Western Region Special: Vadodara

Amit Shah      

COMPANY: AB'SFOUNDED: 1994

BUSINESS AREA: Solution provider for corporate and home buyers. Manufacturer and distributor of Creative UPS and stabilizers. Distributor for Samsung, Epson and Microsoft hardware and an IBM premier partner

STRENGTHS: Upscaling to newer technologies and focus on service throughout the state, either directly or through partners

WEAKNESSES: Conservative approach to business, especially in risk taking for new ventures. Unwilling to extend credit offered by bank to more than Rs 9 lakh for business growth

MOTTO: Be an ethical seller to be a successful partner

PLANS: To grow business horizontally and vertically, with a thrust on service. It is also developing software applications for corporate verticals like banks and hospitals

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 4.5 crore

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Rs 7 crore

OFFICES: 2

Hitesh Nalavade       

COMPANY: Creative Data Systems

FOUNDED: 1995

BUSINESS AREA: Systems integration for corporates and home segment, with the latter pitching in 60% to the company's
business

STRENGTHS: Service, especially as Creative boasts of a service turnaround time of three hours. It sells over 30 machines a
month

WEAKNESSES: Providing service even without getting paid. The reason is simple: If they don't do this, then the customer will simply go to another channel partner. Also, the parameter of service agreements are not
defined

MOTTO: Think positive, because what goes down must come up

PLANS: Investment in manpower skillsets is high on its agenda. Creative also plans to start distributing educational, gaming and application based CDs, where the margins are up to 30%

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 60 lakhs

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Rs 2 crore

OFFICES: 1

Nilesh Kuvadia       

COMPANY: IT Consultancy Group

FOUNDED: 1994

BUSINESS AREA: Software solutions company and authorised partner for Oracle, Microsoft, Novell, Veritas, Symantec, Network Associates, Computer Asssociates, Adoce, Autodesk and Symantec

STRENGTHS: Focus on technology offeringses, especially in the software space, has helped this company carve a niche for itself in the Baroda market. It is one of the few partners to offer facility management services to corporate houses. Also, software service is the mainstay of the business, rather than an offshoot. It creates simulated software environments to run
several software applications before deployment at the client base

WEAKNESSES: The company's expansion in the state of Gujurat has been slow. Most of the business comes from Baroda and Anand. Also, the company is slow on marketing itself and relies entirely on word-of-mouth publicity to get repeat
business

MOTTO: Get few customers, but keep them for life

PLANS: To go for the ISO 9000-2000 certfication. This will help the company to have a complete pathway for improving its existing systems and work processes. Expanding to Ahmedabad is also on its agenda

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 2 crore

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Rs 2.1 crore

OFFICES: 1

Paritosh Gupta      

COMPANY: Beam Computers

FOUNDED: 1994

BUSINESS AREA: Hardware and service provider for solutions, targeting corporates, governmental institutions, SOHO and home

STRENGTHS: Technically strong team with a full-fledged service setup. Also, the company is one of the earliest service partners for HCL and HP in the city

WEAKNESSES: Going overboard on service committments, even while taking a hit at the bottomline. This is because Beam Computers would like to keep a customer, even if it means going beyond the service level agreements. Also, it relies on vendors for credit for good orders, due to lack of internal funding

MOTTO: Try to excel in whatever you do

PLANS: As a newly appointed corporate reseller for Canon printers, it is actively seeking buyers in different verticals. It will also start offering QuantumLink mail server as well as its home-grown Beam servers for the SMB segment

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 1 crore

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Rs 1.15 crore

OFFICES: 1

CHANNEL SNAPSHOTS: Vadodara

The Baroda IT Association (BITA) has decided on not having any cash
transactions and accepts payments only through cheques to ensure complete
transparency in its dealings. This move was applauded by the members.

BITA has 186 members and hopes to take the number to 210 by the end of this
fiscal. However, the association is firm that it will take only those partners
who have Central Sales Tax and Gujurat Sales Tax licenses and have references
from at least two committee members. Membership charges are at Rs 1,000 per
annum.

This fiscal, the association will finalize its constitution, which has been
pending since its foundation in September 1997. Technical and commercial
seminars are also on the anvil. It will hold a cricket match to create better
bonhomie among members.

Partners in Baroda expect a GDP growth of 6.2% this year, with PCs and
components growing by 24%. Notebooks are likely to grow by 120%, says Secretary
Amit Shah, which heralds good business opportunities for partners.

BITA showed a profit of Rs 9 lakh in 2003-04, which came in from membership
charges as well as profits from its exhibitions and garba events. Some of the
key activities undertaken by the association include an IT fund-raising show, a
seminar chaired by management guru Sam Pitroda on 'Crisis in Creative
Management', IT Panchayat with DQWeek and registration with National
Association of Channel in IT (NACIT).

Its sixth annual IT exhibition saw over one lakh visitors in three days and
resulted in good business for partners. The garba also witnessed participation
from two lakh people, making it one of the top three festive event of the city.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

PRESIDENT: Rajesh Mehta

VP: Paritosh Gupta

SECRETARY: Amit Shah

JOINT SECRETARY: Piyush Shah

TREASURER: Jugal Mehta

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Jeetendra Rathod, Hitesh Nalavade, Paresh Patel,
Piyush Patel, Deepak Doshi, Harshad Patel