SP Summit Day 1:ASIRT Wants a National Body

The first day of the SP Summit, 2013 concluded with an interactive panel discussion conducted by Association of Systems Integrators and Retailers in Technology (ASIRT). The 11-months old association, focused only on serving business interests of system builders, system integrator and retailers. During the discussion, team ASIRT gave an overview of ASIRT and shared future plans of the association at the summit.

WHY ASIRT?
The panelist were Chetan Shah, chairman; Kshitij Kotak, president; and Gaurang Bhatt of ASIRT.

Explaining the need for formation of ASIRT, Kotak informed the august gathering and said, "IT retailers, system builders and SIs have been the frontrunners of the IT industry as they are the ones who service end-customers across all verticals. They are the people who influence customer buying and deliver the positive impact of IT to end-customers. However, this community is also the most disregarded, and faces many ills affecting the players for years like falling margins, rampant attrition, low business viability and often not playing as a single team and many more. It is therefore clear that the entire ecosystem needs to be improved to ensure better business conditions. The core objective of ASIRT is to help this community realize its potential in a sustainable and profitable way."

ASIRT's main charter will be to foster collaboration and inculcate best business practices among members. "Most small and emerging SIs do not have access to management training. That is why our main charter is to train and educate the channel community in best business practices," mentioned Shah.

NEED TO FORM A NATIONAL SI BODY
ASIRT has over 100 members comprising leading SIs and retailers primarily from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. However, the association is putting efforts to expand the horizon of ASIRT outside Mumbai and seeking participation from across the system builders, system integrators and retailers. Shah also touched upon the fact that a wide variety of players across the SI spectrum is not united at the national level. In fact, SIs at local level compete recklessly. The association is putting endeavor to form ASIRT as a single destination to find new opportunities, connect with peers, partner and collaborate.

Shah announces opening of memberships to SIs across India. To offer key differentiators, ASIRT has started Gold membership to define high standards of service deliverable and customer satisfaction. Gold members can get incredible benefits of being connected to the entire community 24x7 and eligibility to participate in the ASIRT Gold Member program.

"Collaboration and partnering can happen in terms of sharing of skills, best practices and even business opportunities. The platform will provide avenues for partners to collaborate with each other to increase the addressable market opportunity," said Shah.

NEW INITIATIVE
At the Summit, Gaurang Bhatt informed ASIRT to announce a major online initiative to boost business, which would be free for all ASIRT members.