Our goal is to penetrate the market through certified channel partners

At 31, Bijal Mehta is already a seasoned entrepreneur, who brings to Icode more than 10 years of experience in software engineering and development. Since 1994, he has been promoting Accware, Icode's flagship product. Bijal is a graduate from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA, in electrical engineering and computer science. In an exclusive interview with DQCI, Bijal outlines the company's initiatives for the Indian market.

What investments is Icode planning for the Indian market?

Icode was incorporated in Delaware and India is the second country outside US where we started our sales and support offices. In terms of manpower we already have about eight to nine people in Mumbai and Bangalore. Within the next 12 months we plan to have offices in New Delhi and Chennai. We are also looking forward to appointing several authorized channel partners during this time frame. Our goal is to penetrate the market through certified channel partners and we reinvest most of what we earn to grow further. 

From our standpoint, India is a definitely a good strategic market. We have received about 6000 enquires from 75 countries in the past eight months and India is topping that list. 

Though the B2B transaction model is catching up in the market, several small and medium business houses are still not ready for this environment. How do you expect your product to generate revenues in this scenario?

India has several limitations when it comes to adapting the e-business environment like hardware, which is clearly the basic requirement for any kind of business. But many industries have now invested in computers and we see it as a form of automation. Any PC that is out there in the market is a potential target for us. 

Though e-commerce is a mode of doing additional business, people feel that it is going to take over the traditional model. Well, that is not going to happen, but several vendors are going to adopt e-commerce as a viable mode of doing business. Existing businesses will be e-commerce-enabled in due course of time. 

However, before even enabling e-commerce, enterprises should automate many of their internal operations, which will help them to bring different elements in the organization together. 

Investments in the latest technologies in terms of hardware or software are assets, which pay for themselves. We also plan to educate the Indian marketplace with its advantages. When it comes to bringing the enterprise operations together, India is still in its infancy and we are working towards developing this market.

How do you plan to flourish in the Indian market?

Through resellers of course, as we believe they are the best vehicle to reach users effectively. We will also open regional offices in strategic locations in the country to provide sales and services support to them. Partners have the highest significance for us. We offer tremendous opportunity for resellers who can add value to their customers by automating their internal and external operations by getting certified as an e-business solution provider.

What benefits does an Icode business partner enjoy?

The growth and success of any business depends on customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention. Icode has been successful in providing the highest level of products and services by attracting some of the best talent in the industry. 

Icode always seeks quality organizations to represent, sell and support its leading edge software products. Becoming an Icode Solution Provider allows an organization to provide real value to SMBs in wholesale, retail, distribution, mail order, and service industries. 

Icode Solution Providers not only earn good profits from selling our leading edge software products and from implementing these products and providing software services, but can also look forward to continuous revenue. 

Does training and reseller programs hold an important place in your business model?

Currently, we have the Icode Certified E-Business Engineer (ICEE) in place, which is a three-week paid training program for channel partners. Resellers who qualify to become Icode's authorized channel partners will undergo this training. These sessions help them to install, troubleshoot and integrate our products effectively. The costs are significantly lower compared to other software trainings in the market. We are also planning to join hands with training institutes like Aptech and NIIT to create pockets of training centers for our resellers. 

Icode offers several reseller programs that are tailored towards various business models. Just like we seek out customers for whom our software is a good fit, we also look for resellers whose business model allows our product to be positioned in the market efficiently while providing them with healthy profits. Icode Solution Providers also benefit from our team of engineers around the globe, who can assist them in any aspect of the sale or support process.

What is your long-term plan?

Within three years, the company plans to expand its worldwide base. By 2002, officers of the company will have assessed the nature of the formal expansion. The foremost options are to acquire an existing packaged solution vendor with a large installed customers base and similar mission statement or to go public. 

An acquisition will center on competitors or dominant players with similar or complementing technology, but with an existing client base or sales infrastructure. Icode will selectively evaluate all options including an initial public offering based on an assessment of increased sales potential prevailing market condition, increased market share, increased R&D benefits and the extent to which management is willing to relinquish control, at the time of expansion. 

Sunila Paul in Bangalore