CA identifies banking automation as growth area

With the Reserve Bank of India's guidelines to the banking industry to computerize their functioning, CA is zeroing in on co-operative banks in B- and C-class cities as a high-growth area. Says Kaustubh Patki, Manager for Channel Marketing, "Data is highly crucial for banks and we find that our products are best suited for the co-op banks in small cities."

In a bid to make inroads into the B- and C-class cities, CA India will soon come out with channel marketing programs for the country. Though some global programs were in existence in the past, the company had not been pursuing it with fervor. But with the appointment of Kaustubh, these programs will be more regular and consistent in nature.

Says Kaustubh, "We know that the best way to reach end-users is by going to market with our channel partners. Therefore, CA is making a consolidated approach at regional activities and education drives for its partners." 

A unique feature of these programs will be forwarding qualified leads to partners. CA will engage with agencies to get databases of companies that can use its solutions, organize seminars for these prospective clients, understand their individual requirements, the urgency of the solutions required and then pass of these leads to partners operating in the client's geography. "We will thereby reduce the pre-sales cycle and the partner will have to focus only on making the sales and post-sales support.

CA India's business can be broadly categorized into storage and security. While it has managed to entrench itself well in the storage space, it will now focus its attention more on the security solutions. Almost 7-% of CA's business comes from storage solutions deployment, and Kaustubh says that the company would like the bring the ratio between storage and security to 50:50.

VINITA BHATIA

MUMBAI