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From discussing Green IT, manpower retention issues, to dealing with IPOs
or managing fund management, mergers and acquisitions; SPs attending the third
DQ Channels SP Summit in Andaman, had their platter filled with knowledge on
various issues of concern. But they did not miss out on a bout of snorkeling and
karaoke singing
The third edition of the DQ Channels SP Summit, held at Port Blair in Andaman
between January 18 and 20 saw the participation of nearly 100 channel partners
from across the country.
Conducted in association with Sun Microsystems, AMD, Linksys, Siemens PLM
Software, Airtel Broadband Solutions, Emerson Network Power, Lifesize
Communications, Realtime Systems and AOC, the summit served as a platform for
conversations on business, market and industry trends.
The event began with an inaugural address by Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor, DQ
Channels, who said that the year 2008 and beyond will be a big challenge for
solution providers especially those focused on the SMB space. “The focus of most
IT companies will be the domestic market and solution providers will have to see
how they can better their services and maximize on the growth opportunities
thereof,” he noted.
Green is in
The first session of the summit was a panel discussion on Green IT. The
panel was chaired by Prashanto Kumar Roy, Chief Editor, DQ Channels who
mentioned that the driver for Green IT in countries like India is the huge
shortage of power, which leads enterprises to invest in IT Infrastructure that
can accommodate power back up. “This in turn means greater cost,” he reiterated.
Agreeing with him was Sandeep Nair, MD, Emerson Network Power who said that
CIOs globally must think of deploying the right kind of equipment that can help
save power. Sharing his thoughts, Sudhir Nayar, Director-Partner Sales, Sun
Microsystems said, “As a first step towards Green IT, Sun has gone in for
consolidation of its own servers. By doing that, we managed to increase
performance and reduce power consumption considerably.”
Mergers, acquisitions
RK Malhotra of Velcosis Systems, who made a presentation on Handling Mergers
said, “People retention is a key challenge during a merger because people's
expectations post merger will increase. The level of commitment and involvement
of employees tend to decrease. So it is important that an HR process be put in
place to meet the changing needs.”
Speaking about his own experience, K Jagannath of Choice Solutions said that
although his company's proposed merger with Locuz was called off, the experience
taught them the need to employ a professional consultant and consider the merger
option after due consultation. The third session was on Acquisitions and
included a presentation by Sanjeev Bhavnani of Visesh Infotechnics who said that
acquisitions need a lot of thought.
Speaking about Visesh's various acquisitions, Bhavnani said that if one is
clear about how he wants to grow, then inorganic ways of expansion be it mergers
or acquisitions are a good option.
Manpower retention
Addressing a session on 'Manpower Retention' Shyam Malhotra,
Editor-in-Chief, Cybermedia said, “Manpower retention occupies the mind share of
most CEOs. The need of the hour is more time and budgets to address the issue
proactively.”
Some of the tools that organizations can adopt to ensure people retention
according to him include showing a clear growth path for the employees,
delegating various responsibilities and giving power for decision making so that
a sense of ownership prevails.
IPO, fund management
Addressing a session on IPOs, Bimal Raj, CEO of Allied Digital Services
said, “System integrators (SIs) must choose to go along with a category-one
investment banker because they can give the right advise for the IPO process.”
In a related discussion on fund management Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia
said, “For most businesses the concern is not just about taking funds but where
to take it from. Whether venture capital (VC) is a better option or IPOs are a
way out, seems to be the concern.”
Participating in the discussion, Devendra Taneja of PC Solutions said that
his company had grown through internal approvals and did not opt for either VC
funding or private equity. “We kept our focus on bottomline and have met all our
fund requirements through internal approvals. We are a zero credit company
today,” Taneja indicated.
According to Sanjay Modi, Chairman and JD, Realtime Systems, VCs look at a
company's growth plan and scalability before funding. “VCs invest in companies
which have a clearly defined growth path and show consistency in their
profitability,” he stated.
IDC: Growth phase 2.0
Partners assembled at the SP summit also learnt about 'Domestic IT Market:
Beginning of Phase 2.0' from Kapil Dev Singh, Country Manger, IDC India. He
noted that the years 2007 and beyond will see a new phase of growth that would
revolve around the domestic market. Mobility and convergence will be key trends
while infrastructure management will be a challenge. Panel discussions apart,
the event saw presentations by various sponsor vendors who spoke about their
organizations, products and solutions and dealt with their partner engagements
as well as various partner initiatives.
Work done, channel partners got an opportunity to look around Port Blair. The
highlight of their in-city excursion was a trip to Coral Cove and North Bay
where partners went snorkeling to watch the corals and touched base with the sea
from very close quarters. If one were to judge by the look on their faces, it
seemed that partners not just enjoyed themselves at the beach but were actually
thirsting for more!
DQC News Bureau Page(s) 1
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