'New channel policies will drive our IT business this year'

At a time when Samsung India is going through a restructuring phase-the

company is in the process of injecting much-needed vigor within its vibrant

channel community-GM (IT Business ) Harry Ahn speaks about the company's

channel policies to Zia Askari of CyberMedia. He also discusses the impact of

the resignations of some key personnel.

What were the specific reasons for so many senior people, including Vivek

Prakash, leaving Samsung?



We look for honesty, integrity, and loyalty in our employees, who adhere to

the company's systems and processes and do not compromise our value systems.

While I would not like to comment on the specifics, I would like to say that as

an organization, we continue to focus on strengthening the systems and processes

to make our IT business grow stronger and more profitable for our trade

partners.

What is the current organizational structure for Samsung's IT business

in India?



We will continue to structure the IT business division as a value and volume

business. While the value business will be headed by Princy Bhatnagar, we are in

the process of selecting a new head for our volume business. Meanwhile, the

product teams under the volume and value business heads continue to remain

unchanged.

Harry Ahn

Barring Anil Chandna, product manager-Laser Printers, who has joined us

recently, all other product managers have been with the company for around three

years, and constitute our core team. We are also strengthening the IT sales

staff by adding 10 sales managers across the country to address the corporate

reseller segment. I am directly handling the IT business, and we will also get

the support of Ravinder Zutshi, the deputy MD. 

According to a few channel players, these resignations have left a vacuum

at Samsung India. What steps are being taken to make sure that channel partners

enjoy the same level of vibrancy as before?



We seek to strengthen our IT business as well as grow the business of our

trade partners. Our new guidelines for the channel this year: Star Elite

partners will enjoy special programs to offer performance-based differential

support. Star partners should not carry more than 10 days inventory since we

would not offer price protection on dealer stocks.

On the retail front, we will drive Samsung business through our brand stores.

We have identified 1,400 SIs with whom we will work closely to promote Samsung

products to end-customers. Large deal pricing support will be provided only

against end-user confirmation by Samsung sales team and receipt of order

details. We will focus investments in developing note PCs, TFTs and MFPs market

size. These three would form the growth engine for us this year.

There are rumors of resentment amongst the Samsung Star Elite partners due

to several pending claims. What is Samsung doing to resolve these cases and by

when?



We have cleared a significant proportion of pending claims and are carefully

sifting the others to segregate the genuine claims from the false claims. Our

endeavor will be to clear all genuine dealer claims at the earliest and I think

we should be able to do so within a month's time.