SHOWCASE 2002: Business At Leisure

Ingram Micro India Pvt Ltd (IMIPL) organized its annual channel

event, Showcase 2002 at Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai. The three-day event saw

nearly 1,000 channel partners and 23 vendor companies participating. The first

day saw partners from northern and eastern region converging at the event, while

the other two days were earmarked for partners from southern and western region.

The common sentiment at Showcase 2002 was summed up by one

channel partner very nicely. "This is the perfect place for me to mix

business with pleasure. There are no compulsions to buy and no need to make any

commitments." he quipped.

The prime purpose behind the event was to bring vendors, channel

partners and IMIPL together on a single platform to discuss products, strategies

and programs. Says PG Kamath, VP-Marketing, IMIPL, "Our basic objective is

to provide insights to partners on how to make their businesses more

profitable."

Showcase 2002 also saw IMIPL launch two new web initiatives, Web

Warranty and eSolutions. These initiatives will help Ingram and its partners

compare products, get accurate pricing information, check whether products are

in stock and subsequently post an order.

Experience zones



The highlights of this year’s event were the experience zones and the

interactive discussion on topics of interest to the channel. Talking about the

experience zones, MJ Pramod, Manager, Marketing, Vikas Microchip says, "I

came here for the informal interaction and to see some new technologies. When

you are away from your local area of business, you tend to explore new avenues

for business. By incorporating these experience zones they have helped partners

like me to get a closer look and feel of the future technologies which we can

market." Though he agreed that there was no direct impact of the event on

day-to-day sales, an event like this helps in broadening partners’ knowledge

and awareness.

Rajesh Narang from Ample Technologies was at Showcase for the

first time. He was impressed by the arrangements at the event.

He was not the only one who was enthusiastic about the special

deals that vendors had devised for Showcase. Trend Micro, for example, was

offering 10 boxes of PC-Cillin at a special price of Rs 660 per box. The

original dealer transit price was Rs 900. Similarly partners could pick up two

boxes of NeaTSuite at Rs 5,600 per box as against the original DTP of Rs 6,000.

R Johnson of Chennai-based JS Software liked the event and

thought that it was a nice place to get updated on the latest technologies and

products. "It is also nice to interact with vendors year-on-year through

Ingram Micro," he said.

AKS Annamalai of Madurai-based Velanganni Computer World had

attended the previous Showcase held at Agra. He was able to sign up for more

products then and had come to Mumbai hoping to repeat the same.

K Suresh of Microwin had also participated in Agra and he too

managed to sign up with a few more vendors to sell their products in India. This

time around he came seeking some good bundled offers. While he was generally

happy with the way Ingram had organized the show, he did have a suggestion for

the distributor. "The interactive sessions should be made compulsory

because they offer lot of insights. I have noticed quite a few participants just

wandering around and then go sight-seeing in the city," remarked he.

The interactive sessions covered several key topics such as

warranty, profitability of channels, technology selling, how to sell services,

making VAR business work and business potential of B and C-class cities.

Partners from B and C-class cities felt that majority of the

products displayed were of high-end category and did not have much relevance to

their business. But they agreed that the event provided them a window of

opportunity. A few others said they had looked forward to more special offers at

the event which did not materialize.

Vendor reactions



Most vendors participated in Showcase 2002 to increase brand and product

awareness among partners. Says Ajit Pillai, Channel Manager, OBU, Trend Micro,

"We participated in this event to further our brand awareness. Also March

is the month when most people plan their purchases and we thought that if we

come out with specially priced packages, the channel will be more enthused to

buy our products." He added that the response was better than they had

expected.

Vivek Mehta, the newly appointed Indian Channel Manager of

Lexmark International said, "We wanted to highlight our products to the

cream of partners, who are focused on doing value-added business. Also we used

this event to remove every doubt that partners had with respect to

Lexmark."

Sanjeev Gupta, Senior Manager, Business Development, Asia South,

Iomega Pacific says he came to Showcase to interact with the channel and learn

if they had any problems with Iomega. This was also the itinerary of Sanjeev

Wad, Business Manager, Distribution Channel, Compaq. Says he, "The Showcase

is an ideal place to interact with our business partners and sign up those

channel members who are not selling our products."

Showcase 2002 was a mix of business and pleasure. Every evening

provided an opportunity for partners and vendors to mingle freely with

entertainment taking the centerstage.

VINITA SUVARNA-BHATIA in Mumbai