Channel Market is growing Stronger than Ever Before

They say channel is in their DNA. It is also being said that channel is going to perish, but the actual state of channel in India is otherwise. I would go to the extent of saying that it is healthy and thriving. In India, which is a very vast country with one-billion-plus population and having an area of 1,147,949 square miles, where people speak more than 28 different languages and live in different climatic conditions, it is very difficult for any vendor to reach its customers. It is the channel partners who act as a conduit pipe between the vendors and their customers. And, because of their endeavours, vendors are able to reach the customers. However, the market has graduated from the simple product to the solutions, but the channel partners have not been able to adapt to the change in the market so quickly. And, there was a hue and cry everywhere as to why the channel is not going to pick the trend and thereafter a wave of value addition came for the channe

Sharad Srivastava, Director – Sales (India & South Asia), Western Digital Going forward, the channel segment will become increasingly demanding and the main challenge will remain to provide logistics and support to customers in persistently meeting the demanding service requirements. A sound collaborative relationship between vendors and channel partners/resellers will help in meeting this changing market requirement.

Western Digital has focussed channel remote areas. The key to meeting this future channel market trend will be structure which is aimed at different customer segments and a strong regionalls and we are now facing the same wave. VARIndia wanted to take the individual opinion of the corporate pundits on the same.approach. In order to provide our customers with the best value for their money, WD announced its new channel strategy in January 2006. 

In the future, we would like to see our channel partners grow their businesses through active involvement in various incentive programmes as well as provide WD with valuable customer feedback. This will help us to remedy any issues and enhance the channel partner’s ability to respond to the market.companies need proven security solutions that instil trust through powerful protection. Being technically advanced and priced to be competitive, these solutions and services are designed to be easy to sell, provide channel partners with a recurring annual revenue stream, and which require the minimum amount of ongoing technical support.

 

Cyberoam is sold through a well-established network of channel partners across the globe. Cyberoam partners consist of regional distributors, value-added resellers, having expertise and experience in selling networking and security products. With special partner promotion programmes, Cyberoam helps partners develop revenue opportunities and grow profits by providing required technical expertise and marketing resources. We jointly approach the market with well-planned and coordinated efforts. Our partner numbers are strategically low to avoid internal competition.

 

The strategy revolves around partners getting discounts on the gear plus financial incentives along with lucrative margins. Partners also have access to Cyberoam’s advertising and lead-generation, training and road shows.

 

Cyberoam supports the channel development through centralized as well as partner- specific marketing campaigns. The campaigns range from Advertising, Direct Mailing, Event participations to partner-specific road shows. Cyberoam allocates special Market Development Funds to its top performing partners.

 

Competition in the Internet security solution has gone to the next level. Every stoppage of the supply chain has felt the pinch of competition – be it the resellers or the distributors. “Value Add and Survive” has become the catchphrase for the entire industry. The value addition basically should be about more engagement in terms of sales, support and flexible billing options. 

 

Cyberoam enables channel partners to leverage on the emerging security solutions for their customer base, strong pre-sales and post-sales support for end-to-end customer requirements and efficient and flexible billing options to suit different customer’s needs. The value addition has come naturally to our partners as Cyberoam philosophy has always been to enable partners through training so that we can mutually take advantage of the best-of-breed relationships with all our vendors.

 

Ravi Karamcheti, Managing Director, Kodak India Private Limited The channel scenario in India with reference to the CES category is very dynamic. There is a lot of focus from vendors in creating long ranging relationships, keeping the customer satisfaction in mind. With India in the midst of the retail boom presently, the channel relationships assume key importance. Proper training, specialized focus as well as professionally managed teams lead to better understanding of the consumer needs as well as the vendor’s objectives. The future is bright and promising. 

 

As a matter of policy, we will not be able to share specific strategies. One of the key metrics is how we increase our access to consumers, which drives our channel decisions. The emerging retail environment is both an opportunity and a challenge.

 

 

Our channel partners are very important in our growth process. As we look at the next few years as one of the most exciting in this space, we are sure that a seamless channel set-up will help us create more value for our customers. As you must be aware, we recently announced our new partnership for the digital camera segment, with HCL Info Systems. This was in keeping with our commitment to providing the best offerings to our consumers. We encourage our channel partners by providing support in the areas of product training, written material, publicity support as well as continuous familiarization with our technology.

 

We look at our channel partners to keep us posted with the trends in this dynamic market as well as create the right path to meet our consumers. We desire our channel relationships to yield benefits to all and the consumers at large.

 

Sunny John, Country Manager, Quantum, India The future of the channel market is bright. The channel has a long history of growth because end-users and vendors both appreciate the value-add that the channel provides.

 

Distributors and VARs are extremely important to us as we are a channel-focussed company. We have maintained the same model over the years with our partners. Our award-winning programme, Quantum Alliance, features three member levels: Distributor, Registered VAR and Premier VAR. Membership to a specific level is based on a reseller meeting certain requirements, including sales

volumes and network storage competencies. This online programme has given us the flexibility of offering value-add offerings to our partners. Moreover, we run multiple high response, end-user lead-generation campaigns and push 100 per cent of the leads back to the channel.

 

In addition, Quantum provides channel partners with deal registration which we call OIP (Opportunity Identification Programme). OIP rewards resellers for developing opportunities by providing them a special discount for that deal which is the ultimate form of protection.

 

Quantum has been investing considerably in our channel marketing and sales initiatives for India. Quantum Alliance India combines the best of the global programme with India-specific benefits to better serve our India channel partners. 

 

Quantum’s main focus has always been to build focussed committed partners. The Quantum Alliance Partner Programme is dedicated to helping resellers and distributors around the world increase their sales .We want that the channel partners add value by understanding end-users’ needs and by proposing a complete solution that may come from multiple partners. Channel partners also can do installation, integration and ongoing support.

 

Ashok Pamidi, Director – Commercial Accounts, SMB & Enterprise Partners, Technology Solutions Group, Hewlett-Packard India The future of channel market in India is very bright. It is now growing stronger than ever before. The channel market is perceived to be available in the metros, but the market is moving rapidly to tier-2-3 markets. Vendors are looking at the channel for two purposes – one for reach and second for support – both pre-sales and post-sales. For HP, we have the largest, greatest and most envied channel network in the country. Channel is in our DNA. If you look at the channel future, even the competition in India is looking at channel in a big way. So, the future of channel is very bright. As far as HP TSG is concerned, 80 per cent of our business happensthrough the channel. We have seven national SIs, 70 enterprise channel partners and 427 ProLiant Gold Partners. Going forward, we want to increase the number of our enterprise channel partners to 100 by the end of 2007 and ultimately 125 by 2008. The health and growth of the channel partners is all dependent on their value addition to their existing business. We are enabling them towards this. For example, Precision Infomatic, a Chennai-based HP channel partner opened a HP Business Solutions Centre, which focusses on the entire HP solutions. This type of effort can really bring confidence among the users and create opportunity of margin for the channel partners.