'We want our partners to act as consultants'

meet as many customers as possible to acquaint them with newly launched

products. He brushes aside remarks about depressed business, while outlining a

plan to help dealers get into a consultative mode with customers. After helping

APC position the UPS as an IT peripheral rather than an electrical appliance, he

has his sights trained on getting the channel to focus on selling complete

solutions rather than boxes. He tells  DQCI how he is equipping the channel

to keep pace with changing market dynamics.

We value add to any sales pitch that the dealer has to make to his customer

Suminderpal Singh

How has business been in these last few months?



To say business was depressed in the last few months would be a misnomer.

Business was not really depressed. We have to get over the double-digit growth

rate numbers. After all, this kind of phenomena is not likely to happen in the

next few years.

Companies today are not investing blindly. Companies are ensuring a tangible

result on all their investments. These have led to the feeling that the market

is depressed.

For us at APC, we have been focussed on products targeted at high growth

markets like banking and finance, telecom, etc.

Public sector and government investment is happening. We have also seen some

good projects come our way from VSAT vendors.

And customer meetings are a very important part of the agenda of this visit.

Plus I am also looking at getting feedback about products and pricing. And there

are a few product launches also scheduled.

Have you seen a change in the way business is done because of this focus

on RoI?



In markets like the US and Singapore, we are no longer selling products or

what is typically called ´box-pushing´. Products become an incidental part of

a solution that can enhance labor productivity. Labor productivity, in turn, can

be enhanced through the provision of stable infrastructure. And that is the

business that APC is in.

A stable network is the pre-requisite of any IT enabled service provider

today. Mere cost does not become as important as reliability. Today the entire

world´s back office work is up for grabs and companies that promise a reliable

network get the business. Incidentally a large number of call-centers today run

on APC. So the focus has shifted from selling a product to selling a solution.

What opportunities can be explored in light of this shift from just

products to complete solutions?



One has to bring the technology driven application to the customer first.

But one must also remember that technology adoption doesn´t happen overnight.

After the technology has been brought to the customer, it has to be evangelized.

Let the customer decide.

For instance, the concept of electronic bill presentatton and payment has

immense potential. There is a huge market out there that can be tapped. But a

channel network needs to be developed to reach out to customers effectively.

How can APC help the channel evolve from a box pusher to a solution

provider?



We realize that the ´value proposition story´ is best told to the customer

by the partner, whom he trusts. IT networks are primarily sold by the SI

channel. APC´s role has been to layer power on the network. This makes the

network offering holistic and the customer does not have to scout for a power

solution elsewhere.

With software solutions to manage power now more prevalent than before, the

SIs are better equipped to handle this. So our first task has been to position

UPS as an IT peripheral rather than an electrical peripheral. Next, we will add

value to any sales pitch that the channel partner has to make to his customer.

What is your vision for the channels?



Globally APC is a 100 percent channel leveraged company. We want our partner

to act as a consultant to the customer. This is an extension to our belief that

there is no better person to provide a solution to a customer than the first

point of his contact.

As economies evolve, customer service evolves. And customer service is

evolving very fast in India. We have to equip the channel to be able to keep up

with this rapid pace of change.

The future for any organization will be driven by customer service and it is

expected to be no different for a partner organization. We want our partners to

ask questions and get into a consultative mode with their customers as it will

only augur well for their bottomline.

´Getting the partners into a consultative mode´ is easier said than

done. Would this not need a high degree of specialized training?



It was working towards this objective that we split our team into three

management groups. These are home networks and SOHO, business networks and

facility and data centers. This was because the application defines what kind of

power is needed.

These management groups work very closely with partners to implement

solutions. In the process the partner is trained about the art of informed

questioning. This is very useful because customers, most of the times, would not

know what they would need in the future. So it is our responsibility to ensure

that the customer makes an informed decision. And we train partners to ask

questions that help them get the right information.

Are there any other efforts that are being made in this direction?



Yes, we realize that a single strategy will not take us far. We are

employing a number of means to ensure that our partners learn and earn too! We

periodically update the partners on various aspects of the power business

through APC Currents, our channel newsletter.

We also have a real time web-chat facility on our India web site. There is no

need of registration. The partner can get any query addressed. Also it is a

global initiative to ensure that all documentation is put up on the Web.

We are presently running a Reliability Provider Program also. The key value

add that the program brings is that it ensures profitability for the channel.

What can the channel expect from APC in the immediate future?



Immediately we are launching our range of Smart UPS Online products. During

my stint in India, followed by one in Singapore and finally in the US, I

realized that the power problems in this part of the country are quite unique.

After extensive R&D at our labs we have come up with these products. They

have a higher than usual input voltage window to take care of the fluctuation

problems here in India. They can either be used as a tower or as rack mount,

thereby lowering the cost of ownership.

The 1 and 2 kVA variants of the product are targeted at the banking and

medical diagnostic kind of applications. So we are going after very specific

vertical segments. In the long run we want to be seen as a serious player, who

are here to build their business and the business of their partners.

MOHIT CHHABRA in New Delhi