| WHO IS SPENDING WHAT? A lot of SMB customers are fast realizing the benefits of implementing an ERP
or SCM solution to enhance their productivity and strengthen their back-end
operations. It is in this space that application vendors need to be aggressive.
Having said that, the issue out here is also the cost of these solutions and not
many SMBs in India can afford to invest heavily into it.
"The role that small or mid-sized partner organizations play is by
providing these customers affordable solutions," says Deepak Marwah,
Country Sales Manager, Navision Software India.
Ravi Kathuria, Director, Marketing and Enterprise solutions, SSA Global
informs that the company is in the process of tying up with traditional hardware
resellers who are looking at newer areas in order to improve their margins. They
can help us identify the prospects since they maintain close relationships with
a broad customer base and are well-versed with their needs. "They become
account managers for us and we work together to close the deals," he adds.
Tier-2 and tier-3 partners at this stage can only sell solutions as products
developed by vendors and the large tier-1 partners like Wipro and TCS. These
products or solutions are more or less customized to meet customer requirements.
"However, to be able to move up the value chain of solutions, these
partners will have to increase their competency levels," explains Alok
Gupta, CEO, Softmart.
As far as issues of support are concerned, vendors have to work very closely
with partners, providing them extensive training and adequate infrastructure for
demos and prototypes. "We have lowered the initial investment cost for
end-customers and positioned our offerings for the SME segment in an affordable
manner. Our latest entry-level solution for SME is available at an initial cost
of about 8.5 lakhs, which is fairly affordable for them," says Sanjay
DeshMukh, Business Objects.
Domain expertise is an utmost criteria for a partner to venture out into this
space. Unless a partner is capable of delivering up to the customers'
requirements, he cannot survive in the application space. "Also, partners
should be able to work on an O/S platform from the scratch, when it come to
developing niche solutions," notes Sanjiv Bhavnani, CEO, Vishesh
Infotecnics.
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