"F1 has been growing 100% y-o-y in terms of C-sat, skill-development, relations-building and revenues"

Shammi Moza, director, F1 Info Solutions and Services in an interaction with DQ channels elaborates about the organizations' wide gamut of offerings in the services sector

Please elaborate upon the formation of F1 Info Solutions and Services and the services provided by the organization?

F1 Services was founded in 1991, the erstwhile after-sales services arm of Neoteric Infomatique, was spun off as a new independent identity - F1 Info Solutions and Services Private Limited on 1st July, 2012. F1 today provides services to ODMs/OEMs, direct and indirect customers. It's wide and diverse gamut of services include facility management Services (FMS), AV Solutions, Unified Communication, Remote Support, Installation, Maintenance Support, Walk-in, Swap, Onsite, Spare Management, RMA/ Reverse logistics, Turnkey projects and AMC. 

F1 has been growing 100% y-o-y in terms of C-sat, skill-development, relations-building and revenues, etc. The organization focuses on training and development along with international standard processes of development and has many skilled professionals with adequate process knowledge, on board.

What are the market segments where F1 intends to offer its expertise?

F1's target markets comprise small and medium enterprises, large corporate and individual users of IT, telecom, security equipment or gadgets. From the service industry, its target groups are channel partners, system integrators, corporates and end-customers.

Could you please throw some light on the service network established by the organization?

With a dedicated team of over 300 trained professionals and a pan-India network of 117 service centers covering 230 locations and 500 Field Support Locations through its 40 Branches and 77 ASP Service Centres, F1 is well geared up to provide best-in-class service. F1 is also present in Sharjah and Nepal.

Region F1-service center F1-ASP Total setup
East 5 22 27
West 12 19 31
North 12 24 36
South 11 12 23

Approx. 20% under backend work and management team and rest 80% are service operation handling team (major of engineers). Now, Level I & II repairs are handled by the service centre operations team while the level III & IV repairs are handled by the repair and refurbishment division. Also, the division offers out of warranty repairs for walk in customers for which they are charged directly
The service center operations include on-site repairs by the field team as well as the Swap/Repairs at the service centers. In addition, we have a consolidated charge offering both technical support function and service centre operations. ·

F1 offers its services to ODMs/OEMs, Direct & Indirect customers. Could you please provide a detailed break down on this along with examples?
Below are the major customers:

ODMs/OEMs Customer Direct Customers Indirect Customers
Authorized service Service providing Behalf of ODMs/OEMs
provider for to direct providing services to
Apple End customer HDFC Bank
Asus TATA AIG ICICI Bank
Benq Diebold Vivitek
NEC Honeywell -
Toshiba Delta -
Logitech Jubilant -
Umax Competent -
Ashaaboloy Synergies -
Edimax Radisson -
Iomega - -
Western Digital - -
A-Data - -

What all product categories does the organization address?

F1's focus products include IT, Telecom, A/V, UV & Security and Surveillance. Its services encompass IT & ITE repairs, electronic security, managed services, terminal business, helpdesk-services etc.

What are the offerings under Converged Technology Solutions (CTS) for enterprise?

F1 Converged Technology Solutions (CTS) is a true ‘Value Addition' venture for enterprise partners. CTS encompass services that focus on offerings such as Unified Communications (Across various platforms), Audio-Visual, Board Room solutions and Networking solutions.

This division caters to a diverse gamut of services including Pre- Sales, Consulting, BOM (Bill of Materials), Designing, Implementation, Post-Sales Services and Training for partners as well as end consumers. The target customers range from Corporates, System Integrators to Large Accounts providing the customers with a range of products including Alcatel Lucent, Avocent, Everfocus, NEC, Polycom , Panasonic and other solutions products.

How do you address the reverse logistics requirements of companies?

We have a wide range of reverse logistics solutions which comprises solutions like Defective return Management, Warehouse repair and Refurbishment, Part Cannibalization, RMA Activity (Part Return to Vendor) and E-Waste extraction and disposal.

For Defective return Management, we have a set of processes to collect defectives from our Pan India Service Centers, get them converted into working units / parts by repairing and keeping them into inventory for further use.

While through Warehouse Repair and Refurbishment solution, we convert all the defectives that we receive, into working units / parts and then, transfer the same to working Inventory Management. Before transferring, we test each product at different stages for visual inspection and functional test. After qualifying, we transfer the same to the working inventory. We have a process of Quality Monitoring Cell (QMC) in place whereby we test each and every aspect of the product and then qualify the same.

Also, we have in place process for Part Cannibalization. For instance, when a product cannot be repaired or refurbished, economically we work to maximize the value by extracting valuable parts and the same will be used for repairing products and parts as and when needed. Our great transparent visibility CRM platform enable us to track these parts and manage logistics to bring them back into the spare parts cycle for field repair activity.

Through RMA Activity (Part Return to Vendor), we also manage process of returning high value products / parts to vendor for credit. This purely depends up on the vendor and its products' policies for which we will return to vendor for credit as a RMA Activity.

Finally, E-Waste extraction and disposal solutions. As last stage of value extraction, we also manage E-Waste extraction and disposal process. Before transferring any product / part to E-Waste, we have a dedicated team who works on the products in advance level to make them work by repairing or will take out all valuable parts which are working and the same would be transferred to working parts.

Spare Parts Management (SPM) is another critical as well as challenging area F1 is covering. What are key elements in place to enable a smooth functioning eco-system in place?

The SPM is the most essential component of an efficient Service Organization to ensure timely resolutions. SPM is an important activity and involves balancing inventory levels with Service Agreement Levels (SLA). As mentioned earlier, out of a Pan-India network of more than 100+ Service Centers, F1 Services has 40 Service Centers of its own and 77 ASP Locations for keeping spare parts to take care of present IT Service needs.

It has two centralized National Hubs, one is in Vasai (an Octroi free zone near to Mumbai) and the other one is in Okhla at Delhi, India. These two are well attached to Pan India Service Centers to take care of Spare Parts Management. This allows F1 to provide faster turnaround times and increased customer satisfaction. 

F1 has deployed an integrated online-based CRM software, which ensures great transparent visibility of our inventory at across Pan India Service Centers for cost-effective and efficient Spare Parts Management. On a continuous basis, F1 has a dedicated team which works on SPM to analyze the failures in field on a monthly basis, based on which the Spare Parts Management process takes place and sufficient spares parts are distributed to Pan India Locations to take care of Warranty and Post Warranty Services.

In addition, F1 imports spare parts from countries like China and Taiwan, from the principle companies, as part of SPM Process to service present and future IT Service needs.

F1 provides a gamut of services like FMS, RMA, reverse logistics and more. Could you please provide a detailed break down on this along with examples?

FMS, services providing to below Providing RMA/reverse logistics
customers support to
BenQ Asus
NEC BenQ
Umax NEC
Ashaaboloy Toshiba
Iomega Logitech
Jubilant Umax
Competent Ashaaboloy
Synergies Edimax
Radisson Iomega
TATA AIG Western Digital, A-Data

Are there any local and international expansion plans?

Yes, both local and international plans are there. In this year (2013-14), we will increase our strength locally and the roadmap is to capture some of Asia's emerging markets within the next three years.

Prasanth Menon

(prasanthm@cybermedia.co.in)