope of a revival. These verticals are expected to fuel the demand for structured cabling as the telecom sector is expanding, whereas the government sector appears to be recession proof. Moreover, increasing demand for high bandwidths and the growth in datacentre cabling can be promising for the industry. DCC: Does the future looks bright to you?

Given the current economic scenario, the market conditions will be extremely challenging. While many have accepted that there would not be any growth in the structured cabling systems (due to continuous drop in copper prices), we are keeping our hopes high by being optimistic. Moreover, the number of players in the market is much more than compared to the number of opportunities. There is fierce competition, which in turn forces vendors to drop priceswhich in turn is driving down the value of projects. However, the hope lies with the manufacturing, BFSI, PSU, education, government and infrastructure verticals. In addition, residential cabling poses as a significant opportunity in the Indian SCS market. The market drivers for this are broad band subscribers, VoIP, IPTV, multimedia networks, online gaming, and fiber-to-premise.n

opinion

enabling growth

“AMD is committed to enable growth of its channel partners along with its own growth” Sandip Naik, Head - Channel Sales and Distribution, India and SAARC, AMD

MD’s channel partners are an integral and extended business arm of the company in India. We have more than 4,000 partners who form the backbone of our channel business. Channel partner expansion is an ongoing process as the business grows. AMD follows a regional distribution model to reach customers across the country. We have three major national distributors in the top tier of the structure. This is followed by 42 regional distributors and 96 premium partners. They then reach out to more than 4,000 system integrators across the country.

Visibility programme The AMD Visibility Programme is a touch and feel programme where consumers will be able to experience the latest technology offered by AMD to help them make better decisions when purchasing computers. The AMD Visibility Programme is the latest initiative by AMD targeted at consumers through our retail partners. As a part of the programme, AMD has set-up experiential zones at selected component retail outlets to bring customers in touch with its latest products and technologies. We have already set-up seven such experiential zones in Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad and moving ahead, the programmes will be extended to the rest of the country. The programme aims at helping both channel partners and consumers in the decision-making process by providing a unique demonstration to touch and feel AMD technology.

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AMD is committed to enable growth of its channel partners along with its own growth. AMD has a channel partner programme, which span three critical areas – acquisition; retention and enablement; and motivation and efficiency. The acquisition of new partners is two-fold– through increasing the breadth of support in existing cities and engaging new partners in new cities. Last quarter, AMD expanded its presence in 100 more cities and acquired 500 new partners. Moreover, every quarter, AMD increases the number of platinum members, based on their performance. As a platinum member, channel partners are entitled to a host of benefits, one of which is the joint co-op marketing plan. Members are entitled to a marketing fund based on their revenues and they are open to using for marketing purposes in their respective areas or locations Based on the current needs of the market, partners are incentivised to grow the market for a particular product. Some of the other training programmes arranged in the past include SB Yatra & ‘Dive’ training programme. Besides this, AMD circulates a quarterly newsletter titled “Chip In” among its channel partners to keep them updated. AMD is also developing a portal for educating, communicating and acting as a collaborating forum between AMD and its channel partners. In 2009, AMD rolled out ‘Sparx 2009’ – a training programme for channel partners,

which trained more than 2,000 system integrators, resellers and retailers, who promote AMD platforms, including processors, graphics solutions and chipsets. ‘Sparx 2009’ was initiated by AMD to educate partners on the combined power of AMD’s new products in the processor, graphics and chipsets space, unleashed in the next generation platforms and solutions from AMD. The programme was rolled out in 10 cities across the country - Bangalore Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi and Ludhiana.

Festive offerings On the occasion of the Onam festival, Acer India has announced the availability of a special limited edition notebooks and desktop powered by AMD processors as a special offering for Kerala. In addition, AMD and Acer have jointly designed a special reward programme “AMD Booster Scheme” exclusively for channel partner. We recognise that consumers are looking for value more than ever before. We have thus launched AMD 45nm processors (for festive season). It allows consumers to get an amazing computing experience while eliminating the need to spend hundreds of extra dollars. In the current scenario, we have noticed that buying behaviour of consumers has undergone a dramatic change. They are asking more question related to value and usage of computers. By doing this, they ensure that they make the right decisions while buying PCs. n

Q&A

new products

Microsoft’s outlook Channel incentives is key for our success in the market, says Ashim Mathur, Director Marketing, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft India in a freewheeling interview with Anees Khalfey, CEO, Radiant Computers and hence profitability. We will continue to offer channel promotions on a regular basis to help be competitive in the market and give consumer a better value offering. Our commitment through our presence in so many cities will continue and above all the customer service centers will continue to propagate the Microsoft Hardware assurance to the consumers with three year replacement warranty on most of our products. All in all we will ensure that you have a profitable year ahead. Khalfey: What are the various initiatives you have undertaken to boost the launch of Windows 7, specifically during the festive season?

Anees Khalfey: Can you please throw some light on the new products that you plan to launch this festive season for your partners?

Microsoft Hardware is committed to provide better experience and accessibility to customers with its range of gaming and computer peripherals products. We aim to continue offering world class products to the customer which is a true blend of style and science. In addition we are planning to come up with a new exciting range of products very soon and will be sharing the information by end of September and I am confident that the channel fraternity will really love the new offerings in the market. Khalfey: What are Microsoft’s channel plans for the forthcoming fiscal?

Microsoft Hardware will continue its various initiatives to inform educate and empower its partners across the country. Through various meets and interactions we will continue to showcase newly launched products and offers. We will continue to impart training to you about the new Microsoft technologies which will help to increase your sales

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In our endeavor to get partners ready for the launch of Windows 7 in October this year, we initiated a 16 city road show in August. It will continue till September end. Through the course of which we hope to reach out to over 1800 partners across several cities including Ahmedabad, Cochin, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune, Ranchi and the five metros. These road shows are aimed at equipping you to effectively roll-out Windows 7 in India and maximise the tremendous business opportunity that the new operating system represents. Windows 7 is designed to make the computing experience simpler, faster and smarter. We, at Microsoft India are very excited about it as it is a big launch not just for us but also for the industry. Khalfey: What are some of the factors that consumers should keep in mind while choosing your hardware products?

For more than 26 years, the Microsoft Hardware Group has employed innovative engineering, cutting-edge industrial design and extensive usability testing to create products of exceptional quality and durability that enhance the software

experience and strengthen the connection between consumers and their PC. The brand has led 19 out of 25 innovations in this category. Microsoft Hardware offers consumers an easier, more convenient and more enjoyable computing experience. Our products are designed to meet the requirements of our customer’s daily lifestyle and are superior in terms of technology, style, ergonomics and value. We have some great products in this category like the Explorer Mini mouse which is based on BlueTrack technology. Not just this, in order to ensure that our consumers enjoy the best buying experience; we follow the most stringent quality checks for all our products. Most of the Microsoft Hardware products come with a three year warranty and in case of any service issues we make sure it is addressed at the earliest by keeping in mind the customer’s expectations and satisfaction The Microsoft Hardware’s service support policy is very user friendly and flexible, any customer can walk in to the nearest service station and get the faulty product replaced by a new one. We have 15 service centres across India. Khalfey: Any festive schemes that you plan to offer your partners this festive season?

Channel incentives is key for our success in the market. Festive season thus gives us and also you all to grow the business and increase the customer base. For the upcoming season also, we will be running channel promotions which will surely add up in your channel margins, spike sales during festive season and increase our visibility at the store level. During the last f ew year s we have announced offers and schemes such as 25 pe 25, Dil Chahta Hai, etc. and have received tremendous support from you all. Apart from this there were also some local level schemes which helped us to drive local messaging in the market.n

Q&A

new products Though being a global organisation, Asus has a strong presence in the channel space in India. Vinay Shetty, Country Head – Components Business, Asus India shares with DCC some of the partner engagement programmes that the company offers to its channel counterparts in India

own profit margins. DCC: Highlight the products that you plan to push during this festive season. Are you planning new launches this festive season? Give details.

Not just a “Me too” company DCC: What is your channel strategy for the Indian Market?

Asus products are distributed in India through a large base of channel partners. The family is increasingly becoming stronger day by day. We have close to 8,000 partners selling Asus products in India. The commitment we have internally is to ensure that each of our partners witness a profitable business with regards to Asus. All new members are welcome to join our ever increasing family. The channel strategy is to ensure that we have the right partner base who can deliver the message of ‘selling right, selling more’ and can inculcate the concept that Asus is not just a ‘me too’ product but the products are enriched with features and quality. DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programs, special schemes/offers and training programmes that you offer to your partners in India?

All our schemes are designed as per the

channel needs and the company’s direction for promoting a particular segment. The base of designing a scheme is to see that the partners gain profit, which can be retained and they are able to enjoy the efforts put in for the product in terms of rebates. In the year 2009, Asus conducted over 125 channel meets, which was attended by more than 25,000 partners across India, and the learning we secured from this exercise was very fruitful. Partners are interested to know what their competitors do not know and arranging such trainings and channel meets has helped us as well as our partners to move ahead in the business. M o r e ove r, o u r A dva n t age c h a n n e l programme has been in place for 15 years. The company offers marketing collateral, rebate programmes and co-promotion opportunities to partners. Solution providers can purchase Asus’ products through general distribution without the need for authorisation, and the company allows solution providers to set their

We are currently executing a channel incentive programme for our motherboard division in the AMD 740/785 chipset along with promoting Asus innovative anti-surge technology. We are also in clear advantage by being among the selected few to launch G41 chipset well in advance then other competitors, making it clear that we believe in introducing the latest technology introduced globally into India. The P55 chipset will be launch in the mid of Sept 09. Special promotion and programmes are in place for the G41 and P55 chipset as well. We have four new chipsets in the motherboard segment and a LCD monitor – MS246 H to be launched during the festive season. DCC: Which trends do you see shaping the consumer buying behavior during this festive season?

There is a good message floating around the globe that the shadow of recession is fast receding and for India, it hardly showed an impact from the component business perspective. So in my opinion, we are going to have some good festive sales this season. DCC: Will the downturn impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales?

We did not see a downturn in consumer spending, but surely in the LCD business due to demand and supply issues globally, there was a shortage issue and uptrend in price but that will hardly impact the demand or slow down channel sales. We are confident of securing a major marketshare in the LCD segment in the coming months. n

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Q&A channel growth As part of this programme, we have completed the first ever knowledge series “nDimension Masters Series 1” across 53 cities, covering more than 2,000 nDimension partners, in the last two months. The programme has primarily been targeted at the rural areas. Host of topics ranging from product discussion to segment classification, key sales skills and techniques were imparted in workshop fashion. Through the programme we are training our channel partners to move up the value chain. We are introducing our channel to newer verticals. They will be trained and educated on our products. We will offer them marketing support, demos and branding support, with the aim to help them increase their sales. In metros, we had Epson expo for the key partners as part of this programme. DCC: What trends do you see shaping the consumer buying behaviour? Highlight the products that you plan to push during this festive season.

A win-win situation S M Ramprasad, Senior Business Manager, Consumer Product Group, Epson India shares with DCC the initiatives that the company has taken to boost the growth of their channel partners DCC: Do you plan to expand your channel base in the near future?

Epson India is known as a channel-friendly vendor. We have a very focussed channel strategy across the two key layers of the IT market in India. At the top layer is the set of partners whom we refer to as EAP (Epson Accredited Partners) – the partners in tier-1 cities. We have around 180 EAP spread across India. The tier-2 partners are referred to as ECC (Epson Certified Channel). We have close to 4,500 ECC across India. Moreover, we have quite a stable structure and we don’t feel that there is scope for major expansions. So, we will work along with our existing partners. At the same time, in few niche areas like office automation/corporate

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reseller space, there is some scope for expansion in coming months. DCC: What are the initiatives that you have taken to build a strong relationship with your partners?

Last year, we embarked on the unique programme in our efforts to consolidate and expand the business opportunities for our tier-2 partners. The programme was named as ‘nDimension’ programme with the motto being – ‘The more products of Epson a partner deals with, the more benefits they gain.’ This programme was designed in such a way to build a strong relationship between the company and partners apart from business gains.

The slowdown did not affect us even earlier as our local market consumption is very strong. Going by the trend, starting from August month itself, the consumer purchases across various products are picking up and this trend is likely to continue till Diwali. Hence, we are upbeat this season. Our key focus will be on Wi-Fi multi-function printers, photo printers and home entertainment projectors. DCC: What are the key market segments that you are currently focussing on?

Currently, our focus is on the home, SOHO and education sectors. Moreover, there is a lot of scope to grow in sectors such as financial as well as government (with its e-governance initiatives). In addition, we have also seen a growth in demand from the health sector. We believe that more than expanding the current channel base, it is important to keep existing partner loyal. DCC: Epson early this year consolidated its channel network. Can you explain the reasons behind this move?

The reason behind the move is to help partners have a wider range of products to offer to customers. Now all our dealers can sell all our products and consumables. In the past two years, we had started our channel integration programme, by telling them not to be satisfied with the thin margins on a single product sale. We are now coaching them on how to retain the customer, maximise them and make them a source of revenue for longer time. So all our partners who were earlier selling our printers also sell our consumables now.n

opinion

offers round the year

Consolidating supply chain We are looking at consolidating our channels across India, with major focus on non-metro locations, says Rajan Sharma General Manager – Sales and Marketing MB BU – Gigabyte India. Excerpts: DCC: Being a global organisation, what is the channel strategy that you have adopted in India?

Currently Gigabyte is spread across 270-plus locations through the distributors and our target is to increase this number to more than 400 locations by 2010. We are looking at consolidating our channels across India, with major focus on non-metro locations. We are also strengthening our supply chain in terms of distribution to be prepared to escalate our reach and spread across class C, D, E and F cities. DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programs, special schemes/offers as well as training programs that you offer to your partners in India?

Gigabyte constantly comes up with unique and innovative schemes for its channel partners to ensure their participation and reward them for their continuous support. Channel schemes and channel programs are core ingredients in Gigabyte’s expansion plans. Gigabyte will continue to bring GCIP (Gigabyte Channel Incentive Programme) schemes and channel program to our channel

partners as we did in FY’08. Along with this, we are also conducting channel training and DIY events across cities to meet partners and customers for information update on our latest unique features and products.

in September’09 for which we are coming up with a similarly aggressive approach.

DCC: What are some of the main channel as well as consumer offers planned for this festive season? Please share some product specific information and offers.

It has been observed that consumers tend to wait eagerly for the festive season to make their important purchases. During these months, not only do they get good deals on the offer but also according to the Indian mythology, it is considered an auspicious time to buy anything new. Therefore, sales are high during the festival season and all vendors try to capitalise on the opportunity.

Gigabyte plans a lot of offers round the year for channel as well as consumers. Festival season is always a good time to bring in offers to attract customers. Particularly for this festive season, Gigabyte has two offers that are running currently. They have attractive package and discounts for individual and bulk order customers. DCC: Highlight the products that you plan to push during this festive season. Are you planning new launches this festive season? Give details.

For this season, G41 series will be the focus product and we are planning to launch it aggressively. Apart from this, we are also planning to launch our latest innovation, P55 series

DCC: What trends do you see shaping the consumer buying behaviour during this festive season?

DCC: Will the downturn impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales?

While the downturn has affected almost every industry, PC market is one of the industries where the sales reduced but the growth was always in positive figures. However, with the beginning of Q3, the figures have been picking up again as the economy is witnessing an upward climb. Since motherboard is a key PC component, with PC sales picking the speed up again, business is bound to grow. n

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opinion strategic business customers “We see channel partners as our strategic business customers” Robert Chu, Vice President - Asia Pacific, Hitachi GST New offerings

he company introduced an ongoing, long-term customer loyalty programme called Hitachi Partners Privilege programme (HPP) in India last year, targeting resellers, system integrators, system builders and retailers in 35 states and territories across India. We recently enhanced the programme, offering more rewards, recognition and support to our customers across the country. Highlights of the revamped programme include: Robust and user-friendly online rewards system: Migrated from an offline, manual approach to an online system, the extended HPP programme now allows members in India to access a range of real-time information through a new online system with personalised login information. Sales data, reward points, promotions, sales and marketing tools, product announcements and other updates will also be available on the new online platform. New rewards mechanism: Qualified HPP members can redeem India debit cards stored with money equivalent to the rewards points, which are earned by selling eligible Hitachi desktop and mobile hard drives. HPP members can make purchases with the debit cards at any qualified merchant in India. The previous rewards system was based on gift redemption from a fixed catalogue list. Tiered membership: Under the enhanced programme, HPP members will be categorised into three tiers – HPP Platinum members, HPP Gold members and HPP members – which are based on consistent, aggregate Hitachi GST hard drive sales by quarter. Each tier offers differentiated benefits where partners are entitled to quarterly bonus reward points, in addition to their basic reward points earned.

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Hitachi continues to respond to and deliver hard drives and external storage solutions to meet customer needs and changing market opportunities. For example, we recently introduced the Deskstar 7K2000 desktop hard drive, the world’s first, two terabyte (2TB), 7200 RPM hard disk drive. It blends high performance and high capacity with low power and other ecofriendly features designed to enable Energy-Star rated computers and other high performance desktop systems. The new drive features an ultra-quiet operation, a 32MB cache and a 3Gb/s SATA interface, which is the ideal desktop drive for power users, gamers or anyone looking for a big, fast hard drive. In the video market, Hitachi provides storage solutions for the entire digital video ecosystem - from high performance 10K and 15K RPM Ultrastar drives for enterprise applications and streaming commercial videos to high capacity, high For the 2.5-inch segment, we have launched the Travelstar 5K500.B, Hitachi’s 500GB mobile drive that combines advanced data encryption technology with eco-friendly features, such as a halogen-free design and a read/write power specification that is one of the lowest in the industry. Travelstar 5K500.B uses the industry’s latest 250GB-per-platter technology to deliver a half terabyte (500GB) of capacity in an industry-standard 9.5mm mobile form factor. We are offering high performance 7200 RPM Ultrastar drives for nearline and video archiving applications to G-Technology solutions for pre and post production video editing work and Hitachi branded end-user solutions to store and protect personal and professional content. Under the strategic partnership with Intel, we will be launching new enterprise class solid-state drives (SSDs) that help enterprise customers meet the skyrocketing demands for performance whilst reducing space, power and cooling costs. The first products are expected to be available in early 2010.

Products for this festive season We have recently extended our product range with the launch of two new products viz. the world’s first two terabyte (2TB) 7200 RPM hard disk drive. The new, colossal, 2TB Deskstar 7K2000 blends high performance and high capacity with low power and other eco-friendly features designed to enable Energy-Star rated computers and other high performance desktop systems. The second product is fifth-generation, 7200 RPM mobile hard disk drive. The Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 is a 500GB, 2.5-inch, 3Gb/s SATA drive designed for notebooks, gaming

systems and professional external storage solutions. Combining leadership performance, ruggedness and capacity, Travelstar 7K500 is ideal for multitasking, gaming and other graphic-intensive applications.

Buying trends Since the economic downturn began last year, it has been a challenging time, but we are still optimistic. With our commitment to developing new and advanced technologies, Hitachi will continue to provide our end-users with reliable hard drives for mobile, desktop, CE, enterprise applications, as well as personal and professional storage solutions. India is a significant market for Hitachi GST and we plan to widen our distribution reach to tier two and three cities. We also want to enhance the brand loyalty of partners via the Hitachi Partners Privilege (HPP) programme, which is aimed at strengthening Hitachi’s channel partner network and capturing the rapidly expanding market opportunities across India. We will also conduct more product trainings in tier two and three cities to improve our brand exposure. To achieve our targets we will continue to do what we are doing and provide quality products to our consumers as well as seed more media product reviews. As the appetite for digital storage capacity continues to grown, the hard disk drive market is experiencing growth. Consumers are increasingly opting for high-performance drives and those with extremely high capacities. Maturing of the industry is a key growth driver, as we are moving away from a low capacity, price-conscious market to a larger demand for reliable, higher capacity, performance and throughput. There are several market dynamics driving the need for more storage across enterprise, desktop, mobile computing, consumer electronics (CE) and external storage. The key market drivers in India include: • Tremendous growth of both personal and business digital content – especially for personal storage. IDC expects worldwide personal storage device shipments to grow from approximately 52 million in 2008 to 123 million in 2012 • High penetration of broadband Internet access - India has seen strong broadband growth with approximately 6 million connections in Q1 2009, making it the 15th largest broadband market in the world • Popularity of social networking sites and online services • Growth of IPTV and high definition entertainment • Video production in Mumbai widely named as Bollywood . n

opinion

training along with offers â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have always ensured that the channel is adequately equipped to handle new productsâ&#x20AC;? Ashok Nair, Channel Business Manager, Intel South Asia is one of the integral products that go into making of a PC. Therefore, it is critical that the system integrators are properly trained and are fully aware of which product will be launched and when, what is the roadmap and which product is compatible with what. To ensure this, the training is delivered to them not only from the perspective of product specifications but also how they can sell some of the technical features to customers who may not be very well versed with the technical language. We also focus on reaching out to smaller towns and cities, and increasing the number of partners in our ambit and engage them properly.

Training programmes

e have a tiered approach as far as our partnership membership programme is concerned. Right at the top we have the premier partners, followed by the associates and then the registered partners (small traders, resellers). We have basic a criterion for any one to qualify to become a premier that goes beyond just basic numbers. And for anyone to upgrade from registered to associate, there are very clear qualifying criterion that exist and once they qualify into it, they automatically become an associate partner. We have this up gradation on a very frequent basis. Over the last couple of years, we have consciously tried to focus a lot on increasing the number of partners to whom the distributors bill directly on a quarter to quarter basis. We have close to 3,000 associates and 100 premier partners. We have always ensured that the channel is adequately equipped to handle new products. The rate of technology transition that we see in our business is very high. And our product

There are various training programmes that we deliver for our partners. For example, we have the Intel Channel Conference, which takes place twice a year. One is due to happen in late September, where we will share the details of our product roadmap. We even talk about our marketing programmes and educate them on the growing PC business. We provide them high level of education on the new products that are coming in, their key features, their comparison with earlier products, etc. We have already conducted these conferences in around 40 to 50 cities in the past. We even invite RSPs (retail Sales People) to these conferences. Most system integrators today have retail outlets or sales people who go out and convince customers. Thus it is important that these RSPs also understand the best way to convert all technical features present in the product to usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; benefit. Then we have a technical training called the DST, wherein we call specific channel partners from specific markets and give them hands-on training in terms of how new components can be utilised. Moreover, there are a few channel partners who have been identified across the country whom we invite regularly in what we call the Board of Advisors meeting. At this meeting,

the senior management from Intel is present not only from the APAC level but also the worldwide team. It is a session where we listen to this selected group of channel partners and get a feedback on what is working for them, what should be the focus area, etc. It allows the senior management to get a clear view from the channel members who deals with the customers directly.

Festive offerings This year, we are trying to have a series of offers that will run at a localised level; depending on what the festival it is. For example, we launched a festival offer in Kerala for Onam. In the West, we have offers for Ganesh Chaturthi. Each of these offers is tailor- made for the local market trying to capture the local flavor and the offer per se will be different for different markets. I personally believe since the last couple of months, situation in the PC industry is clearly improving. Even the retail footfalls in the months leading to the festive season have gone up. We do not see any concerns over the levels of inventory that are there in the channel. So overall, the signs are healthy. This is a good thing given the backdrop of the global slowdown. So my feeling is we should be seeing a healthy festive season. We are fairly confident about our plans for our partners and that confidence is reflecting in all the plans that we have put in place for this year.

Message to the channel community One clear message that I would be keen on sharing is regarding the concern on how the festive season will be in the backdrop of what we had seen towards the end of 2008. What we are clearly seeing and what we are confident of is that there is going to be the usual pattern of consumer buying coming up. And in this situation, partners need to be completely ready to take advantage of the situation. The overall mood is improving and that would be clearly reflected in the buying pattern during the festive season.n

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opinion channel opportunities “By increasing portfolio of products, we are creating more opportunities for our partners” Subrotah Biswas, Country Manager, India and SAARC, Logitech our products off the shelf. Our channel strategy has been simple. We share mutually beneficial relationships with all our partners. The large customer base of our partners helps us reach out to practically each and every part of India. We consistently introduce new and innovative products that help partners improve their product portfolio. Our future strategy too is on similar lines. We work closely with our channel partners. By increasing portfolio of products, we are creating more opportunities for our partners. We also get them involved in consumer support programs. Annually we run the LORDS (Logitech Registered Dealers) channel programmes to strengthen partner reward and recognition initiatives. We expect to see a rise in consumer buying behaviour this festive season. India is slowly and steadily coming out a low phase that witnessed cautious consumer buying behaviour. The upcoming season will see consumers celebrating not just the festive season but also the start of better economic conditions.

Offers for the festive season

e have a strong presence in the channel market in India. We distribute our products to the consumers through our distributors - Rashi, Savex, Ingram and Neoteric. Logitech has around 150 LORDS (Logitech Registered Dealers) across India. We also have presence in more than 150 Consumer Electronic Stores in India. Our consumer electronic products are largely available through organised retail outlets like Sumaria, Croma, Reliance, etc. Now, more than ever it is easy and convenient for consumers to walk into retail stores and buy

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Every festive season we introduce new and attractive schemes for our partners to keep the excitement in channel sales alive and at the same time boost sales. This year too, we have introduced a scratch card scheme called ‘ Happy/Go/Luck’ as a prelude to the festive season; since the time of opening of schools and colleges is a also a big opportunity time for IT hardware and accessories. When the consumer purchases a Logitech product, all he has to do is fill the scratch card that comes along with the purchase of their favourite Logitech IT peripherals (mice, presenters, keyboards, desktops (set of keyboard and mouse), gamepads, joysticks, steering wheels, notebook accessories, speakers, iPod speakers,

headsets and webcams categories) and submit it to Logitech. Lucky winners can even fly to Thailand for three days and two nights. We have plans to launch some specific schemes on Logitech lifestyle products in the month of October and November. We definitely want to push the sales of Pure-Fi iPod docks, wireless mice and keyboard and notebook peripherals this festive season. We have received overwhelming response from partners and customers alike for these product categories. We hope to keep the sales of these product categories high this festive season along with the new range of products that we have in our kitty. Customers will see a completely new range of products from Logitech. We believe that these products will definitely help channel partners take their product portfolio to a whole new level.

Future We believe that the downturn is just another opportunity to continue to lead the market with innovative products and strengthen our product portfolio with products at various price points. We have had extremely positive growth since April 2009 in the new financial year and feel that the same momentum will continue. Logitech’s strength is its range of products and the fact that new innovative products are continuously being launched to cater to different consumer preferences. Range of new products under speakers (Z103 2.1 speaker, S150 2.0 USB speakers), webcams (Logitech C200, C250m, C500, C600), Mice (M115 corded USB, M205, M305 wireless optical, etc.), Desktops (MK250 wireless 2.4 Ghz Mice +KB combination) and new gaming products will help Logitech to grow in the coming months.n

Q&A

channel focus

A channel focus For us, our channel partners are the only doors to the Indian market and we are looking at doubling this base by 2010, says Sunil Sharma, National Manager-Channels and Alliances, McAfee India Sales These partners have been identif ied and segmented based on their skills and competency levels. DCC: Can you please share the incentive programmes you offer to your partners in India?

DCC: How important are your channel partners in the entire business model? What is the size of your network in India?

The channel business is crucial to McAfee since 100 percent of our business happens through our channel partners in India. Currently, we have over 400 partners â&#x20AC;&#x201C; each as part of the Security Alliance Programme and our Consumer Programme. We are in the process of doubling this partner base by 2010 to increase our market coverage. In a very short span of time, McAfee has been able to build a large customer base in India. The credit for the same goes to our channel structure and go-to-market strategy. In the Security Alliance Programme we have a three tier model, where tier-I are the NSI partners, tier-II are the mid-market partners and tier-III are the small/associate partners.

We are cur rently running partner i n c e n t i ve s c h e m e s for our Star Rewards Program partners in the consumer segment and Security Alliance Program partners in the enterprise segment. For McAfee, our channel partners are the only doors to the Indian market and for that reason we have always endeavoured to strengthen our channel partners through various programmes. Our focus has been on enabling our partners through investments in training. We have a well-defined training program structure wherein partner resources have to go through a series of e-Learning, classroom and hands-on training programmes on McAfeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products and solutions. They are required to go through a certification exam after each level to move onto the next level. We have already trained over 500 partner resources till date as part of these training programmes and look at covering more partners going forward.

DCC: Are you bullish about the consumer buying pattern or will they still be conservative because of the economic conditions?

Traditionally, there has been increase in consumer spending during festivals. We hope that the off-take of PCs by consumers this festive season will improve fuelled by an improving economic environment and increased awareness for online security amongst the urban consumer. The downturn has had little or no impact on sales in the security segment. The increase in cyber crime and online threats during the downturn has fuelled demand for security products across the consumer and enterprise segments. DCC: I would like to keep the surprise alive! McAfee has showed interest to foray into the network security market. Do you think that the Indian channel is well trained/acquainted with network security?

The network security market is India is dominated by players such as Cisco, Juniper and Symantec, amongst others. We have recently acquired Secure Computing. Most channel partners, including distributors are common for both Secure Computing as well as McAfee in India. Thus, channels would not need to offer separate proposals for security and network security. In addition, our partners can now offer an extended bouquet of products with a single quotation. This foray will also help us strengthen our partner base as many competent partners would now gauge our strength in this emerging space and will try and align with us. n

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Q&A furthering growth SanDisk, a US-based company has adopted a retail-oriented approach in India. DCC in conversation with Manisha Sood, Country Manager - India & SAARC at Sandisk Corporation India about why the company believes in being prominently displayed. Excerpts:

even started outsourcing sales force to the Indian retail market. We have already trained about 5,000 retailers at the retail front. In addition, we have conducted training programme in 30 cities across India. Training is an ongoing process at SanDisk, so we do it every month. DCC: What are some of the products that you plan to launch this festive season?

Retail route DCC: How many distributors and channel partners do you currently have in India?

DCC: Brief us about your channel strategy?

Channels act as a bridge between SanDisk and its existing, potential and prospective customers. Channels play an important role in furthering the growth of flash memory in India. We are present in photo channels, mobile channels, IT channels and consumer electronics channels in order to popularise our products in each category. SanDisk has three major distributors across the country - Ingram Micro, HCL and Rashi Peripheral. These distributors have local city distributors in each city. The company has been in the Indian market since 2006 and today has close to 20,000 retail partners in the country and is also present in 1,360 large format retail outlets so as to provide a touch and feel experience to consumers.

We currently focus on top 14 cities with our channel incentive schemes. The key focus is on high capacity micro cards. Our micro segment has been the largest selling this season, the reason being the rising customer base of mobile users. As per reports, there has been a growth of 34 percent in handsets being manufactured with mobile card slots. Mobile phones are now focusing on greater capacity. They differentiate their products on the basis of memory, which is an important category that we focus on because today all applications are memory-based such as music, videos, etc. We timely conduct training programmes for retailers. For branding initiatives, we have put up a lot of bill boards across India. We have

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The trend is towards higher capacity. SanDisk has a memory card known as Extreme cards with capacity of 30mb/sec and 45mb/sec, by which consumers can take 10 photos in 10 seconds. This is where SanDisk stands out. There has been an upward trend in the consumer buying behaviour and thus we plan to launch more such high capacity cards this festive season in the Indian market. Moreover, as a part of the ongoing festive season, we have unveiled our new product packaging for India, making it easy for consumers to recognise and understand the benefits of our products. The new packaging is designed to enhance the customer experience with SanDiskâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand and products for Indian consumers. We have even announced our â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Win Goldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; offer. It is a by invitation offer wherein we have given invitation to 140 partners. The focus is on 4GB and above cards. The more a partner sells, the more points he earns giving him a benefit to win gold. DCC: Are you seeing any impact of recession on flash memory products in India?

The global recession, no doubt has resulted in decreased consumer spending but still the Indian market has shown some resilience to the situation. IDC predicts a solid growth in smart phones/converged mobile devices (CMD) across the globe this year. Moreover, the demand for digital cameras, camcorders and other imaging devices is doing well in India. Hence, the demand for SDHC camera cards and MSPD camera cards will increase. n

Q&A

new opportunities “We are constantly seeking new market opportunities for our channel partners to help them to seize the chance” Rajesh Khurana, Country Manager of India and SAARC, Seagate Technology, Asia Pacific 2008, The Seagate Partner Programmeme in India introduced a sub-category that is dedicated to the digital surveillance and security market and we are seeing great enthusiasm among our partners in this.

Close partner relationships

y collaborating closely with our partners, including Ingram Micro India, Redington India, Fortune Marketing and Supertron Electronics, Seagate have built an extensive distribution network that enhances the availability of Seagate products across India. These distributors have more than 100 offices and about 650 dealers/channel partners throughout the country, addressing customer needs across geographies, industry segments and verticals. The Seagate Partner Programme, which was introduced in India in 2005, is fully supporting partners’ unique business requirements. The Seagate Partner Programme provides high-powered services to increase profitability of its channel partners and meet their specific business needs. This programme including an interactive web portal for easy access to value-added information, training sessions and customer support. In addition, Seagate enhanced the customer support network reach to areas where there may be no SeaCare Centers (Seagate’s official customer service centres) by collaborating with its The Seagate Partner Programme members. We are constantly seeking new market opportunities for our channel partners to help them to seize the chance. For instance, in

Extensive and close relationship with channel partners is essential for gaining success in the market. Seagate has been collaborating closely with its partners to deliver an unparalleled record of innovation to the market. In addition to The Seagate Par tner Programme, Seagate is collaborating with our channel partners to support a series of retail access points across several of India’s fast-emerging cities, addressing the country’s expanding market and customer needs. These retail access points are located in cities such as Bhopal, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Madurai, Mysore, Nagpur and Visakhapatnam – bringing information on Seagate’s industry-leading storage solutions to a broader and fast-growing range of consumers. These access points help customers to browse and reference detailed information on Seagate products and avail themselves of trained service staff that can address their queries in person. Seagate has also enhanced the customer support network reach to areas where there may be no SeaCare Centres (Seagate’s official customer service centers) by collaborating with its The Seagate Partner Programme members. In effect Seagate SPP members became drop-off and pick-up centres for in-warranty drives requiring service in locations not served by SeaCare centres – thereby increasing the partners’ engagement with their customers. Further, introduction of the Seagate Regional Customer Councils, Toll-Free call support, walkin warranty exchange centers, SMS-based service support, mobile service vans and free doorstep pick-and-drop warranty service are good examples of our ground-breaking initiatives. Especially, the establishment of the Seagate Regional Customer Councils (RCCs) is an impor-

tant pioneering initiative from Seagate in the channel space. The RCCs comprise enterprise partners, system integrators, retail partners and sub-distributors invited from all regions of India. This programme is to gain direct partner analysis and input as to the effectiveness of Seagate’s programme in India.

Offerings for the season Seagate FreeAgent family, consumer-focused external storage solutions, is now under promotion with a unique offer for this season. The “Seagate Freedom Finder: Scratch Card Promo’ began on 15th August 2009 and will run till 2nd October, 2009. Upon buying a Seagate FreeAgent drives, customers will get a scratch card with each purchase. Customers can enjoy chance to win a laptop, a Sony Xbox game device, Apple iPod, a team jersey and many more. To win, customers are asked to enter the code on their scratch cards at www. seagate-freedom.com along with their profile. The winners will be announced through the Website. We plan to continue to focus on the very popular FreeAgent lineup of external storage, particularly the FreeAgent Go drive. The Seagate FreeAgent family offers a variety of powerful yet simple ways to store, safeguard and easily access all photos, music, videos and documents. The elegant design and stylish colour options makes the FreeAgent Go a big hit. The high performance desktop option – FreeAgent Desk is also a popular pick-up. We are seeing a range of new consumer devices entering the market which are fuelling demand for more digital storage, such as high-definition TVs, portable game systems, home media servers, car navigation and entertainment systems and multi-function cell phones. These devices and their applications require secure external storage solutions like Seagate’s FreeAgent family of products which give people access to their digital content anywhere, anytime. Further, the constant proliferation of user-generated contents and the broadband usage are another opportunities. n

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

Q&A value addition Value for money is the motto Transcend has announced plans to introduce Care Service Network, a third-party authorised service center across 40 locations in India. Austin Huang, Regional Head Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend shares with DCC some of the channel strategies that the company plans to introduce this festive season DCC: How big is your partner base in India? Do you plan to expand it in near future?

Our partner base is spread across India; from regional to nation-wide. Though we have a very comprehensive IT channel distribution network, we have recently added Bharti Teletech to strengthen our telecom channel. This year, we will focus on collaboration with more alternative channels such as gifting, corporate, education, bundling, cameras, etc. However, these activities will be executed through our existing distributors only. Moreover, we plan to strengthen our partner base in terms of supporting the marketing activities in order to expand more in the Indian market than in partner number. Moreover, in order to improve our aftersales service and increase sales, we plan to set-up an RMA centre in India. Till date, the company has been shipping its products to Taiwan to address warranty complaints and the replacement process has been taking a long time. However, the company has not yet decided the place for the center as they are considering different options. The RMA centere would be an outsourced division of Transcend. DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programs, special schemes/offers that you offer to your partners in India?

We have recently ventured out in areas such as digital photo frames, MP3 players, external hard drives and SSDs (Solid State Devices). The company even showcased its new range of products in the recently concluded annual computer expo, Computex 2009 in Taiwan. To increase the market share, we have the internal partner training programs with all our partners throughout India. Moreover, different schemes are offered individually such as back to school program, seasonal buying, bundle project, etc. DCC: What are some of the main channel offers planned for this festive season? Please share some product specific information and offers.

We plan to expand our presence by part-

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

nering with various LFRs such as Croma and Staple this festive season. Moreover, we even plan various incentives for our channel partners to promote our products to the consumers. DCC: Are you planning new launches this festive season? Give details.

Due to the slowdown, we will be launching products that offer more value for money, like best cost/performance, as well as entry-level product lines. Also, we will try and offer huge flexibility to customise our products. We will be promoting our new digital photo frames, V70 pen drive, MP3 and 1.8-inch External HDD in the forthcoming festival season. DCC: What trends do you see shaping the consumer buying behaviour?

For the consumers, it will still depend on the price and the product value as usual. This is why we will introduce our new low-cost digital photo frames and multi-functioned card readers to satisfy their inquiry. DCC: Will the downturn impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales?

I believe that the slowdown will not affect our partners as we plan to stimulate the demand by promoting our new products during the season to draw more attention and attraction. DCC: Have you modified your channel policies in lieu of the current economic downturn?

Slowdown to a certain extent will have an impact on the Indian IT channel business and thus we have made few adjustments in our channel structure by taking the route of National Giant vs Local King (whereby our regional partners will focus on Transcend products only). The strategy has paid off really well with our shipment crossing one million pieces milestone MoM. Moreover, we are now shipping to multiple locations, so that our customers save on their in-land transportation; expedite delivery time as well as flexibility in product customisation.n

Q&A

channel commitment

Trend setters With the huge increase in the number of sophisticated threats, Trend Micro is looking to bring more feature-rich consumer-centric security products this festive season. Amit Nath, Country Manager - India and SAARC, Trend Micro shares with DCC the channel initiatives of the company DCC: Can you please some details of your recent channel incentive programmes, schemes/offers?

In our continued commitment to the channel community, we have designed SecureCloud to be fully channel-enabled allowing resellers to deliver additional value and help them build stronger relationships with their customers. Also, the recently announced Trend Micro ‘Worry-Free Remote Manager’ programme provides resellers and partners a quick access to sell SecureCloud Services and enables them to remotely manage desktop, server and messaging security for multiple customers from a single, hosted location. In addition to this, we have recently organised a road show, ‘The Sellebrity Tour’ for the channel community. The show was organised in 25 cities across India. The purpose of the tour is to promote its consumer-centric Internet Security – PC Cillin product and WorryFree 6.0 product for the SMB space. DCC: What are some of channel offers planned for this festive season? DCC: Do you plan to expand your channel base in India in near future?

We are a channel-committed company and will continue to develop and grow programmes to meet the distinct needs of our partners. Apart from looking at strengthening the bottomline of our partners, we believe in frequently launching various incentive programmes and schemes for them. And to update them on our latest offerings and technologies, we have also been organising road shows and seminars specifically targeting the channel community. Currently, we have engaged with over 200 partners to provide solutions across SMBs and enterprise segment in India. We are certainly looking at further expanding our channel base in future.

Our “Trend Setter” program is targeted towards building channel loyalty. This is a program, which we are planning to focus on more during the festive season. Apart from this, we will also be launching some specific schemes for both our channel as well as consumers. DCC: What type of security threat trends do you foresee during this season?

With the development in technology, it is expected that sophisticated blended threats are the new frontier. Web threats will continue to involve multiple vectors, blending attacks to avoid detection. It is also expected that social networking websites will become prime targets for malware authors and cybercriminals will also continue to leverage events, celebrities,

and political figures as social engineering bait. Another interesting threat trend is mobile threats. Although mobile threats are not yet considered widespread, the potential for growth is huge. Cyber criminals are attracted by the huge number of mobile subscribers. During the festive season, a number of people will access the web for booking hotels, airline tickets, movie tickets, gifts, etc. and they will be exposed to different web threats. Indian consumers are realising the impact of all these threats. Consumers are looking for solutions that consolidate a number of features into a single device and also highlight the proactive features within their solutions as well as develop professional services capabilities that support such initiatives. DCC: Has the downturn left any significant impact on consumer spending and the channel sales?

We do not think so. In fact, during the last few quarters, we have maintained our growth and also appointed new partners. DCC: Any message for the channel community?

We are committed to enhancing our channel engagement. We have been collaborating and working with the channel partners since our foray in the Indian region. To strengthen our relationship with the channel community, we have been introducing different initiatives on a regular basis. These initiatives are to exemplify the channel importance for us. Our incentive schemes, regular technology training programmes and familiarisation programmes on our latest offerings — all are aimed at creating special bonding between us and our partners. Our objective is to make it easy for partners to do business and hence increase their profitability. n

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

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Q&A multi-tier channel strategy Set to grow Gautam Ghosh, Country Manager, ViewSonic India shares with DCC some of the company’s India-specific offers and new launches planned this festive season DCC: What are some of the main offers planned for this festive season?

We have recently launched a Quarter base Finch loyalty scheme called “Monsoon Tardka” This city-specific scheme offers ViewSonic channel partners with an opportunity to earn more by purchasing more of ViewSonic products such as LCD monitors, projectors and all-in-one PCs from July till September 2009. DCC: Highlight the products that you plan to push during this festive season.

We are planning to push our all-in-one PCs as well as projectors, along with our regular sale of monitors. All our all-in-one PCs are few of the thinnest desktops available at just 35mm in the Indian market, offering an attractive space saving profile in a 19-inch (18.5-inch viewable) LCD display with 16:9 aspect ratio. The PCs comes loaded with a 1,366x768 resolution that allows users to watch HD movies, browse Internet, play games or view documents with crisp details. Powered by Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom processor and coupled with 1GB memory, the all-inone PCs provides plenty of power for day-today desktop computing and entertainment requirements. Compact yet versatile all- in-one PCs can operate independently, hardwired into a LAN network or wirelessly in any 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network giving consumers the freedom of locating one’s PC anywhere in office or home yet having full access to the Internet and enhancing the overall Internet surfing experience. DCC: Being a global organisation, what is the channel strategy that you have adopted in India?

Currently, we have more than 250 listed partners who are our golden and silver Finch Club members. Beyond which we have more than 1,000 Finch members. At ViewSonic, we have adopted a tierthree channel strategy i.e. from distributors to ViewSonic authorised master dealers and eventually to resellers and system integrators. Through our distributors, we promote latest in technology product lines across India. However, currently we are in the process of revamping our channel infrastructure to make it more region-specific. Also, we are recruiting some new distributors and partners across India for our forthcoming launches and introduction of newer product lines.

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september 2009

DCC: What are the special schemes/offers as well as training programs that you offer to your partners in India?

ViewSonic has introduced Finch Club in India to offer an interactive platform to its partners, wherein they can share their experience and we can address their concerns. Through this club we introduce exciting schemes on a regular basis, which helps our partners be motivated to work. Not only that, every quarter we organise multi-city dealer training meets for our club members and their sales force to help them understand the market trends, challenges and educate them with the go-to-market strategy. In future too, we plan to introduce various exciting schemes, which will help our partners benefit more by purchasing more.

DCC: What trends do you see shaping the consumer buying behaviour during this festive season?

This festive season, we foresee a good buying for lifestyle products. The retail buying is expected to be more and consumer buying would be more personalised rather than a regular commodity buying, which normally happens during every festive season. DCC: Do you think that the current economic downturn will impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales this festive season?

I believe that recession has helped companies consolidate their business operations, which will eventually benefit the organisation as well its customers. We do not feel it will impact businesses any further.n

opinion new launches “Training is a key focus for Xerox” Shailendra Sarup, Associate Director Channels, Office Business Group, Xerox India

erox India currently has close to 150 partners nationally who are a mix of corporate partners; valueadded resellers; sub-distributors and Xerox premium supplies partners. We soon plan to expand in geographies such as in tier-two and tier-three cities, which are still not adequately covered. Our channel strategy in India revolves around partner profitability. We want all our partners to be profitable and grow their business. We take pride in stating that during this slowdown period, all our partners stayed loyal with us because their margins were intact. We have not overstocked the partners and have ensured the right product mix in their inventory, so that they are able to reap the maximum benefit. Thus, Xerox, as a company is looking at expanding the channel base. Xerox’s biggest challenge now is to find a foothold in the SMB segment and generate an extensive market for color in office across segment in India.

Leadership programmes Training is a key focus for Xerox. We conduct trainings on a monthly basis for channel partners across all our 14 branches. There is a XVLE (Xerox Virtual Learning) site and we provide the details of this site to certain partners so that they can log on and take training from the site as and when they require it. We have even rolled out PartnerNet Web Portal that provides information on all our products and solutions, marketing programs, incentives and promotions to channel partners. The portal is aimed to increase partner productivity, create demand and help our partners to do business more effectively via an easy to navigate website. We have also recently done roadshows for Xerox HI Q LED technology across 14 key metros, which have led us engage with our channel partners very well. We are planning offers on our A3 Ruby series and the Xerox supplies. We have the “Wanna be Free” offer on A3 -5016 model. The highlights of this offer are that when a partner buys 30 units of 5016 machines, he gets 4 units of 5020 absolutely free. This way a partner can save worth of approximately Rs 2.5 Lakh. For our consumers, we will be running offers on Xerox supplies. On purchase of select Xerox supplies from our authorised partners,

the customer will get attractive gifts like wrist watches, MP3 players, cell phones, digital cameras, etc.

Going ahead Due to the downturn, we have noticed a reduction in the sales but we expect an increase in the spending especially during the festive season. We will be launching the 3100 series of laser multi-functions in the market next month. We are planning to run slab-based schemes for our channel partners on these models so that their retention improves when they buy these products. On purchase of 100 units of the A4 3100, the partner gets 20 units free. This ensures better profitability for partners. We will also be launching A3 LED multi-functions, the 7400 series across all geographies next month. For the customers, we are running an attractive offer where we are giving two mono printouts free on each color printout that the customer takes on the machine. That is a huge saving for the customer. With the festive season being round the corner, we are expecting an increase in demand and sales. Often festive time is the time of the year when consumer buying increases significant. Unfortunately, consumer purchases in the last year have been slow due to the downturn but we are expecting an additional demand in the forthcoming months. Surely the downturn has impacted our sales, but as we see market stabilising, we are hopeful that sales will increase in the coming months. We are looking forward to successfully implementing our schemes to drive home the partner’s confidence and derive some strong sales figure during the festive season.

Message to the channel community Our message for the channel community is that they should partner with Xerox. It will prove profitable for them. We will always look at their profitability even in tough times. We make sure that we have programmes targeted to ensure smooth selling for all our partners. Once on board, we ensure that our partners are profitable. Moreover, we try and see that our partners do well even during the time of severe recession and they do not lose hope as well as business. Moving ahead, it is our constant endeavor to ensure profitability for all our partners. n

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

Q&A brand conscious Pick your brand carefully Belkin is looking to jazz up this festive season with some combined and collaborative schemes across all the products lines. Rengith Nair, National Product and Marketing Head India, Belkin in a conversation with DCC advises channel to watch out the brand space carefully before zeroing in on any brand and shares Belkin’s channel and product expansion plans this quarter. DCC: Being a global organisation, what is the channel strategy that you have adopted in India?

Keeping the vast and diverse regional landscapes of India in mind, we have been following a distribution structure which fulfills the requirements of Indian markets. Under this strategy, we have assigned distributors in all the key markets across the entire Indian territory. We have got one distributor each in north, west and east respectively and have got four distributors in south who cover the entire southern part of the country catering to about 3500 partners in India altogether. Besides the regional distributors, we have got a chain of sub-distributors and 40-45 value partners who are selling Belkin across India. To ensure the high retail visibility we have tied up with dedicated distribution partners across the large format retail stores as well. Being in a exponential growth trajectory, we have charted out a massive expansion plan in India and will tie up with reseller partners who are looking for quality products and will simultaneously be able to bring some value proposition for the customers. Considering the month on month growth we are having right now in India, we are hopeful of touching a strong reseller base of 5000 in India very soon. DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programmes and special schemes/ offers that you offer to your partners in India?

We run regular activities like training programmes and dealers meets for the partners throughout the year. In addition to this, there are quarterly promotional schemes and various types incentive programmes for the channel partners where channel partners can take part and can get additional benefits. Recently we had launched “cash bhi videsh bhi” and “monsoon hungama” which has elicited good response from the channel. DCC: What are some of the main channel offers planned for this festive season? Region wise,

we have been running a number of festive

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schemes throughout the year. Recently we have run a scheme on the occasion of Onam in south. Simultaneously we will have schemes during Diwali and other important festive occasions as well. There is no specific products as such that we would like push during the festive seasons- it will rather be across the entire product line. But we will announce some combined and collaborative but very special festive schemes for the channel this season. DCC: Which trends do you see shaping the consumer buying behavior during this festive season?

We generally see an upshot in the consumers sales during the festive season. Consumers spend a lot during the festivity and that’s reflected in the sales of IT products as well during this season and that might be one factor that sparks this seasonal sales volume. DCC: Will the downturn impact consumer spending and thus slow/reduce channel sales?

We have not seen any adverse effects of slowdown on the sales so far. Despite the so-called downturn we have been able to keep a healthy growth momentum throughout the year. In fact we will be announcing several new products into the market and will venture into some new product segment as well. DCC: Any message for the channel community?

I would like to use this opportunity to send across an important message for the channel community- There are so many brands available in the market these days, only a few will give you the required support and quality in the long run. Selecting a reliable brand is very necessary from that perspective. Belkin brings three things together in their products- innovation, reliability and quality which is very important for sustenance of a brand in the market. So choose your brand carefully before you start selling. Wishing a very happy Diwali to all of you.n

opinion

performing for growth

“The decision to do business with Canon has proved profitable for us” Piyush Jaiin, Managing Director, Uneecops Technologies in conversation with DCc shares his eight years of experience of working with Canon and his growth plans in the document management system (DMS) space

elhi-based Uneecops has been one of the few organisations to be associated with Canon BIS division in India for over a decade now. “We started doing business with Canon in the year 2000. Back then, the demand for a streamlined office automation process was gaining ground in India and we have never looked back since then,” recollects Piyush Jaiin, Managing Director, Uneecops. The company today provides a number of IT hardware and software solutions, and has a legacy of more than a decade in bringing comprehensive printing imaging and documentation solutions to the small and mediumsized businesses (SMBs) and various public sector units. Jaiin’s journey started way back in 1995. Recalling his one decade old business voyage in this industry, Jaiin says, “Working with Canon has proved to be a highly profitable for us. We share a healthy working relationship with the vendor.”

Forging a strong relationship Over the years, Uneecops has worked with some well-known brands in the high-end printing segment, before switching to Canon. “We started as a Canon corporate partner and worked diligently with the vendor to become a platinum partner, the highest rung in the ladder. Today, we possess a high level of comfort in working with the brand, which is very crucial to build a mutual beneficial relationship,” feels Jaiin. Doing business with Canon has been a learning experience for the company as well as Jaiin as an individual. “We have grown with Canon over the years. The experience of working with an esteemed organisation has taught us to embrace the best practices

in the business. It has even helped us become a principled company. The initial period of hand-holding has actually helped us to grow strong and expand our business presence further in the market.” Jaiin believes that their relationship with Canon is far deeper than the usual vendorpartner relationship. “It is like being in a part of their family; where you share a very unique relationship with each and every members of the house. We work on the same platform, where we put the efforts and drive the engine of the business together. The management team is always accessible, when we come across any difficulties or roadblocks, to lend a patient ear to our grievances,” adds Jaiin.

What does the brand offer? Besides being a reputed brand worldwide, Canon has got very channel-friendly policies and schemes. The company extends a good credit and price support to the partners. “They are very supportive with lead generation activities, and provide PoC (proof of concept) and marketing support to its loyal partners. Their commitment level is very high also,” says Jaiin. In terms of competitions, Canon products are believed to be competitive, which incorporates innovative technology that gives them an edge over other brands available in the market today. The products ensure a high return on investment (RoI) to consumers by bringing down the average printing cost per page considerably over a timeframe. “In lieu of the various cost-cutting initiatives adopted by most organisations today, Canon products are the best that can take care of the total cost of ownership (TCO) as well as RoI aspect,” adds Jaiin.

Growth prospects Uneecops has gained a strong foothold in the education and government verticals over the years. The company has a significant number of accounts in the Delhi state and central government departments. It has even been participating in several government-run projects. “The company has bagged a large project worth Rs 2.5 crore with Delhi District Court last year, which is also one of the prestigious projects of Uneecops done in the DMS (document management system) so far. “In addition to this, a significant amount of traction comes from the BPO sector, logistics and pharmaceutical companies as there has been an increasing need of documentation in these sectors,” claims Jaiin. The Indian SME segment is considered to be another important emergent sector, where the demand for a streamlined office automation solution is growing considerably.

Charting the growth path Wi t h a s t r o n g 8 0 p e o p l e wo r k f o r c e, Uneecops is currently catering to about 18 odd partners in and around Delhi, who are procuring documentation solutions directly from Uneecops. Jaiin has an ambitious plan to expand the business to the entire northern regions including cities like Dehradun, Chandigarh, Bhopal and Raipur over the next year. “We are currently growing at a rate of 30 percent, considering an increasing document management needs in the businesses these days. We are confident of sustaining a moderate growth rate in the years to come also,” concludes Jaiin. With an aggressive expansion plan, Uneecops aims to touch the Rs 35 crore turnover mark very soon. n

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august 2009

Q&A educating our partners Aiming high RSA, the security division of RSA has aggressive channel plans with regards to the Indian region. Sriram Vishwanathan, Channel Manager - India & SAARC throws some light on more such plans planned for the forthcoming festive season

DCC: How huge is your partner base in India?

Do you plan to expand it in near future? Recently, RSA has tied up with Redington as its second national distributor. Leveraging Redington’s reach, RSA plans to double its channel-base over the next few months. Our other distributor is Wep Solutions. We currently have 50 registered partners and intend to take this number to 75 by the end of this year and add 25 more, subsequently. DCC: What is your channel strategy?

We believe in educating our partner from time to time and empower them to help customers address today’s evolving security challenges. These enhancements help channel partners more competitively position themselves with their customers as experts on RSA products and services and will help enable them to increase their profitability selling RSA’s broad solutions portfolio. We even like to take regular feedback from our partners and make changes to various program based on the ongoing feedback. We believe in providing “stackable” rewards for a channel partner’s increased revenue attainment and training investment. DCC: Can you please share the channel leadership programmes, special schemes/ offers as well as training programmes that you offer to your partners in India?

We have recently launched SecurWorld program for our partners. It is designed to foster stronger, more dynamic and mutually beneficial relationships between RSA and its partners. It offers greater rewards for partners who are most committed to RSA security solutions and who are willing to invest in winning new business opportunities. Moreover, we have even broadened our incentive systems, making more margins available to our partners who maintain certification and authorisation, sell new products and acquire new customers. We’ve committed further spending to an already successful online curriculum for sales and technical training for our channel partners. RSA has adopted a wide mix of marketing tools such as seminars, discussion forums, eDMs, etc to support the educational aware-

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

ness and training programmes for all stakeholders. Moreover, a wide range of training programmes are being planned for partner enablement in 2009 on all our products. DCC: What are some of the offers, products as well as programmes planned for partners this festive season?

Coming festive season, RSA plans to roll out channel enablement program to equip the partners and help them gear-up for the upcoming festive season. Spread across three cities to begin with, the RSA partner enablement sessions are designed to help partners sustain greater momentum in the marketplace and provide them with the latest sales and technical information around our newest solutions to capatalise on market opportunities. This set of programmes is one of the firsts and very soon there would be several others rolled out in the near future, which would include business planning workshops, evaluation of existing frameworks, etc. All of them will be designed keeping in mind channel requirements and customer demands. This festive season, we plan to give our loyal partners performance-based rebates. These new quarterly incentives are based on revenue goal attainment and provide channel partners with the ability to increase their profit opportunities with RSA solutions. Also announced will be our corporate rewards. This program will provide even more financial incentive to channel partners that are driving incremental RSA revenue. DCC: Would you like to give any message to the channel community?

RSA will continue to invest in channel enablement activities. Channel partners will always benefit from our enhanced online training capabilities and a continued investment in in-region RSA SecurTours, where sales and technical attendees are provided opportunities to enhance their knowledge on RSA solutions. Partners soon will also have access to a virtualised demo center for RSA products, and can utilise a 90-day training curriculum designed to get them up to speed on the RSA SecurWorld program and RSA products quickly.n

channel channel champs champs Channel Champs continues its successful run. This part of the programme ran in the month of August and covered six cities

cities

September 2009

mandi Sandeep Wadhwa

ASM Punjab & Chandigarh,Gigabyte

“This was a well conceptualised and executed event. I have attended many programmes in the past but none stand up to the calibre of Digit Channel Champs”

mandi, shimla, ambala g u wa h a t i , l u c k n o w karnal

ambala Murrli

ASM, Gigabyte

“It was an excellent seminar, especially to reach out to the non-metro locations in our country”

Rakesh Thakkur Properitor, Logic Business System.

“This programme was truly educative. I would like the organisers to help enhance our technical understanding through such initiatives

Anuj Sani Head Project Plannine, Orbital Engineers

“The content of the seminar was good and informative”

shimla Sandeep Wadhwa

ASM Punjab and Chandigarh,Gigabyte

“I found the association with Digit Channel Champs very beneficial”

Satnam Singh Atwal

Properitor, Access marketing Services.

“This was my first event. It was very informative and helped me interact with fellow channel partners”

Rajat Goel

Properitor, Computer Paradise.

“The Digit Channel Connect magazine is one of its kind for our community. Channel Champs, which is an extension of the magazine has done full justice to it”

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

channel channel champs champs guwahati

karnal

Partha

ASM, Gigabyte

“This was undoubtedly one of the best events I have attended till date”

Murrli

ASM, Gigabyte

“Excellent for Non – Metro location need nothing more than this. It was awesome seminar”

Kamal Kant Bhasin

Sanjay Bogaria President, Eeshwar System & Manufacturing Co

“DCC needs to highlight some of the issues affecting the channel community like poor after-sales services by vendors, price variation in different regions, etc.

President. Karnal Computer Dealers Association

“Problems that need to be highlighted through this magazine are challenges of delayed payments and price cutting”

Davinder

lucknow

Sales Manager, Computer Network

Sanjau Gulati

CEO. Sagar Infosystem

“Channel partners are not aware of the product they sell. This is very detrimental for their growth. I find DCC the best platform to provide the required information and keep the channel community abreast of product know-how. I urge you to keep in touch with channel associations for better response to your initiatives”

Prateek Tewari System Integrator, Info Era Computers.

“Channel Champs event was well formulated and is a tremendous help to both – vendors and the channel community”

DIGIT CHANNEL CONNECT

september 2009

The importance given to dissemination technical know-how is the essence of Channel Champs. This USP makes the event stand out”