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D-Link India's forte has been that of a VFM brand with good sales and
spot-sales support. Now, Cisco is also eyeing the SMB space, which has been
D-Link's domain area for sometime. Dalal makes it clear that SMB will be its
focus customer vertical irrespective of which other vendors are in the market
It has been sometime now since you took over as the CEO of D-Link India.
What has your learning been so far?
It has been a good time this past year and I have managed to achieve
everything that I had set out to in D-Link. The first few months we worked on a
total revamp of D-Link's operations to make it more efficient. It is my belief
that the IT networking market is finally coming of age and with that the SMB
business too is growing. Allied to that is my belief that the customer needs
more localized solutions.
This is precisely why we have invested heavily into our local R&D center, own
manufacturing facility, self-contained service centers, etc. These initiatives
will add to the well being of our channel partners as well.
In the past one-year, we have paid a lot of emphasis on strong leadership and
a scalable organization, which is built keeping in mind the potential size of
growth. We have been putting processes in place so that our operations are
people-independent.
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Jangoo Dalal
CEO, D-Link India |
What are some of the initiatives you have undertaken?
We have implemented an Oracle-based ERP system in an endeavor to automate
our procurement and management processes. With this, our inventory is in place
and this is a boon to partners in the upcountry because it will ensure quicker
turnaround time for delivery of products.
We will also be implementing this ERP system initially for few of our
distributors. Then based on their feedback, we will extend it to our entire
distributor base. We will gradually be rolling out other initiatives for our
distributors and channel partners. These will call for a cultural change in
mindset, which is why we are doing it in phases.
Do you still sell direct?
We do sell direct but that is in very select cases where our participation
is needed. Over the years, we have brought this percentage down to less than
five percent of our overall business.
What are the cornerstones of D-Link's business?
Our distributors are the cornerstones of our success. We have 22 exclusive
distributors in the country, and we route all our business through them. Working
with this model means they too have a scope for growth. This is why we have been
concentrating on strengthening all aspects of our business by ensuring the right
product mix, R&D, local manufacturing and a robust service set-up.
What are the other initiatives that the channel can expect from D-Link?
We have recently launched the Empower Partner Program, where we give the
channel branding and recognition. Here our registered dealers get pre and
post-sales as well as technical training every quarter. Also, when a product is
announced, we give their teams hands on training. We spend 15 percent of our
market development funds on training our partners.
Partners have stated that they are unsure about the area that D-Link is
now focusing on. How will you deal with this confusion?
It is true that our prices a bit above what other vendors might be offering.
But we offer a better support set-up as well. We invest into process, R&D and
manufacturing unit. Despite this, we have to keep an economical price. That is
probably why there was confusion about our customer focus.
VINITA BHATIA
vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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