DT August Issue 2020

INTERVIEW

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“WE HAVE A WIDE ARRAY OF SOLUTIONS THAT ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO WORK FROM ANYWHERE” ANKUR GOEL, MD, POLY INDIA www. d i g italt erminal.in

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PARTNER

SUMMIT

Let’s Come Together & Join Hands in Paving the Way for Channel Transformation REGISTRATION TO START VERY SOON

CONTENT

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COVER STORY

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES

FOR IT BUSINESS GROWTH IN NEW NORMAL

Publisher & Editor : Rajeev Ranjan Executive Editor : Jyoti Janda Assistant Content Manager : Jai Prakash Content Coordinator : Suraj Rawat Office Coordinator : Raju Thapa Consulting Art Direction : Vikas Sharma Visualiser : Akriti Arora

PAGE NO : 12 - 25

Production Head : Rajiv Singh Marketing Executive : Balvinder Singh

BRAND CONNECT

Circulation: Rajesh & Raju

PAGE NO - 06 Acer Expands Flagship Aspire Series with Launch of New Aspire 5 Laptop

GUEST COLUMN

LAPPY CORNER

BIG BYTE

PAGE NO - 08 Indian PC Market Recovered Post Lockdown Due to WFH & eLearning Demand

PAGE NO - 10 AVITA Introduces New Sleek & Stylish Liber V Laptop In India

PAGE NO - 30

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Magazine printed at Sangat Printers Pvt. Ltd. C-105, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi. Editor Brajesh Kumar. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, is prohibited. Every possible care has been taken to print this magazine as the content have been sourced from in house writers, as well from other reliable sources including freelancers and content writers. We can not be held responsible for any mistakes or errors. We do not take responsibility for its absolute accuracy. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi only. While care is taken prior to acceptence of advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its contents, Digital Terminal cannot be held responsible for such contents, nor for any loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with companies, associations for 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

Realizing the Business Potential of Edge Authored by Mr. Alok Ohrie, President & Managing Director, Dell Technologies, India 4

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Image Courtsey www.freepik.com

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PUBLISHER NOTE

DIGITAL ADVANTAGE HELPED DT IN STAYING CONNECTED WITH TECH PARTNERS When lockdown was announced in March to contain the spread of deadly virus, we all were very much sure that the situation will be controlled within one or two months. We all extended our full support to government and stayed inside home until lockdown was lifted after 70 days. Even after lockdown was lifted, there were huge restrictions on many things to stop outbreak of COVID-19. Market were allowed to open by following very tough safety measures. Still after almost 5 months, we are fighting this pandemic which has caused huge blow to our economy. We don’t see any relief in coming months as well as per the current growth rate of COVID cases in India.

Like other establishment, DT also faced unprecedented time as our entire operations including printing & events were suspended. But we truly knew our responsibility in such time as a leading tech media house and we started using technology to reach to our larger reader base across India. Within no time we boosted our digital platform and started reaching effectively to entire ecosystem. A¬dopting WFH model, our team worked really hard to bring all news & information for industry players to keep them updated about all developments during these months. The best part was a series of ‘DT Beyond The Lockdown Webinar’ which helped thousands of channel partners in getting connected to brands and industry experts. These successful webinars provided perfect platform for brands in connecting with partners and helping them in minimizing losses, extend additional support, guiding them to tap emerging business opportunities.

Every challenge brings opportunities and gives us strength to do better in days to come. Unfortunately, two important quarters of CY 2020 concluded with poor results, but now we all have geared up to perform well and make best use of remaining quarter. We will continue to offer wide range of media services to our customer base and will work as catalyst to fuel IT market growth. With already having excellent digital platform, we will make sure to boost our resources for tech business partners which will ultimately help them in growing their business further.

Stay Stronger & Stay Safe !!

Rajeev Ranjan Publisher

FOREWORD

NEW ADOPTION REQUIRED FOR BUSINESSES CONTINUITY IN NEW NORMAL 2020 will be always remembered for the pandemic which effected each individual across the globe. The unprecedent time starting early this year has challenged human existence. But we fought this challenge bravely and took all measures to survive in this toughest phase of our life. Business too saw one of the huge challenges to survive as the entire activities were paused due to complete lockdown.

Everything changed gradually as we had to stay home to save ourselves from the ongoing pandemic. But technology helped all of us in staying connected to rest of the world. Soon government realized the power of digital bridge and announced IT as essential products.

We all learnt to survive in the new world which we all call New Normal. Emergence of segment like WFH & LFH saved overall IT market in India at some extent in second quarter of CY 2020 as per IDC recent report. We saw PC brands getting good traction from common consumers as well from larger organizations who have allowed their work force to continue WFH module for better safety. Education segment also helped this market to grow further. We all agree that online partners played an important role in this quarter as they started their operations when offline players were struggling to open their shops due to government restriction in most of the areas.

That’s the reason why vendors shipped almost one-third of their PCs to online channels. We are really glad to bring August edition with exclusive and informative stories for partners who can empower themselves in today’s challenging time.

These few months have made us to adopt many things which we had never imagined in our dreams. But we all accepted this biggest challenge of our life and adopted entire changes gradually. From marketing to sales or events to training, each element of doing business have changed now. Digital collaboration or virtual engagement are playing very bigger role for our business continuity. But the good news is that by adopting these new changes we have learnt to survive & will continue our business growth in this NEW NORMAL. Wish You All Good Luck & Stay Safe !!

Jyoti Janda Executive Editor AUGUST 2020 I

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BRAND CONNECT

ACER EXPANDS FLAGSHIP ASPIRE SERIES WITH LAUNCH OF NEW ASPIRE 5 LAPTOP

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cer announced the extension of its Aspire line-up with 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processor-powered offerings in India, with the launch of the Acer Aspire 5 in Magic Purple color. The unique color changes hues when seen from different angles, offering users a distinctive look in a sleek, stylish, and lightweight package. Weighing just 1.5 kgs, the Acer Aspire 5 is just 17.95 mm thick and packs in 11 hours of battery back-up, allowing users to carry it around with them all day without an adapter.

The Acer Aspire 5 is easy on the users’ eyes irrespective of whether it being used for surfing, watching content or for work, given its narrow-bezel design that offers enough real estate for amazing images on its Full-HD 14 inch screen using advanced technologies like Acer’s Color Intelligence™ and eye care feature Acer BlueLightShield™. The Aspire comes with Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with Solid State Storage combining 32GB Intel® Optane™ memory and 512GB Intel® QLC 3D NAND in a single M.2 2280 form factor.

It also combines the ethos of exceptional performance with the power of sound and music through its innovative speaker design.

Users can also maintain a strong, consistent Wi-Fi signal with 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax) and MU-MIMO technology. The strategic slot antenna placement helps maximize the portability and wireless performance of the 6

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device. Users can also connect supporting gadgets with an array of ports such as HDMI, 2x USB 3.1, HDMI, and more. It also supports power-off charging via one of the USB ports, so users aren’t ever stuck without power.

experience with a new level of performance and large storage capacity options. The Acer Aspire 5 combines these innovations to offer increased productivity and performance for a modern laptop experience.”

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India said, “It brings us great joy to introduce a highclass product at an amazing price for users looking for an effortless experience with their device that offers great visuals, design aesthetic, battery life and state-of-the-art storage. The Aspire 5 Magic Purple edition is a one-of-a-kind laptop that has a unique colour that turns to a different hue along with every turn. With laptops becoming the corner store in the new normal and people spending long hours dealing with demanding task, the new Aspire 5 makes the perfect partner with its distinct looks, breakthrough technologies and eye-care features. At Acer, we are committed to breaking barriers with technology and this continues across price points and categories.”

STAY CONNECTED

Rahul Malhotra, Director – Retail, Intel India said, “Our 10th Gen Intel Core mobile processors provide customers with the industry-leading range of products that deliver the best balance of performance, features, power and design for their specific needs. Delivering innovation in storage through Intel platforms, the Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 offers a personalized computing

It packs in 11 hours of battery back-up, allowing users to carry it around with them all day without an adapter.

Aspire 5 maintains a strong, consistent Wi-Fi signal with 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax) and MU-MIMO technology.

BRILLIANT DISPLAY IN A SLEEK BODY AND DISTINCT COLOR The Acer Aspire 5 offers a narrow-bezel display with a 14-inch Full HD IPS screen with Acer’s Color Intelligence™ and eye care feature like Acer BlueLightShield™. It packs a punch with an ultra-thin chassis which measures at just 17.95 mm thickens and weighs just 1.5 kgs. Its purple color changes hues when seen from different angles.

LONG BATTERY LIFE

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY: Available in the color Purple, the product will be available at Acer E-store starting from Rs 37,999. www.digitalterminal.in

ASUS – Wins 11+ awards every day

**Calculated average based on total number of awards won from January 1 to December 31, 2018.

ASUS Mini PC PN series

Best solution for corporate / Commercial scenario application

PN40 / PN60

• Upgradable & Sliding chassis design - Easy, two-step storage and memory upgrades.

• Ultracompact (0.6 L) - Saves space and blends into any environment.

• Flexible connectivity* - From dual displays to legacy devices.

• 24/7 reliability (PN60) - Extensively tested to ensure long-term reliability.

• ASUS Business Manager - Update driver/BIOS easily with live update and offer ASUS useful security SW(ex USB lock) * I/O port options may vary by model or region Powered by Intel® Core™ Processors. Intel® Inside®. Extraordinary Performance Outside. Found at: https://www.asus.com/Mini-PCs/ Intel, the Intel Logo, Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

ASUS Representatives: AP / Telangana: 9652998785 Bangalore: 8123596011

Chennai: 9094003141 Delhi: 9310604085

Gujarat: 9833329721 Kerala: 9745111198

Mumbai: 9833329721 Madhya Pradesh: 9833329721

Rest of Maharashtra: 9890288528 West Bengal: 9836040976

For Sales Enquiries : jaiswal_abhishek@asus.com

For feedback, email reachus@asus.com or info_india@asus.com

BIG BYTE

INDIAN PC MARKET RECOVERED POST LOCKDOWN DUE TO WFH & eLEARNING DEMAND

Pic Source : www.freepik.com

The Indian PC market has witnessed of decline in the demand due to ongoing pandemic. However, the new concept of working from home and e-learning has fuelled the demand to some extent. The work from home module is ensuring the business continuity for businesses in today’s challenging time and this has led to the adoption of PCs by professionals. It helped the overall PC market to recover from the damage due to lockdown period.

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he India traditional PC market inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations declined by 37.3% yearover-year (YoY) in the second quarter of 2020 (CY 2Q20), closing the quarter with a total of 2.1 million units, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

The large decline was an outcome of 8

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an unfavorable YoY comparison against 2Q19, which was the biggest quarter in the past five years as Lenovo executed one mega-deal of 1.1 million units to Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT). Outside this deal, the PC market saw an annual decline of 6.3% in 2Q20. In the product categories, desktop PCs were the most impacted with a 46.4% decline. However, discounting Lenovo’s

ELCOT deal, notebooks grew 17.6% from the same time a year ago.

The countrywide lockdown forced everyone to work from home, resulting in strong demand for notebooks as enterprises rushed to ensure business continuity by providing its workforce the required infrastructure to work at home.

Most IT services, global enterprises, www.digitalterminal.in

BIG BYTE

and consulting companies placed large orders for notebook PCs. This led to an all-time high of enterprise notebook purchases with shipments growing by 105.5% YoY in 2Q20. As a result, enterprises reduced desktop buying and even converted a few orders to notebooks. SMBs also increased their procurement of notebooks with relatively moderate growth of 12.1% YoY in 2Q20.

“The demand for notebooks exceeded expectations with most of the vendors exiting the quarter with minimum inventory. Despite the supply and logistics challenges in the first half of the quarter, companies executed most of the large orders in 2Q20. Also, many companies shifted their employees to notebooks for the first time; this change is surely going to alter their procurement strategy in the long term with a mix of inoffice and remote workforce becoming a reality for many organizations,” says Bharath Shenoy, Market Analyst, PC Devices, IDC India.

The consumer segment had a relatively small quarter since the market was operational for just 45 days due to countrywide lockdown in the first half of the quarter. However, strong demand from eLearning was able to cover the gap to some extent. The overall consumer segment saw a YoY decline of 21% but was able to recover from the previous quarter’s low with 3.3% quarterover-quarter (QoQ) growth in 2Q20.

Online buying played an important role in this quarter; as a result, vendors

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shipped almost one-third of their PCs to online channels.

HP TOPS THE LIST WHEREAS LENOVO MOVED TO 2ND SPOT HP INC. retained the top position in the overall PC market with a share of 32.8% in 2Q20. HP’s strong performance in the commercial segment was supported by a few large wins and helped the company to maintain its lead in the overall PC category. Also, amongst the top five companies, it was the only company to have a positive annual growth rate in the commercial segment, as its shipments grew 11.8% YoY in 2Q20.

LENOVO replaced Dell in the second position despite witnessing a 62.7% decline in its overall shipments. Outside of the ELCOT deal, the company had a very good quarter with its shipments growing 31.6% YoY, mainly supported by growth in the SMB, enterprise, and consumer segments.

DELL TECHNOLOGIES finished the quarter in the third place while declining 21.8% YoY, mainly driven by the strong decline in its desktop shipments. Despite this, it was able to secure the second position in the enterprise segment.

ACER GROUP retained the fourth position with a 9.9% market share in 2Q20. It was carrying a backlog of certain orders that finally got shipped in this quarter.

This helped the company to secure the leading position in the commercial

desktop segment. However, its overall shipments saw a 34.7% decline when compared to the same time a year ago.

ASUS maintained the fifth position and registered an impressive 55.5% YoY growth in the overall PC market.

ASUS also emerged as the third-largest consumer brand replacing Dell this quarter. Its aggressive offline expansion with its extended thin and light portfolio worked in favor of the brand.

Commenting on the outlook for the coming quarters, Jaipal Singh, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India states, “As most of the big orders for business continuity planning have been more or less executed in the quarter gone by, the PC market is now expected to face challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis and the looming economic situation. Enterprise buying will come back down to earth and SMB demand is expected to remain muted for some quarters.”

“When it comes to new growth opportunities, the demand for online learning is still largely untapped and encompasses huge potential. To unlock this big segment, brands would need to be more innovative in addressing the specific challenges related to eLearning. It would require crossplatform and learning ecosystem partnerships to onboard first-time users,” concludes Singh.

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LAPPY CORNER

AVITA INTRODUCES NEW SLEEK & STYLISH LIBER V LAPTOP IN INDIA

AVITA, one of the fastest growing PC brand in India has launched next range of Laptop in LIBER V series. Through this newly launched ultra slim laptop, brand is eying to capture huge demand across key consumer segment with price tag of INR 41490.

AVITA has announced the launch of its marquee laptop, the Liber V. The immaculately crafted laptop features the best in display with a wide screen and clear visuals, a thin and light frame for easy mobility, high productivity, and top-notch performance. The Avita Liber V14 is available in two variants i.e., 8GB + 512GB SSD and 8GB + 256GB SSD along with MS Office.

The Liber V edges out the competition with a power-packed Intel core 10th generation CML central processor and an 8GB DDR4 /256 GB / 512 GB SSD. It is bolstered by Intel UHD Graphics 620 with a 14” FHD (1920*1080) IPS display with anti-glare technology. It makes for an incredible viewing experience and ultra-narrow bezel design that packs in a bigger screen.

While the pioneering metal chassis accounts for greater durability, the extralarge precision technology touchpad supports up to four-finger smart gestures. It also supports the fingerprint login that promises optimum data security. The state-of-the-art optimal 10

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top-up web camera allows complete connectivity and represent identity. The laptop also has increasingly efficient CPU and storage options.

AVITA offers the perfect blend of design, performance, and latest technological innovation through its range of experiential technology solutions that integrate seamlessly with every sphere of the consumer’s life.

Its cutting-edge products powered by IoT technologies represent the most forward-looking innovations across the global technology market. Its overarching goal remains to make its consumers’ lives easier with technological solutions.

Commenting on the much-anticipated product launch, Ms. Seema Bhatnagar, Regional Business Director (South Asia) – Nexstgo, said, “We are tremendously excited about the launch

of our flagship piece of craftsmanship, the Liber V. This prize technological offering is a mélange of impeccable design, craftsmanship, technology and innovative R and D that delivers the best in user convenience and quality.

The Liber V is the most advanced and splendidly adorned single piece of laptop technology in its segment and is built to delight and satisfy each user segment.

Built on the ideals of Liberty, Diversity, and Individualism, the brand’s products combine usability and performance with sensational and diverse craftsmanship which give its customers an edge in terms of choice of products. Available in various vibrant colors and patterns, the brand’s lightweight, ultra-portable laptops are distinct and highly appealing for the young demographic.

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NEW ARRIVALS

D-LINK ‘DIR-X1560 AND DIR-X6060’ WI-FI 6 ROUTERS D-Link announced the launch of its Wi-Fi 6 enabled routers - DIR-X1560 and DIR-X6060. D-Link DIR-X1560 is the first in new series of Wi-Fi 6 routers from the house of D-Link. EXO AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 Router DIR-X1560 supports Dual-band Wi-Fi with up to 4 simultaneous streams, making 4K streaming, gaming or video chatting a breeze.

D-Link DIR-X6060 Wi-Fi 6 Router brings next-generation Wi-Fi technology into your home, giving you the quantum leap in capacity and bandwidth to support more devices at once. Made for Smart Homes DIR-X6060 upgrades your network to the latest Wi-Fi 6 wireless technology which supports 8 simultaneous streams. D-Link EXO Wi-Fi 6 routers starts at a price point of Rs. 5499/-

ASUS A520 MOTHERBOARDS ASUS announced the new A520 chipset motherboards for its TUF Gaming, Prime and Pro series.

The AMD A520 chipset is the successor to the A320 chipset, and features PCIe® 3.0. Designed to cater to a wide range of needs, these motherboards feature a 32 MB BIOS flash ROM, and support future AMD Ryzen™ Zen 3 architecture CPUs and APUs. ASUS A520 motherboards can be paired with an AMD APU to create a budget-friendly gaming rig or workstation, making them ideal for DIY PC users and small to medium-sized businesses. In addition, the new BIOS updates for the complete lineup of AM4-based A520, X570 and B550 series motherboards are now available. The latest BIOS versions include the AGESA combo V2 PI 1.0.8.0 update, which is essential for future compatibility

HYPERX CLOUD STINGER GAMING HEADSETS HyperX announced the release of two new headsets in HyperX Cloud Stinger family, HyperX Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 and HyperX Cloud Stinger Core Wireless + 7.1 Gaming Headset. Both headsets offer virtual surround sound to provide a more immersive in-game audio experience. 40mm directional drivers deliver high-quality sound with pinpoint audio precision. Both headsets utilize adjustable steel sliders, intuitive volume control on the headset earcup, and swivelto-mute noise-canceling microphone. The HyperX Cloud Stinger Core + 7.1 gaming headset is available for INR 4,490/- and HyperX Cloud Stinger Core wireless gaming headset + 7.1 is available exclusively for INR 7,490/-

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WESTERN DIGITAL PURPLE MICROSD CARD The WD Purple SC QD101 microSD card features Western Digital's advanced 96-layer 3D NAND technology. It delivers a cost-effective combination of ultra-endurance, high-performance storage, and a wide capacity range of up to 512GB for the growing security video market.

This microSD card is ideal for backup/ failover on-camera storage and continuous recording. With the help of the card health monitor in compatible cameras, it provides them with the ability to gauge the remaining endurance and preemptively service the card if needed.

LOGITECH MX MASTER 3

Logitech announced the Logitech MX Master 3, the latest additions to the premium performance Master Series.

Engineered and crafted in Switzerland, the MX Master 3 offers ultrafast and ultraprecise scrolling with the all-new MagSpeed Scroll Wheel. Driven by electromagnets, MX Master 3 allows you to silently scroll through thousands of lines in seconds. The carefully sculpted shape is comfortable enough for long work days, supporting your hand and wrist. The mouse features Logitech MX signature DarkfieldTM 4,000 DPI High Precision sensor that tracks on all surfaces including glass. It also has a rechargeable battery that lasts up to 70 days with a full charge. MX Master 3 is available at Logitech.com and Amazon. com at Rs 9,495 AUGUST 2020 I

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COVER STORY

A complete lockdown across the country over 3 months caused serious damage to the businesses across all verticals. But once lockdown was lifted and unlock phases were announced, the country has begun to emerge from this unprecedented time. Even market players have started focusing on accelerating their businesses across India by taking all precautionary measures. The market players are putting huge efforts to identify

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COVER STORY

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES

FOR IT BUSINESS GROWTH IN NEW NORMAL

the emerging opportunities to boost sales and operation in their respective domain.

The IT industry is also likely to grow exponentially in coming months as festive season is around the corner. We all have very high expectations from Q4 2020 because we all want end this pandemic year on a good note. To know the current scenario, market conditions and upcoming plans, DT spoke to key industry leaders and has brought this detailed market report.

Pic Source : www.freepik.com

www.digitalterminal.in

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COVER STORY

“OUR TOP PRIORITY IS SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS AND CHANNEL PARTNERS”

“MORE PEOPLE ARE MOVING ONLINE DUE TO THE CURRENT SITUATION.”

Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer Acer India delivery. I believe the modern supply chain will include lean operators who can ramp up and achieve high service levels at short notice.”

While the overall economy has taken a hit during the lockdown, the IT hardware sector converted this situation into an opportunity to witnessing business growth since the lockdown was lifted. Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer at Acer India stated, “We have seen an increase in demand for laptops both from the enterprise and consumer side.

To help them purchase the right device, we also identified newer categories like – Work, Learn, Create and Game from Home. Also, what was before a shared device, laptops today are becoming a personal device with each household needing to have two or more laptops as mobile phones hit the ceiling in terms of capability. We have also had multiple products launched during this phase and have seen a great response from our consumers towards them.”

CHALLENGES FOR BUSINESS With people becoming increasingly dependent on e-commerce to meet their technology needs, Acer has been working relentlessly at this tough time to ensure that customers receive their shipments on time and the rise in demand for essentials is met. Sudhir Goel said, “We have witnessed a surge in demand from all segments such as lifestyle, gaming and also the enterprise sector. Tapping further into this new emerging demand for laptops in India, we have also introduced Work-From-Home and Learn-From-Home PCs in the market starting from Rs. 9999. The most challenging test for us is to get the entire supply and distribution operation adapted to the new normal of operating including contactless 14

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Sudhir further added, “Also, the current pandemic not only compels us to safeguard from the virus but at the same time poses many other health and security challenges for employees and businesses. I believe, having structured response plans for situations like these (pandemics) is seen to be an important step in strengthening an organization's resilience.”

PLANS FOR MAXIMIZING BUSINESS Acer India is relentlessly working to strengthen business growth in coming months and realigning its resources and channel partners to bring the business on track. Sudhir Goel commented, “As a leading PC brand, our top priority is supporting our customers and channel partners. Hence, a lot of our plans are attached to theirs. However, with the ripple effect of COVID-19 felt around the globe, we understand that the plans we had set out to achieve need to be re-filtered.

Therefore, we have set out all our plans from quarter to quarter depending on how the situation will unfold. We are also closely looking at the response from our customers in this business scenario. In these rare situations, we have put in the time, learned what we needed to, and pushed ourselves to transform and navigate the disruption.

At Acer, we have always been a customercentric organization and our motive is to be nimble and optimistic. Upholding these values, our communication moving forward will be more cause-based. We believe that in an adverse situation like this, it is more about building a connection and ensuring it stays rather than selling a product.”

Sunil Grewal, Director, Gigabyte Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. The market landscape in post lockdown era is not as same as it was earlier. The entire market and even consumer trends have changed drastically. Talking about shift in consumer trends, Sunil Grewal, Director, Gigabyte Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. says, “We’ve found user behaviour changed during the COVID-19 situation. More people are moving online due to the current situation. Online exposure such as social media, community groups are getting more important. Furthermore, more retailers start to do regular posts on social media to attract customer’s notice.”

CHALLENGES IN THE WAY TO GROW The challenges in post lockdown era are posing serious point of concerns for businesses as the resources are limited.

Highlighting one of key concern, Sunil Grewal said, “Shipment to end-users side may get delay due to the lock-down. However, GIGABYTE as a brand caring for customer’s feedback, we will try our best to deliver the best for every consumer who bought from us. Team Up, Fight On!”

POST LOCKDOWN BUSINESS PLAN AORUS as a brand for gamers always thinks of what to be best for the gaming communities. Sunil Grewal commented, “As COVID-19 happens, we ran a campaign called to team up, fight corona. By holding an online gaming tournament, team up with streamers, and gamers to run charity cup, use gamer’s way to support the situation.

Moving forward, we will continue holding the AORUS Cup campaign, and increase online visibility by ting up with top streamers in India.” www.digitalterminal.in

COVER STORY

“OUR TEAM’S SAFETY AND PARTNER’S SAFETY REMAIN OUR TOP PRIORITY” Vinay Shetty, Regional Director, CPN Business, India & South Asia, ASUS Currently we all are focusing on to drive business growth further. Businesses are getting now good traction due to emerging demand and opportunities in various segment. Vinay Shetty, Regional Director, Components Business, APAC, ASUS said, “The businesses are getting Business has resumed back to normal with newer opportunities coming up in our verticals like Networking & wireless, Gaming Peripherals and LCD. The demographic spread of the country has helped business to flourish in smaller cities in the time of this crisis and in major cities it has shown the resilience to face the pandemic and fight for every possible business opportunity.”

MISSING PHYSICAL INTERACTION While asked about challenges in IT market post lockdown, Vinay Shetty commented, “As a brand, reaching out to and meeting our partners and sharing our new technology –

understanding their concerns, exchanging ideas on how to improve business and how to get more with less remains a bigger challenge. As sales and marketing need to ensure our partners concerns are understood and addressed periodically which is to a large extent addressed thru video calls, video trainings on online platforms but having face to face meetings has its own advantages of personalisation and familiarisation.”

UNLOCKING BUSINESS AFTER LOCKDOWN Businesses are learning to sustain and work in the new normal but at the same time they are also taking all precautions against the existing challenge. Vinay Shetty stated, “Post the lockdown – Our team’s safety and partner’s safety remains our top priority – At no point must we forget while conducting business that we still are living in the Pandemic period. The Sales and Marketing

team has to plan well and seamlessly on how to effectively collaborate with the partners to leverage the Online and Offline space and even train newer partners on the skill set needed to start their own online business.

We are working with various e-commerce partners to improve the Information delivery and end customer reach. How to improve the profitability and revenue of our loyal partners remains our fundamental objective.”

“POST LOCKDOWN, WE HAVE WITNESSED A TREMENDOUS INCREASE IN OUR OVERALL SALES” Seema Bhatnagar, Regional Business Director (South Asia), Nexstgo Company Limited Limited comments, “Post lockdown, we have witnessed a tremendous increase in our overall sales. The reason behind this increase is our capacity to manufacture and meet the market demand as we manufacture without involving any third party/OEM.”

CHALLENGES IN NEW NORMAL

The lockdown had forced the market players to restrict their business activities that resulted in a huge setback. But the post lockdown market players have geared up to tap the demands in certain product segment.

Seema Bhatnagar, Regional Business Director (South Asia), Nexstgo Company www.digitalterminal.in

The new normal has its own drawbacks that are posing challenges for day to day businesses as we have to follow the strict guidelines. Even the customers are not keen on stepping out and shop at the retail stores.

Seema Bhatnagar says, “During this period, the major challenges have been in regards to the offline segment. As the market situation is not feasible, people are still apprehensive

about going out. Thus, market activations, brand promotions, and outdoor promotions in this segment have become very difficult.

Keeping the current situation in mind, we are trying to expand the footprint of our channel/offline sales as well as online sales.”

ROAD TO SUCCESS POST LOCKDOWN Now businesses are strongly focusing towards new ways of accelerating the growth and conclude the year on a positive note.

Seema Bhatnagar concludes, “As normalcy is gradually restored in the business landscape, we now want to inspire customers with our cutting-edge products. Thus, the brand will be focusing on experiential marketing to offer hands-on experience of the products to potential customers.”

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COVER STORY

“WE BELIEVE IN NURTURING OUR PARTNER ECOSYSTEM BY UNDERSTANDING THEIR NEEDS” Sameer Bhatia Director of Asia Pacific Consumer Business Group & Country Manager for SAARC & India, Seagate Technology

“WE ADDED PRODUCTS WHICH ARE IN DEMAND TO CATER TO HEALTHCARE NEEDS”

the changes to how organizations manage central storage needs.”

BUSINESS STRATEGIES TO ACCELERATE GROWTH

With increase in the number of connected devices in the new normal, there has been an exceptional growth in the creation and consumption of data. Sameer Bhatia Director of Asia Pacific Consumer Business Group and Country Manager for SAARC & India, Seagate Technology said, “Our strategic focus will remain on delivering the industry’s best performing drives, enterprise systems, and data management solutions that offer higher capacity, unprecedented performance, and unparalleled reliability, while maintaining a high degree of data integrity. We have always been at the forefront of advanced technology-enabled and purpose-built offerings, thanks to our continuous research and innovation. We are committed to building future-ready and robust data management solutions that deliver meaningful success.”

CHALLENGES TO CONFRONT At a time when many people around the globe find themselves working from home, it is every company’s responsibility to do right by its employees and to fulfil its commitments to its customers—even if it calls for restructuring. Sameer stated, “Improving data security is the most important factor driving the changes to how organizations manage central storage needs. Awareness about the data preservation is another challenge that needs to be overcome to protect the organizational information.

Managing data in the multi-cloud ecosystem, according to Seagate’s Rethink Data survey, is a top data management challenge expected over the next two years—with managing data in hybrid cloud a close second. Improving data security from edge to core is the most important factor driving 16

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Seagate has been leader in storage market since long time which has been possible due to excellent support from channel partners.

Commenting on partner’s contribution on the success of brand in India, Sameer said, “Our leadership position in storage space in the country has been possible with the constant support of our distributors and channel partners. Working towards our partners’ business success across all the cities in India is one of the key focus areas for us at Seagate. We believe in nurturing our partner ecosystem by understanding their needs and guiding them with all the product knowledge and tools to enable their success in competitive environment. We connect with our customers and partners in the markets through the Seagate Insider partner program. This year, we will continue to focus on providing comprehensive training sessions and seminars as well as working on co-marketing initiatives to better identify evolving opportunities in the changing norms currently.”

“With the emergence of IT 4.0, our focus for this year is to help partners drive profitability by enabling them to embrace and monetize the new opportunities around edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition to regular products and technology trainings, Seagate is also dedicated to providing its partners better understand of its evolving opportunities. As a brand we believe in growing the partner ecosystem and right set of partnerships. A lot of our focus is on being close to the reseller partners, understand their needs and enable them with right set of knowledge and tools, so that they can keep pace with the latest products and offerings and serve their customers with right products. Our number of partners has definitely been increasing, and we are growing rapidly with the right partnerships,” concluded by Sameer.

MANOJ JAIN, DIRECTOR, MICROTEK INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD The businesses are slowly coming back to normal as before lockdown. Manoj Jain, Director, Microtek International Pvt. Ltd. said “As far as our business is concerned, our products are for power back up solutions, so even during lockdown where ever in some areas there was power troubles so we saw increase in demand. Since the unlock phases have been announced, the business is coming at par to last year and in the coming quarters we expect to gain growth as usual. We have also added products which are in demand to cater to health care need due to COVID. We offered like Microtek Infrared thermometer, Microtek Pulse Oximeter etc. They are also going to add to our growth story further.”

CHALLENGES FOR BUSINESS Limited movement is one of the challenge for product movement especially in containment zone. Manoj added, “The challenges are area to area disturbances because of corona cases spiking, movement of persons across states is still limited.”

PLANS TO REWORK Microtek is no doubt undisputed leader in Indian power market. The brand has already chalked out it’s go to market strategy.

Sharing company’s take on GTM, Manoj concluded, “We are closely monitoring all trends and market development. We have already reworked on our marketing strategy with more focus on Digital Marketing and Online Business model.” www.digitalterminal.in

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“OUR PRIME INTENT IS TO BE SEEN AS A CYBER SOLUTIONS PARTNER FOR TRANSITION FROM CYBER SECURITY TO CYBER IMMUNITY” Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia) The industry at present is soaring with opportunities for all, and every company or brand catering to this industry will be able to grow along the cybersecurity market. Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia) commented, “We have seen a rise in the demand for cybersecurity intelligence and solutions in the past few months.

Because of the sudden lockdown and an increase in activities by cybercriminals, the need for cybersecurity solutions has witnessed an escalation of almost threefold. Most of the companies already had plans chalked out to implement the right cybersecurity solutions for their network strengthening them further. However, the lockdown in many cases has escalated the process and we now see enterprises getting in action in order to secure their networks, as well as their remotely working employees.

Many small and medium businesses too have understood the need for cybersecurity solutions and practices in order to further grow their businesses online across various regions.”

OBSTACLES IN BUSINESS CONTINUITY Despite lockdown eased few months back but there are still some key challenges in the business continuity. “Going for on-site

evaluations to access the risks faced by an enterprise network has been on a halt due to the current situation, making it a bit challenging for our teams to personally meet the CISO’s and IT teams to understand their situation more closely. While meeting our customers and partners physically is still a challenge, we have been using various digital platforms to communicate with them, and our conversations have become even more frequent and productive than before,” said Dipesh Kaura.

STRATEGIES TO BOOST GROWTH The organizations are realigning their go-tomarket strategies in order to accelerate the growth that was affected due to lockdown period. The market scenario is a bit changed and so the approach of organizations to cater the market. Dipesh Kaura said, “The approach that we are following currently and will continue to do so in the coming months is to train our partners and help them specialise in their particular field of interest.

For example, if a partner is interested and has some knowledge in the BFSI sector, experts at Kaspersky help him specialise in this sector so as to enable him to help his consumers understand and mitigate the risks accordingly. Our key plan is to focus on

advanced cyber solutions like OT Security, Cyber Threat Intel, Fraud Prevention, etc to name a few to help organizations respond to critical pain-points in the dynamic cyber world.”

Dipesh further added, “Another key initiative that we are working on is to create cyber awareness by conducting online cyber workshops and training campaigns for enterprises and channel community based on their existing cyber maturity. Our prime intent is to be seen as a Cyber Solutions Partner that can help organizations create transition from Cyber Security to Cyber Immunity. Our key marketing strategy is to fuel our brand awareness with increase in reach to our end-users with the help of digital and print media as well as our channel partner community.”

“WE ARE PLANNING TO START FULL-FLEDGED MARKET ACTIVATION ACTIVITIES TO ENGAGE CUSTOMERS” Ajay Arora, CEO, Matata In recent days we all saw surge in COVID cases in India, so customers are very much cautious while stepping out and shop offline.

Ajay Arora, CEO, Matata commented, “As the COVID numbers are increasing day by day and with India becoming no.1 in daily reported cases, the overall consumer sentiment is still quite low. Particularly in General Trade & LFR, the customer footfalls are quite low for obvious reasons. However, online business is on a much faster recovery track.” www.digitalterminal.in

MAJOR CHALLENGES Ajay Arora said, “Due to restricted traveling – both intercity & interstate, the business is not happening at the expected pace.

Meeting up with channel partners, visiting markets and showcasing products – these are still far-fetched. Also, as the work has not returned to normalcy, there is a lot of pendency in Government approvals and functioning due to absence of the staff at AUGUST 2020 I

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key positions.”

STRATEGIES TO REVIVE GROWTH Entire IT consumer brands are looking towards festive season for a better demand.

“We are confident of the demand picking up during the festival period which has just started. During this lucrative period, we are planning to start full-fledged market activation activities to engage customers.

We are looking at the month of September for these activities and hoping to increase the brand and product awareness with the channel, consumers and online / LFR partners” added by Ajay.

“IMPORT IS GETTING HUGELY IMPACTED DUE TO DELAYED CLEARANCES”

Sanjay Kalirona, CEO, Gizmore ACCELERATING BUSINESS GROWTH The market had witnessed quite tough phase throughout the lockdown but now as the market has started opening, the businesses are picking up it’s momentum.

Sanjay Kalirona, CEO, Gizmore said, “Slowly, business is getting back to normal. During the lockdown period there was demand for low-value items essential for Work from Home & online education but now things are getting back to normalcy with rising demand in mid & high-value range. With this, we are quite hopeful that in a couple of months, business should be back on track.”

HURDLES IN THE JOURNEY AHEAD

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Supply chain is still one of the big concerns for entire players and still this will take few months to settle down. Sanjay added, “The major challenge being felt is about the Supply Chain which is yet to get back to normal due to various reasons, shortage of labour being the main culprit. Also, import is getting hugely impacted due to delayed clearances.

These in turn are proving to be hurdles in bringing the business back on track.”

STRATEGIES TO DRIVE GROWTH Sharing the upcoming plans for Gizmore, Sanjay says, “We are trying to smoothen out the supply changing and shifting our focus on high demanded items. Also for the coming festival season, we are chalking out various activities for the brand which should help us to achieve our targets.”

“WE AIM TO STRONGLY SUPPORT SALES AND CUSTOMER DELIVERY ACROSS INDIA”

Manoj Kumar Pansari, Chairman & Managing Director, Astrum No doubt the entire market scenario has changed forever for Indian as well global market. Manoj Kumar Pansari, Chairman and Managing Director, Astrum said, “India’s billions of IT sector has a heavy dependence on business from other countries such as US, Hong Kong, Europe, etc – making its fortunes integrally linked with the performance of these international markets. As top clients from these regions reduce their IT spending in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Indian IT companies should leverage their core value proposition and restructure their existing offerings at competitive price points.

This will help players to survive in the short term – while preparing them to capitalize on the digital opportunity that will come knocking at their doors once the world goes digital.”

“Developing the core IT infrastructure and new-age capabilities, therefore, will become a priority for IT companies as they navigate the current choppy waters with speed, skill, and agility. The growth isn’t limited to just these sectors and will surely extend itself into many avenues of the Indian economy.

As the economy slowly starts juggling back to normalcy after lockdown lifts, it would be interesting to see how these transformations play out for the existing infrastructure and larger community” added Manoj.

CHANNEL PLANS Astrum has always remained to achieve 360-degree exposure in order to mark presence in general trade, OT/LFR, e-Commerce and corporate and they will soon intend to take width of distribution growth to at least 50% this year. “As online sales have been boosted in this pandemic, and due to increase in IT accessories we are bringing many new products in IT category which will be available in India as well as globally. Also, we have created our new company purchase website named ‘Astrum Store’ which is a global platform for people to purchase any Astrum products from all over the world. Currently we are working on getting Astrum products live on global wellknown ecommerce platform such as Lazada, Best Buy, Global, E-bay, Global Source, etc. and in many Indian ecommerce platform as well. We aim to strongly support sales and customer delivery across India apart from our research and development activities,” confirmed by Manoj.

POST LOCKDOWN PROSPECTS Manoj Pansari concluded the chat, “Our new consumer engagement team in Delhi is working on to engage with customers at online platform for India as well as for global platform. Though we are working with our new distributor and we see good response and we also are looking at the time when retail stores get fully operational.

This period is a tough time where panicstruck customers need comforting, which is where our social media and customer service support teams are working round the clock. We are focusing on our products sale in category which is in high demand that is IT peripherals and accessories, audio and smart category at this time of pandemic and also side by side running fun campaigns to engage customers with our products.

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“WE ARE ABLE TO ADD 15-20% NEWER PARTNERS DURING THIS LOCKDOWN PERIOD” Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country Manager India, ECS lockdown around end of March when we saw complete halt of work. But after almost one & half month, IT hardware became part of essential services and we could start business by around 1st half of May’2020. I would like to thanks to our partners for their efforts in closing the requirements of our all products and demand across key verticals which were active before lockdown but executed in very unprecedented situation. I believe IT industry saw some growth initially after lockdown as we all saw opportunities in certain segments.”

Lockdown was no doubt the tough time for entire IT market but soon government understood the role of IT in the pandemic situation. Due to support from IT vendors, sectors like health, education and WFH continues to drive the economy on some extent. ECS, the well-known brand in India resumed their operation in such tough time to cater the demand of computing across all segment. Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country Manager India, ECS said, “India went to

CHALLENGES IN UNLOCK Yet the market has started getting ease to work in new normal, but the concerns are very high for the entire brands due to some huge business challenges. When asked about challenges Mr. Bhatt stated, “There are few major challenges which we need to take care. Longer transit time within India, dollar appreciation, restricted or limited domestic and international goods movement are key

concern for all IT brands in India. These all results into increased prices hence decision making are being delayed due to volatile market conditions.”

UNLOCKING GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES We all have moved and hardly talking about the losses which occur during last few months. If we lost some of major businesses due to complete lockdown, we also grabbed opportunities in segment which were never existing in pre COVID era. “We all should focus on emerging market trends and should plan our product strategy accordingly. We should offer the product and solution to support WFH & online education. We are trying to educate and add more partners through telephonic or other Digital media interaction. We are really thankful to our distributor and its sales team we are able to add 15-20% newer partners during this lockdown period which has strengthen ECS reach even further” added Rajshekhar Bhatt.

“KEEPING THE NEW SHIFT IN MIND WE HAVE PLANNED OUR MARKETING & SALES ACTIVITIES” Shivangi Bhadauria, PR & Marketing Executive, MSI COVID 19 pandemic has changed the world as we know it with a major shift in consumer behavior- they think digital, they buy digital. Adding on this new normal, Shivangi Bhadauria, PR & Marketing Executive, MSI said, “We have always believed in Digitization but also value the overall experience & satisfaction that a customer undergoes while visiting a store. We have witnessed a surge in the demand for laptops during the lockdown period, which continues to grow with the WFH scenario in place. Product inquiry on our social handles have gone up 3X. Keeping all the safety regulations in mind, majority of our stores are up & running. With some relaxations allowed within the country we are hoping the offline sales channel picks up soon.”

CHALLENGES FOR BUSINESS While sharing existing challenges in the

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market, Shivangi said, “On ground execution is one of the major challenges that has emerged out of this pandemic. Our aim in 2020 was to add 20 more MSI experience zones all over the country, but the pandemic had a different plan. Logistics is another pain point- delivery of POSM, brochures, branding material to our dealers & partners is prolonged than usual. However, these are tough times & safety of individuals is the need of the hour & we as a brand strongly stand by on the same. To facilitate WFH, we have provided support to both our employees & our partners in policy relaxation or WFH essential product support.”

PLANS TO GROW FURTHER COVID-19 has completely shaken the economic foundation of the country.

Shivangi concluded, “This is the time where we as a company, step up & support our

channel marketing & sales. For the year our focus shall remain both online & offline. Even though the lockdown has been uplifted we see that consumers have become habitual of digital purchase- plethora of products available for purchase at their convenience.

Keeping the new shift in mind we have planned our marketing & sales activities.

A lot more WFH campaigns/giveaways & webinar with our industry partners to help our users upgrade their skills. With Diwali around the corner, we are all geared up for a big festive season!!”

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“THE NEED FOR CYBERSECURITY SOLUTIONS IS NOW MORE ESSENTIAL THAN EVER” Parvinder Walia, President of Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ), ESET provider Sattrix. With this, organisations can outsource their cybersecurity needs to highly qualified experts so their IT team can focus on tasks such as speeding up digital transformation. The need for cybersecurity solutions is now more essential than ever, especially as the Indian government continues its push for Digital India” added Parvinder.

CHALLENGES IN SURVIVAL The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the professionals to work from home which has accelerated the demand for security products as the cyber criminals finding the network vulnerabilities to exploit. The new normal is turning out to be promising for a few verticals like security. Parvinder Walia, President of Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ), ESET said, “Our business has been picking up since lockdown was lifted. While the economy is slowly reopening, many employees in the workforce, including ours, are still working from home. Because of this, we see strong demand for our cloud, encryption and twofactor authentication products, which are crucial to ensure endpoints like laptops are protected from cyber threats even when they are outside of the office environment.”

“We are also seeing new opportunities for our recently launched managed endpoint detection and response (Managed EDR) services, which is offered in partnership with well-established security service

The lockdown has impacted traditional brick and mortar retail shops, and this has affected the B2C segment in one way or another. Parvinder said, “We are working closely with our local partners to overcome these challenges. For instance, we have strengthened our online offerings, so our cybersecurity products remain accessible to consumers and SOHOs. In the next few months, we will also be launching new versions of our consumer products to ensure internet users can stay ahead of the cyberthreat curve. In the SMB and enterprise segments, the major challenge remains in helping our customers to stay protected during these difficult times. We have implemented various support measures to assist customers since the beginning of the lockdown, namely: Extended trials of our business products; Remote workforce offer for our existing customers; Availability of home licences with limited duration for employees working from home and using

their personal devices; Free resources and cybersecurity training for companies and employees to stay secure.”

BUSINESS STRATEGIES TO BOOST GROWTH While sharing importance and business plan for India market, Parvinder reveals, “India is a key market for ESET, and in the coming months, we look forward to growing our partner base to widen the availability of our consumer and business solutions in new marketplaces and channels across the country. Also, as businesses resume operations and employers begin to experiment with different working arrangements, we foresee that remote working will still be a critical operational arrangement. In light of this, we are putting together new security offerings which are designed with the remote workforce in mind.

We also foresee tremendous opportunities to support the India government in line with the Digital India programme to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. We have also made several changes to our product SKUs to meet the requirements of SOHOs and SMBs for the new normal. Overall, our plans moving forward will always relate to our initial brand proposition to help build a more secure digital world where everyone can truly Enjoy Safer Technology.”

“WE HAVE BEEN SEEING TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN OUR BUSINESS” Sarvesh Mishra, Head of Sales and Marketing, Digisol Systems The post lockdown scenario has opened the doors for market players to uplift their business amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, the government is also encouraging businesses to take on opportunities and grow with them. Sarvesh Mishra, Head of Sales and Marketing,

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Digisol Systems said, “We have been seeing tremendous growth in our business especially for our FTTH line of products. As the majority of people are working from home, it has been captured that data demand from residences arose which further opened doors for Fiber to the Home products and solutions. We

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have also observed growth momentum for other product lines, all thanks to our honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, his vision for Vocal for Local has been extremely beneficial for Digisol. There is a lot of awareness amongst customers and they are really making sure that the purchases that they are making are made in India.

Digisol is one a few IT Networking companies that has been the epitome of Make in India for 3 decades.”

CHALLENGES TO GO WITH TIME There are many challenges for businesses even after lockdown is lifted but the market players are confronting such challenges to bring the business on track. Sarvesh stated, “For the past few months, the ways and means, we do business have changed drastically. The lockdown has afforded the consumer to revisit their needs, and this has a big impact on the demand and supply, which has further led short-term demandsupply synchronization challenges. Unlock 3.0 has eased lockdown in many zones and business is taking pace especially in the least impacted cities, however, I believe things will get back on track with time.”

EMPOWERING PARTNERS Digisol have introduced various schemes for Channel Partners and System Integrators on our various products and solutions. “We have launched the ‘Bundle of Connections’ Schemes for Partners and various offers under our Digisol Cash Karo Loyalty program for Electrician & Installers. Apart from offers, our focus is around empowering our partners, System Integrators, and ISPs by educating them on IT Networking trends, our products, and future technologies like FTTH, Wi-Fi 6, 5G, etc through Digisol Institute of Technical Training. Thus, we have been conducting various online training under DITT- Digisol Institution of Technical Training.

Going forward, we will continue to align SI programs with the sales strategy and work closely with Partners, System Integrators, and ISPs in order to acquire new customers, and drive sales” added by Sarvesh.

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“WE HAVE INTRODUCED A COLLECTION OF VALUE PROPOSITION GEARED TOWARDS THE NEW NORMAL” Kuldeep Malhotra, Director and Vice President, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd The on-going pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have pushed companies to adopt digital strategies. In fact, it is an opportunity for every business to leverage the untapped potential of digital transformation and continue operations seamlessly, even during these unprecedented times. Kuldeep Malhotra, Director and Vice President, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt Ltd. commented, “We are witnessing that our customers & partners are gradually getting comfortable with digital servicing. As they use more and more digital tools, they become confident and familiar with the ongoing digital transformation. So yes, we are seeing a positive response from the market with digitalisation gaining more traction among customers, who earlier believed in traditional processes. We are hopeful that we would be able to see more positivity in the coming months & market situation would become better and will get our business back on track and call it “Survival Mode to Recovery Mode”.

FACTORS AFFECTING MARKET COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns ceased business operations with mobility restrictions across India. Those that relied on traditional physical processes of serving and delivering products and services had to rethink and reshape their existing work models. Kuldeep Malhotra said, “Under current situation it is difficult to predict when the situation will change. We have re-opened our offices and providing temperature checks, sanitization of common areas, using masks, gloves and sanitizers, etc., as per Govt. guidelines. We are creating awareness around all these safety practices that should be followed at offices through our social media channels also. We are complying with government guidelines, but at the same time, ensuring that our people are safe, and are able to be active as well, because at the

end of the day, we have to run a business in safe environment.”

GTM IN NEW NORMAL Transitions such as work from home or remote working are going to stay. Therefore, to ensure business continuity and grow during these uncertain times, businesses must acclimatize with the new world order.

“We have introduced a collection of value proposition geared towards the “New Normal” wherein we can leverage our product / solution capabilities for addressing customer challenges in the current situation.

We wanted to constantly remind user on safe behaviour w.r.t MFP’s. The “Announcement” App available on Konica Minolta MarketPlace app store for the new i-series MFPs allows displaying announcements on the MFP screen for safe use with precautions and safety information. This helps in giving an alert message to user before they start using the devices” stated Kuldeep Malhotra.

Kuldeep further added, “We also have bizhub Remote Access which simulates the MFP’s control panel & allows the user to use their own mobiles without touching the MFP Panel. This helps in promoting safety along with “No Touch” Operation of the MFP. We have enabled our team of service engineers to work and serve customers seamlessly even while working from home. To keep communication smooth and transparent, we have been using other in-house remote applications such as CSRC, CSRA, iTraining, etc. A combination of these services will surely help our sales & marketing team to reach out customers & change their mindset.”

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“I BELIEVE THERE IS A HIKE IN DEMAND OF THE PC AND GAMING PRODUCTS” Sachin Sharma, Country Manager - India at ADATA Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. our business growth.”

CHALLENGES IN JOURNEY AHEAD

WFH and increasing demand in online gaming segment fuelled the market movement at some extent. Sachin Sharma, Country Manager - India at ADATA Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. commented, “Since the lockdown was lifted, I believe at least 20-30 percent of employees are still continuing to work from home. IT industries are acting as a survivor for the companies to run their business during and post lockdown. From the banking sector to the education sector everyone is looking for virtual work. On the other hand, during the COVID-19 outbreak, online gaming has picked up as a popular option for stay at home entertainment. Our gaming and PC related products have been addressing these demands well which is helping us to

Brand ADATA has been offering wide range of products for Indian customers but like other brands, logistic remains the biggest concern in today’s scenario. Sachin said, “The main challenges we are currently facing is logistics. Since the many states are still under partial lockdown, we are facing it as a biggest challenge in terms of business continuity.

China is one of the largest manufacturing of technology products and solutions in the world are hit hard as a large number of citizens contracted the disease. This led to partial and full shutdowns of industries, plants, and factories. Many companies have disruptions in their logistic hubs and delivery routes due to closures. These impacts have been felt by companies, from small third-tier suppliers to billion-dollar conglomerates.”

PLANS FOR BOOSTING BUSINESS GROWTH “We at ADATA, see this pandemic as a business opportunity as I believe there is

a hike in demand of the PC and gaming products and to fulfil the requirements of our customers is the ADATA’s first policy. We are looking for more channel partners for our ADATA and XPG range of gaming products to reach out to our target customers as they play a vital role in penetrating the market and enhancing existing customer relationships.

We may organize partner training to help them understand the specialty of using ADATA products. Working with reviewers, influencers who help us in communicating the benefits of using a good brand and to meet the requirements of our targeted customers, we are coming with the exciting launches” added Sachin Sharma.

Sachin further said, “We see the opportunity of e-commerce market in India as COVID-19 has forced us to go digital. In other Asian countries, the e-commerce market has already 30 to 40% of sales in past years but India is just at the starting step and since COVID-19 has forced us to adopt digital, we prepared all our product ready to sell on major e-commerce platforms and enhance the product feature, information to build online purchasing friendly environment.”

“WE SEE THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY BOTH IN CONSUMER & COMMERCIAL SPACE FOR IT REQUIREMENTS” Vipul Bhandari, Executive Director, Supertron Electronics

Hit by the Covid-19 slump followed by social distancing and a nationwide lockdown, businesses have experienced major impacts no matter how established they are and 22

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are having to re-look at how they manage and operate their business. Vipul Bhandari, Executive Director, Supertron Electronics commented, “The challenges for most businesses to keep their financial wheels turning during the lockdown period due to less revenue churn. This unprecedented situation brings challenges and likewise new opportunities. From IT perspective, businesses are slowly coming on track after the lockdown period is over. We see there is an opportunity both in consumer & commercial space for IT requirements.

These opportunities are mainly due to unprecedented cultural change of Work From Home & Online education & these

opportunity expected to continue.”

MAJOR CHALLENGES “There is supply chain issues with most of the vendors during lockdown & post lockdown but each one of us vendors/distributors is trying their level best to manage the show effectively & efficiently. There is a global surge in IT requirements & similarly for India as well and that has further impacted supply constraints. India is a critical and focused market for all brands. Every brand is trying to put efforts to support with right inventory supply for India,” Vipul concluded this discussion. www.digitalterminal.in

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“WFH IS NEW NORMAL AND WE ARE EXPLORING MUCH DEEPER INTO THIS” Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman, Iris Computers The world in 2020 has faced unprecedented challenges. For many companies, Supply Chains have been disrupted and operations impacted. The biggest change, however, has been for companies to continue their operations even while their employees are working remotely. Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman, Iris Computers commented, “Iris has embraced this change and has found ways to continue its operations across India. This has meant investing in video collaboration tools, secure systems and remote connectivity but we ensured that the employees were up and running within days of the reopening.

Iris is also helping various enterprises to set an aggressive yet realistic trajectory to be remotely enabled. Some of the areas on the emerging technology roadmap that we have identified are the Datacentre (DC, DR), Edge Computing, Digital Office Solutions, IP Surveillance with AI, Smart Power Solutions, and Smart Furniture.”

“Everyone is safe at Iris and the business has resumed. It is still early to compare as it has been only two months since we resumed sales operation. The sales trend has been quite encouraging and at the same time, it is too early to take a call on the demand.

We have already resumed operation barring those in the containment or the red zones.

Demand for Mobility Solution and notebook is very high, in the last two months we are on track, and in fact, a few areas we have grown by10%. WFH is New Normal and we are exploring much deeper into this. Apart from healthcare and Temperature Sensing devices, we look forward to the tremendous growth in this pandemic,” added Sanjiv Krishen.

CHALLENGES FOR CHANNEL BUSINESSES Distribution channels in India have primarily been traditional and unique. Every business has a record that maintains data about their inventory, sales, and other crucial information that helps them make decisions and understand their growth at a glance. Sanjiv

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Krishen said, “With workforces having shifted from the workplace to working at home so too have the security risks and challenges.

Many hackers have shifted their focus from trying to penetrate office networks trying to break into the comparatively weak homebased systems. Based in news reports, cyber-attacks have increased manifold since April 2020. India is fast becoming a major target for hackers because of the rapid adoption of online transactions but an inadequate understanding of secure online practices within the population.”

Sanjiv Krishen further added, “From our customers’ perspective we are advocating strong VPN systems, secure VDI, Cloud, VA/ PT and regular user training to minimize the risks of cyber-attacks. Liquidity of payment is an issue as lots of partners are struggling to get paid on time. Most distribution systems are complex and lack the new-age advancements to make it interactive and yield real-time results. With proper ERP and a Strong technical team, we are more agile and ready with good results. Major Challenges are: Cash flow and financial management, keeping up with the market, Planning ahead, Problem-solving, The right systems, Skills, and attitudes, Welcoming change, and lack of Scenario management across India.”

SUPPORT FROM VENDORS AMID PANDEMIC Iris computers have been always preferred choice for all leading brands since they started their distribution business. Currently they are national distributor for almost all top tech brands in India and cater to the large customers base across all verticals.

The company has helped many brands in India to establish their feet and build good market share. But now in a time of crisis like today, partners are really looking towards bigger brands who can extend their support in getting back to business. Sharing his views on brands support, Sanjiv said, “The Iris brand has always represented reliability, flexibility, and variety. To that end we have

partnered with only the best technology inventors and industry leaders like Dell, HP, LG, CommScope, Ruckus, APC by Schneider, Acer, Delta, Wacom, BPE to name a few.

This allows us to be a one stop shop for our customers where they can get whatever they need along with the knowledge that the products and services will be worldclass. As products (and services) age, sales growth, and profit margins get squeezed.

Understanding where products are in their life cycles can help you work out how to maximize overall profitability. At the same time, we need to invest in innovation to build a stream of new, profitable products to market.”

“Extended Credit from the vendor, better Backend Structure as Front-end margin shrinking, we are also looking at aggressively channelizing work from home solutions, Secure VDI Environments, Smart Signage, and End to end wireless solutions with WiFi6 technology, Trusted Power Backup systems and Protection for home offices,” concluded

by Sanjiv.

We all are aware about opportunities which are coming from newly emerged segment like WFH & LFH. These segments will continue to grow even in years to come as per expert’s opinion. Tech brands need to educate and align smaller partners who can add these new avenues as major force behind business continuity in current situation.

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COVER STORY

“WE ARE SEEING A TREMENDOUS SURGE IN PCS, LAPTOPS AND NOTEBOOK BUSINESS” Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales & Marketing, RP tech India

The Distribution business has come back on the track since the Unlock phase has commenced. Since the Government has lifted restrictions on physical movement and transportation, business normalcy

has restored in almost all over the country, except containment zones. Rajesh Goenka, Director, Sales & Marketing, RP tech India said, “The demand for Work from Home (WFH) and Learn from Home (LFH) solutions is huge as remote working and distance learning has become new normal in the country. We are seeing a tremendous surge in PCs, Laptops and Notebook business along with high demand for component and networking solutions. On the Enterprise side, we are seeing the expansion of data centers on a large scale due to more cloud and data usage.”

CURRENT CHALLENGES Talking about challenges for channel business, Rajesh stated, “Given the current

state of Unlock phases in various States, there are few restrictions on physical movement and transportation. The overall logistics chain has improved over the last month but it is still at a sub-optimal level and because of this we are facing a challenge in achieving 100 per cent efficiency and fulfilment ratio.”

EXPECTATIONS FROM BRANDS “We expect brands to focus on setting up their manufacturing units in India as the current situation is very conducive for local manufacturing in the country. At the same time, we expect brands to ensure sufficient availability of stocks and the latest products to meet the demand of end-customers,” added by Rajesh.

“OUR VENDORS ARE OUR BIGGEST STRENGTH & WE TAKE PRIDE IN OUR RELATIONS WITH THEM” Ashis Guha, CEO, Rah Infotech.

Ashis Guha, CEO, Rah Infotech.

CURRENT CHALLENGES

The offline channel business got hampered severely during the lockdown but now as the lockdown is lifted, the markets have started opening and channel business is gradually coming back on track. “It is picking up, slowly but more importantly, consistently. While the software product distribution was not affected that much during the lockdown, hardware products distribution had to suffer because of restricted movements and supply chain issues. However, we are seeing the green shoots of economy and businesses across the country are putting their best feet forward to speed up recovery” commented

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If the current situation is taken into account, the biggest challenge still is the fear of Corona infection and related health issues. Also, the country is not fully open yet and there are still some sort movement restrictions in some major cities. Ashis Guha said, “As far as business continuity is concerned, our primary mode of communication with our partners and customers used to be personal interactions, meetings and visits to their business premises. This took a beating because of the movement restrictions and social distancing norms. Though restrictions are being lifted gradually, we are not lowering our guards on health issues – neither for our partners and customers nor for our employees. Because we are mostly a technology distributor of software products, and not hardware, we do not face any major challenge as far as distribution is concerned.”

VENDORS’ SUPPORT

Vendors are no doubt has come forward in the tough time and has extended all possible support as true business partner. “Our vendors are our biggest strength and we take pride in our relations with them. Our vendors, as always, have been very supportive during these challenging times and it’s been quite a fulfilling relation between us, our vendors and channel partners” stated by Ashis.

Ashis further added, “At RAH we believe, we grow when the ecosystem grows including our OEM partners and channel partners.

To ensure business continuity during the pandemic, our technology partners and we joined hands and helped our channel partners by supporting them with new technology solutions like WFH, connectivity and security, to address their customer needs. Besides, we organised training and knowledge sessions for our channel partners to keep them updated with latest technology needs of customers and how to effectively address that. Overall, we are getting the required support from our OEM brands which we extend to our channel partners and customers.” www.digitalterminal.in

COVER STORY

“OUR PARTNERS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A LOT OF SUPPORT FROM VENDORS” Prashanth G J, CEO, TechnoBind The demand for IT products is picking up in certain segment which is quite encouraging for channel business. Prashanth G J, CEO, TechnoBind said, “We see the hike in distribution business as the pandemic COVID-19 outbreak made remote working a necessity and has changed the habits and a work routine of millions. Since most of the organization are allowing their employees to work remotely, the cybersecurity issues become a biggest concern. It is being seen as a core technology to keep companies secure as they go online and virtual. As the companies are going to accelerate digitization the Data Storage, Data Management, Data security and protection business is going to increase. We are going above and beyond our deliverables agreed in SLAs to ensure our customer’s businesses are running at its most optimal level. We are proactively reaching out to our customers and suggesting changes in their current solutions at a place to handle the current challenges and also making sure the solutions are meeting their requirements with minimal manual oversight.”

CHALLENGES FOR CHANNEL BUSINESS Talking on the obstacles for channel business continuity, Prashanth commented, “Logistics is one part of the COVID 19 pandemic which has been effected and a major disruption has happened but it is a matter of time that it will all bounce back to normal. But the bigger challenge is that of the new way of doing business at least in the medium term.

Distribution or Channel business are all about relationships – but with sales guys not been able to meet physically their customers they will need to adjust to a new way of selling – remote. The quicker they adapt to the better it will be.”

SUPPORT FROM VENDORS Offline partners remain the core strength of any brands and in today’s scenario partners are expecting to get best possible support to bring their business on track. “Our partners are looking forward to a lot of support from vendors. Ranging from helping them scale their selling skills in the remote working to

enabling them with newer technologies which equip them to solve their customers’ challenges arising out of these remote working cultures. The customers are facing many organisations – it could be related to access where the challenge is to ensure employees have a secured way to do it. Or it could be related to protecting the data when it is not residing within the campus but remotely. Enabling the partners to address these opportunities among many others are some of the help we are getting through” said by Prashanth.

CHANNEL PROGRAM

HP LAUNCHES GLOBAL PARTNER PROGRAM ‘HP AMPLIFY’ TO ACCELERATE GROWTH HP Inc. unveiled HP Amplify, a first-ofits kind global channel partner program optimized to drive dynamic partner growth and deliver consistent end customer experiences. Built on a single, integrated structure, HP Amplify provides the insights, capabilities and collaboration tools needed to drive growth as digital transformation and customer purchasing behaviors continue to evolve. The new program goes into effect November 1, 2020 for commercial partners with retail partners slated to transition in the second half of 2021.

By consolidating HP’s best partner products, tools and trainings into one intuitive program, HP Amplify removes complexity, making it easier for partners to take advantage of its many benefits and engage customers on a deeper level. Now comprised of just two distinct tracks – Synergy and Power with clear compensation levels, HP Amplify www.digitalterminal.in

provides partners with the flexibility to invest in value-added services and capabilities.

The more a partner invests in these capabilities, the higher the rewards.

Cu r re nt l y, HP has over 1400 commercial partners under its India market which also includes business operations of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Through these partners, HP engages with customers from

the government and enterprise segment and in some cases, they work with customers from SMB and SOHO segments as well.

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INTERVIEW

“WE HAVE A WIDE ARRAY OF SOLUTIONS THAT ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO WORK FROM ANYWHERE” The COVID-19 has compelled the organizations to adopt work from home module to have business continuity since March 2020. The companies nowadays have learned to work in ‘New Normal’ by the use of advanced technology solutions. Recently we all saw demand for unified communication and collaboration solutions from them to support WFH. The need for constant communication is leading to adopt the best unified communication and collaboration solutions that can provide flexibility to connect with the team effortlessly. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor & Publisher, Digital Terminal recently interacted with ANKUR GOEL, MD FOR POLY INDIA to know more about this market. Mr. Ankur shared valuable insights and briefed upon Poly’s offerings for the Indian market. Read below the excerpts: RAJEEV: HOW DOES POLY’S ROOM SOLUTION FOR MICROSOFT TEAMS SIMPLIFY COLLABORATION FOR ORGANIZATIONS OF DIFFERENT SIZES? HOW DO THEY DELIVER THE BEST-IN-CLASS AUDIO-VIDEO EXPERIENCE? ANKUR: More users are working from home than ever before due to the pandemic and this is causing a dramatic acceleration in the number of organisations turning to Microsoft Teams (with Teams reporting more than 75 million daily active users), to support their voice and video communication and team collaboration.

Poly has a long-standing relationship with Microsoft and we have been working closely with them for over 15 years - we have recently introduced Poly Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR), which delivers everything customers need to transform their meeting space into a rich Teams collaboration experience.

Poly’s new series of Poly Room Solutions for Microsoft Teams Rooms – Poly G10-T, G40-T and G80-T include audio and video tools that deliver superior meeting experiences for users on Microsoft Teams, and the variety of

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different configurations grants IT managers the ability to easily scale for meeting rooms of all sizes.

As more users recognize the value of videobased collaboration while working from anywhere – from home offices to traditional offices – Poly is stepping up to meet these needs. Poly’s MTR delivers powerful experiences, including dynamic video with speaker tracking and our legendary audio pickup and noise blocking technology.

RAJEEV: AS THE WORK ENVIRONMENTS ARE CHANGING SWIFTLY SO HOW DOES POLY’S COLLABORATION SOLUTION PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY TO PEOPLE TO CONNECT REGARDLESS OF THE LOCATION? COULD YOU EXPAND ON SOME OF YOUR OFFERINGS FOR REMOTE WORKERS. ANKUR: At Poly, we have a wide array of solutions that allow employees to work from anywhere. Our range of headsets, desk phones, audio and video conferencing solutions can be used by remote workers to ensure that business continues as normal.

Some of our offerings for remote workers

include 1. POLY STUDIO X30 - The Poly Studio X30 is an all-in-one video bar ideal for small meeting rooms or home offices. It supports 4K UHD video and has built-in wireless content sharing capabilities. The product is extremely simple to use with support for leading cloud video services such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams natively built right in. It does not require PC/ Mac to connect and voices are heard crisp and clear; X30’s built-in, wireless content sharing option lets users share from their devices without the need for cables or pucks.

2. EAGLE EYE MINI CAMERA - This featurerich camera has been engineered for businessclass performance in personal and small room environments. The EagleEye Mini camera mounts on the wall or on the top or the bottom of a display, for comfortable eye-contact for everyone in the room. The product features high definition 1080p video, electronic pan, tilt and 4x zoom for an image that remains at the highest capable resolution even when it is fully zoomed. Additionally, EagleEye Mini brings forth true color hue saturation, backlight compensation, and autofocus optimized for smaller environments to provide accurate,

www.digitalterminal.in

INTERVIEW

sharp, life-like images.

3. VOYAGER 5200 HEADSET - The Plantronics Voyager 5200 is a compact headset that has hands-free controls, including a simple whisper of "answer" or "ignore" when it comes to calls coming through. A button has also been included to mute or unmute calls, and the Amazon Alexa voice assistant is integrated. The product features WindSmart technology that is geared towards wiping out as much external noise including wind and talking, a crucial element to make outside calls clear. The inbuilt microphone will also adapt depending on noise levels.

4. CALISTO SPEAKERPHONE- The simple-to-use Calisto lets customers collaborate easily. Ready right out of the box, the speakerphone seamlessly connects with laptop via USB or with smartphones via Bluetooth.

Intuitive touch-sensitive call controls let customers answer, end, mute and control volume with ease, while the Bluetooth clearing function ensures new users can easily connect.

RAJEEV: WHAT IS YOUR GTM STRATEGY TO MEET THE RISING DEMAND OF COLLABORATION SOLUTIONS IN CURRENT SCENARIO? Ankur: The strategy for Poly is to grow in the video market while focusing on expanding our partnerships with the Video as a Service (VaaS) partners. The transition to VaaS from on-prem video solutions has opened up a large new customer base that Poly now serves with the new PolyOS-based video product line. These new solutions have the ability to run VaaS applications natively, significantly reducing the complexity for IT organizations and endusers. Poly has already announced partnerships with Zoom and Microsoft, with many others to come and we expect a majority of Poly’s growth to come from continued organic growth through strong ecosystem alliances and partnerships.

With respect to strategy, Poly will continue to build on our legacy of audio and video excellence by leveraging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to include features such as noise block which removes distracting noises and continue to innovate to make the connections as “human” as they can be.

ANKUR GOEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR ,POLY INDIA

SMARTHPONE MARKET REPORT

INDIAN SMARTPHONE MARKET DECLINED BY 50% YOY DUE TO LOCKDOWN

The Indian smartphone market was performing very well till Q1 of 2020.

But when lockdown was announced, smartphone market too faced it’s ire and declined very badly. However, market achieved good response since the lockdown was lifted. The players also announced new offerings that helped them to accelerate their sales growth.

According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker , India's smartphone market registered a sharp year-over-year (YoY) decline of (-50.6%) in the second quarter to 18.2 million units, as the country remained under lockdown through the first half of the quarter. Vendors faced major supply chain disruptions at the beginning of the quarter, and the shortage continued into the rest of the quarter as factories operated at partial capacity even after the lockdown was lifted. Components and parts remained at the ports waiting to be cleared, especially for China-based vendors.

By June, sales increased mainly due to the pent-up demand from the lockdown period.

However, purchases were mainly driven by availability rather than by choice.

The online channel registered a high market share of 44.8% but declined 39.9% YoY in unit terms due to lockdown restrictions on the delivery of electronics as well as severely limited stock for most of the quarter. "Many

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offline channel partners adopted new ways of marketing by reaching out to consumers through social media platforms, WhatsApp, references, etc., for doorstep demos and deliveries, as well as accepting contactless payments. However, these initiatives were limited to big and medium-size retail outlets in metros and Tier 1/2 cities, and was not able to arrest the steep annual decline of -56.8% for the offline channel,” says Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India. Feature phone shipments declined by (-69%) YoY to 10 million units in 2Q20, leading to a contribution of 35.5% to the overall mobile market, the lowest ever for this segment.

Samsung led the overall mobile phone market with a market share of 24.0%, followed by Xiaomi and vivo.

Xiaomi Still Leading the Race XIAOMI continued to lead with total shipments of 5.4 million in 2Q20 despite falling (-48.7%) YoY. Four out of the top five models in 2Q20 were Xiaomi models, namely the Redmi Note 8A Dual, Note 8, Note 9 Pro, and Redmi 8, accounting for 21.8% share. Xiaomi launched its Mi Commerce solution to create an omnichannel experience for partners but also continued its dominance in the online channel with 42.3% share in 2Q20.

SAMSUNG surpassed vivo for the second slot despite a strong YoY decline of (-48.5%) in 2Q20 to 4.8 million units. The Galaxy M21 was among the nation’s top 5 shipped models in 2Q20 and most of its online-exclusive Galaxy

M series was opened to offline channels, though at higher prices. Samsung stood in second place in the online channel with a share of 22.8% and was the leader in the offline channel with 29.1% share in 2Q20. The brand also partnered with Benow and Facebook, enabling offline retailers to start sales using digital platforms, thus adhering to social distancing norms.

VIVO slipped to the third position, with shipments of 3.2 million units, declining by (-42.9%) YoY in 2Q20. Though it retained its fourth position in the online channel on the back of its Z/U series, vivo slipped to the second slot in the offline channel with 26.5% share in 2Q20. The affordable Y series continued to garner the majority of its volumes, though stock issues remained.

REALME was at the fourth position with 1.78 million units shipped in 2Q20, declining by (-37%) YoY. The vendor faced stock issues owing to factory closures through May. The affordable C3/C2 accounted for the majority of its shipments (36.3%), followed by the newly launched Narzo series.

OPPO at fifth position witnessed a (-51.0%) YoY decline to 1.76 million units in 2Q20.

The brand had severe stock issues and even imported completely built units directly in June, as the factory remained closed owing to multiple COVID-19 cases. The same factory manufacturers devices for realme and OnePlus, which also faced challenges in stocks.

OPPO also launched its first 5G device, the Find X2, in 2Q20.

www.digitalterminal.in

INFINIX SMART 4 PLUS Infinix is one of the budget smartphone brands in India and it has launched its latest Smart 4 Plus smartphone. With this launch, Infinix has expanded its smart series of devices. This new phone is one of the affordable phone by Infinix as it comes under 8K. We reviewed this new phone to share detailed report on its overall features, looks, performance and every single thing that you should know before buying it.

DESIGN On the design front, the look is quite good and sleek. The back of this smartphone has an elegant gem-cut texture which make this phone stylish. The look is further enhanced by the rectangular camera module lens and the 2.5D Glass finish. All these design attributes make this a device to own.

The volume button and power button have been given on the right side of the phone whereas you get SIM tray on the left side.

You can use its 3-in-1 card slot (dual nanoSIM card slots and one microSD card slot) as per your needs. It has an internal storage capacity of 32 GB. If you need more storage space, then you can use the dedicated microSD card slot. You can add an extra storage space of up to 256 GB.

DISPLAY Infinix Smart 4 Plus has a large 6.82 inch HD+ LCD display with 90.3% screen to body ratio, so you can enjoy watching content on this large screen. Moreover, the 20.5:9 aspect ratio and narrow bezels enhance the viewing experience. Even though this is a budget smartphone but the screen size is really a good treat for buyers in this segment. The phone also offers a contrast ratio of 1500:1 and brightness of 480 nits which makes it an excellent device for watching TV shows, movies, music videos, or any kind of entertainment, without missing any details.

CAMERA The Smart 4 Plus follows Infinix’s tradition of offering the best camera in the budget smartphone category. It comes equipped with a 13MP AI dual Rear camera that has a triple LED flash along with an f/1.8 large aperture, allowing the photo enthusiasts to capture the smallest of the objects with greater clarity.

For selfie lovers, the smartphone features an 8MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture.

It comes with AI-driven beauty mode and multiple camera modes such as portrait and wide selfie for that ‘perfect’ picture.

It even has a dedicated LED flash for low-light photography. A cutting-edge www.digitalterminal.in

PRODUCT REVIEW

AI framework boosts the camera capabilities of the phone, enabling Auto Scene detection from 10 different modes to adjust the image accordingly.

Additionally, the rear camera is also equipped with AI HDR+ composition for an exceptional exposure along with a 3D body shaping feature.

The sharpness of camera is too good.

So the camera quality is upto the mark and helps you to click some good quality pictures.

PERFORMANCE When you go to buy any smartphone so you should give extra attention to the hardware of the phone. Infinix Smart 4 Plus operates on Android XOS 6.2 Dolphin. It is equipped with the powerful 12nm Helio A25 1.8 GHz Octa-core processor to power all your applications.

You will get a seamless user experience on this phone as it is backed by 3 GB powerful RAM. You can also try some of the games on this phone. This smartphone ensures good-quality and cinematic sound thanks to the DTS surround sound feature.

SECURITY FEATURES At the rear side of this phone, you get a beautifully designed multi-functional fingerprint sensor. The best thing about this sensor is that apart from unlocking the phone, you can also use this to answer the calls, record videos, reject alarms, and click photos. Infinix has also given the face unlock feature in this phone to make your device more secure.

BATTERY Nowadays we want more battery capacity as we all use multiple applications through out the day. But we often run-out of battery and we spend our important time in charging the phone or we keep the powerbank with us. But with Infinix Smart 4 Plus, you are getting much more power. It is equipped with a massive 6000 mAh battery. This big battery can support the phone for long hours. It also has an AI Smart power-saving feature which gives a two-day power back-up to the device and keep track of how you use the apps. This smart feature stops the apps that run in the background to save the battery.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY As we all know that Infinix has a track

record of bringing best-in-class affordable smartphones. So continuing its legacy, Infinix has priced this smartphone at Rs. 7999. This smartphone is available only in 3GB RAM+32 GB storage variant. You can buy this smartphone now from Flipkart and it will be available in three colour options- Ocean Wave, Violet and Midnight Black.

DIGITAL TERMINAL RATING Digital Terminal always bring honest reviews and feedback to its audience.

There are multiple things that you should consider while buying the phone and we have tested this phone on all those parameters to provide you an honest review. We are satisfied with the performance of this phone and find it worthy. So we at DT, give Infinix Smart 4 Plus smartphone 4 stars ratings out of 5. If you are looking to buy best smartphone under 8k price range then DT Recommends you to go for this device as it promises flawless performance.

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GUEST COLUMN

REALIZING THE BUSINESS POTENTIAL OF EDGE Authored by Mr. Alok Ohrie, President & Managing Director, Dell Technologies, India

Edge computing is quickly emerging as the next “big thing” in technology. From mobile devices and cell towers to refrigerators and industrial control systems, the data being generated at the edge by these platforms has enormous business value. Less clear right now is how best to unlock it.

In one form or another, edge computing has been around for decades. Industrial control systems, for example, are an early form of edge computing that populated manufacturing floors. Telecommunications has deployed content delivery networks since the 1990s. What’s changing now is the type of applications that need low latency and intense levels of data, which require both the amount of compute power that can be employed at the edge and the raw network bandwidth being made available. As these vectors continue to increase, it becomes more feasible to satisfy the requirements of a much wider array of innovative applications at the edge of the network capable of driving a broad range of innovative business outcomes.

actual state it should be in.

HARNESS THE POWER OF EDGE COMPUTING TO STAY COMPETITIVE Business and IT leaders that fail to recognize the possibilities of edge computing will soon find themselves lagging behind. In some cases, it may be an existing organizations employing edge computing platforms to gain a competitive advantage. When used correctly, edge computing can result in efficiencies, new revenue streams, improved customer experiences, and even risk mitigation.

In India, as many organizations are on the journey to become 100% digital- there will be a need to adopt edge computing to automate business processes, in the near future.

In fact, every instance of digital business transformation will soon be driven by edge computing platforms capable of processing data in real time. Gartner estimates that by 2025, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be

created and processed outside the traditional, centralized data center or cloud. With many relying on cloud and hyper converged infrastructure to deal with this data explosion, a shift of computing to the edge can be highly anticipated. While the edge evolves and starts making its place in today’s world, we can expect it to become even more disruptive than existing cloud environments.

Although edge computing is not a new concept for many around the word, it is still at a very nascent stage in India and is on the path to break the traditional cloud computing limits. Rather it represents a profound transformation of business processes that will soon eclipse the cloud in terms of strategic importance. To conclude, edge computing will be a game changer for businesses around the world owing to its capability to derive insights from the data in real-time. This will help in increasing business efficiency while cutting costs as it will eliminate the need for ample cloud storage for data.

CATALYST FOR AUTOMATION Edge computing platforms have the potential to automate every business process imaginable using machine and deep learning algorithms deployed at the very edge of the network. According to a report by Forrester, the total edge computing market size is expected to grow from US$ 2.8 billion as recorded in the year 2019 to US$ 9.0 billion by the year 2024.

Instead of waiting for data to be analyzed by an application residing in the cloud or local data center, algorithms will optimize business processes in real time based on events as they occur.

Everything from connected cars to innovative augmented and virtual reality applications depends on the ability to process and analyze data in real time at the network edge. Field service technicians, for example, will be able to leverage augmented reality applications to visually compare broken equipment to the

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(Image Source: https://innovationatwork.ieee.org)

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