The Right Solution

In a bid to focus on the solutions business and the strategies required to
succeed, DQ Chan nels India organized a panel discussion on ‘Business
Strategies for Solution Providers’ at the DQ Channel Champions Awards. The
panel comprised Sanjeev Wad, country manager-Commercial Channels, HP India; Anil
Sethi, country manager, PCD-Channels, IBM India; Alok Gupta, director, Samtech
Infonet; and Anil Gupta, director, Artek Enterprises. Prasanto Roy, Chief
Editor, Business Magazine Group, CyberMedia (India) moderated the discussion.
Excerpts 

Attracting and Retaining Manpower

Anil Gupta: Several vendors provide excellent training programs, but
it is becoming difficult to retain that manpower. One can think of some schemes
to retain them so that they don’t leave.

Anil Sethi: Companies should find out who are the best employees and
then try out means to retain them.

Prasanto: What role does a vendor play in training?

Sanjeev: From the vendor perspective, I feel it is very important to
skill up partners. In a competitive market, only one thing can make you a winner
and that is one’s skill. We discuss about future trends and what is it that
customers look forward to with our partners.  

A High-Five for Wi-Fi

Anil Sethi: Educating the customer pre-implementation is the most
important thing and this should be done by partners and vendors together. It is
up to us to tell them about it.

Anil Gupta: The important point here is that when you selling a
solution, you are not selling are one brand; you are combining two or three
brands together. Herein comes the issue of choosing the right thing at the right
place. If even one component is incorrect, the whole project will fail. It is
therefore important for SPs to select the right components in a solution. 

Hot and Happening Areas

Alok: Security is one area where I would put my money but there is a
degree of difference in understanding its concept. For example, a BFSI industry
will give 100% marks for getting a good security solution in place, whereas a
services organization might not think like that. Disaster recovery is another
hot area to look forward to. So these are the two areas where one can get lot of
value.  

SME Willing to Spend Now

Anil Sethi: SMEs are the biggest growth engine for IBM and will be
one of the highest growing segments in the country. ERP for SMEs is becoming
popular and this is becoming the trend now. Since SMEs are very price conscious
SPs play a very important role in educating them.

Alok: It’s a challenge to sell to SMEs because you know that unless
you have the mindshare of the business owner and he understands the value of his
IT investment, you can’t get business. Most SME businesses are now worried
about how to survive. So the most critical factor is buying at a lower cost.

Samsung lost the Channel Champion crown to HP. Unlike last year, Samsung did not bag any Gold award but notched up two silvers for Best Marketing Support and Best Commercial Terms categories. Pradeep Gupta, CyberMedia publisher giving away the award to Samsung’s Aseem Kumar Apart from gold awards for Best Online Support and Best Brand Image, IBM also bagged the silver award in the Best Relationship Management category. Shyam Malhotra, Editor-in-Chief, CyberMedia publications handing over the award to IBM country manager of PDC-Channel Anil Sethi Ananth Lazarus of Microsoft India receiving the award from RK Malhotra of OA Compuserve. Microsoft bagged the gold award in the Best Software Product category ‘Gold is in’. With four gold awards in categories like Best Relationship Management, Best Marketing Support, Best After-Sales Support and Best Hardware Product, HP India was the new Channel Champion company. Seen V Krishnan receiving the award from Shyam Malhotra Intel’s GB Kumar receiving the Best Commerical Terms gold award from Prasanto K Roy, Chief Editor of CyberMedia’s Business Magazine Group. Intel also bagged the Best After-Sales Support silver and Best Brand Image silver award among other awards

Anil Gupta: They have very little IT knowledge, which is a major
problem and so getting business is not that easy. They expect more handholding,
as they want to know more about IT. And that is precisely where a SP can prove
his worth and get good business. 

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