IT Panchayat : Distis Need To Listen To Channel

Whether it is the DoA issue, or the issue related to cartel formation,
channel community feels that distributors should listen to the market and help
them gain profit.

The IT Panchayat organized in association with The DQ Week and DQ Channels
was well attended by over 60 people from the local Chandigarh IT channel
community. Panelists at the Chandigarh IT Panchayat which was moderated by Zia
Askari, Associate Editor, The DQ Week were Subroto Banerji of Redington, Vijay
Kumar of Ingram Micro, Ram Pansari of Rashi Peripherals, IP Singh of Beyond
Computers, V Phutela of Phutela Computers and Sanjeev Walia of Jetage.

IT Panchayat was held in association with Hitachi, Sify, Microworld, Amconics
and Geneva. Amit Kohli of Sify, Anil Gupta of Microworld and Sanjeo Singh of
Hitachi made the presentation educating partners about their products.

"We still have a situation wherein some product are cheap in Ludhiana and
expensive in Chandigarh, even though we sell in big numbers here. And the same
goes for a place like Delhi and Chandigarh," Walia of Jetage questioned.
Responding to this, Banerji of Ingram Micro said that he was not aware of such
practice in the region.

(L-R) The panelists: IP Singh of Beyond Computers, Sanjeev Walia of Jetage, V Phutela of Phutela Computers, Subroto Banerji of Redington, Vijay Kumar of Ingram Micro and Ram Pansari of Rashi Peripherals

Transparent policy

Singh of Beyond Computers said that today a distributor should move from
just being the logistics provider to actually being a friend of the channel. He
also mentioned that there is an urgent need to have transparency between a
vendor and a channel and a distributor should play a big role here.

Reacting to this, the overall gathering strongly felt that distributors
should go back to vendors and ask for better transparency for the channel
policies when it comes to clearing off the DoA cases.

Speaking on the issue of backend payments, Phutela of Phutela Computers
informed that in most of the cases, distributors do not help the channel in
terms of getting backend payments.

Reacting to this Pansari of Rashi said, "We always try to be there when we
are required however, if this is a big issue then we will make sure that we are
in sync with the channel," he added. Addressing the gathering on the issue of
cartel formation, Singh said that this is a menace for the channel and
distributors should not engage themselves in such activities at all.

Reacting to this issue, Banerji of Redington said that there are some
decisions that are taken in concern with the vendor and this was one of those
decisions.

DQC NEWS BUREAU