CRN December 1, 2011

contents

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December 01, 2011 l Volume 5 Issue 15

methodology Choosing the best

18

Best Sub-distributor - Emerging Markets North

Computer Gallery

west Ria Computers

13

14

15

16

Outstanding Performance - Distribution

OuTstanding Performance - Distribution

20

Aldous Glare Trade & Exports OutSTanding Performance - Retail SAC Infosystem Best Sub-distributor - Advanced Markets North Micro Max Technologies

Best Value-added Sub-Distributor large NCS Computech emerging IT Consultancy Group

21

Best Retailer-Advanced Markets (National)

22

Best Retailer - Emerging Markets

Care Office Equipment

North Secant Technologies

Balaji Solutions

east

Krishna Agencies

west Pacific Infotech

west

business Algorithms

south Supreme Computers

south IT World

East

6

south Positive Systems

Data Care Corporation

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editorial

Inspiring a whole new generation

I

n this special edition of the CRN Xcellence Awards— Distribution & Retail 2011, we present India’s best IT subdistributors and retailers.

Now in its 11th edition, the core objective of the CRN Xcellence Awards has been to recognize companies and individuals from among the IT retail and distribution channel who have excelled in their businesses by adopting best practices, applying sound business acumen, and creating role models that inspire a whole new generation of business leaders.

What sets the CRN Xcellence Awards apart from the several other channel awards is that they lay focus not just on the size of the company but also on aspects that are integral to making a company a true leader.

The 17 winners chosen by CRN this year present good examples of how efficient systems and processes, the right focus on HR and customer responsiveness can help create a high-performance organization that is growth-driven and scalable.

In the fast-changing IT marketplace with digital convergence taking center-stage, these are the key

Volume 5, Issue 15

Managing Director

: Sanjeev Khaira

Printer & Publisher

: Sajid Yusuf Desai

Director

: Kailash Shirodkar

elements of a sustainable business organization.

Most of us agree that the rules of the channel business are on the verge of being transformed by emerging technologies such as tablets and cloud computing and the impending taxation changes in the form of GST. Consumer behavior is witnessing a major shift and so are buying patterns. Online shopping is expected to grow four-fold over the next three years, while consumers are increasingly getting exposed to the 4-screen multimedia, Internet and computing experience consisting of smartphones, mobility devices, smart and interactive TVs and the PC. These trends point to the fact that distributors and retailers will have to review and revamp their product portfolio, redefine their value proposition in the IT supply chain, and cater to the different levels of buying experience expected by end-users.

The sub-distributors and retailers featured in this special edition are aware of the sea changes expected and are already gearing up for the transformation.

I hope that the success stories of these winners inspire and motivate the vast CRN readership. n

E-mail me at dhaval.valia@ubm.com

Sales bangalore Manager—Sales : Satish Kutty satish.krishnankutty@ubm.com (M) +91 98452 07810 Delhi Manager—Sales : Sanjay Khandelwal sanjay.khandelwal@ubm.com (M) +91 98117 64515

Associate Publisher & Executive Editor

: Dhaval Valia

Group Commercial Director

: Salil Warior

Contributing Editor

: Ramdas S

Assistant Editor

: Sonal Desai

Principal Correspondent

: Abhijeet Mukherjee (Mumbai)

Senior Correspondent

: Amit Singh (Delhi)

Design Art Director

: Deepjyoti Bhowmik

Senior Visualiser

: Yogesh Naik

Senior Designer

: Shailesh Vaidya

Designer

: Jinal Cheda

Marketing Advertising Co-ordinator

: Jagruti Kudalkar

online Manager—Product Dev. & Mktg. : Viraj Mehta Deputy Manager—Online

: Nilesh Mungekar

Web Designer

: Nitin Lahare

production Deputy Manager : Prakash (Sanjay) Adsul

Logistics Assistant Manager

: Bajrang Shinde

Subscriptions & Database Manager : Manoj Ambardekar manoj.ambardekar@ubm.com Senior Executive : Deepanjali Chaurasia deepa.chaurasia@ubm.com

Head Office UBM India Pvt Ltd, 1st floor, 119, Sagar Tech Plaza - A, Andheri-Kurla Road, Saki Naka Junction, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400072, India Tel: 022 6769 2400; Fax: 022 6769 2426 Printed and Published by Sajid Yusuf Desai on behalf of UBM India Pvt Ltd, 6th floor, 615-617 Sagar Tech Plaza - A, Andheri-Kurla Road, Saki Naka Junction, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400072, India.

Executive Editor: Dhaval Valia Printed at Indigo Press (India) Pvt Ltd, Plot No 1c/716, Off Dadaji Konddeo Cross Road, Byculla (E), Mumbai 400027

Operations Head—Finance

: Yogesh Mudras

Director—Operations & Administration

8

: Satyendra Mehra

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Associate Office - Pune Jagdish Khaladkar, Sahayog Apartment 508 Narayan Peth, Patrya Maruti Chowk, Pune 411 030 Tel: 91 (020) 2445 1574 (M) 98230 38315 email: jagdishk@vsnl.com

USA Huson International Media (West) Tiffany DeBie Tiffany.debie@husonmedia.com Tel +1 408 879 6666 Fax +1 408 879 6669 Huson International Media (East) Dan Manioci dan.manioci@husonmedia.com Tel +1 212 268 3344 Fax +1 212 268 3355

EMEA Huson International Media Gerry Rhoades Brown, gerry. rhoadesbrown@husonmedia.com Tel: +44 19325 64999 Fax: + 44 19325 64998 South Korea Young Media Young Baek ymedia@chol.com Tel: +82 2227 34819 Fax: +82 2227 34866

Japan Pacific Business (PBI) Shigenori Nagatomo nagatomo-pbi@gol.com Tel: +81 3366 16138 Fax: +81 3366 16139

Important Every effort has been taken to avoid errors or omissions in this magazine. In spite of this, errors may creep in.

Any mistake, error or discrepancy noted may be brought to our notice immediately. It is notified that neither the publisher, the editor or the seller will be responsible in respect of anything and the consequence of anything done or omitted to be done by any person in reliance upon the content herein.

This disclaimer applies to all, whether subscriber to the magazine or not.

For binding mistakes, misprints, missing pages, etc, the publisher’s liability is limited to replacement within one month of purchase. © All rights are reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Mumbai only.

While care is taken prior to acceptance of advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its contents. UBM India Pvt Ltd. cannot be held responsible for such contents, nor for any loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with companies, associations or individuals advertising in its newspapers or publications. We therefore recommend that readers make necessary inquiries before sending any monies or entering into any agreements with advertisers or otherwise acting on an advertisement in any manner whatsoever.

methodology

Choosing the best The 17 winners of the CRN Xcellence Awards for Distribution & Retail were selected from 247 nominations through a rigorous process n crn network

T

he first edition of the annual CRN Distribution & Retail Summit (CDRS) 2011 was held at the Leonia Resort in Hyderabad from November 10-12, 2011. The event saw 80 of India’s leading sub-distributors and retailers in attendance. The 3-day summit had a mix of technology presentations, workshops, panel discussions and displays of the latest technologies.

For the 11th edition of the CRN Xcellence Awards—Distribution & Retail 2011, we received 95 nominations for the sub-distribution categories from 48 cities, and 152 nominations for retail

from 71 cities.

Nominations were invited by using a combination of tools. We sent electronic direct mailers to channels in our database, inviting them to fill the nomination form online.

We asked several channel associations to encourage their members to participate by filling up the awards nomination form. We wrote to vendors to request their leading partners to send in their nominations.

The nomination forms were floated from April to June 2011 to capture the growth performance of IT distributors and retailers during FY2010-11.

Markets consisting of the top eight cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Pune, and Ahmedabad; and Emerging Markets classified as cities other than the top eight cities.

Again, we decided to give each of the Advanced and Emerging category awards regionally, thus giving due weightage to the regional dynamics of the IT channel industry.

This year CRN added value-added sub-distributor and regional distributor awards for those companies distributing commercial products and enterprise products such as storage, networking,

We received 95 nominations for the subdistribution categories from 48 cities and 152 nominations for retail from 71 cities

Awards categorization

This year CRN added value-added sub-distributor awards for companies distributing commercial and enterprise products

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Another unique aspect of the CRN Xcellence Awards is the categorization of various awards. To provide a level playing field to channel companies from smaller cities, the sub-distributors’ and retailers’ awards were divided into two sub-categories—Advanced

methodology List of final nominees Outstanding Performance-Distribution Data Care Corporation, Pune Outstanding Performance-Distribution Aldous Glare Trade & Exports, Kochi Outstanding Performance Retail SAC InfoSystem, Ahmedabad

Best Sub-distributor-Emerging Markets

North

Vishal Peripherals, Hyderabad

Computer Gallery, Indore

IT Concepts, Mumbai

Netcom Computers, Indore

Geonet IT Mall, Mumbai

Docket Care Systems, Lucknow

West Ria Computers, Surat Priyanka Computers, Raipur Super Computers, Amravati

North

South

Modi Infosol, New Delhi Micro Max Technologies, New Delhi

Positive Systems, Kochi

Park Networks, New Delhi

Bloom Electronics, Coimbatore International Marketing, Kochi

East

Ozone Computer Services, Coimbatore

Lalani Infotech, Kolkata Technocrat Infotech, Kolkata

Best Retailer - Emerging Markets

North Secant Technologies, Ludhiana Stek Systems, Allahabad Bits & Bytes, Jaipur Jwala Distributors, Varanasi Microsolutions, Ludhiana

East Lifeline Enterprises, Meghalaya Krishna Agencies, Patna The IT Zone, Patna

Best Value-added Sub-Distributor-Large

Balaji Solutions, Kolkata

West

West

Pacific Infotech, Mumbai

OST Electronics, Chandigarh

Binary Systems, Jamnagar

Creative Peripherals, Mumbai

NCS Computech, Kolkata

Business Algorithms, Nagpur

Aarvee Computers, Mumbai

Cache Technologies, Pune

Cyber Peripherals, Aurangabad

Care Office Equipment, Ahmedabad

Shani Peripherals, Ahmedabad

Binary Systems, Jamnagar

South Supreme Computers, Chennai Sogo Computers, Bengaluru Compage Computers, Secunderabad Mega Compu World, Bengaluru UMS Infotech, Chennai

servers, software and security products. Today, a lot of commercial products are being sold in the stockand-sell model as the SMB demand in upcountry regions is rising. This category was further bifurcated into Large companies that have been doing value-added distribution for several years and have a turnover in excess of `30 crore; and Emerging companies which have ventured into value-added distribution in the past 3-4 years and have been contributing immensely to the penetration of IT solutions in upcountry locations.

In addition we introduced three special award categories for Outstanding Performance. These awards are for companies that demonstrated outstanding performance in distribution and retail by defying industry growth rates and growing exponentially.

They have undertaken several new business initiatives during the past 12-18 months that have contributed to their outstanding growth performance.

The outstanding performance of these companies is also a result of strong systems and processes put in place, as well as investment in the creation of 12

Care Office Equipment, Ahmedabad

Pioneer Computers, Indore

Mainframe Computers, Aurangabad Best Sub-distributor-Advanced Markets

Best Retailer-National-Advanced Markets

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Best Value-added Sub-Distributor-Emerging

South Kolla Innovatives Infotech, Visakhapatnam

Aditi Computers, New Delhi

Indsys Infotech, Coimbatore

SEA Infonet, Kolkata

IT World, Coimbatore

IT Consultancy Group, Vadodara

ITNet Infocom, Kochi

an organization that is scalable and can manage high-paced growth.

Awards parameters

What sets the CRN Channel Xcellence Awards apart from the several other channel awards is that they lay emphasis not just on the size of the company but also on the following aspects that are integral to making a company a true leader.

Quality of turnover, growth and profitability Product mix Quality of HR Market coverage and channel engagement (for sub-distributors) Business systems Marketing & sales innovations Customer responsiveness Future growth strategies

Choosing the winners

Of the nominations received in each award category the final five were

We introduced three special award categories for outstanding performance in distribution and retail selected by the CRN editorial team.

The team scanned through each form to verify the information provided by the awards applications. Wherever required, we called up applicants to get more details about certain aspects of their business.

The final five were selected primarily on the basis of the quality of information provided in the nomination form. Once shortlisted, all the finalists were sent an e-mail requesting them to send any bit of information about their achievements and performance that would boost their chances of winning the award.

Based on the comprehensive information received and after analyzing the performance of each finalist against each criterion, the CRN team arrived at the winner.

In this manner we identified India’s best IT sub-distribution and retail companies. n

Outstanding Performance

Distribution

Data Care Corporation

Scaling new heights

P

une-based Data Care Corporation, the largest regional distributor in Maharashtra, won the Outstanding Performance—Distribution Award which was introduced for the first time this year.

The award recognizes the company’s rapid growth in distribution in FY201011 by achieving depth in the upcountry areas of Maharashtra and creating IT entrepreneurs in rural areas. Data Care, on a turnover base of `330 crore in FY2009-10, grew 33 percent to record a topline of `440 crore in FY2010-11.

The sub-distribution business contributed about 80 percent to the total revenue at `350 crore in FY201011 over `305 crore in FY2009-10. The retail business brought 11 percent of the revenue and corporate reselling 9 percent.

Notebooks is the largest product category in Data Care’s distribution stable with 48 percent contribution to the revenue followed by components with 29 percent, peripherals 9 percent and desktops 6 percent. The rest came from antivirus, networking, storage, servers and accessories.

The company attributed the growth in its distribution business to expansion in upcountry areas of Maharashtra, the distribution of Dell notebooks, and the addition of HCL products for distribution. Said Anil Mhaske, Director, Data Care, “Direct distribution of Dell products contributed about 35 percent in topline to our distribution business.

We got additional topline of `15 crore from distributing HCL desktops and notebooks. By adding about 250 partners, we created IT entrepreneurs in rural areas and tier-3 and tier-4 towns including Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, Satara, Pimpri Chinchwad (PC) and Nagpur.”

In order to increase the penetration of IT products, Data Care modified its credit policy to provide interest-free credit to partners in tier-3 and -4 towns and rural areas. “Over the past couple of years, getting distribution credit has become difficult. Moreover, resellers in smaller towns don’t have access to capital, hence we decided to give them a longer credit period and also provided them with working capital.

Anil Mhaske, Director, Data Care

This enabled them to save on costs incurred in documentation, mortgage and interest, and focus more on sales,” he added.

Data Care also opened branches in Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur.

“Establishing branches in these locations gave us wider presence in Maharashtra and helped us in managing the logistics,” Mhaske explained.

The company offered several promotional schemes to partners to motivate them. Said Mhaske, “In 2010 we introduced a 3-month scheme under which partners won a Hyundai i10 car on the purchase of 1,300 Dell notebooks; this generated additional revenue of `18 crore. Another scheme, under which we offered gold vouchers worth `12,000 on the purchase of 10 Acer notebooks, fetched us revenue of `7 crore.”

Apart from this, the company Performance highlights Grew its turnover from `330 crore in FY2009-10 to `440 crore in FY2010-11.

Modified its credit policy to provide interest-free credit to partners in tier-3 and -4 towns and rural areas.

Opened three Dell exclusive stores in Aurangabad, Nashik and Kolhapur, and an HCL store in Pune.

Started two educational institutes, one each in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, to offer degree courses in hardware and networking.

company snapshot Company: Data Care Director: Anil Mhaske

Resellers in smaller towns don’t have access to capital, hence we gave them a longer credit period. This enabled them to save on costs incurred in mortgage and interest, and focus more on sales

Year of inception: 1992 Number of branches: 12 Turnover FY2010-11: `440 crore Turnover FY2009-10: `330 crore Employees: 554 Number of active resellers: 3,500 Principals: Dell, HCL, Asus, Samsung, Sony, LG, Seagate, Intel, HP, Zenith, AMD, Nvidia, TVS, Epson, Oracle

organized roadshows and advertised through the print media and hoardings to create awareness among consumers.

Dealer meets were also organized to impart product awareness and technical expertise.

In addition, Data Care opened three Dell exclusive stores in Aurangabad, Nashik and Kolhapur, and an HCL store in Pune. The company spun off its services business into a separate division providing L1-L2 and chip level services; this added `1 crore to Data Care’s bottomline.

Data Care manages its inventory, credit and account receivables through its SAP ERP. The company also sends regular SMSs (regarding promotional schemes, billing, etc) to partners through its Microsoft Dynamics CRM module.

“Besides, in 2010, to manage payroll activities, we implemented HR Mantra, an HR management system,” Mhaske informed.

The company arranged Siddha Samadhi Yog meditation programs for its employees to help them counter stress and attain physical and mental fitness. To motivate its employees further Data Care offered monetary incentives to high achievers.

In FY2011-12 Data Care expects to reach `550 crore in turnover. Said Mhaske, “We have plans to increase our base of 3,500 active reseller partners to more than 4,000 by the end of the current fiscal. And to further expand our presence, we plan to open branches in Solapur, Mumbai and Amravati.”

The company has plans to establish service centers in the PC area, Nashik and Aurangabad. “We already established Acer authorized service centers in Ahmednagar and Ratnagiri in 2011, and expect additional service revenue of `25 lakh from them. Apart from this, we have formed a solutions team with 10 personnel to provide technical support to dealers to enable them to adopt a solution-based approach in their offerings to customers,” said Mhaske.

In 2011, Data Care started two educational institutes, one each in Pune and PC, to offer degree courses in hardware and networking; it expects revenue of `3 crore from them in FY2012-13.

The company expects to grow by 30 percent in the current fiscal, and is expecting to close the year at `550 crore.

“We see tremendous growth from retail next year. We will further strengthen our RMA and post-sales infrastructure to cover the entire state, and will roll out more training institutes,” Mhaske said. n

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Outstanding Performance

Distribution

Aldous Glare Trade & Exports

Growing exponentially

Dhaval Valia, Associate Publisher & Executive Editor, CRN, presenting the award to George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare

K

ochi-based Aldous Glare Trade & Exports (AGTE), which won the award for Outstanding Performance —Distribution, saw its topline grow by 57 percent from `111.2 crore during FY200910 to `175 crore in FY2010-11. Growth was triggered by an ambitious expansion plan into the other southern states; the plan, which started two years back, started showing results in the last fiscal year.

“Two years ago we realized that our growth would be limited if we confined our presence to just Kerala. This prompted us to set up offices in Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chennai. Of these Bengaluru did exceedingly well last year because we managed to build a very good team there,” said George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare.

Notebooks contributed 40 percent, components 35 percent, branded desktops 5 percent, and PC accessories and peripherals 7 percent.

One of the strategies followed for the notebook market was to build supply chains across almost all popular brands.

“We understood that the notebook market is growing exponentially, and that every vendor is becoming aggressive. Partners want choice, and so do their customers.

We therefore went and tied up with other sub-distributors—apart from our own direct vendor relationships—to make products available. This meant that every notebook brand was available at a very aggressive price to an AGTE partner,” said George.

He said that building strong relations with peers is very important in subdistribution, and that this has helped AGTE to grow. “This was not the case

We realized that our strength lay in sourcing, logistics and knowledge of distribution, hence we built strong channel programs 14

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a few years back when we used to treat everyone in this line of business as competition; today we source from, as well as supply to other large distribution partners. We also exchange business intelligence and learn from each other.”

AGTE also experimented with a number of channel models to arrive at specific strategies for both retail and re-distribution channels and came up with the Retail Partner (RP) program and the Exclusive Regional Partner (ERP) program. “We realized that our biggest strength lay in sourcing, logistics and knowledge of distribution, hence we have built strong channel programs that allow another business to take advantage of our strengths.”

The RP program essentially allows a retail partner to focus on handling customers and increasing footfalls while all sourcing and the logistics of orders would be managed by AGTE. In Kerala AGTE has signed around 10 retailers Performance highlights Grew business across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Aligned with all major notebook brands to offer breadth in mobile computer supplies.

Aligned with other sub-distributors to build wider supply chains.

Started the Exclusive Regional Partner program for re-distribution in smaller towns.

Signed 10 retail partners.

10 percent of the net profit was ploughed back for employee skill-building and retraining.

company snapshot Company: Aldous Glare Trade & Exports CEO: George Thomas Year of inception: 1995 Number of branches: 5 Turnover FY2010-11: `175 crore Turnover FY2009-10: `111 crore Employees: 85 Number of active resellers: 850 Principals: Intel, HP, Seagate, Dell, Logitech, Canon, Toshiba, Samsung, Asus, Microsoft, Viewsonic

under this program.

An ERP gets exclusivity for a small town and region, and AGTE ensures that all resellers of AGTE in that area buy through that partner. Last year three partners signed up for the small Class C towns of Chalakkudi, Moovattupuzha and Kannur. Each ERP accounted for `50 lakh a month in revenue.

AGTE-managed channel schemes were another driver for growth. Last year during the festive season of Onam a scheme called ‘Buy and Fly to Malaysia’ was launched; it saw more than 20 partners flying to Malaysia. Besides, around 15 partner events were conducted through the year across Kerala alone, while one was organized at Hubli in Karnataka.

Another focus has been on push products, especially products that are of good quality but lack brand-pull.

“We identified several such brands over the last year, and focused on building both channel and end-user acceptance.

We have had success with Viewsonic for monitors and Asus for notebooks.

Moreover, the margins are better for such product lines for both AGTE and the reseller,” said George.

AGTE has set up a Website for partners to inform them of price changes of over five hundred fast-moving SKUs; the site is updated daily. The implementation of Tally ERP in late FY2009-10 paid rich dividends with timely reports on collections and ageing stocks. The strict practice of collecting post-dated cheques and ensuring that stocks which have aged beyond 30 days are cleared on priority has improved the rotation of cash.

There was also focus on keeping costs low by maintaining a lean, mean and efficient team. “While we do not compromise on the quality of manpower, we are not overstaffed anywhere. Our goal is to keep the entire cost of operations to less than 1 percent of our revenue.

With very strict credit control, we have managed to keep bad debts on a turnover of `175 crore to less than `2 lakh last year. In fact our rotation has been so good last year that our bank accounts were overdrawn for less than 60 days,” said George. In no branch are stocks planned for more than seven days, and the sales target to clear 25 percent of the stock on the day it lands has helped lower inventory.

About 10 percent of the net profit every year is reinvested for soft-skill and technical training, holding quarterly meetings of business leaders, and employee-oriented recreational activities.

AGTE has launched a new division called AG Distribution which focuses on tier-1 distribution. There are also plans to start a new branch in north India, and implement SAP later this year. n

Outstanding Performance

Retail

SAC Infosystem

Changing the rules of retail

Dhaval Valia, Associate Publisher & Executive Editor, CRN, presenting the award to Yatheesh Govind, Director, SAC InfoSystem

A

hmedabad-based SAC InfoSystem won the Outstanding Performance—Retail Award (introduced for the first time this year) on the back of demonstrating high growth performance and investing in industrybest processes and practices to create scalable retail business models.

In FY2010-11 SAC grew 12.8 percent with revenue of `282 crore against `250 crore in FY2009-10. Retail, its primary focus, contributed 50 percent of the total revenue. The sub-distribution business contributed 30 percent, solutions 15 percent and services 5 percent.

A part of the SAI InfoSystems Group, SAC was spun off into a separate company in 2009 to focus on retail. With a total of 44 outlets currently—off which 34 are Lenovo exclusive outlets and the rest multi-brand stores—the retail business contributed `142.5 crore to the turnover in FY2010-11 with an 18.75 percent growth over the `120 crore of FY2009-10.

“In 2010 we invested `90 crore to expand our retail network. We opened 22 Lenovo exclusive stores in several tier-2 and tier-3 cities of Gujarat including Porbandar, Vapi, Valsad, Himmatnagar, Vadodara and Surat. We also opened one Lenovo exclusive store in Delhi and another in Bengaluru. In addition, we opened four multi-brand stores in Gandhidham, Gandhinagar and Chandkheda. The 24 new Lenovo exclusive stores contributed `12.7 crore to our turnover and the four new multibrand stores gave us `8.6 crore. Our stores are spread across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and Bengaluru,” said Yatheesh Govind, Director, SAC

InfoSystem. “In a multi-brand retail outlet in Ahmedabad we observe a run-rate of 250-280 notebooks and desktops per month. In an exclusive store, we observe a run-rate of 40-50 units per month.”

The company grossed about 40 percent of its retail revenue from accessory sales. Notebook sales contributed 52 percent to the revenue while the rest came from desktop sales.

“We offer our customers various schemes wherein we bundle accessories along with the PCs. Focusing on accessories provided us higher margins and increased our bottomline,” said Govind. “We constantly innovated in customer acquisition and introduced services to become a onestop destination for all the IT needs of consumers. We conducted free PC health check-ups at various housing societies and companies. Loyalty programs and customer reward programs helped us to get new customers and reward our loyal customers for their frequent purchases. On Performance highlights Grew 12.8 percent in FY2010-11 with revenue of `282 crore against `250 crore in FY2009-10.

Increased retail business from `120 crore in FY200910 to `142.5 crore in FY2010-11.

Launched 24 Lenovo exclusive stores and four multibrand stores in 2010.

Earned about 40 percent of its retail revenue from the sales of accessories.

Spent `17 lakh-20 lakh per month on marketing activities.

company snapshot Company: SAC InfoSystem CMD: Vijaysinh Mandora Year of inception: 2009 Number of retail stores: 44 Turnover FY2010-11: `282 crore

We plan to take our retail store strength to 100 in the current fiscal and expect revenues from retail business to cross `160 crore

Turnover FY2009-10: `250 crore Employees: 250 Principals: Acer, HP, Sony, Dell, Canon, D-Link, APC, Belkin, Kingston, Transcend, Seagate, BlackBerry, Nokia

the services front, our 14 e-garage service centers provide L1-L2 services with chip-level repairs.”

He added, “We streamlined our marketing strategy and included BTL activities such as road shows as well as ATL activities like newspaper, radio and local TV advertisements.” SAC spends `17 lakh-20 lakh per month on its marketing activities. The company’s e-commerce portal enables customers to compare products and shop online, and contributed 1-2 percent to its retail revenue.

“We leveraged our ERP system to track the availability of stocks and spares,” said Govind. “Besides, the ERP system helped us to control prices centrally, enhance customer service, and evaluate employee performance.”

SAC also started a variable pay system for its employees, with incentives given on the basis of achievements in KRA/KPI. Employees with the maximum KRA/KPI achievements are highlighted on the portal and in the monthly newsletter. Performing employees are rewarded through cash, certificates of appreciation, picnics/parties, holiday package vouchers, gift vouchers and so on. Informed Govind, “Through the variable pay system and KRA/KPI, we are able to identify the go-getters in our workforce and have observed 10-15 percent growth in our revenue.”

With a strong team in place, plus scalable systems and processes, SAC is projecting a turnover of more than `160 crore in FY2011-12 from its retail business and an overall topline of `350 crore. The company intends to open more than 50 new stores in the near future. “We have plans to take our retail store strength to 100 in the current fiscal, and are targeting cities such as Solapur, Kolhapur, Nashik, Pune, Trichi, Salem, Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mysore, Hubli, Kochi and Hyderabad,” disclosed Govind. “We are preparing to open an Acer exclusive store in Ahmedabad in the next 1-2 months, and an HP exclusive store shortly. We are also planning to launch an Apple exclusive store in the current financial year.”

SAC intends to modify its online portal to sport a new look and enable search engine optimization, and tie up with CNET for product reviews and ratings. “We expect to garner 20-25 percent of our retail business from the online portal in the next 2-3 years,” Govind said.

The company is planning to integrate its e-garage (L1-L2 service centers) with large stores in order to provide efficient service, and is working to expand its after-sales service to L3-L4 levels. n

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Best Sub-distributor N W

N

E

S

Advanced Markets

Micro Max Technologies

Rajesh Agarwal, Managing Director, Micro Max Technologies

D

elhi-based Micro Max Technologies witnessed a dip in its topline by 23 percent with its turnover at `156 crore in FY2010-11 compared to `204 crore during FY2009-10.

Sub-distribution contributed 98 percent to the company’s topline while the rest was contributed by corporate reselling. For FY2010-11, notebooks and peripherals contributed 100 percent to the company’s business.

“Last fiscal we took the tough decision to end our partnership with Lenovo, D-Link and Dell. We were not comfortable with them as they pressurized us too much for big volume sales which affected our operations and bottomlines,” said Rajesh Agarwal, MD, Micro Max Technologies.

While dropping the three brands from the portfolio impacted the company’s revenue by almost 60 percent, it partly made up for the drop by signing up HP, Sony, Acer, LG and TVSE. “The new products added an impressive 40 percent to the revenue.

More importantly, they boosted our profitability,” Agarwal said.

Micro Max has six branches spread across the NCR region.

“With the new brands in the portfolio we put more channel sales people on the field to cover every area in the NCR,” said Agarwal. “We also rolled out a new partner program called Premium Partners to engage more closely with the top 200 of our 500-strong active channel network.”

The company worked with its Premium Partners by providing them MDF and resources for retail promotions, local marketing, and conducting shows at schools and in surrounding neighborhoods. As a result, business from these 200 partners grew significantly during the last fiscal. Micro Max supported these partners with a higher credit period of more than a month.

“Getting financing in the form of bank loans and distribution credit is increasingly difficult for many resellers. We therefore provided an extended credit period to these partners which boosted their confidence in us,” added Agarwal.

As part of its consolidation exercise, the company automated its core functions. “We are on a transformation journey at Micro Max and automation is a critical part of this. Automating core functions gave us better visibility into our inventory, supply chain and finance. It also contributed to our bottomline by saving direct costs and enhancing productivity,” said Agarwal.

Micro Max intends to venture into the distribution of solutions-led products and is in process of setting up a dedicated team for the same. The company also intends to expand to newer geographies like Rajasthan, Haryana and western UP in the next couple of years. n Performance highlights

company snapshot

Dropped Lenovo, D-Link and Dell from its portfolio; revenues dipped 60 percent Added HP, Sony, Acer, LG and TVSE to the portfolio; they contributed 40 percent to the topline.

MD: Rajesh Agarwal Year of inception: 1991 Number of branches: 6 Turnover FY2010-11: `156 crore

Launched Premium Partner program for 200 of its top partners.

Turnover FY2009-10: `204 crore

Automated its inventory and credit management systems.

Number of active resellers: 500

Plans to open more branches in Rajasthan, Haryana and western UP.

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Computer Reseller News

Employees: 40 Principals: Sony, Acer, HP, TVSE, LG

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Balaji Solutions

Sunil Kriplani, VP, Global Sales & Marketing, eScan, presenting the award to Basant Bagaria, Head, Operations, Balaji Solutions

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n FY2010-11, Kolkata-based Balaji Solutions clocked a turnover of `194.86 crore, achieving growth of 79 percent over the previous fiscal’s `108.62 crore. Nearly 90 percent of the topline was contributed by the distribution business while 10 percent came from IT retail.

Factors behind the growth included an expansion of its branch presence; the extension of Dell’s regional distribution business to West Bengal and Rajasthan; the inking of a national distribution partnership for HP flash drives; and the addition of Kaspersky to its distribution portfolio.

The sub-distributor went in for geo-expansion. “We had 10 branches in Kolkata, Mumbai, Guwahati, and the north and north-east. Last year we opened six more branches in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Patna and Chandigarh,” said Rajendra Seksaria, CEO, Balaji Solutions.

“We had been distributing Dell in the north-east, and looking at our performance there the PC major expanded our coverage to Rajasthan and West Bengal,” Seksaria explained. “As a result, our Dell business grew over 100 percent and contributed `60 crore to the overall revenue.”

The company signed up with PNY which manufactures and sells HP-branded flash drives. This partnership raked in `20 crore for Balaji during the last fiscal.

Balaji also signed up with Kaspersky as a regional distributor for north (all regions except Delhi and UP). Said Seksaria, “This not only provided us 5 percent topline growth but also improved our bottomline.”

The regional distribution business for LG and Samsung for West Bengal and Bihar helped Balaji garner `34 crore. Foxin, Balaji’s brand of PC components, contributed 9 percent to the business. The remaining turnover came from the distribution of Asus, Canon, Microsoft, Seagate and Western Digital products.

Balaji expects to clock a turnover of `240 crore in FY2011-12 and `1,000 crore within the next three years.

“We want to become a national distributor for most of the brands we represent. We plan to tap more vendors to expand our storage and server portfolio. Expansion of our software and accessory portfolio is also on the cards. In addition, we are in the process of launching an RMA and post-sales warranty support business unit. For this we have already hired three very senior people; the plan and the backend infrastructure are ready, and we will soon be rolling out our service and RMA centers across the country,” Seksaria said. n Performance highlights

company snapshot

Clocked turnover of `194 crore, up from the previous fiscal’s `108 crore.

Company: Balaji Solutions

Expanded Dell distribution business to West Bengal and Rajasthan.

Year of inception: 2001

Signed up with PNY which manufactures HP-branded flash drives.

Opened six more branches in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Patna and Chandigarh.

Hired three senior people for launching an RMA and post-sales warranty support business unit.

CEO: Rajendra Seksaria Number of branches: 16 Turnover FY2010-11: `194.86 crore Turnover FY2009-10: `108.62 crore Employees: 170 Number of active resellers: 1,100 Principals: Dell, Samsung, HP, LG, Asus, Canon, Microsoft, Kaspersky, Seagate

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Anoop Jarial, AVP, Product Management & Marketing, D-Link India, presenting the award to Mohd Nazim Ashraf, Director, Pacific Infotech

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n FY2010-11, Pacific Infotech clocked a topline of `224 crore, a 32 percent rise over the FY2009-10 topline of `170 crore. Of this, sub-distribution contributed 60 percent and the rest came from corporate reselling.

The company attributed its growth in sub-distribution to its major focus on notebooks (that contributed 40 percent of overall revenue) and peripherals (that contributed 20 percent). “We also signed on several new vendors such as Panasonic, TVSE, Zebra, and Argox,” said Kishore Jeswani, CEO, Pacific Infotech.

Pacific signed up with Panasonic for digital cameras, broadcasting cameras and handy cams. With TVSE the deal was for its retail POS and DMPs. It aligned with Zebra and Argox for their barcode scanning and printing products. Pacific is the regional distributor for LG, Epson, Lenovo, Intex, Beetel, Microsoft, TVSE and Sony, and a sub-distributor for Acer.

Last fiscal saw the company sign up with 12 C&F agents to distribute consumables and imported goods in Indore, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Lucknow, AP, Kerala and Orissa.

“Instead of spending money on opening more branches, we decided to sign up with the C&F agents. This helped us expand rapidly to new geographies,” informed Jeswani. Pacific has seven branches in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Goa, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Delhi.

Pacific diversified into online sales and started distributing products to sites like Naaptol and Indiatimes.com, and TV shopping channels like Star CJ. The company also strengthened its value-added distribution portfolio. “Last fiscal we helped many of our partners execute projects for LIC, NIC, railways and some large banks. We provide partners support from pre-sales to implementation to post-sales,” Jeswani said.

Pacific created a team of five people to evaluate the credit worthiness of partners and customers. “Apart from putting a strong credit policy and management system in place, we also strengthened our inventory management system,” said Jeswani.

In the current fiscal the regional distributor has ventured into providing reverse logistics and warranty repairs services.

“In the past six months we have put in place infrastructure and resources to provide L1 and L2 services at all our seven branches,” Jeswani said. “Next fiscal we will add L3 and L4 support and also offer remote infrastructure management services. We are keen on becoming a strong regional reverse logistics player.”

Pacific Infotech aims to achieve a turnover of `1,000 crore in the next five years. n Performance highlights

company snapshot

Added Panasonic, TVSE, Zebra and Argox to its product portfolio.

Company: Pacific Infotech

Signed on 12 C&F agents to distribute consumables and imported goods, and increase its regional presence.

Number of branches: 7

Created a team of five people to evaluate the credit worthiness of partners and customers.

Distributed products to sites like Naaptol and Indiatimes.com, and TV shopping channels like Star CJ.

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Supreme Computers

N Jagannath Patnaik, Director, Channel Sales, Kaspersky Lab, presenting the award to Jitendra Jain, Director, Supreme Computers

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upreme Computers, which was also the award winner in FY2008-09 in this category, notched up a turnover of `168 crore in FY2010-11, a 10 percent rise over `152 crore in the previous fiscal. Sub-distribution contributed 82 percent of the revenue with retail and corporate reselling accounting for 8 and 9 percent respectively.

Rakesh Jain, CEO, Supreme Computers, attributed the good show to adding new channel partners across upcountry Tamil Nadu; around 120 new resellers were roped in last year. Another reason for the growth was the focus on Lenovo, which grew 100 percent in the territory. Over 46 percent of Supreme’s revenue was notched up in notebook sales. “We were quite focused on the notebook market. We set up a laptop service center in Ritchie Street to cater to both end-users and resellers; this improved our image as a total mobile computer supplier,” said Jain.

Yet another reason for the increase in revenue was the addition of niche gadgets and gizmos, Belkin accessories and Microsoft hardware to its distribution business.

During the last fiscal, a diversification was made into audiovisual products, and a separate channel of about 25 partners was set up to cater to the demand for projectors, screens and accessories.

“We increased our focus on the upcountry market, and reduced our dependence on the Chennai city market. We focused on the upcountry markets of Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy, where we saw revenue growth of over 50 percent. We set up a separate tele-sales team to follow up with the channels in these markets,” Jain said. For every 40 channel partners, there was a dedicated tele-sales representative, and each product line had a field sales manager.

Scientific credit rating of around 120 channel partners was done in the last fiscal. Bank documents and financial statements were collected, and these partners were provided with credit limits between `50,000 and `5,00,000.

One practice that was said to have helped business was the regular sales review every Tuesday morning to collect market intelligence and discuss news that could affect the business in the coming week. Also every Tuesday, vendors were invited to provide training to key staff on product technology updates.

During the present fiscal the focus is on smartphones, PDAs, tablets and mobile broadband products. Plans are to achieve 20 percent growth by adding more upcountry presence and appointing field sales officers. n

Performance highlights Recorded a turnover of `168 crore in FY2010-11 compared to `152 crore in the previous fiscal.

Roped in around 120 new resellers.

company snapshot Company: Supreme Computers CEO: Rakesh Jain Year of inception: 1994 Number of branches: 4

Turnover FY2009-10: `170 crore

Set up a laptop service center to cater to both end-users and resellers.

Employees: 170

Diversified into audio-visual products.

Turnover FY2009-10: `152 crore

Principals: Intex, Acer, Lenovo, LG, Sony, Panasonic, Epson, Datacard, Microsoft, TVSE, Argox

Increased focus on upcountry markets and reduced dependence on Chennai.

Employees: 100

Invited vendors to provide training to key staff.

Turnover FY2010-11: `168 crore

Principals: Lenovo, HP, Microsoft, Belkin, Samsung, Sony

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Computer Gallery

Anant Chaturvedi, Deputy GM, Sales, Digilite, presenting the award to Sumeet Arora, Director, Computer Gallery

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n FY2010-11, Indore-based Computer Gallery posted a turnover of `85 crore, growing by almost 18 percent over its FY2009-10 topline of `72 crore. Revenue from its sub-distribution business stood at `75 crore compared to `55 crore in the previous fiscal.

The rest was contributed by its retail business.

The company owed its growth to its penetration of smaller cities for which it added 20 employees who worked closely with its partners to improve coordination and grow its business.

While the small cities of Satna, Sagar and Ratlam added 22 percent to its topline, the total contribution of all small cities was 40 percent, the rest coming from the top cities of MP. “We increased our working capital by 35 percent to penetrate these cities because the credit cycle there is not less than 40 days.

In June 2010 we opened a branch office in Gwalior which contributed 12 percent to our revenue,” said Sumeet Arora, Director, Computer Gallery.

The company’s move to penetrate smaller cities was supported by smart marketing—unlike in earlier years, Computer Gallery restricted its promotional activities to around four partners in each city. It also increased its marketing budget to `50 lakh.

Another factor which helped the company grow was Dell’s increase in volumes. “As an exclusive distributor for Dell, we more than doubled our business from 800 Inspirons per month to 2,000, and 200 Vostros per month to 500. We also started doing AMD business as exclusive distributors; this contributed 7 percent to our topline,” Arora added.

Nearly 67 percent of the company’s revenue came from notebooks while desktops contributed 8 percent; the remaining was contributed by peripherals, and networking and security products.

To motivate its employees, Computer Gallery came up with a special scheme: vouchers for a foreign trip with the family.

“In order to reduce attrition and curb expenses on recruitment and training we increased the frequency of appraisals from twice a year to four times a year. To encourage employee loyalty we provided them finance for two vehicles and flats without any interest depending on their seniority,” Arora informed. In addition, to make its sales force more skillful, Computer Gallery invited professors from management institutes to provide training on a bi-annual basis.

In FY2011-12 Computer Gallery plans to open offices in Satna, Sagar and Ratlam. n

Performance highlights

company snapshot

Posted a turnover of `85 crore in FY2010-11 as compared to its FY2009-10 topline of `72 crore.

Added 20 employees to penetrate smaller cities of MP.

Company: Computer Gallery Director: Sumeet Arora Year of inception: 1991 Number of branches: 6

Started doing AMD business as an exclusive distributor.

Turnover FY2010-11: `85 crore

Provided employees finance for purchase of vehicles and flats.

Employees: 68

Invited professors from management institutes to provide training to its sales force.

Principals: Dell, Microsoft, Seagate, HP, Sony, AMD

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Turnover FY2009-10: `72 crore Number of active resellers: 1,000

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Ria Computers

Venkatesh Kamath, Associate VP, Business Operations, Digisol, presenting the award to Saurabh Singhania, Finance Head, Ria Computers

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urat-based Ria Computers posted revenue of `40.47 crore in FY2010-11 as compared to its topline of `31.65 crore in FY2009-10. Revenue from its sub-distribution business stood at `33.25 crore, up from `26.83 crore in the previous fiscal. Retail contributed `5 crore; the rest came from corporate reselling.

The company owed its growth in distribution to the expansion of its branches and the addition of new brands.

Informed Kamal Agarwal, Director, Ria Computers, “In 2010 we opened new branches in Vadodara and Vapi, and added 150 partners in these locations; this contributed 15 percent to our topline distribution revenue. We also added 100 partners to our existing branches in Surat, Navsari and Bardoli; this contributed about 7 percent to the revenue. The addition of Seagate products added 5 percent to the topline. Adding Samsung, Sony and Acer products contributed 8 percent to the topline. In addition, we forayed into surveillance by signing up with Intex and Zicom.”

Ria floated several promotional schemes that contributed to its revenue. “In our Avo Ane Lai Javo scheme we issued cash vouchers to dealers against pick-up of goods from our warehouse.

In this way we saved about `35,000 per month on logistics costs.

In our anniversary celebration scheme we sponsored a Manali/ Goa trip for 20 of our partners, each of whom gave us business of more than `12 lakh from July 1, 2010 to October 31, 2010; this scheme gave us additional business of `2.4 crore during that period,” said Agarwal.

In the retail segment, Ria added two multi-brand stores in Mandvi and Vyara to its six existing multi-brand outlets.

The company offered monetary rewards to well-performing employees and employees who completed five years of service.

Besides monthly training to enhance employee productivity, Ria also offered its employees the opportunity to attend programs of motivational gurus.

The company is targeting revenue of `70 crore in FY201112. “We have plans to add 300 partners during this fiscal; of this we have already added more than 150 partners till October,” Agarwal informed.

To support its distribution business, Ria is planning to introduce a Website in December to provide updates on stocks, promotional schemes, prices and logistics.

Besides, the company has plans to add smartphones and tablets to its distribution portfolio in the next fiscal. n

Performance highlights Posted revenue of `40.47 crore in FY2010-11 as compared to its topline of `31.65 crore in FY2009-10.

Added branches in Vadodara and Vapi.

Added to its portfolio surveillance products from Intex and Zicom.

company snapshot Company: Ria Computers Director: Kamal Agarwal Year of inception: 1998 Turnover FY2010-11: `40.47 crore Turnover FY2009-10: `31.65 crore

Sponsored a Manali/Goa trip for 20 of its partners.

Employees: 79

Added two multi-brand stores in Mandvi and Vyara.

Principals: Compaq, Sony, Samsung, Intel, Asus, AMD, Biostar, LG, HP, Norton, Intex, Seagate, Hitachi, Transcend

Rewarded well-performing employees.

Number of active resellers: 800

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Navinder Singh Chauhan, GM, Marketing, SmartLink Network Systems, presenting the award to MP Sampath Kumar, CEO, Positive Systems

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ochi-based Positive Systems recorded a turnover of `124 crore in FY2010-11 compared to its topline of `108 crore in FY2009-10. It was adjudged the Best Sub-Distributor— Emerging in the south. Positive also won this award in FY2007-08.

CEO MP Sampath Kumar attributed his company’s good showing to the addition of two new branches at Kollam and Palakkad, taking their overall branch strength to 10 across Kerala.

Positive also increased its base of channel partners by around 20 percent.

“With a presence in 10 out of the 14 districts in Kerala, we have a coverage of 95 percent of tier-3 channel partners in the state. Of these we have focused on around 450 channel partners with

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the aim of being accountable for at least 60 percent of their total revenue,” said Sampath.

Positive moved out the subdistribution of the HP PC consumer line in Q1FY2010-11 following realignment by the vendor. While this resulted in the immediate loss of revenue, aligning with Toshiba, Samsung and Lenovo helped Positive to gain back market share.

The sub-distributor, which has since inception been practising daily purchases in smaller quantities instead of end-of-the-month deals, also started the practice of setting specific targets for the daily liquidation of stocks.

Another practice which has helped the sub-distributor to grow has been intelligence gathering about the precise sales of all major IT brands across all districts; this has helped it to plan purchases without over-stocking. Said Sampath, “We keep only three days stock of any product, and based on market inputs we know exactly what to buy, and how much.”

Positive also conducted at least two dealer meets every month with the support of one of the vendors. To improve the management of deadon-arrival inventory, the company implemented a solution from Neurosoft to ensure that replacements came within seven days. A separate team was established for follow-up on claims and reimbursements.

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Emerging Markets Performance highlights Recorded a turnover of `124 crore in FY2010-11 compared to its topline of `108 crore in FY2009-10.

Added two new branches at Kollam and Palakkad.

Started the practice of setting specific targets for the daily liquidation of stocks.

Conducted at least two dealer meets every month.

Set up IP cameras at major branches to monitor activities at the warehouses and sales counters.

company snapshot Company: Positive Systems CEO: MP Sampath Kumar Year of inception: 2000 Number of branches: 10 Turnover FY2010-11: `124 crore Turnover FY2009-10: `108 crore Employees: 85 Principals: AMD, Intel, Lenovo, IBM, Seagate, Western Digital, TVSE, Canon, Toshiba, Samsung, Epson

In addition, IP cameras were set up across major branches to monitor activities at the warehouses and sales counters; the cameras were centrally monitored from the head office (HO) in Kochi.

Positive also implemented Tally ERP’s data synchronization feature which helped the management at the HO to get a day-to-day understanding of the progress at each branch and plot branchwise profitability.

Plans are on to add a new branch in the Malappuram district during the present fiscal. n

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attend and Be a Part of the Virtual exPerience liVe conference SeSSionS Keynote: ethernet fabrics – foundation for the cloud Speaker: edgar dias, Regional Director, Enterprise Asia Pacific, Brocade

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how Geometric’s desktop virtualization initiative improved it efficiencies by 76 percent

By Prashanta Ghoshal, Director IT Solutions and Services, Geometric handling complex migration projects during acquisitions By alpna doshi, CIO, Reliance Communications

leveraging Big data for competitive advantage

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By George chacko, Systems Engineer Manager and Lead Technical

Social media networks: the next frontier of corporate espionage?

By abilash Sonwane, Senior VP, Elitecore Technologies

how the royal orchid Group of hotels is using the cloud to improve team collaboration and deliver personalized service

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Best Value-added Sub-Distributor Large

Emerging

NCS Computech

IT Consultancy Group

Mohamed Nasir, Senior Manager, Marketing, CSP Division, Canon India, presenting the award to Sundeep Tambi, Director, NCS Computech

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olkata-headquartered NCS Computech grew 42 percent by posting a topline of `60 crore for FY2010-11 compared to the `37 crore clocked during FY2009-10. It won the inaugural Best Value-added Sub-Distributor—Large category.

Part of its growth came from adding eight branches in West Bengal, Rajasthan, UP, Orissa, Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand during the last fiscal, taking its total branch count to 27.

“The additional branches helped grow our topline by around 15 percent. There’s improvement in PC penetration in the northern and eastern states. Awareness about antivirus and security solutions is at a high, and this helped grow our business.

Nearly 40 percent of our revenue came from the distribution of Quick Heal,” said Manohar Malani, MD & CEO, NCS Computech. Another 20 percent was netted through OEM license distribution, while the distribution of Enjay, NComputing and Vembu accounted for the rest.

During the last fiscal NCS invested in building in-house applications for channels. Said Malani, “We put in place an online program called T-ECO Mate which is presently being used by more than 150 partners. It helps partners to map customer requirements, choose the correct components for a solution, and avail pre- and post-sales support.”

During the fiscal, NCS organized close to 70 large events in 42 cities and towns. “Apart from the partner events, around 100 training programs were organized for partners,” informed Malani.

“These channel development initiatives helped us activate close to 4,000 new partners of whom around 1,000 are doing regular business with us today.”

Last fiscal the company implemented ISO 2001:2008 which helped create processes for all internal business practices.

To lend more focus to its geographical expansion and valueadded distribution, NCS restructured its teams into 22 integrated business units and five business support system teams. These units catered to specific geographies and verticals.

To improve productivity and monitor the progress of its employees, NCS set up a Web-based model that acts as an employee assessment tool. According to Malani, this led to higher sales per employee.

Since NCS has a strong footing across emerging markets in the north and east, plans have been made to sign on new software products for distribution this financial year. The sub-distributor is also testing the waters for hardware distribution, and has signed on Hip Street for distribution in the east. n Performance highlights

company snapshot

Grew topline by 42 percent to clock revenue of `60 crore.

Company: NCS Computech

Added 8 branches to take total branch strength to 27.

Year of inception: 2000

MD & CEO: Manohar Malani

Sandeep Ramani, Country Head, Hip Street India, presenting the award to Nilesh Kuvadia, CEO, IT Consultancy Group

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adodara-based IT Consultancy Group (ITCG) recorded a turnover of `12.2 crore in FY2010-11 against `6.7 crore in FY2009-10. Its value-added sub-distribution business grew to `6.6 crore from `3.5 crore.

Among its distribution products portfolio, SonicWall contributed 65 percent, NComputing 25 percent and Microsoft 10 percent. ITCG is a regional distributor for Microsoft, and exclusive regional distributor for SonicWall and NComputing in Gujarat. Said Nilesh Kuvadia, CEO, ITCG, “We deliberately haven’t taken on more vendors because we want to focus on a few vendors and create new markets for them.”

The company bet big on SonicWall in 2010. “SonicWall contributed 47 percent to our distribution revenue and we have contributed to their gaining market share in the territory we represent,” stated Kuvadia.

For NComputing, ITCG chose a solution-based approach.

“We essentially worked with partners in the education segment,” Kuvadia said. “We sold 1,500 boxes per quarter.”

With four branches in Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot and Pune, the company has an active base of 400 resellers. In FY2010-11, ITCG saw an increase in the uptake of Microsoft volume licensing products. “Last year we saw this business grow exponentially, with our average quarterly billing to partners grossing $65,000.”

The company migrated to a new ERP platform and transitioned from a proprietary firm to a private limited company in October 2010.

ITCG largely works with partners in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Kuvadia explained the logic. “There is a lot of demand for these products in Class B and C cities, but there is nobody to handhold partners and customers. We therefore decided to reach out to these partners in remote cities. In the first few instances we identify opportunities and pass on the leads to them. The partners are accompanied by our techno-sales executives at the first few customer places. They are trained to configure entrylevel solutions. Our team assists them for mature needs.”

The company also organized several training programs.

“We have programs where we train partners to understand the customer set-up, spec solutions, and support the solutions,” Kuvadia said.

He added, “We are in the process of expanding. We will soon set up an Indore branch and then we will explore other cities. On the product front we want to add storage products and services, and we are in discussion with storage vendors for the same.” n Performance highlights Recorded a turnover of `12.2 crore in FY2010-11 against `6.7 crore in FY2009-10.

company snapshot Company: IT Consultancy Group CEO: Nilesh Kuvadia Year of inception: 1994

Number of branches: 27

Helped SonicWall to gain significant market share in its territory.

Turnover FY2010-11: `60 crore

Migrated to a new ERP platform.

Turnover FY2010-11: `12.2 crore

Implemented ISO 9001; restructured teams into 22 business units.

Turnover FY2009-10: `37 crore

Transitioned from a proprietary firm to a private limited company.

Turnover FY2009-10: `6.7 crore

Organized 70 events across 42 cities; connected with 4,000 new partners.

Number of active resellers: 1,000

Decided to reach out to partners in remote cities.

Number of active resellers: 400

Implemented internal productivity and HR assessment tools.

Set up T-ECO Mate, a partner sales and support portal.

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Employees: 185 Principals: Quick Heal, Microsoft, Enjay, NComputing, Vembu

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Organized partner training programs.

Number of branches: 4

Employees: 51 Principals: SonicWall, NComputing, Microsoft

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Performance highlights

Care Office Equipment

Registered a turnover of `167.52 crore in FY2010-11,

up from `138.33 crore in FY2009-10. which offer consumer electronic products Added two Dell exclusive stores in Ahmedabad and along with IT products. We registered a Rajkot. combined run-rate of approximately 1,100 Sold approximately 1,100 notebooks and 250 AIOs notebooks and 250 AIOs and desktops per and desktops per month from its two multi-brand month from our two multi-brand stores. stores combined.

Our four Dell stores gave a run-rate of Spent `24 lakh on marketing and promotional activities. about 375 notebooks and 40 desktops per month. Dell mobile phones and PDAs Participated in roadshows and exhibitions, and rolled out several promotional schemes. `2 Part crore,” informed Hemant Shah, exPerience attend andfetched Be a of the Virtual Earned a net profit of `2.5 crore.

CEO, Care Office.

Overall, the retail business contributed liVe conference SeSSionS company snapshot 60 percent to the company’s net profit of Salil Warior, Group Commercial Director, UBM Company: Care Office Equipment Ltd `2.5cloud crore.

India,Keynote: presentingethernet the award fabrics to Kamlesh Shah, MD, for the – foundation rethinking campus economics – Performance and value, together CEO: Hemant Shah Speaker: edgar dias, Regional Director, Enterprise Asia Brocade last Care Office Equipment InPacific, the retail business,atnotebooks Year of inception: 1998 By George chacko, Systems Engineer Manager and Lead Technical contributed 68 percent; components how hackers own your network: View from the trenches Number of retail stores: 6 Consultant, Brocade 10 percent; andIndia desktops, software, a turnover of `167.52 crore in Byith Kanwal K Mookhey, Consultant and Founder, Network Intelligence Turnover FY2010-11: `167.52 crore accessories and consumables percent FY2010-11, Ahmedabad-based Social5media networks: the next frontier of corporate espionage?

FY2009-10: `138.33 crore how Geometric’s desktop virtualization initiative improved it abilashphones, Sonwane, SeniorTurnover VP, Elitecore Technologies each. The rest came fromBymobile Care Office Equipment witnessed 21 efficiencies 76 percent Employees: 320 PDAs, printers and TFTs. percent growthby from `138.33 crore in how the royal orchid Group of hotels is using the cloud toHP, Intel,

By Prashanta Ghoshal, Director IT Solutions and Services, Geometric Principals: Dell, Acer, Apple, Canon, Epson, Care spent `24 lakh in FY2010-11 on FY2009-10. improve team collaboration and Linksys, deliverLogitech, personalized service Lenovo, Toshiba, Asus, Sony, HCL, marketing and promotional activities. handling projects during acquisitions The retailcomplex businessmigration contributed `58.64 By dhiraj trivedi, AssistantXerox, Vice President Revenue Management & Microsoft, of Norton doshi, CIO, Relianceshowing Communications Explained Shah, “We have annualDistribution, Royal Orchid Hotels Electronic croreBytoalpna the overall turnover, a contracts with leading newspapers, 15 percent growth over the `51 crore of leveraging Big data for competitive advantage You can theDell show as and on-deMand two new stores, about `4 crore apart from ads on radio stations and at also access FY2009-10.

The sub-distribution business

By Balasubramanian Somasundaram, Associate Enterprise Architect, forfrom theanext 90 days multi-brand store coming up in Café Coffee Day and McDonald’s outlets. contributed percent India to the topline and Microsoft63 Corporation Vadodara,” said Shah.

Besides participating in roadshows bar-coding solutions 2 percent.

Next year the company plans to open and exhibitions, we rolled out several The company attributed the growth in two more multi-brand stores, oneOrganised each in by promotional schemes including a its retail business to the addition of two Rajkot and Ahmedabad. chance to win free air tickets to Dell exclusive stores in Ahmedabad and With an investment of `50 crore, Thailand.”

Rajkot in the last fiscal, as well as its focus register and attend for free Care is also planning to launch its ownTargeting 44 percent growth, Care on its multi-brand stores. “The new Dell branded notebooks, desktops, tablets expects revenue of `242 crore in FY2011stores added `1.5 crore to the topline of and mobile phones in FY2012-13. The 12 with 70 percent growth expected the retail revenue. However, more than 80 company is targeting revenue of `500 from the retail business. “We expect percent of the retail revenue came from crore by the end of FY2014-15. n additional revenue of `10 crore from the the two multi-brand stores in Ahmedabad

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Best Retailer N

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Emerging Markets

Secant Technologies

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Paramjit Singh Juneja, CEO, Secant Technologies, receiving the award from Rajesh Goenka, VP, Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals

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ith a turnover of `21 crore in FY2010-11, Ludhiana-based Secant Technologies witnessed overall growth of 5 percent over the last fiscal’s topline of `20 crore. Retail business grew 5 percent to `14 crore compared to `13 crore in FY2009-10.

Notebooks contributed 55 percent to the turnover, desktops 12 percent, printers 10 percent, software 8 percent and home networking 5 percent; the rest came from accessories, services, home UPS and gaming consoles.

The company has one exclusive HP World and one multibrand store which together contribute 65 percent to its topline.

According to Paramjit Singh Juneja, CEO, Secant, the focus was more on the bottomline than topline. “Last fiscal we consolidated our business; we did not look at the volume business but focused more on the value business. To fight competition we strengthened our post-sales service, and arranged for facilities such as Web-based live chat for post-sales support for our premium customers.”

Secant added more brands (such as Sapido) for home wireless networking, as well as the entire range of Apple products. “We added Apple in FY2010-11 and clocked `1 crore from this business during the fiscal with iPad sales alone contributing `25 lakh,” informed Juneja.

To increase awareness about its stores, Secant conducted several promotional activities such as seminars at educational institutions. The company continued with its Sampler Club program wherein select high-end customers were given new technology products to sample. Apart from this, the company introduced schemes like discount coupons for future purchases.

It also started mass messaging its customers regarding the latest schemes and products.

As part of its consolidation exercise, Secant worked on streamlining internal processes by integrating its sales, support, inventory, HR and CRM tools, and creating a comprehensive ERP package. The company invested in training its employees in various product categories including IT accessories, Apple products and wireless networking products. “We also introduced a program to train our sales team to understand consumer psychology,” added Juneja.

He plans to open two new multi-brand stores in Jalandhar and Bhatinda in the current fiscal. “We expect to make `5 crore annually from each of these stores. On the product front we see big opportunity in providing digital classroom products such as projectors and interactive whiteboards, and intend to create a demo zone in one of our stores for the same.” n Performance highlights

company snapshot

Registered a turnover of `21 crore in FY2010-11 compared to last fiscal’s `20 crore.

Focused more on the bottomline and strengthened post-sales service.

Company: Secant Technologies CEO: Paramjit Singh Juneja Year of inception: 1988 Number of retail stores: 2

Added Sapido to its wireless portfolio.

Turnover FY2010-11: `21 crore

Introduced schemes like discount coupons for future purchases.

Introduced a program to help its sales team understand consumer psychology.

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Krishna Agencies

Navin Gupta, Managing Director, Krishna Agencies, receiving the award from Rajesh Goenka, VP, Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals

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atna-based Krishna Agencies registered a turnover of `11.5 crore in FY2010-11, posting a 9 percent growth over the FY2009-10 topline of `10.5 crore. Its retail business—consisting of one multi-brand store—clocked `7.75 crore in FY2010-11 versus the FY2009-10 topline of `6.90 crore.

Corporate reselling contributed 20 percent to the topline, the solutions business 15 percent and distribution 5 percent.

According to Navin Gupta, MD, Krishna Agencies, the factors that prompted growth were the increased focus on post-sales support, marketing activities, and the inclusion of more brands in the product portfolio.

The company’s thrust was on post-sales support; it is the ASP for APC, Ricoh and TVSE. Post-sales services contributed around 5 percent to the retail revenue.

The focus on building customer relationships through various schemes (such as lucky draws during festive seasons and the distribution of scratch cards) increased customer footfalls into the store and eventually increased sales.

Said Gupta, “We increased our marketing budget by 5 percent to `2 lakh and invested in organizing strategic marketing initiatives. We also increased the frequency of road shows, shows in schools and colleges, and direct mailers. We included more brands like Microsoft in FY2010-11. We sold Microsoft paper licenses to offices that used pirated versions, and this yielded great results. We added Sony digital cameras and eScan to our retail portfolio in the middle of FY2010-11. All three put together contributed approximately 8 percent to our revenue. We also closed a good number of leads generated by our principals, and that contributed around 5 percent to our retail topline.”

To manage its accounts and inventory more efficiently, Krishna recently replaced its local ERP with Tally ERP 9.1 because the earlier software was cumbersome and not userfriendly.

The company keeps its employees updated about new products through vendor training. To motivate employees and prevent high attrition, Krishna provides special incentives to meritorious and loyal employees.

The company will open a Dell exclusive showroom in Patna by the end of this year, and next year another store in Jharkhand.

In August 2011 Krishna added Apple products to its portfolio and did business of around `20 lakh in just one month. “We hope the inclusion of Apple to our product portfolio will boost our topline in the next fiscal; we expect to cross `14 crore revenue by FY2011-12,” Gupta said. n Performance highlights Registered a turnover of `11.5 crore in FY2010-11; the FY2009-10 topline was `10.5 crore.

Increased marketing budget by 5 percent to `2 lakh.

company snapshot Company: Krishna Agencies MD: Navin Gupta Year of inception: 1980 Number of retail stores: 1 Turnover FY2010-11: `11.5 crore

Turnover FY2009-10: `20 crore

Added Sony digital cameras and eScan to its retail portfolio.

Employees: 29

Replaced local ERP with Tally ERP 9.1.

Employees: 16

Principals: HP, Dell, Symantec, Cisco, APC, Microsoft, WDC, Belkin, Norton, Sony, Sapido

Added Apple products to its portfolio in August 2011, and did business of `20 lakh in one month.

Principals: Dell, HP, Sony, Microsoft, Belkin, D-Link, APC

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Turnover FY2009-10: `10.5 crore

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Business Algorithms

Mohit Anand, Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent, Belkin, presenting the award to Sudhir Budhay, Director, Business Algorithms

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ith a turnover of `40 crore in FY2010-11, Nagpur-based Business Algorithms grew 21 percent over the previous year’s topline of `33 crore.

Its retail business—consisting of one exclusive store— clocked `18 crore in FY2010-11 versus `15 crore in FY2009-10.

Notebooks contributed 70 percent to the retail business while desktops brought in 20 percent and printers 5 percent. Home UPS, accessories and software accounted for the rest.

Sub-distribution contributed 55 percent to the topline.

According to Reeta Budhay, Director, Business Algorithms, the company’s growth is mainly due to HP’s complete support be it in terms of timely supply of inventory or coming out with new end-user schemes.

With the addition of Zicom, the company added a new product category, security surveillance, to its portfolio; Zicom contributed around 8 percent to its topline. Business Algorithms also added Apple to its product portfolio.

The company’s marketing activities helped it grow further; it spent around `10 lakh (with 50 percent contribution from HP) for conducting road shows, installing kiosks near colleges and distributing leaflets.

During the year Business Algorithms conducted two exclusive exhibitions which turned out to be crowd pullers.

To boost profitability the company took strict quality control measures to do away with old stocks. “We did a study a couple of years back and found that aging products had the maximum [negative] impact on the bottomline because they were eventually sold at a high discount,” explained Budhay. “We therefore set up an automated system to alert our product heads on a weekly basis about aging stocks. We ensure that loss-making products do not eat into the profit of other products, and we do a profit analysis of all products on a regular basis. The timely liquidation of old stocks added at least 5 percent to our bottomline.”

The company deployed SAP to streamline its inventory, CRM and HR. Said Budhay, “We earlier worked with a software developed in-house; the new software saved our time, helped us do online transactions from multiple locations, enabled us to review transactions before the close of the day, and improved our profitability.”

Business Algorithms initiated a scheme whereby it tied up with an insurance company and provided total cover on notebooks.

Business Algorithms now plans to open a new retail store in an area regarded as the education hub of Nagpur. n Performance highlights Registered a turnover of `40 crore in FY2010-11; the previous year’s topline was `33 crore.

Added Zicom and Apple to its portfolio.

Spent `10 lakh for road shows.

Held two exclusive exhibitions.

Set up an automated system to alert its product heads on a weekly basis about aging stocks.

company snapshot Company: Business Algorithms Director: Reeta Budhay Year of inception: 1988 Number of retail stores: 1 Turnover FY2010-11: `40 crore Turnover FY2009-10: `33 crore Employees: 40 Principals: HP, Zicom, Microsoft, Apple

Deployed SAP to streamline its inventory, CRM and HR.

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IT World

Mohit Anand, Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent, Belkin, presenting the award to Rajagopal Rajnikanth, Partner, IT World

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oimbatore-based IT World registered a turnover of `17 crore in FY2010-11 for a growth of 54 percent over the previous year’s topline of `11 crore.

IT World attributed the high growth to the opening of three new exclusive HP stores, two in Chennai and one in Coimbatore, which contributed a total of `4.4 crore in annual revenue.

Apart from this the company’s six other stores, four in Chennai and two in Coimbatore, grew by nearly 15 percent grossing a total of `12.6 crore.

Around 75 percent of the company’s revenue came from notebooks; desktops and printers contributed 10 percent each and accessories 5 percent.

IT World went aggressive with its marketing activities like road shows, and cross promotions with different brands (such as Ray-Ban); this added another 8 percent to its topline.

“We spent around `25 lakh for promotional activities in and around our stores. A good part of that amount was spent on print campaigns in weekend supplements of local newspapers. This contributed another 12 percent or so to the topline,” said R Rajnikanth, Partner, IT World.

IT World streamlined its inventory and accounts. Its in-house ERP helped its store managers to close orders faster. “It saves us a lot of time; store managers can devote that time to improving the customer buying experience,” noted Rajnikanth. “Besides, we created a showroom-like environment where customers can have a touch-and-feel experience.”

The company focused on customer loyalty programs such as giving gifts and discount vouchers on the purchase of accessories. It introduced a customer feedback system to improve the buying experience, and provided product training to its sales personnel. Informed Rajnikanth, “We invested close to `1 lakh last year so that our sales personnel could get complete knowledge of every product which we sell and thus serve the customer better.”

IT World believes that performing employees must be rewarded, and therefore offered special bonuses for performers—bonuses which sometimes amounted to more than their salaries. “This not only helped us reduce attrition rates but also boosted our topline and bottomline,” Rajnikanth remarked.

The company plans to open 11 more exclusive stores by the end of 2012, out of which five would be opened this fiscal.

It intends to cross revenue of `50 crore by 2013. n Performance highlights

company snapshot

Posted turnover of `17 crore in FY2010-11, growing by 54 percent.

Company: IT World

Opened three new exclusive stores, two in Chennai and one in Coimbatore.

Year of inception: 2007

Spent `25 lakh for promotional activities in and around its stores.

Partner: R Rajnikanth Number of retail stores: 9 Turnover FY2010-11: `17 crore

Focused on customer loyalty programs such as giving discount vouchers.

Turnover FY2009-10: `11 crore

Offered bonuses for high-performing employees—which sometimes amounted to more than their salaries.

Principals: HP

Employees: 100

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A great beginning The first CRN Distribution & Retail Summit, held at Hyderabad last month, had the right mix of knowledge, networking, recognition and fun

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he first edition of the annual CRN Distribution and Retail Summit 2011 was held at the Leonia Resort in Hyderabad from November 10-12, 2011. The event saw 80 of India’s leading sub-distributors and retailers in attendance. The 3-day summit had a mix of technology presentations, workshops, panel discussions and displays of the latest technologies.

The summit also witnessed the CRN Xcellence Awards—Distribution & Retail 2011 ceremony wherein 17 awards were presented to leading retailers and distributors. There was also a mix of entertainment including a live DJ night, a patriotic dance performance by a renowned troupe, and spa and meditation facilities for delegates.

The conference program was anchored by Rushabh Shah, CEO, Graham Information Systems, who regaled the audience with his one-liners and jokes.

Preparing for the future Dushyant Mehta, CMD, Mediaman Group, said that the future depends on the steps we take today. He defined FUTURE as an acronym for Finance, U (you), Technology, User, Risk and Ethics.

Mehta advised partners to watch their finances carefully and maintain a

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healthy cash flow for a secure future.

Raising the issue of 30-90 day credit, he gave the example of the telecom channel which makes transactions in cash or with 1-2 days’ credit. “Blocking our money in credit restraints us from expanding our business,” he said.

Explaining the ‘U’ he said that most sub-distributors treat themselves as sellers of third-party brands and do not invest in creating their own brand. “U (you) is very important for future success. You and we all need to work toward creating a strong brand identity for our businesses and not just be known as the distributor of X, Y or Z vendor.”

Mehta said that most of the IT channels that sell technology do not use the same technology for their internal organizations. “All of us propagate the use of technology to achieve growth for our customers, but how many of us use it in our own organizations to create strong and efficient processes? We need to practice what we preach,” he emphasized.

Highlighting the need to focus on user needs, Mehta said that many in the IT channel were focused on vendors rather than customers. “We need to spend more time understanding what customers want, and how their behavior is changing, and shape our business around it. Right now

many of us—including myself—focus on stuff like which vendor will offer more margins and better credit terms.”

Mehta stressed the need for the IT channel to be more risk-taking. “Two decades ago when we ventured into technology sales the market was tiny. We all took the risk of venturing into it as we believed in the power of technology. Today we have stopped taking risks, but if there is no risk how can there be any reward?”

Mehta also highlighted the need for ethics. “Look at all the great companies, including Infosys. They were all built on the strong foundation of ethics. Let’s not forget that an ethical business is important for the long-term sustenance of the IT industry that we as channels have helped to build.”

Retail recipe Yatheesh Govind, Director, SAC InfoSystem, shared his company’s best practices to attain success in the retail business and build a high-performance organization.

“Our first store was inaugurated at Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, only three years back, and now there are 44 retail stores operational across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and Karnataka. We have plans to expand to Punjab, UP and TN

with another 20 stores. We will open 50 new stores in the next two quarters,” informed Govind.

Govind shared some insights about SAC’s success story. “Most of our retail outlets are in smaller cities. This demonstrates that if you have the right market strategy and create a better consumer experience you can succeed in any market.”

According to Govind, nearly 44 percent of SAC’s `142 crore retail revenue came from accessories. “Do not underestimate the business of accessories.

It’s a high-growth, high-margin business; one that compels your customers to come to you again and again. We have dedicated teams and counters at all our stores to focus on accessories. This focus has meant higher revenue per customer, repeat footfalls and higher margins.”

Govind emphasized the need for inventory management. “When you are managing 44 stores and planning 100 products, inventory management becomes a critical factor. Forecasting inventory, managing aging stocks and moving unsold stock from one location to another requires strong systems and processes, and trained manpower to follow those systems religiously.”

He advised partners to build longterm relationships with vendors. “At SAC we do long-term planning with all our vendors, and plot the break-even strategy at the beginning itself. This exercise has helped us in getting full vendor support for making our retail business work.”

Learning from sports George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare, made a passionate presentation about building a high-performance distribution business and shared many of his company’s best practices.

“I am soccer fan, and I have used the soccer analogy to create my organization.

Every football team is made up of four types of players—forwards, midfielders, defenders and the goal-keeper. Our sales staff are the forwards, the midfield consists of sales managers, the service and support chaps are the defenders, and the business head is the goal-keeper.

My role at Aldous is that of a coach. I don’t play the field game but focus on

the strategy, motivation, enablement and empowerment. I play my team as per their individual strengths,” he shared.

Thomas said that being a coach you need to trust your team. “That’s what I have done; I empower them completely to execute the conceptualized strategy on the field. I have created a strong team of second-line managers, and empowered them to take all the decisions, including signing cheques. Today, I don’t sign a single cheque at Aldous. That is what I mean by empowerment.”

He advised partners to innovate and differentiate in order to become a peacock in the land of penguins. “Foreseeing a huge opportunity in rural areas we started the exclusive regional partner (ERP) program to engage partners focused on rural areas. The program provided credit to partners in rural locations and this has resulted in increased sales. Today, each ERP is giving us `60 lakh every month as compared to an annual business of `40 lakh a year ago.”

Thomas advised the audience to dream big and stay focused on the line of business. “Don’t be satisfied with just being good. Being good is the biggest enemy of becoming great.”

He gave an example from cricket.

“Test cricket gave way to one-day cricket which is now giving way to T20.

Similarly, assembled desktops gave way to branded laptops and the next trend is tablets and converged media. MS Dhoni is the only captain in the world who captains his country in all forms of the game. Are you a captain who can manage and adapt to fast changes in the IT biz?”

n Dushyant Mehta, CMD, Mediaman Group, delivered the partner keynote highlighting the six key elements of future success

n Yatheesh Govind, Director, SAC InfoSystem, shared his company’s best practices to attain success in the retail business

Digital convergence In his analyst keynote, Sumanta Mukherjee, General Manager, Research & Consulting, Cyber Media Research, focused on the evolution of PC and mobile phones which is driving convergence in IT. He also spoke about how distributors and retailers must realign and differentiate themselves to utilize market opportunities.

“With the demand for portability and increasing affordability, the notebook market is witnessing 60 percent growth and constituted 38 percent of the total PC sales of about 1 crore units in 2010.

n Panel Discussion—Growth Strategies for 2012: S Karthikeyan, MD, Bloom Electronics; Umang Mehta, CEO, Roop Technologies; Divakar Prabhu, CEO, International Marketing Company; Bimal Kumar Singh, CEO, Geonet IT Mall; & Sundeep Tambi, Director, Business Development, NCS Computech

n George Thomas, CEO, Aldous Glare, made a passionate presentation about building a high-performance distribution business

n Panel Discussion—Vendors’ Outlook for 2012: Mohit Anand, MD, Indian Subcontinent, Belkin; Chandrahas Panigrahi, Country Manager, Consumer Business, AMD India; Jagannath Patnaik, Director, Channel Sales, South Asia, Kaspersky; & Sumanta Mukherjee, GM, Research & Consulting, Cyber Media

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n Sumanta Mukherjee, GM, Research & Consulting, Cyber Media Research, spoke about the impact of digital convergence on IT channels

n Mohamed Nasir, Senior Manager, Marketing, CSP, Canon India, spoke about the growth drivers for the printing industry and Canon’s strategy

n Madhukar Swayambhu, AVP, Enterprise Business, India & Saarc, D-Link, highlighted the key elements of the company’s market strategy

n Arun Jain, Pre-sales Manager, Business Solutions, LG India, took the audience on an audio-visual journey of LG IT products

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Smartphones are also picking up with unit-wise contribution of 4 percent to the total feature phone and smartphone market in 2010. The explosion in personal digital content, mobility-driven productivity tools and anytime banking are some of the factors driving the convergence of PCs, smartphones and now tablets.”

Said Mukherjee, “As customers mature and their confidence grows, online buying is expected to grow manifold as they explore more convenient means of buying. Buying from TV shopping channels and similar media that provide door-delivery and affordable EMI options is growing. These trends will pose challenges to traditional IT distribution and retail.”

Mukherjee said that according to Assocham, the size of the online retail industry is expected to touch `7,000 crore by 2015, up from `2,000 crore now, an annual growth rate of 35 percent.

He advised partners to “invest in Web interfaces including individual Websites, and create a presence on sites like eBay and Amazon as well as on social media.

This is to not only advertise but also gain customer feedback.”

Mukherjee recommended that partners develop service capability and transform from hardware selling to concept selling which can act as a differentiator in the utility space. He also advised them to increase their focus on accessories to increase their margins.

According to Mukherjee, distributors and retailers should look at cloud computing as a big opportunity. “Many of the retailers are from tier-3 and tier-4 cities where you also sell to SMBs. Cloud computing is a big opportunity as it makes IT affordable to such customers,” he said.

Mukherjee also told the delegates not to get too worried about the hype around tablets. “While tablets are a fast-emerging product, they will never replace the PC, particularly in the Indian market where millions of people are yet to buy their first PC.”

Panel discussions Outlook & Strategies for 2012: The panel, which consisted of leading sub-

n Rushabh Shah, CEO, Graham Information Systems, anchored the conference program and regaled the audience with his one-liners and jokes

distributors and retailers, debated the unfolding economic scenario, technology trends and changing consumer behavior.

The panelists were optimistic that the global economic uncertainty wouldn’t impact India much and that the IT industry would grow at 20-25 percent in 2012.

“Despite all the bad news including dollar appreciation, falling stock markets and global uncertainty, India’s GDP will continue to grow at 7-9 percent,” forecast Umang Mehta CEO, Roop Technologies.

“In fact the global economic conditions will compel many MNCs to invest in India, while Indian companies will make acquisitions globally.”

He was seconded by Divakar Prabhu, CEO, International Marketing Company.

“IT is now looked at from the point of view of saving costs and enabling business growth. India’s domestic demand is robust, and this will continue to boost demand for IT products and solutions.”

S Karthikeyan, MD, Bloom Electronics, said that changes in the government and vendor policies were the biggest threat to channels. Regarding the recent scheme of the TN government to offer free laptops to more than six million students he said, “This could disrupt the channel business in a big way because these laptops will kill student demand.

In addition, there’s a real risk of these notebooks entering the gray channel and spoiling the MOP of the products, thus creating a negative spiral for the channel.” He also said that frequent changes in the distribution policies of vendors were unsettling the channel business.

The panelists said that the IT channel needs to be prepared for many transformations taking place in the market including the shift happening in client computing and the impending goods and service tax.

“The dynamics of retail are changing as consumer behaviors change due to the proliferation of online retail and LFRs,” noted Bimal Kumar Singh, CEO, Geonet IT Mall. “IT retailers have to recognize these changes while formulating their future plans. Creating avenues for convenience buying, advertising smartly

n Anil Gupta, AVP, India Sales, eScan, introduced eScan 11, the company’s new comprehensive antivirus and content security solution

and providing consumers with exemplary buying experiences are the key areas we all need to focus on.”

Sundeep Tambi, Director, Business Development, NCS Computech, argued that tier-1 markets are increasingly getting saturated and that the competition from alternate channels is also rising. “For subdistributors the focus should be smaller cities and towns, but for upcountry penetration it is imperative that they take a very different approach by handholding the resellers,” he said.

Vendors’ Outlook for 2012: The panel debated the major changes that have taken place in the user space since the recession of 2008. Most panelists agreed that the recession had some good effects in terms of financial discipline, judicious spending on infrastructure, growth of new technologies and availability of good talent. “The biggest learning we had was that a recession can also have some good impact. On the end-users front, recession increased the maturity level of customers and made them more demanding. It enabled the easy availability of good talent and motivated organizations to rethink their spending on infrastructure,” said Mohit Anand, MD, Indian Subcontinent, Belkin.

“The recession developed a sense of financial discipline in organizations. New technologies like virtualization found their way as organizations were looking for economical infrastructure options,” said Mukherjee of Cyber Media.

Most panelists agreed that partners must focus on value additions in their offerings and rethink their portfolio to include services and technologies such as cloud services. Commented Anand, “Partners must not focus only on fastselling products. Greater margins lie in niche markets or paths less traveled.”

“Most partners spend 90 percent of their time in operations and purchasing though they must be more focused on sales and customers, and include accessories and after-sales service in their offerings,” observed Chandrahas Panigrahi, Country Manager, Consumer Business, AMD India. He added that retailers must focus on skills improvement and how to increase

footfalls in their stores.

According to Jagannath Patnaik, Director, Channel Sales, South Asia, Kaspersky, partners must add value to their offerings by including emerging technologies like cloud services.

“Partners must transform themselves from being box-pushers to becoming valueaddition solution providers. Retailers must provide a great experience to their customers.”

The two panel discussions were moderated by Dhaval Valia, Associate Publisher and Executive Editor, CRN.

Workshop Plan well to execute well: G Srinivasan, Life & Executive Coach, Use Time India, conducted a workshop sharing various techniques and tools that CEOs can employ to make themselves and their organizations more productive.

He highlighted the common and unproductive practices that even CEOs of large companies can’t give up. “For all activities we use tools—for writing we have a pen, for brushing teeth we have a toothbrush—but how many of us use effective tools for planning and organizing ourselves?” he asked.

Srinivasan shared basic tools that can improve individual efficiency. He taught a practice called JAM (Just a Minute) used to record all the requests and promises made and received. “During the day most of us make mental notes of things like meeting timings, phone numbers, customer names and so on. We clutter our minds with the same and hamper its capacity to do more productive work. By using simple tools like JAM you create the practice of noting everything down, thus saving you the mind space to do more productive works.”

He also shared data from several studies to drive home the point that not enough time is spent planning a project.

“We don’t plan well and as a result most of our execution time is spent in iteration.

We also don’t break down the project into comprehensible and doable tasks, and as a result complicate the execution process.”

He explained how to use Pareto’s Law. “According to Pareto’s Law, 80 percent of our efforts generate 20 percent of the results while 80 percent of the results are

n Mohit Anand, MD, Indian Subcontinent, Belkin, spoke about the transformations happening in the consumer mindsets

n K Ravi Lakshman, CEO, Sakri IT Solutions, spoke about his company’s plans and shared the channel strategy for Kaspersky’s retail products

n Chandrahas Panigrahi, Country Manager, Consumer Business, AMD India, highlighted AMD’s distribution and retail objectives

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generated by 20 percent of our efforts.

CEOs must identify and focus on the 20 percent efforts which generate 80 percent of the results—and delegate the remaining tasks.”

Srinivasan also demonstrated various tools and techniques for setting goals, planning and executing. He said that “smart goals have to be measurable, actionable, challenging and time-bound.”

Technology tracks

n G Srinivasan, Life & Executive Coach, Use Time, conducted a workshop sharing various techniques and tools to make organizations more productive

n Anant Chaturvedi, Deputy GM, Sales, Digilite, recounted the achievements of Digilite since its launch in July 2011

n Rajesh Goenka, VP, Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals, spoke about his company’s growth plans and strategies

n Venkatesh Kamath, Associate VP, Business Operations, Digisol, presenting a prize to Ganesan Velusamy, Director, Indsys Infotech

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140 billion pages: Mohamed Nasir, Senior Manager, Marketing, CSP, Canon India, spoke about the growth drivers for the printing industry and Canon’s growth strategy. He pointed out that we have not yet reached the stage of having paperless offices, hence print-outs are a necessity.

“10 percent Indians have access to the Internet, and about 121 million net users are expected till December 2011,” explained Nasir. “This will generate a higher need for print-outs. Driven by these factors, Canon India expects to grow its revenue from `1,250 crore in FY201011 to `1,650 crore in FY2011-12. Further, the print industry expects high growth with an estimated requirement of 140 billion pages by 2014. This gives Canon India the vision to become a $1 billion company by 2015.”

To help realize this ambition, Canon has opened 32 Canon Image Square stores which act as a one-stop-shop for all capturing and printing needs.

Nasir sees government projects as a huge opportunity, and encouraged partners to actively participate in these projects. “We expect `300 crore from government projects in 2011. We are already participating in various projects including UID, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and the Pehchan project from ESIC,” he informed. mydlink and more: Madhukar Swayambhu, AVP, Enterprise Business, India & Saarc, D-Link India, highlighted the key elements of the company’s product and market strategy. “The concerns and needs of business entities are the reasons why D-Link proposed its 5S business solutions—Switch, Structured cabling, Storage, Surveillance

n Anant Chaturvedi, Deputy GM, Sales, Digilite, presenting a prize to Satish Villait, Director, Bitsy Infotech

and Software. D-Link’s 5S solutions help businesses to integrate network operations and monitor processes.”

The company is also focusing on consumer lifestyle products including Boxee, which allows one to access the Internet on TV. Another focus area for the company is 3G portable devices including the Le Petit USB Wi-Fi router that offers Internet on the go.

Swayambhu spoke about the miiiCasa home cloud, a private cloud designed for the family which enables them to store and share content among friends.

He also showcased D-Link’s new product—mydlink—which allows parents to keep an eye on their homes and children from their office or while on the go. “mydlink is a product which allows users to survey their homes by simply logging on to a Website. They can do the same from their mobile phones. This product has manifold uses even for SOHO and SMB customers,” Swayambhu said.

A return to notebooks: Arun Jain, Presales Manager, Business Solutions, LG India, took the audience on an audiovisual journey of LG IT products. LG has re-entered the notebook market after nearly three years by launching its E series at the entry-level, S series in the mid-range, and P and A series at the premium level. “For LG notebooks we offer 1-year onsite warranty with accidental damage and theft insurance across 85 cities and our network of 147 service centers,” said Jain.

“We have introduced several innovative technologies including notebooks with 3D display and Blu-Ray players,” Jain said. “These features are today not available with any other PC.” He also highlighted the sales performance of LG monitors globally.

“Worldwide, the LG monitor business is the fastest-growing in the monitor market.

We have been witnessing a consistent 12 percent growth since 2008. In 2010 we sold about 20 million monitors with 16 percent of them being LED monitors.

We plan to sell 22 million monitors worldwide in 2011 and expect a share of 50 percent from LED monitors. As the shift to LED monitors continues in

n Navinder Singh Chauhan, GM, Marketing, Smartlink, presenting a prize to Rushabh Shah, CEO, Graham Information Systems

the market, LG has achieved the No 1 position in the segment.”

Looking for the like-minded: Anil Gupta, AVP, India Sales, eScan India, introduced eScan 11, the company’s new comprehensive antivirus and content security solution. The security suite offers features such as redesigned dock, animated GUI, enhanced self-protection, gaming mode, battery mode, user-based parental control, Web-phishing filter, virtual keyboard and user-defined file blocking.

Gupta encouraged partners to enter into a more comprehensive relationship with eScan by highlighting the company’s new partner program which is designed to offer sales, marketing and technical support to partners. “The program structure offers several advantages such as sales and technical training, lead generation and pre-sales support to assist you in securing new business opportunities.”

Gupta also informed the delegates about eScan’s newly-introduced partner support toll-free number—1800 102 3276—for technical support. “eScan has major expansion plans, and we seek exponential growth over the next few years. In this journey we want to partner with channel organizations which share the same beliefs we do,” said Gupta.

Changing value system: Anand of Belkin said that the social values inculcated in us force us to lead a lifestyle far simpler than what we can afford. “The value system conditions us to save today for a rainy tomorrow. Social forces control our level of inspiration and condition us to manage with less.”

Nevertheless, Anand insisted that our value systems are now changing.

Rising income levels and exposure to international media are inculcating consumerism and individualism in society. “Life has become a product that can be enhanced and not a condition to live through. With growing consumerism, people are now buying expensive luxuries on EMIs; transactions are readily becoming credit-driven.”

Anand added that consumers are now far more aware than before. “Buyers have become more demanding, and expect a

quality product at reasonable prices. With buyers getting quality-conscious, low prices do not guarantee the success of a product. People also want to experience a product before buying, and have started accepting online retail.” He considered growing consumerism to be a big opportunity for partners, but also cited the need to innovate.

Anand advised partners to accessorize their offerings to create healthy margins and stay competitive.

Cut down on credit: Recalled K Ravi Lakshman, CEO, Sakri IT Solutions, “When I came back to India in 2009 after leaving a job at an MNC many people laughed at my decision to start a business here. Sakri is however now the national distributor for Kaspersky retail products; an Airtel systems integrator for ILP, MPLS and NLD for Maharashtra; and a Ciscocertified Select Partner focusing on SMBs.” He informed that Sakri has already established Sakri Peripherals and Electronics, and is also floating Sakri International in Malaysia. “The objective behind starting Sakri Peripherals is to leverage on the high margins that the peripherals business offers. We also intend to open offices in all the major cities within a year. We have plans to introduce several products by March 2012. In the next three years we expect revenue of $120 million-150 million.”

Lakshman questioned the practice of offering a best-selling product in a place where numerous other competitors are already offering it. “Why not look for a place less penetrated which may have a great market and offer higher margins as well?”

“We must also cut down on the policy of credit of up to 40-90 days,” Lakshman said. “By offering huge credits, we are allowing others to run their business on our money.”

Doubling market share: Chandrahas Panigrahi of AMD India, while reaffirming the company’s retail direction, commitment and engagement model, recounted a Mark Twain witticism, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the

n D-Link showcased several of its newly-launched products like Boxee

n Sakri IT Solutions displayed the entire range of Kaspersky retail offerings

n Connoiseur Electronics demonstrated live many of its smart classroom products

n Belkin displayed its newly-launched portfolio of smartphone and PC accessories

n LG showcased its latest 3D LED monitors and the newly-launched notebook portfolio

n eScan gave copies of its latest antivirus software to all the delegates

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n Hip Street displayed its entire range of accessories and peripherals

n Canon had on display its entire home and SOHO printer range

n Delegates visiting the technology showcase and discussing new products information

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size of the fight in the dog.”

He highlighted AMD’s distribution and retail objective to achieve a market share of 16 percent in the consumer notebook segment.

Emphasizing on the company’s presence in more than 1,200 retail stores supported by a 25-member team, Panigrahi spoke of their communication with retailers that includes joint roadshows, demo zones, classroom trainings, competitive videos and retailer meets.

“We have created a Smart Retail program focused on helping retailers sell AMDbased notebooks. This includes helping them with range planning, assortment, in-store merchandizing and consumer promotions. We have appointed dedicated retail managers to work with these partners.”

“We have also created a separate distribution program called Warlords wherein we have enrolled 20 regional/ sub distributors who work with their respective OEMs to bring AMD notebooks to the market. We have empowered these distributors with resources to stock the OEM products, conduct training for retailers, and do local marketing.”

He informed that due to these efforts AMD is seeing an OEM and channel build-up that augurs well for its ambition to double its market share in the consumer notebook market over the next 12 months.

“Our plan is to expand our retail coverage to 4,000 stores and expand the Warlord program over the next 12-18 months,” Panigrahi concluded.

Robust service support: Anant Chaturvedi, Deputy General Manager, Sales, Digilite, recounted the achievements of Digilite after its launch in July 2011. “Since its introduction four months back, Digilite has achieved the milestone of selling one lakh motherboards. We were able to achieve the milestone through our brand equity, strong regional distribution, and quality and coverage of direct post-sales support.”

According to Chaturvedi, the strength of the Digilite brand comes from their extensive experience of motherboard manufacturing and their robust service support. “In the motherboard market, post-sales support is the key, and through Digicare we have direct support in about

64 cities. Our entire RMA process is managed locally, hence we can achieve faster turnaround. Also, Smartlink has good experience in the motherboard segment through its earlier joint venture with Gigabyte.”

Digilite was the presenting partner for the CRN Xcellence Awards 2011 for Distribution & Retail. During the summit Digilite also conducted a lucky draw for partners and distributed ‘Map My India GPS’ as the first prize, Digilite motherboard H61 as the second prize, and Digilite motherboard G41 as the third prize. The first prize was won by Rushabh Shah of Graham.

Maintain a balance: Rajesh Goenka, VP, Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals, spoke about his company’s growth plans and strategies. “Rashi is today regarded as a strong value-added distributor. This is because we engage and work closely with the IT channel and provide them a profitable growth path,” he said.

He emphasized that Rashi is the only distributor that takes full ownership of the brands it distributes. “What sets us apart is that we manage the marketing, sales and support for all the brands we distribute. We are currently conducting India’s largest channel event, CBF VII, which this year will cover 60+ cities and train and engage with more than 6,000 partners. Importantly, all these cities are tier-2 to tier-4 cities. Our goal is to have an active channel base in all 600 districts of the country.”

He highlighted that Rashi as a value added distributor has more 50 percent share in the distribution of the brands it handles. “This presence in distribution has been supported by our financial discipline, large infrastructure, and an extensive network of 62 branches and 64 service centers.”

Goenka urged partners to be cautious as the IT industry is going through a lean phase due to the slow festival season, dollar appreciation and floods in Thailand. “There is a need to maintain a balance between topline and bottomline growth. Maintaining this balance, we have grown consistently at about 29 percent CAGR for the last 16 years,” he stated. n

shadow ram GET

HP asks partners to come home

H

P PSG’s consumer team is trying to woo back its old subdistributors across the country in a bid to capture lost market share. A number of erstwhile sub-distributors across the country, who moved out following the territorial and exclusive strategy deployed during the regime of Sunil Dutt, former PSG Head, have told Shadow that there are feelers from the HP sales team. And it appears that most of them are glad to sign back.

HP had parted ways very amicably with the majority of sub-distributors, and that’s one reason why many of them are happy to go back.

HP is not aggressive in print or on television. However, the vendor seems to be investing heavily in field sales. The sub-distributors are promised at least 3.5 percent margin, and there’s no exclusivity clause, territorial or brandwise.

At the same time, Lenovo India seems to be reviewing its regional distribution business with quite a few of the partners being asked to deliver bigger numbers. The RD model is the weakest link in the Chinese PC maker’s India strategy, and the management wants a bigger show.

In fact a few of the RDs have been terminated by Lenovo who wants to make the best of its current momentum, having achieved its biggest market share in a quarter in Q32011. It’s learned that Lenovo is targeting the No 1 spot by Q12012, and therefore wants every partner to gear up. n

Personal

“I would improve governance” Sreehari Seetharamsastry, Managing Director, India Development Centre, Attachmate Group, is responsible for product research and development activities. He has previously served the Defence Research & Development Organization as a scientist.

If not in the IT industry: I would have been a teacher.

Sreehari S Biggest passion: Indian cricket.

Behind the wheels: I love my Honda City. I am also impressed with the new VW Jetta.

Gadget I can’t live without: My camera when I travel.

Weekends are for: Spending time with my family.

Favorite holiday destination: Kashmir and Switzerland.

Hate the most: Corruption and hypocrisy.

Favorite movies: 3 Idiots, Tare Zameen Par. Favorite stars: Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan.

Role model: Abdul Kalam, for his incredible qualities.

Ultimate ambition: To have a positive influence on the lives of at least a few people.

Wildest thing I have ever done: Swim across Bheem Taal lake near Nainital. I underestimated the depth and almost drowned.

Thing I most want to do: Travel to exotic places.

If I became the PM: I’d eradicate corruption and improve governance.

Celebrity I would like to spend a day with: Aamir Khan.

One person I would like to meet, and why: Rahul Dravid. I like his grit and professionalism.

Deepest and darkest fear: Losing near and dear ones. n

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— CRN Network

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