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While Fluke is focusing on metros it also believes that there are many
opportunities in the upcountry markets. Alamuri Sitaramaiah shared plans for the
upcountry markets, which are on Fluke's radar. The company is also actively
scouting for partners who are willing to grow with them
Fluke Networks is currently focusing heavily on India. But is it not a bit
too late for this newfound aggression?
Fluke Networks is focusing on providing solutions in three key markets-data
and telecommunication, cabling installation and AMC contractors, enterprise
networks, and telecom service providers. We believe these three markets offer
immense scope for market growth as IT infrastructure is being increasingly
deployed by enterprises for supporting business-critical applications,
especially in core-banking, e-governance and ERP.
We believe that our solutions help customers plan and deploy an integrated
approach to IT infrastructure management by addressing all needs of
troubleshooting, monitoring and managing by SLAs. Our expansion plans leverage
the channels' reach and close proximity to their customers.
Are you looking at the upcountry market for expansion? Would this
expansion include rolling out new product portfolios?
Partners are key to market development and for reaching customers for Fluke
Networks solutions in India. Our immediate focus is on metros and we also
believe there are many opportunities in the upcountry markets. Upcountry markets
are on our radar and we are actively scouting for partners who are willing to
grow with us.
To bring in new channels we would conduct roadshows across the country and
also train our existing partners on new products and technologies, besides
giving them a refresher course as and when needed.
We would also provide our partners with demo products and focus on
software-based solutions, which have shorter sales cycles and better margins.
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Alamuri Sitaramaiah
Director-Sales and Marketing, India, Fluke Networks |
What is Fluke's channel structure?
We have a simple two-tier channel structure-distribution partners and
solution partners. We have national distributors with presence in all key
markets in India. We are looking to grow these numbers and better our customer
reach.
While looking to increase our channel base we would continue to build on our
OEM partnerships that include the ones like those with Cisco because we feel
that we many be able to get a better customer mind share. Additionally, the OEM
partnerships with their channels would be leveraged upon to extend our reach.
What new initiatives and products can be expected from Fluke Networks for
the India market this year?
We are in the midst of coming out with products addressing key customer pain
areas while they manage IT infrastructure, and also with feature-price points to
address the enterprise market. On the telecom provider side we are coming out
with specific products for addressing the Metro Ethernet deployment lifecycle
management.
Our products address a wide spectrum of customer needs, and would require as
wide a spectrum of partners with competencies in handling customer requirements
in key areas. As far as new products and solutions are concerned we would
leverage upon multiple technologies along with OEM partners like Cisco to
provide customers with integrated solutions.
Our focus verticals would continue to be BFSI, telecom, IT and ITeS besides
government. We are also looking to tap the SMB space and feel that partners are
the best way to get there. As an organization we are looking at a pan-India
focus and would expand into the North, South and West regions now and tap into
the East a little later.
How can the channel and the vendor community benefit from the current
evolution in the enterprise and telecommunications networks space?
The IT infrastructure management market is an underserved market in India
and is not adequately positioned when compared to the revenues that accrue from
sales of networking gear.
As businesses in India increasingly look to their IT infrastructure for
attaining a competitive advantage, and as IT becomes more and more IP and web
enabled, the infrastructure management needs of enterprise and telecom networks
will grow at a faster rate.
It makes immense business sense for channels to be seen as complete solution
providers by including IT infrastructure management products to their solutions
portfolio and address
this important aspect of enterprise and telecom network management.
Are you looking at entering the SMB space in India? What strategies would
you deploy for the same?
SMB is an important segment that Fluke Networks is focusing on in India.
Customers in every vertical that deploy business-critical networks that cannot
afford downtime or poorly performing applications are ideal candidates for our
solutions.
The strategy for the SMB segment is to approach them with products that
address their troubleshooting and monitoring requirements. Channels are a very
important part of this reach. Aside from that, as the infrastructure grows in
these organizations and the management processes mature, SLA-based management
needs will be addressed, again through the channels.
Subbalakshmi BM
subbalakshmibm@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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