Few Takers for Green

Undoubtedly, 'Green Technology' has
become the buzzword, but it is yet to gather much needed success in
the Indian market scenario. In India, consumers still prefer lower
priced products than the Green or eco-friendly ones. Although,
several vendors are still on the edge of the competition to occupy
the numero uno position to turn Green and tap into the wielders of a
new economic power in India. However, various channel partners or
solution providers opined that most of the consumers in the Indian
market are not aware of the significance of Green products and
perhaps, this is why there is no push from the consumers' side for
the demand of Green technology in our market. “There have been no
major attempts taken by the vendors in terms of creating far reaching
effects of Green technology among the Indian consumers. Till date, no
vendors have come up with proper marketing strategies for the
packaging of the Green products,” emphasized Ajay Sawant, MD and
CEO, Orient Technologies.

Further, adding to this conviction, he
said that no channel partner enablement program initiatives have
been undertaken by the leading vendors dealing with Green IT, and
therefore most of the channel partners feel the heat in dealing with
Green IT solutions or products to consumers. Not only Orient
Technologies came up with its grievances with respect to the selling
of Green products to the Indian consumers, several other channel
partners are of the view that the vendors should come up with some
convincing, updated and advanced Green technologies, which would
help in arousing the awareness and the intensity of interest among
Indian consumers, which would be further translated into the demand
for Green products.

href="http://dqchannels.ciol.com/content/reselleralert/111030104.asp">KV
Jagannath, MD, Choice Solutions
said, “Although, Green IT has become a buzzword in the Indian
market since two-three years, there are limited commercial
opportunities available for the SMEs dealing with it. The early
adopters of Green technology should adapt some reasonable methods as
in reducing the price of Green products to increase the volume of
sales in the market. Perhaps, then the SME can afford the required
capital investment. Also, then in the near future, we hope to see
business from this space.” Speaking on the similar front, Saket
Kapur, CEO, Green Vision said, “Seeing the current business
scenario related to the sale of Green products in the market, it seems
that Green product
portfolio is not completed on the vendors' front. The scope of
Green products that is creating a far reaching effect on the
customers is still far.” Adding to it, he also said that unless
there are some standardized marketing policies for these Green
products, they will not really take off. I have not seen any demand
from the customer side so far for the Green products. However, this
response of channel partners seems to have no effect on the vendors
since major IT brands have taken on the Green challenge by aligning
themselves with a Green cause, by introducing Green products. The
companies like HP, Asus, Acer and Dell have been focusing more on
Green technologies than any other sectors for few years. Promoted by
Asus, the Green ASUS initiative promotes Green and
environment-friendly practices throughout the company. And, its
latest products are designed to care for the environment,
incorporating power-saving technologies like the ASUS Super Hybrid
Engine. Steps have also been taken towards the use of
environment-friendly materials like bamboo and recycled plastics in
its products and packaging materials.

Alex Huang, Country Manager-System
Business, ASUS India said, “The ASUS U Series Bamboo Collection
notebook is designed for the fashionable, yet environment-conscious
crowd. With its smoky brown bamboo exterior and brushed aluminum
interior, it delivers a feel of the organic world in this hectic
concrete jungle-making the user feel closer to nature.” Also, he
claims that ASUS is always one of the pioneers in utilizing
technologies like NVIDIA Optimus that conserves energy consumption in
notebooks. As a part of the Green ASUS initiative launched globally
in the year 2000, ASUS restricts the use of 37 hazardous substances
in the manufacture of products, which is 31 more than the RoHS
directive restricting use of six substances. Another big notebook
vendor, which has huge market share across the world, is HP. And,
launching its first Green products long back in 1987 to till now, HP
claims to have followed regular initiatives to reduce the harsh
impact of technology on the environment. Recently, they introduced an
environment-friendly label for some of its products by the name 'HP
Eco Highlights.' The label is adorned by HP products like printers
and other tools that would help consumers reduce damage to the
environment. Besides launching many environment friendly products,
the company rolled out recycling programmes for safe disposal of old
equipment.

Dell, too, is betting on Green
computing to drive growth. "At a time when companies are
reducing costs, energy-efficient computers and servers will find more
acceptance. It makes business sense for enterprises and consumers since
these products enable huge savings on power bills throughout the
product's lifecycle," said Mahesh Bhalla, GM-Consumer &
SMB, Dell India. And, advocating Green and clean technology, Anand
Mehta, VP- Marketing, DIGILINK and DIGISOL said, “It is evident that
companies of all sizes,
across geographies and verticals have considered the importance of
Green IT. Of course it first starts with the larger companies and
then percolates down to smaller ones, but already the SMB has started
embracing Green technology and we are seeing the demand for Green
products slowly rising. More and more companies are coming up with
Green IT products covering the entire spectrum in IT, this is further
helping in adaptation of Green technology. Also, to create
awareness among Indian consumers, Dell is running its Free Laptop
Battery Recycling Program in India for consumers. The
program started on February 11, 2011, will go on till April 11, 2011
in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Interestingly, even Indian government
plans to come up with energy efficiency standards for computers.

But, these major vendors too agree
that corporate houses are, for sure, seeing the benefits of cost
savings. However, he consumer segment is yet to wake up to Green
computing. And, most of the channel partners believe, if endors
need to achieve their targets in India, then they have to fix the
prices of all Green products, by seeing the earning of average
Indian consumer. “When the focus of the customers is still on how
they can get the products at the best possible prices, the vendors
should approach the government to reduce the sales tax or excise
duties on the Green products. Unless there are some standardized
marketing policies for these Green products, they will not really take
off. I have not seen any
demand from the customer side so far for the Green products,” said
Kapur.