It is the 15th year in a row that VARINDIA is coming up with the VOICE OF INDIAN VARs in its April 2023 Issue, where we have gathered the feedback and opinions from Value-Added Resellers (VARs) in metros, A and B class cities in the country . VARs are companies that add value to products or services before selling them to end customers, such as by providing customization, integration, or consulting services.
The Channel scorecard this time features fifteen different product categories. It is the testimonial from the VARs and Partners to measure the performance of the Vendors/OEMs. From what we have gathered, vendors can better understand the needs and preferences of their channel partners and make adjustments to improve their partnerships. This can ultimately lead to increased sales, stronger customer relationships, and a more successful channel strategy.
The scorecard is based on seven important factors - Product Availability, Price Performance, Channel Profitability, Pre-sales support, Training and Certification, Channel Policy and Post-sales Support. However, this report does not reflect any feedback from the end customers.
Channel partners are credited for being the integral part of the success of the corporate’s go-to-market strategy (GTM) for delivering an excellent customer experience. Distributors and value Added Distributors (VADs) also have a very important role to play in the overall growth strategy of the corporates. Partners expect to be treated as individuals and they want to deal with companies who understand who they are and what they are going through and who appreciate that their reality and needs are changing every single day.
Adopting a hyper-personalized marketing strategy powered by data, analytics and AI will give you the insights and capabilities to adapt to your customers’ changing realities in real-time, which is what today’s customers expect.
The scorecard survey finds that vendors who were able to work with partners and provide high quality products at good prices are rewarded with high scores. This year, distributors and sub-distributors, having realized the massive opportunities in E-commerce, Cyber Security and Cloud Computing and Cloud Repatriation at the same time.
The major distributors including Ingram Micro, Redington, Savex Technologies have been positioned as the top three players in the distribution space, while distribution majors including Tech Data, Supertron, RP tech, Inflow, Beetel Teletech, iValue and IRIS Global have been very aggressive in promoting various offerings to the channel from cloud to security as services for enabling digital transformation for industries.
In the past two years we have seen the technology landscape emerging, with focus increasing into Cloud and Cyber security solution space. To complement this sector, there are VADs (Value added Distributors) including RAH Infotech, Technobind, Texonic and Netpoleons who have increased their footprints.
Cloud and Cloud Security become the core of the IT Channel Business
Security in cloud computing is crucial to any company looking to keep its applications and data protected from bad actors. Whereas, digital transformation brings in fundamental changes to know how your business functions and how you deliver value to your users. The partner business in India is poised to grow at a tremendous rate with newer ideas and newer strategies in this space.
Indian tech leaders no longer want to own, build, maintain, and run products on new technologies completely by themselves. The Telecom sector will see major investments. In the past year, 5G announcements and investments in technologies like IoT, Web3, the metaverse, AI, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) have had a major impact on telecommunications. However, software and tech consulting and systems integration will slow down.
Digital transformation is serving as a major economic driver while Cloud has been an IT enabler, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). There are increasing cases of cloud repatriation, which is causing a heated debate about the future of cloud services. At the same time, some claim that repatriations indicate declining interest in cloud computing. This point of view suggests that the trend of taking workloads off the public cloud is here to stay and that on-prem hardware and colocation will continue to challenge the "cloud-first" model.
Over the past decade, there has been a shift in the way technology is being deployed and utilized, with a movement from edge and core computing to cloud computing. We have seen a significant shift towards cloud computing, as more and more organizations have adopted cloud-based solutions for their IT needs. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years, with cloud computing becoming an increasingly dominant force in the technology landscape.
Secondly, many companies are integrating IoT (Internet of Things) and 5G technologies into their digital strategies, as these technologies offer significant benefits in terms of increased connectivity, data processing capabilities, and real-time insights.
The Indian E-commerce market is expected to grow from $83 bn in 2022 to $185 bn in 2026 as it is propelled by unified payments interface (UPI) transactions. With this India has emerged as a global leader in payments by developing a real-time payments (RTP) infrastructure.
We can't deny the fact that Distributors and Value Added Distributors (VADs) play a very important role in the overall growth strategy of the Corporates. Moreover, channel partners are integral to the overall success of the corporate’s go-to-market strategy for delivering an excellent customer experience. At the same time, many OEMs feel that the Omni - Channel business model with a robust partner ecosystem is part of their channel growth agenda.
In this year 2023, channel partners should keep in mind that consolidation within the channel will continue, both within the partner community and with the IT vendor community. This is going to impact the dynamics in the industry going forward on a worldwide basis. Channel partners will need to remain flexible and adaptable, which will eventually create both opportunities and challenges. The strength of relationships between channel partners and their preferred vendors will be a factor in the outcomes of consolidation.
The channel further wants to work with vendors that are easy to do business with. Post-pandemic, as expectations change, there is going to be a shift in which vendors have to create a conducive environment for the channel to work in. Channel partners want cloud-like consumption models that are easy for them to use, easy for them to deploy, and easy for them to bill. They also expect reliable co-sell models that will provide proper support.
Methodology of the Channel Scorecard
The survey sample we have considered is from the partners and VARs who are directly dealing in the partner ecosystem. The report doesn't include the sales generated through direct deal by the inside sales team of the corporates (certain corporates claim that they are 100% Partner focused company, which is untrue) and sales that happened from various e-commerce sites in India (the ecommerce business is a big chunk and the figures are very difficult to find and the actual business cannot be validated).
The Channel Scorecard report summarizes that most of the vendors have cleared their old inventories through the E-commerce players to reach to the remotest parts in the country, whereas several distributors and partners have opened a separate entity for expanding their business. In some cases they clear their inventories by offering lucrative offers.
Dell Technologies committed to grow its channel footprint by enhancing partner experience
Anil Sethi, Vice President & General Manager, Channels - India, Dell Technologies
“The Channel ecosystem has played a pivotal role in expanding our footprint. We are committed to grow this further by enhancing partner experience levels and building services led go-to-market strategies, aided by new incentives and distribution support. In 2022, industries across the globe have accelerated their transformation journey, embraced multicloud architectures and started adopting as-a-service models. To complement industry needs, we have also streamlined and enhanced the partner experience across multiple program tracks allowing solution providers, CSPs and OEM partners to enjoy one regional incentive structure, one tier structure, and one set of tier requirements.
We launched our 2023 Partner Program in February with a renewed focus - Together, We Stop at Nothing. This celebrates the sixth anniversary of the program and its continued success with the partner community. We are building upon a position of partner strength. In Q3 of 2022, partners delivered approximately 50% of our overall net revenue, accelerated double digit storage growth, and helped us secure #1 positions in the majority of the industry’s critical IT infrastructure categories.
Dell Technologies’ partner program has been rated as one of the best in the industry. With the partner feedback process we have in place, we have found that even our partners view our program as simple, predictable and profitable. We are committed to investing in our partner’s end-to-end experience with us and are excited for the opportunities that will allow Dell Technologies and its partners to create together, partnering for the future.”
HPE works together with partners to drive growth and business outcomes
Amer Warsi, Director Channel, SMB and Ecosystem - HPE India
“HPE is focused on improving partner experiences, empowering them to evolve at their own pace, promote themselves, and control where they want to grow. We proudly put them first and are grateful for their continued strong partnership, which allows us to collaborate and grow together, while setting a new standard for joint success.
Our top-rated partner program has been lauded by partners and industry analysts for decades as we remain committed to supporting our partners with the best-in-industry innovation, initiatives, and expertise to drive differentiation and deliver better outcomes to our shared customers. Channel is the strongest route for HPE, with the majority of our sales going through the partners. HPE constantly invests in our partners’ success to ensure they have easy access to the right resources that can help them grow their expertise and business. We have a large network of partners across the globe, and as a company, we are committed to delivering the value, resources, and expertise that our partners have come to trust and expect from us.
To design a fair and transparent partnership model and create a thriving and connected ecosystem, HPE actively conducts a Total Partner Experience (TPE) survey every new fiscal year which provides authentic feedback directly from the partners. This feedback has helped HPE make consistent and continuous improvisations in HPE partner programs across India and worldwide for the past three decades, allowing the company to deliver a great partner experience.”
Sophos Partner Program is built on simplicity, partner profitability & enablement
Sunil Sharma, Managing Director - Sales, Sophos India & SAARC
“As a channel-first company, Sophos’ business model revolves around our channel partners. We have designed our products and services in a manner that enables our partners to effectively address all their customers’ security concerns, and to increase their profitability by offering Sophos’ next-generation end-to-end cybersecurity and MDR (Managed Detection & Resolution) services.
In order to provide our partners with the processes, tools and knowledge that they need to succeed, we periodically collect feedback from them. One mechanism for this is anonymous Partner Surveys. These surveys enable our partners to share feedback on their experience of doing business with Sophos, including rating our processes, and suggesting areas for improvement.
Our Partner Program is built on the following key parameters -
Simplicity and Transparency: The Sophos Global Partner Program clearly defines and informs our channel partners on the registration process, enablement tools, training, and growth path opportunities available through the program.
Partner Profitability: Our partner program rewards commitment to Sophos. The more committed partners are to us, the higher the profitability they can achieve. Partners can attain profitability under two aspects of our partner program - Tiered Discounts and Margin Retention Opportunities.
Partner Enablement: The training modules under our partner program enable partners to be responsive to the changing needs of today’s cybersecurity. These training empower our partners to tackle common trends that are impacting our industry.”
Ingram Micro’s partner programs are purely strategic in nature
Minakashi Samant, Executive Director and Head of Sales - Ingram Micro India
“Ingram Micro staunchly believes that engaging the right partners can help us reach a wider range of quality buyers, which ultimately paves the way for a reinforced bottom line. We take a 360-degree approach while strategizing, devising, and implementing partner programs across the country.
We adhere to a unique set of guiding principles which helps us clearly define the objectives of all the stakeholders involved. We start with choosing the right partners after meticulous analysis of their expertise to develop a strong joint value propositions for our customers. We work with a wide range of partners, including tech integrators, system integrators, channel resellers, agencies, consultants, ecommerce platforms, retailers, etc. The recent launch of our experiential platform – Xvantage – further helps in elevating the overall partner experience with respect to managing orders, invoices, renewals, credit capacity, etc. We encourage and promote thoughtful exchange of ideas and feedbacks through various mediums like -
Regular Interactions with BDE: Our business development team regularly interacts with partners to seek their feedback on the overall partnership experience. Partner Connect Events: Our partner connect events are focused on identifying the big-picture vision and mission of our partners. Periodic Partner Surveys: We also conduct periodic partner surveys to get a more accurate view of partners’ sentiments and factors that influence their decisions. Dedicated Feedback Email ID: We empathetically listen to our partners’ voice through a dedicated feedback email ID – WeHearYou@ingrammicro.com.”
Partners are the backbone of NetApp’s business
Ganesan Arumugam, Director - Channel Partners, NetApp India
“NetApp is well positioned to drive a partner's transformation to service led, solutions focused organisation to address their enterprises and accelerate cloud adoption with the NetApp Partner Sphere Program. The program is cloud-focused and services-led, which offers a versatile and adaptable approach to growth for all types of sales. It comprises a simple framework that supports each partner’s unique go-to-market strategy, providing flexibility and automation to ease partner processes, and consistency for all partners and sales motions from a single program with clear tiers and objectives. By consolidating multiple programs into one, it simplifies the process for all partner types, business models, and routes to market.
We have inducted a few of our partners to our advisory board, to help us better understand the on-ground needs of customers. During our partner summit last year, we leveraged this as a means of collecting feedback from them. We then take this feedback to our global team, which enables us to refine our offerings. Our regular review meetings with partners helps to receive feedback and inputs, which are incorporated in our partner program. The NetApp Partner Sphere Program has been designed to provide comprehensive training and support. This helps partners in building their service capabilities on specific solution areas to allow them to succeed in a highly competitive hybrid cloud market. In addition, the program's simplified and flexible tiering system has been designed based on objective thresholds that they can follow- from Approved to Preferred, to Prestige, and finally, to Prestige Plus.”
Check Point focuses on delivering the best growth opportunities for its partners
Manish Alshi, Head of Channels and Growth Technologies - India & SAARC, Check Point Software Technologies
“Check Point Software Technologies is a 100% channel-driven company. The partner ecosystem is critical to scaling our business and we view our partners in India as an extension of our team. In 2022, we assisted our partners in creating new markets with Infinity, SMB and MSSP Programs. Through our new Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) Program, we removed administrative burdens and empowered a partner service-led approach. We are continuing to make strides in creating and executing the best partner experience in the areas of predictability, profitability, and ease of doing business.
We onboarded 120+ new partners, who underwent our comprehensive training and certification program. From our Partner Trust Survey done in 2021 in India, we worked to re-calibrate partner expectations and tweaked our partner program to ensure that our partnership strategy is being driven by the feedback we receive from our partners. We are set to grow and expand our partner community in 2023 as well.
Check Point’s mission is to provide the finest security while also giving possibilities for partners to grow and become more successful. We have more than two dozen tools to assist our channel partners, some of which are aimed at partners to use with their customers such as assessments and security check-ups. We also host an annual Partner Advisory Board comprising of the Top Partner Executives across India, to seek their guidance and feedback on the way forward to further fine-tune our joint go-to-market strategy with our Partner ecosystem.”
The partnership model of OpenText fosters two-way conversations with partners
Saurabh Saxena, Country Director - OpenText India
“Micro Focus (now OpenText) is uniquely positioned to help its customers “Run and Transform” at the same time. Our broad portfolio of enterprise software products and services enable them to accelerate, simplify, strengthen, and analyze their core operations powered by our strategic services and support organizations, and an extensive partner network globally to help customers maximize their existing software investments and innovate faster, providing software and critical tools they need to build, secure, and strengthen their operations.
We are a channel-driven business, and our Partner Program (in addition the Partner Boost program) continues to aid partners, especially in India and APJ region making collaboration easier with high profitability. Through our various upskilling and cross-selling programs, portfolio adjustments, training, certifications, incentives, and demand generation support, we ensure that partners have increased engagement scopes with customers, strong cyber resilience, and digital capability scores with more opportunities for higher revenue generation.
A key aspect of our partnership model is fostering two-way conversations with our partners, which leads to growth and enables them to be more connected with their clients. During the pandemic, we had conducted more online enablement sessions for the partner ecosystem to facilitate open communication and help them grow amidst the uncertainty. Moving forward, our partner program will focus on providing greater opportunities to partners through the five key areas of Accelerate Application Delivery, Modernize Core Systems, Simplify IT Transformation, Strengthen Cyber Resilience and Analyze Data in Time to Act.”
Partners are the key drivers of Seagate’s success in India
Sameer Bhatia, Country Manager, India & SAARC - Seagate Technology
“At Seagate, our partners are the key drivers of our success in India, and it is imperative for us to empower them by providing our vendors and distributors with the right combination of knowledge and tools. This is where our partner programs play a key role by developing tailored training programs, certificates, and incentives around specific channel needs.
We support our partners in maximising their results by offering the most optimal storage solutions and services to the end users, and also through innovation. We have developed the award-winning Seagate SkyHawk Partner App, a first-of-its-kind solution for video and imaging applications that supports our partner community across the Indian market. The app helps partners with calculating the storage needs and investment required in real-time and assists with online warranty service booking, tracking facilities, and instant connectivity to SeaCare centres. As of the last quarter, our app has received over 44,311downloads (Android and iOS) and more than 18,902 registrations in India. Additionally, we have the Seagate Insider partner program to connect with customers and market partners. We continue to conduct comprehensive training sessions, seminars, and co-marketing initiatives to respond to any new opportunities.
We have also established dedicated partner programs such as "Seagate Regional Meets" and "Seagate Surveillance Weeks," including the "SkyHawk Surveillance Week," which brings together a few hundred partners stores from multiple cities to share exceptional peer insights and expertise in business strategy, innovation, and leadership.”
The partner ecosystem is Hikvision India’s biggest asset
Ashish P. Dhakan, MD & CEO, Prama Hikvision India
“For us, the partner programs are of prime importance to nurture and grow the B2B partner ecosystem. The partner programs drive the brand values and brand equity through various marketing activities at every touch point. The ecosystem partners in the security market drive the brand messaging to the security professional community and end-users. These programs create brand awareness in the market by various on ground and online activities.
We see immense value in Partner Programs and continue to focus on them by having a multi-nodal feedback system to evaluate them. We are always on our toes to evaluate the feedback received from the partners. The feedback from partners is often gathered through various marketing initiatives and social media. The partner feedback provides the varied market insights and ideas, which can be decoded after the analysis of marketing initiatives and social media activities.
We truly value our esteemed partners as the key stakeholders in our enterprise. We believe in the adage that trust begets trust. We are committed to a fair and transparent partnership model, which is an essential element in our business relationship with the ecosystem partners and ongoing success story. We take all the necessary steps to ensure best practices are followed with a fair and transparent partnership model. With a keen eye on future trends, we are expanding its footprints by nurturing it along the business.”
Elastic’s partnership model is designed with both fairness and transparency
Nilesh Goradia, Director - Partner and Alliances, Elastic India/SA
“The Elastic Partner Program sets itself apart in the industry in several ways. Our free and open codebase provides partners with a vast market of prospects, while our skilled and passionate global Elastic community creates a positive and collaborative partnership experience. Instead of focusing on partner counts alone, we have so far prioritized building deeper relationships with new, as well as existing partners who invest their time & effort in our products & solutions. There’s also our partner-friendly sales uplift policy that ensures our partners are rewarded for their effort in a fair & consistent manner, while our tiered structure of elite, premier, and select partners recognizes them based on their capability and certification, and not revenue capacity alone. We focus on enabling partners to generate revenue through services, making our Partner Program practice-oriented and expertise-driven.
At Elastic, partners have access to established channels of communication, such as partner surveys, partner helpdesk, and regular partner meetings - where they can provide feedback on their experiences, challenges, and suggestions for improvement. We also foster open and transparent communication through regular check-ins, joint business reviews, and feedback sessions.
We provide training and support to equip our partners with the necessary skills for success. We maintain regular communication channels for feedback and to address any concerns. Importantly, compliance and ethical guidelines remain a top priority, where our compliance team conducts due diligence, as well as monitors partner activities for adherence to program guidelines.”
Evolution of Cloud Computing: A Bit of Everything, And More
Shrikant Shitole, CEO - iValue Infosolutions
Here a cloud, there a cloud, everywhere a cloud cloud!
THAT could well be a technocrat’s funny take on the popular children’s rhyme ‘Old MacDonald’. But it is definitely not far from how ubiquitous cloud services have become in the contemporary world.
Cloud computing might sound like a noveau concept, but the truth is that its origin can be traced back to the 1950s when companies started experimenting with distributed computing. It soon graduated to mainframe, cluster and then grid computing before leapfrogging into virtualisation in the 1980s.
In fact, virtualisation was a gamechanger when it came to cloud computing. The creation of a virtual layer over physical allowed users to run multiple programs simultaneously. The other significant pivot came in the early 2000s with the entry of Web 2.0. Suddenly static web pages became more interactive, dynamic and flexible. Data and apps had to be processed in real-time, which gave cloud computing a massive fillip.
The Many Facets Of Cloud
The thrust that cloud computing got during the pandemic has seen many enterprises increasingly earmark a larger part of their annual IT budget for cloud offerings and capabilities. However, even before COVID-19 struck, many companies were already banking on public clouds to share their resources globally while maintaining its privacy.
These resources, which often include the hardware, software and associated infrastructure, are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider like Microsoft, Azure and delivered over the internet. This growth is unsurprising since public cloud has low asset costs for companies where they only pay for the service they use, without having to worry about the upkeep of the infrastructure either.
Private clouds like HP Data Centers are an internal computing network for selective users within an organization. The best analogy for this is a gated community with a strong security perimeter in and muscled watch guards manning all entry and exit points.
Next up is the hybrid cloud environment, which takes elements of public and private cloud environments and fuses it with on-premises infrastructure to create a centralized, distributed computing environment. Companies like IBM provide this win-win offering to enterprises, allowing them to run their legacy or cloud-native workloads with equal ease.
And then there is edge computing, which basically means running fewer processes in the cloud and shifting as many to a network’s edge. By bringing it to local levels like a user’s computer or an IoT device, it reduces the long-distance communication between a client and server, thus bringing down latency and improving performance.
What’s Up In The Clouds
The definition of cloud computing has changed with ease, accessibility and scalability emerging as distinguishing attributes. This means that companies are constantly seeking cloud environments that will work best for their applications, rather than force fitting things the other way around. A hybrid cloud architecture circumvents the prohibitive switching costs associated with shifting vendors. It also provides companies with a fail-safe option in case a vendor breaches their SLAs and provides them with a choice of service providers best suited for each workload. Edge computing will also become more predominant in the future and are likely to become a lot more influential. 5G’s rollout has already given network connectivity a massive boost, and now technocrats will be hard pressed to add AI and ML to applications to respond to user queries faster.
All Hands-On AI
ChatGPT’s debut has brought one phrase on everyone’s lips generative AI. Needless to say, it has found its place in cloud management too. As cloud environments become more complex, generative AI can chip in to automate regular tasks like resource allocation and bandwidth management. There are many areas where AI can come in handy in the cloud environment. However, the biggest challenge is that many technocrats are still unsure how to leverage it, especially as it gets more sophisticated with each passing week. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that when the cloud and AI come together, they can jointly go a long way in democratizing technology and making it more prevalent across the ecosystem.
The Oracle PartnerNetwork is designed to offer expertise and guidance to partners
Siddharth Idnani, Head - Alliance & Channels, Oracle India
“At Oracle, our primary focus is on assisting customers’ organizational goals and ensuring those are fulfilled by our core offerings. In this endeavour, partners have consistently played a key role and we consider them an extension of us. With this, we have designed Oracle PartnerNetwork in such a way that it provides the expertise and guidance required by the partners for addressing customers’ growing demands. Our strategy is built on four principles which are customer first, joint go to market, skills development and trusted partnership. Our partner first strategy has allowed us to engage with partners on 70% of our cloud application customer engagement in Asia Pacific and more than 60% of OCI engagements in the region.
Oracle Partner Network Portal is the one-stop portal for partners to get enabled, earn expertise, take their knowledge to market, and manage their membership and agreements. The OPN Portal is designed based on roles. Whether you are a builder, seller or implementer, the partners can focus on building relevant expertise and helping customers realize the value and continued success around Oracle. Meanwhile, OPN partners have access to Oracle Partner Community which partners can ask and connect with the experts to stay relevant and in the know with OPN. We also host a Partner Advisory Board where a cross section of partners can share feedback and exchange ideas on how to serve customer challenges more efficiently. All OPN partnership information, such as enablers, requirements, agreements, and incentives, is well documented on our OPN sites.”
PURE STORAGE SETS THE BAR TO DELIVER SIMPLICITY, FLEXIBILITY AND VALUE TO PARTNERS
Jithesh Chembil, Head of Channels, India, Pure Storage
“Pure continues to be 100% channel led, and is the only storage vendor delivering subscriptions fully through the channel. We have set the bar in the industry to deliver simplicity, flexibility, and value to our partners and customers so we can continue to grow together. We constantly evaluate and enhance our Partner Program to ensure we reward great performance and provide the right training and enablement so that our partners can deliver exceptional results.
One of the most important things we did in the past year was to consolidate the Global Partner Organization - including MSPs, GSIs, distribution and resellers - into a single organization to reach all routes to market and leverage partner capabilities more effectively. This consolidation is the foundation of our enhanced Partner program. We also launched a new Partner Portal to provide the latest sales and technical resources, training, personalized marketing campaigns, a digital asset library, social selling content and more, all at the partners’ fingertips. Pure also expanded the Pure Sizer Tool. Partners can size configurations based on capacity and performance needs using input gathered from the customer’s environment and understand the capacity and environmental specifications for a FlashArray.
We evolved our training resources to meet the partner’s needs and enable them to grow their knowledge with the portfolio. Partners can now follow a personalized learning path based on their specific role. New training courses are also available on selling subscriptions and new use cases for file and object storage.”
HID VALUES ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ITS CHANNEL PARTNERS
Vishal R Soni, Sales Director, Secure Issuance, India, HID
“HID is committed to deliver a global partner program that provides relevant enablement, and marketing and sales support resources that equip our partners to solve customers’ secure identity challenges and drive mutual growth. HID has a two-pronged partner program approach. We work to motivate and reward Resellers, Integrators, OEMs, and Distributors through structured incentive programs and enhanced benefits, as well as provide robust technical and developmental support for our Technology Partners, Managed Service Providers, and Alliance Partners.
All our partners have access to HID Global’s world class partner community portal to maintain and exchange relevant information, that help them identify, purchase and implement the most extensive line of powerful and versatile security solutions. We also have regular workshops, roadshows and on-on-one meetings with our partners to receive feedback. HID Academy is our best-in-class, digital training platform, where our channel partners can earn certifications based on incremental learning levels to achieve HID solution competency. This training empowers our partners with credibility to deploy and support solutions for our customers. Partners are awarded benefits based on a tiered approach consisting of Silver, Gold and Platinum level as they gain expertise. Once awarded, our partners receive unique logos and badges to indicate their expertise in the multiple areas that comprise the HID Global product portfolio. Additionally, partners earn loyalty-based incentives as they continue building profitable relationships with their customers, to help our partners succeed.”
DASSAULT SYSTÈMES CREATES WIN-WIN SITUATIONS FOR ITS PARTNERS AND CUSTOMERS
Tanuj Mittal, Senior Director Sales, Customer Process Experience - India, Dassault Systèmes
“Dassault Systemes' Partner Programme is a critical differentiator for the brand, providing customers access to a comprehensive network of partners with expertise in their respective fields. The Partner Programme provides exclusive access to 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, which acts as a catalyst for successful transformational initiatives with customers. The Partner Programme offers specialized training and support resources, such as product documentation, technical guides, and online tutorials, to help partners become industry experts. We have created a Partner Advisory Board (PAB) comprising a select group of partners across the globe who can provide ongoing feedback and insights into our product, services and processes. Our 3DEXPERIENCE Platform based Partner Portal provides opportunities to our partners for continuous and relevant feedback on all aspects of our mutual business. We have assigned Partner Success Managers (PSM) to all partners who regularly engage with them, understand their needs, and proactively seek their feedback. Dassault Systemes values fairness and transparency in its partnership models. To ensure this, we undertake several key steps when designing our partnership models. First, we clearly define the goals and objectives of the partnership. Second, we establish transparent criteria for selecting partners. Third, our Distribution Agreements, which we sign with our partners, outline the terms and conditions of the partnership, including roles and responsibilities, revenue sharing, intellectual property rights, dispute resolution mechanisms, and exit clauses. Fourth, our Partner Portal offers a dynamic view to partners on their performance against agreed KPIs. Finally, we believe in creating win-win situations for our partners and customers.”
CrowdStrike looks for ways to work with partners centered on customers
Girish Gargeshwari, Channel Director, Asia, CrowdStrike
“We see partnering as a dial, not a switch. We are looking at every facet of a partnership - whether it is paths to profitability, systems engineer engagement or customer-facing activities that drive new opportunities for us and our partners. We are always looking for ways to work together to center the customer in everything we do. Having this customer-centric focus creates value and enhances paths to profitability. Our Elevate 2.0 partner program, provides multiple avenues for partners to drive high-margin opportunities. Partners driving the highest level of margin are from services around the CrowdStrike offering, whether it’s incident response through our Engagement License Program, or MSSPs powered by CrowdStrike that combine our capabilities with their unique offerings to drive positive outcomes with our mutual customers.
CrowdStrike values its partners’ inputs and seeks feedback from partners in multiple ways. We have our annual partner surveys that cover various aspects that are important to partner lifecycle management including sales engagements, channel engagement, technology offerings, partner programs and so on and so forth. In addition, we invest heavily in how we cover our partners in the ecosystem. We have alliance managers focused down-market, serving the corporate market and SMBs, as well as regional alliance managers, national alliance managers, and resources dedicated to MSSPs, GSIs, telcos, OEM, cloud providers, and technology and CrowdStrike Store partners.”
BMC likes to maintain integrity in its partner ecosystem program
Sakaar Anand, Vice-President, India Country Head, BMC
“The BMC Partner Ecosystem Program is continually evolving our benefits so that BMC is considered a strategic vendor with our partners.  We expanded our ecosystem programs to include the Innovation Lab program which enables partners to develop their own unique solutions using BMC technology, and we focused on offering an array of different reward programs that partners can select to participate in based on their business priorities to accelerate their revenue growth. 
BMC offers our partners a revenue-rich portfolio of digital enterprise solutions, world-class training programs, sales and marketing incentives, and business management support. 
BMC surveys our top Tier partners each year specifically on BMC’s Partner Program. Our Global Tiering program provides specific and clear criteria for partners so they know what requirements must be met to move up the tier levels.  We also have a defined deal registration program with transparent rules, and all our program elements are documented and posted for partners to see.  Maintaining integrity in our BMC ecosystem program is extremely important to BMC.”
CommScope is committed to mutual growth with its partner organizations
Kalyan Deep Ray, National Channel Manager, Enterprise Sales, India & SAARC - CommScope
“CommScope believes that a strong collaboration with our partners is the best way to bring essential solutions to the forefront of an evolving Indian market and for a new breed of digitally savvy customers. Our PartnerPRO Network forms the foundation of this association by featuring an exclusive global network of experts designed to help partners discover new revenue opportunities. The network consists of CommScope-authorized local distributors, solution providers, consultants and alliance partners that are trained to provide local insight, which puts our high-performance solutions to work. Along with direct feedback channels available on our website and through our various helplines, we also conduct in person updates and events in which feedback is a critical component.
CommScope’s partner program and initiatives equip the channel ecosystem with best-in-class technology, robust sales enablement, and marketing support to more than 10,000 partners worldwide, including India. We used a modular approach while creating our partner programme to ensure that we address the business models and customer demands of our partners. The program allows our partners to have a tailored fit with CommScope to suit their level of expertise and business model.
CommScope programs are transparent in partnership requirements and completely modular in approach. In practice, partnerships can be held with specific technologies or can be scaled to offer the full set of capabilities that CommScope has on offer. This empowers our partners to grow both vertically within technologies as well as horizontally across offerings and supports each partner's growth pace.”
Partners are the hands and ears for Optoma in the market
Vijay Sharma, Country Head India - Optoma Corporation
“Being the leading brand in the industry, Optoma always strives to build a solid network of channel partners around the country. We still believe in distributorship since a strong partner network will assist you to understand the ongoing trend, consumer demand, and aid to offer items as per the needs of the customers. We have consistently shared fair profits with our partners hence keeping their interest and choice towards Optoma brand as no.1 in their mind share.
We use traditional as well as modern approaches while communicating with our partners. They are our hands and ears in the market. Our team interacts with all channel partners on a daily basis with a product information or success story. The partners also have all the tools and communication in the form of telephone, WhatApp, Social Media to reach us. They have full assurance to reach to any tier of the company to resolve their issues. In addition to this we have partner meets, training programs and R&R to effectively communicate with our channel.
Optoma’s vision is to make every transaction profitable for our partners, hence we are able to achieve higher mind share then our competitors with our partners. Creation of universal and achievable schemes and targets, supporting the partners to achieve them are some of the hallmarks for Optoma channel partner programs. In simple terms make sure that your partner is making profits with every deal that does wonders.”
Securonix focuses on building an extensive channel partner base
Harshil Doshi, Country Director - Securonix
“Securonix has a strong focus on building an extensive channel partner base. We identified that the lack of cybersecurity professionals is a key challenge for our clients and we have continued to invest on that front. Through our partners, we are able to help our clients find the resources that they need to protect themselves in a complex and ever changing threat landscape. The areas that we look into carefully while designing these partner programs are financial incentives, sales and marketing assistance, training and certification, technical support, etc. With Securonix’s next-gen threat detection and response platform, channel partners are able to deliver value to their customers and earn good profits.
We listen to their needs. We regularly conduct surveys to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback and measure satisfaction levels. The data from these surveys helps us understand key challenges that our partners are facing. We designed the Securonix Fusion Program in such a way which has a tiered structure with distinct partnership categories and corresponding levels of commitment, which include a wider array of benefits and more exposure through Securonix channels.
We at Securonix are constantly working towards providing our partners with a hassle-free service that is simple to implement and does not require significant amounts of time or manpower. As one of the leaders in Next-Gen SIEM, UEBA, and SOAR, our hyper emphasis on the channel strategy has resulted in a year-over-year increase in the number of new partners in 2022.”
ViewSonic caters to customers across categories and segments in India
Arindam Saha, Sr Marketing Manager-IT Business - ViewSonic Monitor India
“ViewSonic’s partner portal is a key initiative that we launched last year with the aim of strengthening our reach in the tier 3 cities. Under this, our tier 3 partners get their rewards/backend within the span of 15 days max in the form of an E-Voucher which is equivalent to cash nowadays and can be used to purchase anything.
ViewSonic as a brand has a very open process for feedback. Our portal directly allows customers to send messages and share their questions/concerns to the service heads or country heads to get solutions. ViewSonic caters to customers across categories and segments in India and we are also one of the only brands to have the widest range of product portfolio. We work on the model that as a brand we want to offer solutions for every need of our audience. As a customer centric company, ViewSonic thinks about its dealers and end users first. For the same we provide quick pay-outs to our channel partners, in some cases it’s even on weekly cases.
ViewSonic is also the only brand to offer 3+2 years warranty which further strengthens our position with the channel partners as they can pitch our monitors with full trust and reliability. We also provide the maximum number of demo units for customers and end-users to have a touch and feel of the product, helping distributors close the orders efficiently. We also focus on constructively taking and implementing feedback and suggestions to ensure the best solutions for our customers.”
Varonis’ channel strategy revolves around focus, commitment and rewards
Maheswaran S, Country Manager, India, Varonis
“Varonis is 100% channel driven and ensures all our sales and services business happen through channels. Our channel strategy revolves around focus, commitment and rewards to ensure our partner experience index is always high.
We have two categories of partners - partners who facilitate sales and act as our true extended team and partners who offer implementation and support services. The implementation services partner would tie along with our sales partners and ensure our solutions are deployed and supported efficiently. This ensures we maximise customer experience and increase opportunities for cross-sell/upsell with our existing customers.
The following are considered to establish a fair, transparent and efficient partnership model -
We recruit only limited but focussed partners, so we don’t spread too thin, and all our partners have a successful business relationship with us.
Transparent deal registration policies to ensure partners are confident that when they register a lead/opportunity we would be committed to work on the opportunity with them.
Design incentive schemes and enforce them effectively to ensure partner sales, presales and technical teams are motivated to engage with us consistently.
Recognize and reward success with our channel ecosystem based on metrics and not through perception.
Conduct QBR religiously with partner key stakeholders to share and take feedback, constructive criticisms and identify gaps, areas of improvement and implement them within agreed timelines.”
InstaSafe takes pride in calling itself a transparent organization among partners
Romita Das, Manager Distribution and Channels- Indian Subcontinent, InstaSafe
“At InstaSafe we first ensure that our Partners are InstaSafe enabled, for which we run various Partner enablement programmes and schemes. By achieving competency on InstaSafe products and solutions, partners can showcase that competency to customers, demonstrating to the end customers. They can also gain access to offers and resources that will help them connect with customers more effectively, improve their customer propositions, and ultimately increase sales and opportunities. When a partner is InstaSafe enabled, it always helps customers to choose the right partner which in turn also helps our partners and vis a vis our business.
As a brand we have always made it a priority to receive constant feedback from our customers and Channel partners. Certain areas of feedback includes, how our channel partners feel about working with us, how we can work on our partner program and make it more beneficial for our partners.
We as a brand take pride in calling ourselves the most transparent organization, with our own employees and channel partners. We also take the help of Partnership Relationship Management (PRM) tool to maintain transparency with the potential opportunities that partners bring. PRM tools remain the biggest enabler platform for partners to refer any sales or marketing collateral they need. As an organization, we always try to be omnipresent with the partner, guide them through pre-sales and post-sales support, we also build transparent GTM and partner strategies that set clear and unbiased expectations.”
Infoblox mission is to build long-lasting, profitable partnerships
Rajeev Sreedhar, Managing Director, India and SAARC - Infoblox
“The Infoblox “Skilled to Secure” Trusted Partner Program is built on our belief that success for all relies on helping our partners grow their technical competencies and knowledge. By levelling up in our new program, you are sending a clear message that your company is highly competent on best-in-class DDI and Cybersecurity solutions.
Partners can always send questions, concerns, and feedback directly to channelprograms@infoblox.com, or they can provide feedback directly to their Infoblox Channel Account Manager. Our mission is to build long-lasting, profitable partnerships that reward partners who invest in building the sales, pre-sales, technical, and professional services skills required to serve our shared customers from a position of expertise and trust.”
Acer's Partner Program is designed to meet diverse needs of businesses and consumers
Sanjeev Mehtani, Chief Sales Officer, Acer India
“Acer's Partner Program is well defined to provide unparalleled differentiation for the brand by delivering a wide range of benefits and support to its partners. With the partner program, Acer is committed to equipping partners with the necessary resources, tools, and incentives that they require to excel in the competitive IT market.
A key feature of Acer's Partner Program designed to meet the diverse needs of businesses and consumers. At Acer, we support specific programs centered on allowing our partners to access the options best suited for his market needs. Acer's range of products includes laptops, desktops, servers, and other IT solutions, expertly tailored to cater to different market segments and verticals.
Furthermore, Acer's Partner Program offers a number of value-added services and benefits. These include training and certification programs, marketing support, lead generation, and deal registration, all designed to help partners grow their businesses and achieve better margins by leveraging Acer's brand reputation, product quality, and superior customer support.
At Acer, we place great importance on the feedback we receive from our partners, as it enables us to enhance and refine our Partner Program strategy. To this end, we have established multiple channels that our partners can utilize to provide their feedback, which we carefully consider while making decisions that impact our program and partner experience. We also conduct partner surveys at regular intervals to gather feedback and insights on specific areas of the program, including training, support, and incentives.”
Skybox believes in prioritizing transparency in its partnerships
Melissa Keong, Channel Sales Director, APAC - Skybox Security
“At Skybox, we prioritize transparency in our partnerships and have built our partner portal on six pillars, which include the following -
Deal Registrations and Pipeline: We offer opportunity-based deal registrations that are valid for 90 days, allowing partners to register their deals and gain complete visibility into their registered pipeline.
Training: We offer a comprehensive curriculum for training on our partner portal, providing partners with easy access to training resources.
Rewards: We believe in recognizing and rewarding our partners for their business achievements. Partners can earn incentives for achieving their business goals, and the more successful deals they close, the more they can earn.
Sales Enablement: Our partner portal is equipped with various sales enablement tools to support our partners in their sales efforts. This includes co-brandable marketing campaigns that partners can use for joint messaging with Skybox.
NRF: We understand that partners have different licensing needs, so we offer options such as Demo, Partner Lab, or Proof of Concept (POC) licenses, which partners can easily download from our partner portal to meet their specific requirements.
Support: Partners can rely on our partner portal for support. They can raise and monitor tickets on behalf of their customers through the Skybox Partner Portal, streamlining the support process and ensuring efficient communication and issue resolution.
Feedback is an essential aspect of our partnership approach, and we provide opportunities in a few different ways. One of the channels for feedback is through our partner portal, where partners can provide their input and suggestions. Additionally, we regularly conduct calls with our partners to discuss their feedback and address any concerns or questions they may have. This enables us to maintain open communication and continuously improve our partnership programs and offerings to better serve their needs.”
40% of ManageEngine’s revenue is driven through its channel partners
Arun Kumar J, Regional director, ManageEngine, Zoho Corporation
“ManageEngine provides a comprehensive suite of products for enterprises to manage their IT infrastructure, which includes IT service management, IT operations management, unified endpoint management, log management and SIEM, Active Directory management, and analytics. With more than 40% of our revenue driven through our channel partners, it's important that our partners carry the right technical capabilities and domain expertise so that they deliver value to our customers by understanding their infrastructure challenges, positioning the right products, and helping them implement our solutions to meet their business requirements.
We work with transactional partners as the opportunities arise, and our partner programmes focus on working more with value-added-partners by engaging strategically with them and their products, ensuring they are certified, and developing joint go-to market strategies to drive business growth. We maintain a close community forum between our partners and product management to discuss the product roadmap, technology, and market trends. We also make sure our partners undergo periodic training sessions, which is another channel for both sides to exchange feedback.
Our partner program is based on an effort versus reward model so that partners with expertise with our products and this tech sector are compensated appropriately. We have established a deal-registration mechanism to ensure our partners are protected as they engage in opportunities in their respective markets. In addition, we have designed a market development funds (MDF) program for partners that creates awareness and lead-generation activities on their behalf.”
ViewSonic believes in becoming a trusted brand for new partners
Muneer Ahmad, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing - ViewSonic India
“A key aspect that sets our Partner Programme apart from industry peers is our focus on empowering partners and building strong relationships with them so that they can succeed in their respective industries. We understand the concerns of our partners and work closely with them to find ideas and solutions. Incentive partner trips are also an essential part of our programme.
We believe in including our eligible partner in these trips, fostering a sense of community and strengthening the partnership. Additionally, we offer special demo discounts to every partner and assist them in setting up their demo room to achieve maximum results. We also allow our partners to participate in exclusive events like conferences & expos, and summits.
We at ViewSonic mostly depend on our growth through channel partners. We understand the importance of receiving feedback from our partners, as it helps us in continuously improving our products and services. Our sales team regularly checks with partners to understand their needs and gather feedback. In addition to the direct communication mode, our partners can also use email and phone support depending on their preferences for sharing feedback, giving us multiple options for accommodating different needs. We emphasise designing a fair and transparent partnership model that not only holds benefits to the brand but also to our partners. Foremost, all our partners are treated equally and have access to the same kind of information, benefits and opportunities.”
Channel partners are the last mile in Vertiv’s sales channel
Dipti Singh, Director – ASI Portfolio (IRS) & India Marketing, Vertiv
“Establishing a reliable partner network is critical for Vertiv to establish relationships with our customers and drive growth. The Vertiv Partner Program (VPP) in India offers channel partners end-to-end, including easy access to sales and marketing tools, product documentation, and other partner-related information. Furthermore, our dedicated Partner Portal provides them with access to the most recent online and in-person training courses, with collaborative capabilities.
The Vertiv Partner Programme enables channel partners to be well-informed of all details of products and services, for best supporting their customers with recommendations or information. With a focused Vertiv Partner Program, they receive training, learn about all new offers, and build confidence in their understanding of the products to help in addressing any inquiries customers may have.
This year, Vertiv enhanced its Vertiv Partner Program further for channel partners. The expanded Vertiv Incentive Program (VIP) includes a dedicated reward store for resellers to purchase items ranging from the latest electronics and gift cards for interesting experiences.
We have also launched the Vertiv XR app to make it easier for our channel partners to view our products in 3D. Additionally, we’ve set up a Vertiv Marketing Center platform which enables Partner Portal experience with the latest marketing automation functionality. It is designed to help channel partners generate leads and grow revenue, by directing the right prospects to them.
We constantly motivate our partners to share feedback about our products and stay connected with us so we can provide continuous support to them. Our two-way communication channel also enables us to share product information or information related to upgrades with our partners in a timely manner.”
CLOUD COMPUTING
India is indeed a key growth market for cloud computing
The global cloud computing market size is expected to grow from USD 445.3 billion in 2021 to USD 947.3 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 16.3%. The overall India cloud services market, which was $2.8 billion in the first half of 2022, is expected to reach $13.0 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 23.1% for 2021-26. The cloud services market is seeing an uptake in India as there is a surge in digital services and organizations have realized the power of the cloud to help them transform digitally. Amid the ongoing funding crunch, Indian SME and startups are cutting their spends on cloud storage and renegotiating contracts with service providers including AWS, Google and Azure.
However, there is a massive scope for expansion with the cloud market expanding. With India being a key growth market, cloud service providers will continue to expand their presence in the country by unveiling new data centers/cloud regions, and enhance their service delivery capabilities.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: AWS, Azure, Google, Alibaba, IBM, Oracle, NTT, CtrlS and ESDS
Key Takeaway: The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) market is dominated by three hyperscalers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Many enterprises are going for Cloud repatriation, by moving applications and data from the cloud back to on-premises infrastructure or to a private cloud. Experts say that the cloud business in India has reduced from 20% to 5%.
CONSUMER LAPTOP
Remote working, online studying fuelling the demand for consumer laptops
The increase in demand for laptops can be attributed to more people working from home, as well as new government initiatives towards remote learning for students. The third-largest market worldwide, India’s dynamic nature and the accelerating push towards digitisation will fuel this potential business opportunity. The anticipation of a global recession, increased inflation and higher interest rates have had a major impact on PC demand. Since many consumers already have relatively new PCs that were purchased during the pandemic, a lack of affordability is superseding any motivation to buy, causing consumer PC demand to drop to its lowest level in years.
The surge in the adoption of laptops in educational institutions and increase in consumer demand primarily drove the growth of the laptop market in the last few years, during and after the pandemic. Though adoption of smartphones and tablets hamper the market growth to some extent, they cannot take away the entire share of the laptop market. However, owing to a huge shift in consumer trends, the gaming PC market has become much bigger than the consumer laptop market. In 2022, the demand for gaming units in India increased to 900 thousand units, as compared to 40 thousand units in 2016. PC shipments in India fell by 11.7% year-on-year (YoY) in the Q3 2022, the first drop after eight consecutive quarters of growth, as per IDC.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, Asus and Apple
Key Takeaway: The pandemic-led shift to remote work, which fuelled massive demand for PCs and laptops in the last two years, has started to fade. The presence of a large number of market players and the coming of technology to improve laptop productivity while reducing costs is expected to grow this market in coming years.
CYBER SECURITY
Cybersecurity market poised for significant growth in the coming years
With hybrid working becoming the norm, there has been a significant rise in cyber-attacks all over the world. Being one of the largest markets for internet usage in the world, India has in the past reported the largest share of users who experienced any cyber crime, nearly 30 percent higher than the global average. With cyber security threats today looming large and becoming even more sophisticated and complicated, the market is poised to grow in big numbers. Ransomware-as-a-Service continued to thrive with gangs such as Lapsus$ and Conti causing major financial implications to businesses. In India alone, lost business costs accounted for nearly 40% of the average total cost of a data breach.
The Indian government has made cyber security a national policy priority, creating task forces and engaging with the United States government (USG) to discuss cooperation, sharing information, and improving their cyber defense capability. Revenue in the Cybersecurity market is projected to reach US$2.50bn in 2023. The market's largest segment is Security Services with a projected market volume of US$1.25bn in 2023. With the growth in digital adoption, resulting in an increase of attacks online, the market is further estimated to gross over 15 billion dollars by 2023. Businesses are keenly looking at innovative tools to protect themselves from cyber-attacks and threats.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Cisco, Check Point, Palo Alto, SonicWall, Forcepoint, Sophos Kaspersky, Trellix and Thales
Key Takeaway: Demand for cyber security solutions is being driven by India’s dynamic digital economy. The study also stated that banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), IT, and government are the top three sectors with the largest market share in cyber security expenditure in the country.
DATA BACK-UP
Data backup market to grow manifold in the coming years
Rapid digitalization, the presence of SMEs & large Enterprises, and the growing adoption of cloud services are some of the factors that are fueling the growth of the data back-up market. It is because of this that this market is poised to grow manifold in the coming years. There has been a rising investment in sectors such as BFSI, telecommunication, healthcare, aerospace, and other end-user industries in this space.
With Cloud solutions helping to reduce downtime in the event of a data loss and make it easier to locate data, the usage of cloud technology is going to grow at a very faster rate. The data backup and recovery market size is analyzed to grow at a CAGR of 10.2% during 2022-2027 to reach $14.95 billion by 2027. Concerns about data security and severe data security regulations are expected to be a major restraint in the market growth. Talking about the India market, the organized data recovery market is at a nascent stage and there is still the dominance of unorganized sector players.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Veeam, Dell Technologies, Commvault, Oracle, Veritas, IBM, HPE, Hitachi Vantara and Pure Storage
Key Takeaway: The burgeoning need for data across industries has attracted several new players into India's fledgling data center industry, even as existing players are also ramping up big time. A report says that roughly 70% of businesses experience data loss. Regardless of the size of the business, it’s important to have contingencies in place for when disruptions inevitably occur.
DATA CENTER
India poised to be a global hub for data centers
The Indian data center infrastructure market is growing exponentially, with a growing preference for the Cloud and increased data generation and consumption by more than half a billion digital users. According to an ASSOCHAM-EY analysis, India’s data center market is projected to grow to $8 billion by 2026. With a strong focus on ‘Digital India’ and the rise of a digital economy, MeitY created a policy that accords infrastructure status to data centers.
The Central Government with various state governments are revising their data center policies to support the infrastructural growth of data centers in India through tax subsidies. As of March 2022, India had 138 data centers, which is projected to reach 183 by 2025. India ranks 13th globally among countries with the highest number of data centers, which means 1.5% of data centers worldwide are currently located in India. With the availability of a skilled workforce, low climate risk, cost advantage, and a favourable government, India is certainly well-positioned to become the world’s hub for datacenters in the coming years.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: NTT, Nxtra by Airtel, Yotta, Sify, CtrlS, ESDS, Web Werks, and Tata Communications
Key Takeaway: Digital services are becoming ubiquitous, thanks to cheap data, and 5G telecom services promising to explode. India needs massive infrastructure to store and manage the data deluge that is coming. The demand for data centers has been growing over the years due to several factors, such as the increasing adoption of cloud computing, the growth of big data, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), and the proliferation of mobile devices.
DATA PROTECTION
Concerns around data privacy to drive a robust demand for data protection solutions
The global market for Data Protection estimated at US$64.5 Billion in the year 2022, is projected to reach a revised size of US$116.6 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.7%. Factors such as Increasing data volume, government regulation mandating data protection, and rising concerns of critical data loss in the on-premises environment are expected to drive the growth of the data protection market. With the growing amount of personal and sensitive information being collected and stored by companies, governments, and other organizations, the risk of data breaches and misuse of data has become a major concern for individuals and society as a whole.
The rise in the number of data breaches worldwide as well as the emergence of digital transformation will create a consistent environment for the growth of the data protection solutions market. The Telecommunications sector is a prime consumer while the Banking & Finance sector will emerge as a core market going forward. AI is going to be the next big thing in the data protection ecosystem.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: IBM, Dell, HPE, NetApp, VMware, Nutanix and Veeam
Key takeaway: The data protection business in India presented significant opportunities for partners and service providers that could offer innovative and effective solutions to help businesses protect their data and comply with the new regulations.
ENTERPRISE LAPTOP
Growing use of laptops in different industries will push the market forward
Laptops continue to largely drive industry 4.0 and the ongoing digital transformation. As per the latest IDC report, the traditional Indian PC market, which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations, grew 0.3% YoY in 2022 to 14.9 million units. Enterprise laptops are seeing a growing use in industries such as healthcare, education, and finance for its efficiency in battery life, speed and power to keep up with a 40-hour work week.
Business laptops of today have gone beyond addressing basic work requirements and catering to a myriad of ever-changing customer expectations in terms of portability, design, high-screen resolution, and performance. Some distinctive features of business laptops today are wide screen display, enhanced processors, graphics and connectivity options. However, global PC shipments are forecast to continue a sharp decline in 2023. The enterprise PC market is also being impacted by a slowing economy. PC demand among enterprises began declining in the third quarter of 2022, but the market has now shifted from softness to deterioration. Enterprise buyers are extending PC lifecycles and delaying purchases, the downward trend which will continue until the beginning of 2024.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: HP, Dell, Apple and Lenovo
Key Takeaways: Worldwide PC shipments totalled 286.2 million units in 2022, a 16.2% decrease from 2021. PC refresh happens in cycles. The industry is past the highest cycle which was during covid-19, which is unlikely to happen again. The double-digit decline will continue for the next 2-3 quarters.
ENTERPRISE MOBILITY
Growing internet and smartphone penetration in India resulting in surge of enterprise mobility solutions
The global enterprise mobility market size was estimated at USD 26.4 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit around USD 182.6 billion by 2030 with a registered CAGR of 23.97%. Besides enterprise, the high demand for enterprise mobility solutions is also coming from SMEs, who are fast adopting cloud-based services. Various other sectors such as energy & utility, healthcare & life sciences, media & entertainment, retail and consumer goods, IT and telecommunication, and transportation & logistics are also largely adopting enterprise mobility solutions. The services segment continues to be the fastest growing segment of the enterprise mobility market.
The demand for the enterprise mobility market in India can be attributed to factors like growing internet and smartphone penetration, emerging mobility trends such as BYOD, CYOD, BYOA, and increase in data telecommuting needs. A report from GlobalData reveals that despite the drop in its value from US$860m in 2019 to US$800m in 2020, India’s enterprise mobility market will maintain a compounded annual growth rate of 5.5% between 2019 and 2024.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: VMware, Cognizant, Accenture, SAP, Microsoft, Infosys, IBM, Samsung and SOTI
Key Takeaway: The increasing mobile workforce and adoption of BYOD programs within enterprises to improve their workforce productivity allowing employees to work from anywhere, at any time, and using any device to access corporate data on the go has boosted the demand for enterprise mobility solutions.
MULTIFUNCTION/ ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER
SMBs are the key drivers of growth for MFPs
Multifunction printers are a common choice for small and medium scale businesses that want to consolidate assets and improve workflow. Despite the Indian printing industry growing at a tremendous rate, the market has registered a shipment of 0.84 million units in 2Q22 (Apr-Jun), which is a decline of 16.7% from a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) perspective. Verticals like government, education, SMB, Enterprise etc. continue to contribute to its growth. Channel expansion and e-learning are factors believed to further propel the growth of the multifunction printer market (both Inkjet/Ink tank).
The global Multifunction Printer (MFP) market size is projected to reach US$ 22940 million by 2026, from US$ 19820 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 2.5% during 2021-2026. One of the key factors that hinders the growth of the printer market is the high operating costs of the printer. For instance, the most affordable type of printer is inkjet printers, but they are expensive to operate. Nevertheless, the market is poised to rebound in the long run to create significant opportunities.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Epson, HP, Canon, Xerox, Minosha and Brother
Key Takeaway: There has been an increasing popularity for Ink tank products, whereas demand for ink cartridges continues to see a downtrend with shrinking home printing usage. Laser products would be affected by gradually weakening demand from the commercial segment as companies progressively move towards digital at scale.
NETWORKING
India’s networking market to be aided by government investment in public infrastructure
According to IDC, the networking products market in India which includes ethernet switch, routers and WLAN segments witnessed a 21.6% year-on-year growth in terms of vendor revenues for the third quarter of 2022 calendar year. The Chip shortage that continues to be an issue is expected to last at least till the first half of 2023. Despite multiple challenges that include delays in delivery, price increases, and a slowing global economy, the demand for networking equipment still remains unabated. The new normal is expected to propel more demand towards wireless owing to hybrid work and technologies like 5G expanding the edge.
The India networking market is expected to be driven by factors like the rising networking awareness and the growing need for more agile and efficient networking infrastructure. Government efforts such as Digital India are expected to have a major impact on the India networking market. The growth of India's networking market is aided by government investment in public infrastructure restoration and company spending in the telecom and banking divisions as part of the digitization process.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Cisco, Aruba, D-Link, Juniper Networks, ATI and Engenius
Key takeaway: The demand for networking products has been on the rise in India in recent years, driven by several factors. The increasing adoption of digital technologies, such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data analytics, has led to a growing need for high-speed, reliable networking infrastructure.
STORAGE
Advancements in technology are expected to drive the storage industry forward
The global data storage market witnessed a healthy growth in the historical period of 2018-2022, thanks to rapid digitisation. It is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 26% during the period from 2023 to 2028. With the growing digitisation and an increase in the number of active mobile users, the demand for data storage is expected to grow in the coming years, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Also, the sale of external hard drives and other storage devices in countries like China and India is driving the market forward.
Like previous years, adoption of All-Flash Arrays has been at its peak, contributed by an increased uptake of AFA specifically from banking organizations. Advanced technologies have paved the way for connected appliances and autonomous vehicles, which has prompted IT infrastructure companies to opt for the latest, advanced storage solutions, including flash memory and solid-state drives (SSD), for storing crucial business data. The data storage market in India has been witnessing healthy growth.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Dell, HPE, NetApp, Hitachi Vantara, Oracle, Lenovo and Pure Storage
Key Takeaway: The market is expected to grow further as a majority of the enterprises are preferring only AFA for all their primary workloads. Increasing demand for artificial intelligence and advanced analytical solutions will also boost the demand for AI-powered storage.
STRUCTURED CABLING
Adoption of IoT and 5G technology to drive the structured cabling market
Today structured cabling is evolving faster than ever before with the mix of network technologies being the most volatile while the overall growth seems to be very strong as well. The adoption of new technologies such as virtualization and all the subsequent advantages it offers are driving change. Customers have started looking into and deploying the future cabling infrastructure for their requirements. As more and more customers started building their data centers either as captive or as hosted, they have started deploying the infrastructure like 10G over Copper and OM4 fibers. Intelligence is going to be a growth area. Companies working in dynamic times have to keep making changes to their layouts.
Globally, the surging adoption of IoT, and spurring communication infrastructure are the key factors driving market growth. In 2023, the Category 6 Cable type is expected to hold the biggest share. Growing acceptance of 5G technology & improving broadband infrastructure globally is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the structured cabling industry. However, fluctuating raw material prices acts as a major restraint of the global structured cabling industry. Another major hindrance includes a large manufacturing interruption across Europe and interruption in Chinese parts exports.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: CommScope, D-Link, Legrand, Schneider, R&M, Strerlite and Polycab
Key takeaway: The rate of adoption of new technologies will continue to increase. Infrastructure continues to enable change and structured cabling continues to be a sound investment. There may well be a shift in deployment when we consider higher speed backbone technologies like 40G or 100G from copper to fiber.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
India is seeing a continuing growth for UPS systems
The demand for Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) has been on a rise over the years. The factors responsible for this are the inconsistencies in power supply which result in data loss, non-availability of essential services, risk to hardware, and potential financial losses. The largest demand for UPS is coming from the Asia-Pacific region that sees an inconsistent supply of power.
The India UPS Market was valued at INR 84794.76 million in 2022 and is expected to project a robust growth in the coming years, owing to factors like favourable government initiatives, and growing demand for power backup solutions etc. The Indian UPS market is segmented by capacity, type, and application. By capacity, the market is segmented into less than 10 kVA, 10-100 kVA, and above 100 kVA. The market is segmented by type into standby UPS systems, online UPS systems, and line-interactive UPS systems. By application, the market is segmented into data centers, telecommunications, healthcare (hospitals, clinics, etc.), industrial, and other applications.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: APC by Schneider, Vertiv, Eaton, Numeric, Luminous Microtek and BPE
Key Takeaway: India as a market is seeing a continuing growth for UPS systems across all the sectors, with residential households, small offices to large business enterprises. Industries like Residential, manufacturing, industrial, IT/ITES, BFSI, SME, healthcare, telecom, retail, education, and government make extensive use of UPS systems.
UTM (UNIFIED THREAT MANAGEMENT)/ NEXT-GENERATION FIREWALL (NGFW)
UTM and NGFW to continue protecting the network from new and emerging threats
Next-generation Firewall (NGFW) and Unified Threat Management (UTM) are designed for today's security needs of enterprises. While NGFW has seen large adoption among large enterprises, UTM has found its usage in the small and medium businesses. The increase in the number of sophisticated data breaches is the key driver for the growth of the UTM market. On the other hand, the introduction of a virtual firewall providing security to the virtual network will be a key opportunity for the global NGFW market.
NGFW and UTM solutions are designed to provide advanced security capabilities that go beyond traditional firewall functionality, such as intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. These solutions use a combination of technologies, such as deep packet inspection, behavioral analysis, and threat intelligence, to detect and prevent advanced cyber threats. The global NGFW market size reached US$ 5.0 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach US$ 10.4 Billion by 2028, exhibiting a growth rate of 12.5% during 2023-2028.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Check Point, Fortinet, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Sophos, SonicWall and Juniper
Key takeaway: As organizations continue to face new and evolving threats, the demand for NGFW and UTM solutions is likely to remain strong. Furthermore, with the growing adoption of 5G networks and the increasing importance of edge computing, these solutions will become even more critical for ensuring the security of data and devices.
x86 SERVER
India has proven to be one of the key markets for the x86 server market
The server market is evolving with the introduction of "As-a-Service" and "pay per use" models by server companies. The fourth-quarter 2022 global server shipments declined 7.1% from the prior quarter and 4.3% from the prior year. According to IDC, the worldwide server market spending will continue to decline in 2023 but is expected to continue with a CAGR of 7.7% in the coming five years. Amid the global economic slump, large US- and China-based data center operators are likely to further cut back their server procurement, with the demand from server brands also going to see a drop. IDC expects hyperscalers and cloud builders to do refreshes and expansion of their infrastructure steadily through 2026.
With businesses continuing to adopt a digital-first mindset, India has proven to be one of the key markets for the x86 server market. Professional services vertical spending was led by investments from fintech, cloud service providers (CSPs), telecom players, and IT/ITeS companies. Investment from banking in the server segment was high due to digitalization and application modernization projects, while the Government was another key vertical that contributed to this growth.
CHANNEL PLAYERS: Dell, HPE, Cisco, Lenovo and Oracle
Key Takeaway: As the business need to run multiple workloads from the edge to the core to the cloud, they need to deploy advanced servers which can optimize AI/ML and IoT processes for them seamlessly. Enterprises are increasingly showing the intent to invest towards modernizing the technology infrastructure.
