NEC India gets aggressive with channel engagement program

NEC India rolled out a new channel engagement initiative with select 150 tier 2 channel partners. This will empower channels with a holistic approach to offer IT and networking solution to SMB customers to meet their display, communication and security needs.

The select partners will work closely with NEC team and submit a business plan within the business framework and targeted client lists. Within the scope of an MOU which will be signed with partners, NEC India will provide sales, marketing and technical support to these partners while the logistics and billing will be routed thru tier 1 partners. On a monthly basis - methodology will be developed to forecast and review business, help lock opportunities and ensure profitability is protected and business is committed to these tier 2 partners.

Highlighting the initiative undertaken, Zubair Alam, country head, NEC India commented, "To empower the partner ecosystem to deliver solutions more effectively, NEC India is committed to training and authorising their partners who share our passion and vision of empowering by innovation. Designed to bring greater depth and breadth into the existing partner ecosystem and to cultivate new relationships, this is a new initiative for partner empowerment. With this vision in mind, our go-to-market strategy aims to strengthen and enable our partner ecosystem to deliver these solutions more effectively."

While engaging in a mutually beneficial relationship with its channel partners, NEC will aim for 40% growth this year and continue focus on high growth verticals - hospitality, telecom, government, education, healthcare and BFSI.

This year, NEC is organising its 4 day Partner Conference in Tokyo with a select group of 60 partners. The partners will be go through a familiarisation programme, a factory visit, visit to Innovation centre, interact with global senior management team. The conference is held every 6 months and aims to celebrate and commend performance of its partners, share success stories, incentive schemes and outline its business roadmap.

To manage this initiative, NEC India Enterprise group has a new Distribution functional team which will cut across various BU's namely- Private Network Solutions, Multimedia Solutions, IT Platform and Retail Solutions. A lead gen engine using social media, online and telecalling has been put in place to reach out to a targeted database of customers. Through the year partner meets, roadshows, incentive programmes, training webinars , partner connect communiqué will be undertaken.

In the first leg of the initiative, 20 partners will be signed by Sept'13, upto 50 till December'13 and another 100 before March'14.

To make this initiative work effectively, NEC India Enterprise group has a new Distribution functional team which will cut across various BU's namely- Private Network Solutions, MMPG ( Multimedia Products Group), IT Platform and Retail.

NEC India has moved from 4 National Distributors last year to 10 National Distributors, this year. For the Private Network Solutions - Enkay, Syntel, Avaya Global Connect and Cadence Worth. Multimedia products with Neoteric, Solutions India, Third wave and Shibacom. IT Products is with Comnet Vision and POS Solutions for its Retail product line.

NEC India, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, was established in India in August 2006. It has gained pan India presence across 50 cities and maintaining around 750 channel partners through national distributors, while increasing the number of system integrators to address the needs of large enterprises across verticals.