Why is PCAIT inactive?

Greater common good is apparently not such a great thing after all. PCAIT, The Progressive Channels Association of Information Technology, which was once considered a path breaker in terms of taking up issues for the channel community has been all but silent in the last few months.

The last time the association held its annual general body meeting was in January 2007, while the last meeting of the executive council was held almost six months ago. In fact for the last few months the New Delhi-based channel association has not indulged in any concrete activity or announcement at all.

A fact that even the executive members of the association agreed to. Almost everyone felt that PCAIT has not been active for the last three to four odd months and it is high time that some concrete measure is taken to get into active mode.

When enquired about the same Saket Kapur, General Secretary of PCAIT, said that since all the members of the association are busy in their respective business, they are not able to devote time towards planning any activity. “Members are busy in their daily business activities and that could be the reason for the inactive approach towards the association. Also because of the slow growth in the economy, the business has been affected and this has deviated the attention away from association activities and more towards their business,” he said.

Certain members of the association also felt that of late PCAIT has stopped getting involved in issues, which were being faced by only a few channel partners citing that these are individual problems.
A PCAIT member on condition of anonymity shared, “When a dealer faces any issue in the channel community, the association has never come forward to provide support to the concerned partner. That is the reason many of the members have taken a backseat in the activities of the association.”

Replying to the same, Kapur clarified, “If there is any issue that has a mass effect and it affects the channel on a whole, PCAIT definitely takes action for them. However, it becomes difficult if the association gets involved in individual matters.”

RK Malhotra, President, PCAIT commented that he has been too busy in his personal work for the last two to three months and that is the reason he has not been able to devote time towards the association. “I know that PCAIT has slipped into an inactive mode and now I will take steps to get the members back in action. Within one week, some activities will surely take place,” he assured.
Nitin Aggarwal from Trifin Information Technology, member of PCAIT shared that the participation of members is there and they are aware of the responsibilities towards association also but the visibility has reduced and that is the reason it has become quite inactive. “Issues do keep coming up and I believe PCAIT has been taking action towards them. They showed their concern over the sales tax matter and also the entire executive council participated in the recently held The DQ Week Awards. However, it is true to say that the activeness has reduced to a large scale and the association needs to organize some activities.”

Commenting on the sluggish attitude of the association, Keshav Madhav, Treasurer, PCAIT also accorded that within one week a meeting will be organized and some new activities will surely take place to revamp the association.

Manoj Bisht from MK Infosystems, also a member of the association highlighted that the dealers are too much absorbed in their business that they are not able to devote their time towards PCAIT and the business recession is also responsible for this attitude to some extent. “For the last three months I have not been able to meet the president of the association and I agree that PCAIT needs to take some action in order to get back into a lively and active mode,” said Bisht.

The association conducts its election once in two years and the due date of the next election is March 2009.