CHANNEL SNAPSHOTS: BANGALORE

DEEKSHITH     

Company: OSS Technologies

Founded: 1999

Number of employees: 150

BUSINESS AREA: Systems integration, IT infrastructure management

STRENGTHS: Being ISO 9000-certified, is very process-driven. It is
Compliant with ITSM standards for facilities management. Deekshith has a team
that is technically sound and market savvy.

WEAKNESSES: Needs to get aggressive in marketing its services offerings.

MOTTO: To become a respected and profitable company in the market place.

PLANS: Focus on managed services and setting up a 1,00,000 sq ft facility
in Whitefield in Bangalore which would be ready by 2005 end. OSS may get into
the BPO business in future but has not zeroed in on it yet.

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 32 crore

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Rs 32 crore

OFFICES: 1

GEORGE
JOSEPH
and KAUSHIK
MUKHERJEE    

COMPANY: VFM Systems and Services

FOUNDED: 1997

EMPLOYEES: 21

BUSINESS AREA: Solution provider specializing in access, performance and
security space.

STRENGTHS: From pre-sales, sales to end-to-end deployment, it does it
all. It focused on a niche area and provides value addition.

WEAKNESSES: Need to scale up and build brand.

MOTTO: To give the customer an outstanding, world-class experience and
become the preferred solution provider.

PLANS: To have offices in two more locations in India by the year end.
Also plans to expand customer base and expand in terms of scale. Is looking for
funding.

TURNOVER (2003-04): Not disclosed.

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Not disclosed.

OFFICES: 2

RS SHANBHAG and
SAMPATH
KUMAR    

Company: Value Point Systems

Founded: 1991

BUSINESS AREA: System integration, solution provider for HP.

STRENGTHS: Customer support, and ability to meet customer expectations.
It is a flat organization where the top management is always accessible.

WEAKNESSES: It needs to focus on tracking purchase orders. The company
plans to work on this by putting a tracking and delivery system in place.

MOTTO: Focus on customers and go out of the way to solve problems.

PLANS: It needs to increase sales strength and reach in the market. It is
also trying to get new customers and maintain and latch on to current customers.
The company hopes to expand to South Indian market by 2005-06 and at the
national level by 2007-08.

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 55 crore

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05): Rs 100 crore

OFFICES: 1

C DHANANJAY    

COMPANY: Computer Factory

FOUNDED: 1989

BUSINESS AREA: IT infrastructure management, facilities management and
system integration. The software development team provides solutions for HR
systems and call management.

STRENGTHS: An ISO 9001 certified company Computer Factory does not do
channels business and is end-user focused. It is very clear about targeting only
the SME segment.

WEAKNESSES/CHALLENGES: Constant skill upgradation to cater to the SME
market. It needs manpower that meets its skillset requirements.

MOTTO: To provide comprehensive solutions and to deliver goods and
services after understanding the customer requirements.

PLANS: To expand geographically to secondary cities.

TURNOVER (2003-04): Rs 8.5 crore

EXPECTED TURNOVER (2004-05):Rs 10 crore

OFFICES: 3

Association for Information Technology

Formed: 1998

Objectives: Provide a forum for dealers and promote the interests of the
channel community.

Members: 250

Bringing The Community Closer

The concept that membership to an industry body can also bring in business
benefits seems to be on Association for Information Technology's (AIT) agenda,
this year. This Bangalore channel association is working on bringing out a
member directory that will carry profiles of all members and their services.

The directory which will be out in April-May 2005, would be distributed to IT
bodies like STPI, EOUs, call centers, IT companies and BPOs in Karnataka.
"We have around 250 members and this will give them good exposure. It will
provide good mileage for members since AIT membership would enhance their
business," said Anand Rao, President, AIT.

AIT
hopes to make the directory a bi-annual affair so that the member list is
updated regularly. Apart from the listing, the directory would also carry
articles pertaining to the industry, on latest technology and industry updates.

Continuing on the value addition focus, the association plans to hold
fellowship meetings once in 45 days to appraise members about AIT's
activities. The meetings would also feature workshops on skills enhancement,
management skills, discussions on taxes and the legalities involved.

Besides promoting networking between members, AIT is also trying to involve
the spouses of members by having cultural programs for family members and
children.

The channel community in Karnataka is bearing the brunt of heavy taxation and
today the state is the most taxed in the country (at about 13.8%) as far as IT
is concerned. This aspect has not escaped the association's attention and it
has prioritized on having effective and successful liaison with state government
functionaries in the IT ministry, finance ministry and the Commissioner of
commercial taxes department. "In the past, we always protested undue
taxation on IT that has affected our IT community. We successfully brought down
the tax hike a few years back. But, our efforts were not effective last
year."

Anand hopes that the steep tax would be rolled back soon. To improve the
aspect of mobilizing support for their cause, AIT is working on strengthening
better ties with industry bodies promoting IT like CII, MAIT and NASSCOM.
"But for the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI),
most of the bodies are national level associations." Besides, these
initiatives, the AIT PC Expo, would be held this year.

OFFICE BEARERS

PRESIDENT: B Anand Rao

VICE-PRESIDENT: Lalit Prakash Bhartiya

SECRETARY: R Sridhar

JOINT SECRETARY: Prakash Shroff

TREASURER: Nalin Patel

Priya Padmanabhan,
CyberMedia News