<font color="#000000">15. INGRAM MICRO INDIA Channel Power</font>

Ingram
Micro India (IMI)–formerly Electronic Resources India Limited (ERIL)–recorded
a turnover of Rs 486 crore for fiscal 1999-2000, which marked a growth of over
288% over the previous year. And it ascended to the number 15 spot in the DQ Top
20 club from number 30 in the previous year.

A subsidiary of Ingram Micro, IMI is a
large national distributor in the country and deals with popular brands such as
HP, Compaq, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Mitsumi, Quantum, Seagate, Intel, Cisco,
Nortel, 3Com
and Lucent, in addition to its own Magix brand. In the last fiscal, peripherals
sales, to the tune of Rs 343 crore, brought in the biggest chunk of the total
revenue, followed by systems at Rs 104 crore. The southern region saw the
highest contribution of revenues at Rs 186 crore, closely followed by north at
Rs 140 crore. October-December and January-March were peak quarters for the
company, each registering over Rs 145 crore.

Originally
Spectra Innovations, the company became ERIL in 1998-99, and finally Ingram
Micro in 1999-2000, when Ingram Micro became a majority share-holder in ERL
Worldwide.

IMI, which has a presence in 18
locations nationwide including seven regional offices, designed a structure to
take care of the market in multiple layers. The first layer encompasses the
product lines that operate through its seven business units. These include
computer components, peripherals and printers, computers and storage systems,
networking solutions, supplies and consumables, application software and support
services.

Three independent groups, namely the
reseller sales for the commercial segment, electronic sales for the retail
segment, and corporate and systems sales for the systems integrators and
original equipment manufacturers, give a focus to the channel and market
segments. On the support and services front, the company extends its SPARCS
program–solutions, presales, application sales, reconfigurations, customer
care and support services.

One of the major reasons for the
company’s exponential growth was its reliance on IT deployment. IMI
implemented IM-Pulse, its in-house ERP solution for online real-time information
access and inventory control. With this, IMI also relocated its headquarters and
central distribution system to Chennai from its earlier base in Bangalore. As a
result of its sound IT infrastructure and its ability to handle multiple
products, the company added products of various brands such as Dax modems, PC
partner motherboards, Iomega back-up products and Ingram Micro-owned Magix.

In 1999, a mega roadshow-cum-exhibition
was organized in the cities of Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, in which over 13
vendor partners participated. As part of its geographic expansion, new branch
offices were opened at Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, Indore, Coimbatore and Kochi.

IMI plans to add more products to its portfolio and
continue with large infrastructural investments. It also plans to strengthen the
IT deployment and use it effectively for efficiently running the business at a
lower cost. The company will be looking at adding value to the customers through
innovative schemes. During the last year, for example, IMI offered flexible
buying options and support to its customers, such as the build-to-order
configuration on PCs and other products. The company also extended and promoted
its Revenue Execution Achievement Payments (REAP) program for its partners. The
use of internet for online ordering, inventory control and delivery status is
also being worked out. DQ