'Partners with a solution-centric model will be successful and survive in the long run'

After taking over as Intel India’s president almost a year ago, Ketan
Sampat is quite happy about the company’s progress report. He is betting on
2004 as a big year for mobility and wireless technology. And his message to the
channel is clear: Give a solution-focus to your business or else run the risk of
losing out to competition. In an exclusive interview with DQCI Ketan outlines
how Intel intends creating newer opportunities for partners.

What
would be Intel’s strategy for channels in 2004?

What we want to bring for our channels in 2004 is superior support in terms
of demand generation, devising very specific sales schemes, creating better
awareness about our products and setting higher benchmarks for our post-sales
support.

We would also be targeting 35 new cities in the current year. We at Intel,
realize that as the GDP keeps growing over 6-7%, markets would be created not
just in metros but also in smaller cities. And we wish to provide channels with
the opportunity to capitalize on this.

Our channels can also expect to see a lot of focus from our end in the SMB
space. Various user segments in the SMB space have unique IT needs. In 2004 and
beyond, we want to work closely with solution vendors and partners to develop
and provide solutions to meet the needs of the SMB customer.

The chemist program that we launched was a step in this direction. Moving
ahead, we have identified the customer segments comprising of doctors and
lawyers, who we believe are in need of some very specific solutions.

How do you think the landscape for channel business will change this year?

I think in the coming time, those partners with a strong focus on solutions
would be the most successful ones and will survive in the long run. Only with a
solution-centric focus will partners be able to differentiate themselves from
the competition.

Also, with incomes rising, demand for computing will get stronger in small
towns and cities. So partners would be seen working closely with the principal
to reach these geographies.

Also, with a very competitive set of product at an equally competitive
price-points Intel’s channel will have more opportunities to sell to a much
broader customer segment.

It’s been over three quarters since you took over as the president of
Intel India. What, according to you, are some of Intel’s significant
achievements in this duration?

One of the significant developments occurred on the laptops and mobility
fronts. We worked very closely with OEMs like Acer, Zenith, HCL and the likes,
to ensure laptops are made more affordable.

So
you would have seen price-points coming down and the adoption rate going up
significantly, in last six months. IDC predicts that laptops would witness a 50%
growth rate in 2004. However, I feel that when the final number-crunching
happens, this rate could be much higher.

Another significant development has been the conversion of users from
mainframe legacy to Itanium architecture. After the Itanium-2 launch, its
acceptance has also been very encouraging. The chemist program that we launched
was also an achievement worth talking about.

On the R&D front, we started the mobility and wireless design center and
the team there is actively working on developing solutions around the Centrino
technology.

So over all, if you see, we have made very good progress in achieving the
goals that we had set for ourselves.

From
an overall IT industry perspective, what were the few things that Intel thought
would happen and yet did not?

While we can feel good about 20% plus growth rate for the Indian IT
industry, the fact remains that the PC penetration in the country continued to
be abysmally low last year. Same holds true for Internet penetration as well.
The fact that information infrastructure is as important as the physical
infrastructure for a sustained GDP growth, still needs to get realized
holistically.

One of the changes that did not happen in 2003 and calls for the entire
industry to work towards it, is the bringing down of tariff rates. I hope in
2004, the industry can influence the government to bring down overall tariff
rates to below 15%. Once this happens, the domestic IT market would witness an
explosive growth.

GOLDIE