Confed to hold 2nd GT2GT meet

Chennai: Confed-ITA will conduct its second Get Together to Grow Together (GT2GT) meet in Puducherry on July 25, 2009. The meeting will see participation from 19 associations under Confed's belt, vendors and distributors.

“This meet would give us an opportunity to exchange notes, analyze problems, remove irritants and find solutions, which will further strengthen the bond between all the participants,” said PN Prasad, President, Confed-ITA.

The umbrella body of IT associations in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will take up its ambitious “Soul Project” in the meeting and plans to get the support of vendors so that the project could be initiated as quickly as possible.

Prasad also claimed that the meeting would be focusing on building stronger relationships between the vendors and channel partners. “There are too many issues that are disturbing the channels and we would discuss them in detail during this meet. However, the main focus would be on solving the service issues faced by the channels and enhancing the vendor-channel relationship. On the other hand, credit driven business is increasing the number of defaulters on a day-to-day basis and we will discuss how the credit facility can be properly managed between both.”

The other major issue that Prasad has been pointing out on a regular basis is the difference in handling of tier-1 and 2 partners by the vendors. He pointed out that the vendors offer price advantage to tier-1 partners, who in turn try to push their products in tier-2 regions competing with the prices of partners in that region.

“The difference in handling of partners in these two regions by the vendors is a serious issue, where most of the tier-2 partners are unable to do business in their regions. Most of the partners in these tier-2 regions are on the verge of exit and vendors should try to help these partners by strengthening their relationships with them, as after all these partners are also dedicated to their vendors,” he claimed.

The other major issues that would be discussed in the meet includes, vendor-dealer agreements, territory definition, uniform pricing across the state for all the dealers of a vendor, MRP stickers, warranty cards in all products, service delivery at upcountry locations, high level of piracy, vendor training to their partners on new products, hugely credit driven market, direct sales or institution sales at hefty discounts, delayed processing of dealer/scheme claims by vendors, warranty rejection on flimsy grounds, large turn-around times for warranty replacements and over dumping than the market size resulting is price cuts.

“It is the desire of Confed-ITA to gradually eliminate these irritants or hurdles which hamper healthy relations with vendors and profitability of dealers. It is also desired to generate a better relation between the vendor and their partners unlike the present situation,” Prasad claimed.

It may be noted that the first GT2GT meet was held last year in Madurai, where both Confed and vendors discussed various issues that were plaguing the channels and the relationship between both.