21. Best could've: Been Better

The Best IT World took some strategic decisions to beat the downturn, one of which was the self-branding exercise for its 'i' family of products. This initiative helped the company overcome the slowdown albeit marginally by two percent to touch Rs 90 crore. The company also slipped in its ranking in the DQCI Silver Club from #20 last year to #21 this year.

After successfully launching iBrain motherboards the previous year, Sandeep Parasrampuria continued to invest in the ґiґ series. He added the iBall (for a range of mice), followed by iKey (for keyboards), then iSmart (for CD duplicators and USB hubs). Soon he will be adding iSound -- a range of multimedia speakers. Also in the offing are digital cameras.

The Best joined hands with Metal for an exclusive distribution arrangement for its memory modules. What made this alliance very fruitful is Metal's policy of replacing faulty products on the spot, under the warranty period. The Best leveraged this strategy to the hilt, which increased the brand awareness among systems integrators.

It also became an OEM partner for Microsoft products. Another major tie-up was with Microtek for distributing monitors.

MEASURES THAT BROUGHT MOOLAH: Exclusive distributorship for Metal memory modules Worked towards creating a national presence

Besides being distributor for some major companies, The Best is also a sub-distributor for various other vendors.

Taking a prudent view of the slowdown, The Best decided not to concentrate much on online transactions, because it felt that the market was not ready for it. Instead during the year, Sandeepґs objective was to develop the channel segment and create a national presence by expanding the company's reach. The Best today has seven branches. By March 2003 another six will be added to this number. The company is projecting a turnover of Rs 105 crore for the current fiscal.