"We were implementing our software directly a couple of years ago. But it became a constraint and we had to engage channel partners"

Ramco Systems got into the channel fray two years ago, after realizing that
this was the only way to have more hands and feet in the market. Though, R
Shankar would like to add a couple of partners to the company's 15-member
fraternity, he prefers not to spread this network too thin. He is also trying to
change the general perception that Ramco is a networking major and is getting
people to learn more about its solution offerings.

Ramco has traditionally been known as a networking company. So why is it
suddenly focusing more on its application offerings?

The fact is that we actually started as a software applications company and
then we added hardware to our portfolio to give a complete solution to our
customers. We were one of the early pioneers of application software in India,
when there were not many competitors. So some of our customers requested us to
offer the entire solution, with the hardware. That is how the networking
business started.

But hasn't the networking business overshadowed your application sales?

No. 50% of our revenue today comes from application business and the rest is
from other products like networking and security solutions. We have a very solid
base for application, with over 250 customers in Middle East, Africa and India.

R Shankar

The reason why people associate Ramco with networking is because we have done
some extremely prestigious projects like the Mumbai Stock Exchange and Reliance.
Also we represent some international brands like Nortel and Checkpoint. But the
fact is that the company's focus is on the software business.

What is the profile of partners who offer your application solutions?

We now have 15 partners, these are companies with some experience of working
with corporates for enterprise-class applications and can consult customers
about these solutions.

These partners are meant to help a customer understand his business needs, do
a mapping of the solutions that will fit these requirements, and then take them
through the entire implementation process. This is to ensure that the system is
completely live within the shortest time-frame possible.

Will you increase the number of partners you currently have?

We will have a marginal increase but we don't want to spread ourselves too
thin. When Ramco does an implementation, we offer the customer a very
predictable experience. He knows that within a defined period the system will be
up and running, without any hidden costs.

When our partners are engaged, they are expected to reach these same goals.
To be able to do this, we need to support these partners very closely. They
would be trained to handle this entire deployment on their own.

How do you empower your partners to achieve this?

We help partners from the very beginning with joint calls to the customer
and drawing up of the proposal. During the first implementation, there will at
least one Ramco person involved. As more projects are undertaken, we will
probably be offering only off-site management.

To graduate partners up this value chain, we offer in-depth training on our
solutions and encourage partners to first deploy the application in their own
company, though this is not mandatory.

In the deliverables from Ramco, apart from the software, there is also a lot
of documentation to understand the application fairly well. The software is very
complex. So the whole idea is to give the customer an easy to use, implement and
train on product, through the channel.

Who does the customization of these applications for customers? Is it
Ramco or its channel?

If Ramco is doing the implementation of the applications, we build the
Extension Development Kits (EDK) for the customer and also encourage them to
build some for the life-cycle of the application. This helps them in making the
IT infrastructure transition, without the intervention of channel and Ramco.

This is also beneficial for the partner, because they are
freed of the burden of providing these simple tools to the partners often, and
can engage their manpower and assets elsewhere. The partners can also manage the
scalability issues of the customer, because we want them to be our interface to
the client.

What are the qualifying criteria that you have set for
selecting your partners?

One of the criteria is the quality of their manpower in terms
of certification and understanding enterprise applications. We also assess the
profile of customers that they have and their position in the market, before we
tie up with them. And sometimes, even vendors like Microsoft recommend partners
who can add value to our business.

The partner also needs to make some investment on getting his
people trained on Ramco's software. He needs to go through the initial
implementation methods and run-ins associated with it.

VINITA BHATIA