Known as the land of intellectuals and music aficionados, Kolkata is also termed as the homeland of Dr. Rabindra Nath Tagore and Mother Teresa. Kolkata has developed from a fisherman’s village to that of one of the large markets for the Indian IT industry in the world. The city symbolizes creativity and vibrancy with all the modern amenities available. Though adapted to the modern trends and techniques of the world, it still has not shed its laidback lifestyle and the calmness of hey days.
One among the modern advancements is the Information Technology business hub at Salt Lake, a satellite township. Until recently, irregular production has always been the norm in Kolkata, and the informal sector comprized more than 40 per cent of the labour force. In fact, Kolkata’s economic revival was led largely by IT services, with the IT sector growing at 70 per cent yearly that is almost twice that of the national average.
In recent years, there has been a surge of investments in IT. It was during this revival age that Alco InfoTech (P) Ltd. appeared on the scene.The genesis of Alco InfoTech goes back to the year 1997 when Pankaj Kedia, Director of the Company, started his business with only a few IT products. Since its inception, the company has been in the business of software, networking & hardware integration and IT consulting.
The journey was not smooth and straight until 1999, when he joined hands with Microtek products. This proved the turning point of the company. His mission to thrive on the quality of products and the philosophy to maintain the standards of services might not have always supported him in business, but his loyalty and perseverance always led him to the right and glorious path.
With a line-up of products like Microtek, LG, Samsung, Frontech, Mercury, Logitech, Kingston Memory, Transcend Memory, IBM Memory & Spare Parts, Iomega, Intel, Sony; Kodak, Seagate, Wipro, Canon, Epson, TVS-E, HP Peripherals, HP Storage, Asus, Gigabyte, Umax, Adaptech, APC, Emerson UPS, Upbeat UPS, Microsoft Hardware & Software, D-Link, AMP, Avaya, Linksys, CISCO, 3com, Pinacle, Enter Multimedia Products and such others, the company is definitely going from strength to strength.
Pankaj says that he is still trying to understand the competitive dynamics of the business. His company deals with almost seven hundred dealers/resellers. Still, they are making continuous efforts to increase their dealership and clientele as well as keep a track of changes in the information technology in future. With a product line comprising Imation, Sony, HP, Epson, Samsung, Intex, etc., they have surely come a long way. The main aim of the company is to conduct good business as well as provide customers peace of mind and satisfaction. Therefore, quality products and good service support are of paramount importance for the company than the mere spread of its network.
Pankaj seems to be in no hurry to expand the business in other geographical areas and would rather decide about the expansion plans in course of time. He feels that though for a successful business it is very important to give equal importance to the top- and bottom- level products, the company focusses more on Samsung, LG, Intel, TVS-E, server accessories and laptop accessories.
Basically, the clientele consists of resellers as well as corporate customers. Having more than 700 channel partners and a firm believer in honesty, trust and faith, Pankaj believes in doing clean business and seeks the vendors’ long-term vision and a sustained relationship and the only part he wants his vendors to improve upon is their incentive pattern.
“The strength of the company lies in the fact that they are technically strong and have a dedicated team, in addition to strong product profile,” feels Pankaj. According to him, the second quarter of 2007 would witness some new products in the company’s kitty.
Finally….
With a team of seventeen people, Alco InfoTech now wants to revolutionize its business. And, for this they are focussing on the SMB segment, as there is a vast scope for growth and margin in this sector.
