R. Ravichandran
Director - Sales
Intel South Asia
Intel first established a reseller channel sales organization more than a decade ago to focus on the needs of their distributors, resellers, dealers, retailers and local integrators. This increased sales dramatically and the reseller channel now accounts for between 20 and 30 per cent of all Intel processor unit sales. In aggregate, the channel is Intel's largest customer and represents a powerful Intel strategic advantage.
"Consumers and SMBs constitute almost two-thirds of the Indian market and undoubtedly, channels play a critical role in terms of being the touch points for customers," informed R. Ravichandran, Director - Sales, Intel South Asia. Intel's commitment to its channel partners grows stronger, via a new Channel Support and Reward Programme that is aligned to the evolving business their partners are in. The Intel Technology Provider Programme is intended to assist its partners for sustained success amidst the changing realities of today's IT business environment, in the real world and online, and in the different economies of Asia.
Intel expanding Horizons for Partners
The programme now extends to partners that not only build systems but also those which resell Intel technology-based systems and solutions, supporting their product development, technical support and sales efforts. Today, PCs are being bought for kids at home. The new Intel Atom- based desktop processors bundled with education packs by "Edurite" provide the foundation for growth opportunities in the adjacent markets. "The Edurite software provides free content for the first six months, and then one has to subscribe for it," informed Ravichandran. Thus, basically Intel is bringing value to PCs that partners sell. This launch of the Intel Desktop Board will help channel partners leverage bundling and upselling opportunities, thereby enhancing sales opportunities for the partners.
"The latest generation of the Intel Core, the Intel Xeon and the Intel Atom processors, with the multitude of form factors and vast improvements in performance and energy efficiency, will bring forth a whole new range of product and solution opportunities for our partners. There is a huge opportunity to bring Intel technologies to many product segments that are seeing strong growth," he further adds.
Recently, "Computer Mela" was organized in Bhopal to showcase a range of personal computing devices. At the Computer Mela, a variety of Lenovo personal computing devices were displayed, giving consumers an option to select the device best suited for their computing needs. Local PC partners also showcased their personal computers on offer. If consumers want to go for performance, they can choose from a mainstream desktop powered by All New 2010 Intel Core Processor Family Range with the Intel Core i7 processor-based PC being the optimal choice for high-end gaming and multimedia experiences. "Intel has always believed that the Internet is capable of transforming lives and the future of our country. The widespread broadband connectivity can help remove the digital divide in India and we are working with a number of industry and channel partners to facilitate this change. The Computer Mela makes it easy for people to own their first PC and explore the wonders of the internet thereby transforming their lives through technology," he adds.
Training is critical for Intel
Typically, ICT (Intel channel trend) is done twice a year in India, which comprises of half-day training programme talking about technology direction, marketing programme. "It is a programme for us to meet our top customers and typically train partners. We have rolled it across number of cities." Now beyond this they also conduct training. Citing an example, Ravichandran said, "At Intel, we train the sales person of a retail outlet on how to sell a desktop, how to articulate the features of current generation platform in comparison to the previous generation?" So, that is a retail focus training Intel does across retail outlets in India.
Thus, Intel has multiple package of training depending on the product focus and the channel Focus, and ensures that the right partners attend these sessions.
Last but not the least…
Intel has also initiated Anti-Theft Service to lock down a lost or stolen laptop. It works even if a thief reimages their hard drive, installs a new hard drive, changes the boot order or avoids connecting to the network. This Service also creates a secure data vault on a user's hard drive to provide protected storage area for sensitive information. When the laptop is locked down, access to information in secure data vault is locked down as well and cannot be read even if the hard drive is attached to another laptop. But, as of now, Croma is the first retailer to introduce Anti-Theft service for all the laptop sold at Croma.
On the support front, Intel has expanded its service centres from 12 to 58 cities now. Even though there was a post-sales service reach across India earlier, with walk-in centres in 58 cities, Intel can now offer an even more customer-friendly and highly reliable, trusted quality support. The customer service centres in these 58 cities are completely operational. "Working on the infrastructure part means bringing confidence in the customers and bringing business to our partners," he concluded.
beenish@varindia.com
