We will be opening 100 branch offices by 2010

SES Technologies is eyeing distribution of software and components in a
bid to fill the gaps in its existing product portfolio

What are your plans for expanding your distribution network?

This year, we have strategically placed sales representatives in our 18 to
19 sales offices. These representatives have greater understanding of the local
environment. As long as they are able to attain the minimum revenue requirement
that has been assigned to them for a period of two to three months, we will
continue to convert these sales offices into a complete branch office.

What is the motive behind adopting such a strategy?

We have set aside a goal for ourselves, whereby we will be opening as many
as 100 branch offices across the country by 2010. The most economically viable
way to do that is to first appoint a sales representative in the region and then
convert it into a branch office. It is not difficult to open 50 new branches,
but we also need to ensure that we test the feasibility of the location first,
or else it will involve too much of a risk.

This way, we will get sales from the very beginning, and also get to know
whether the location can sustain itself when we add stock, commercial and
technical support.

At the moment, we have 57 branch offices in India. In another three months
time, we will be opening as many as 30 new branches in the upcountry locations,
as the growth lies in these regions itself.

How have you revamped your strategies to ensure greater support to the
channel?

The economy is in such a position where there is a need to revisit our
policies. We have adopted a strategy, whereby we will be increasing the number
of partners that we have on board, so that our existing partners are not
overburdened with stocks at their end.

In November and December last year, we added 700 partners. In addition, we
work with vendors also and let them know that the channel should not be
overburdened and that we need to work with a large base of channel partners.

At the moment, we have more than 12,000 registered channel partners, out of
which about 55 percent of them do active business on a quarterly business.

What differentiates SES from its competitors?

We believe in having more partners who are concentrating on lesser volume of
products rather than having lesser partners and pressurize them with a large
quantiy that they will not be able to sell.

With changing times, we have adopted a strategy, whereby we will have an even
vast network of partners in place. This will ensure that the channel is not
overburdened with high volume of stocks. If we rely on small set of partners to
carry out our business, then we will not be able to generate revenues. With a
large partner base, the risk is diluted to a greater extent and this is the
business model that we will follow this fiscal onwards.

Are there any tie ups on the anvil?

We will be tying up with many software companies and concentrating more on
solution selling.

In addition, we will also focus on the distribution of components, including
LCD, monitors, keyboard, etc. This year, we will be concentrating more on
selling solutions. Our association with HP for their commercial range of
products and companies, including Systimax and Molex for their networking
products has helped us strengthen the respective vendors and in turn our
business.

Later, we will concentrate on selling components and focusing more on
solution selling as it is the demand of the business.

Our collaboration with Samsung India has helped both companies to grow and
expand. In addition, our focus towards distributing products that can be used to
provide value-added services to the end customers also helped us expand our
business.

Recently, we have been approached by Western Digital to sell their hard disk
drives and this goes to show that companies and vendors have now started placing
trust on us.

Pooja Sharma

poojas@cybermedia.co.in