Surat Channel Appreciate Disti Support

Channel partners in Surat appreciated the support exten­ded to them by
distributors at the IT Panchayat, held in association with The DQ Week and DQ
Channels, which was organized at Surat, Lords Plaza on Nov 22, 2008. While in
most other cities where the Panchayat made its presence, the channel have
usually been extremely unhappy about distributors and the way they operate in
the market. However, this was not the scene in Surat.

The panel consisted of Abhinav Buch, Branch Manager of Redington India,
Mitesh Modh, Branch Manager of Compuage Infocom, Sanjay Sharma Branch Manager of
Tech Pacific India, Dharmin Shah, Branch Manager of Neoteric and Siddhartha
Hamirwasia, Branch Manager of Rashi Peripherals. Vinita Bhatia, the Executive
Editor of DQ Channels moderated the panel discussion.

In the due course of discussion Vishnu Thakkar proprietor of Sprint
Peri­pherals explained an incident wherein a distri­butor supported him in
solving an issue. He said, “I bought a DVD writer from a vendor and the company
didn't have enough buffer stock. I approached Dharmin Shah, Branch Manager of
Neoteric and he coordinated with the vendor and made my work possible.”

The audience rendering an ear	Vinita Bhatia, Executive Editor, DQ Channels moderating the discussion

To support the statement given by Thakkar, channel partners who were present
at the event said that they are also happy with the maximum support given by the
distributors in the region, which is better than vendors.

In the course of discussion Jignesh Jariwala, Executive Member of South
Gujarat IT Association (SITA) questioned Redington about taking over HP Plotter
service by Redington. He said, “Is it genuine on part of Redington to provide
the services directly? They should go through channel. Before we used to offer
HP Plotter related service, but now we have lost our customers as well as
business.”

Buch said that they are majorly into distribution business and not dealing
with sales and service. “You can approach the service team of Redington and
definitely they will help you in this regard,” said Buch.

The channel in Surat also discussed the need for technical seminars to update
and educate them about new technologies. Jariwala said, “We don't have enough
information about upcoming technol­ogies. We have to be provided with all
relevant information about new products. But no such seminars are organized by
any companies.”

Archana Swamy

archanas@cybermedia.co.in