“Our channel program for this year revolves around our 50 active partners”–Sudhindra Holla

How do you perceive the Indian security and surveillance industry?
It is a very high growth industry and we cannot talk of such growth in most of the other industries. IMS report clearly suggests that this industry will grow at a rate of more than 30% y-o-y till 2015. Opportunities for companies like us is phenomenal and huge. It is up to us on what piece of action do we take to capture more and more market share in this segment. We have set a clear agenda for ourselves so that we can win more and more end users and achieve #1 position in the Indian market.

What has been your approach in the Indian market, considering the fact that Axis is just a 5-year-old company in the country?
In India, we came into the market in 2007. Our objective is clearly to grow within the country and see what we can do from the growth perspective. We are a 100% channel-oriented company and we will not sell directly to any end user. We follow a tier-2 model, wherein we have a distributor model and an SI model. The distributor brings in all the distribution elements like local availability, local billing, dollar billing, stocks, local taxation, etc. On top of it, our distributors are value-added distributors, which means that we spend a lot of time and effort on educating them so that they work like Axis extended sales force. We make them capable of handling any type of customer requirements. This is a key piece of our channel ecosystem.
As far as SI goes, in metros and large locations, we will go deep into each of those SIs. We already have a strong relationship with large SIs in the country. We are looking for expansion in the areas where our presence is missing. Today, we have close to 1000 channel partners, out of which we transact with 200 on a regular basis. And out of the 200 partners, we transact very closely with 50. So, we want to go deeper into the market with these 50 partners. Our entire channel program for this year will revolve around these 50 channel partners in terms of training, enablement, incentive schemes, joint events, and solution exercises, etc.

We need to align with the right set of system integrators so that we are well represented in all the areas of our expertise. We are also aggressively looking at the retail and banking sectors and trying to align with the partners who are focused in these segments.

Since you are planning to penetrate deep into the market, will you align only with large SIs or also bring on board the tier-2 and tier-3 ones?
As mentioned above, we are transacting very closely with 50 of our partners. For the large projects, we will obviously align with the top SIs as they have the expertise to handle such projects, but for mid- or small-scale implementations, you do not need SIs of that magnitude. Depending upon the size and complexity of the project, partners get aligned. We will align with the right set of SIs for the right set of customers in the pyramid. The tier-2 and tier-3 system integrators are already part of our entire game plan.

How about your presence in the government sector?
We have done successful projects for PSUs like BPCL, IOCL, and Power Grid Corporation. For example, we safeguard the pipelines of BPCL where we have put specific cameras like thermal cameras to meet their requirements. We also have very good success stories for city surveillance, wherein we have done Junagadh and Surat city surveillance projects for the government. Besides, we have taken up projects for cities like Jaipur, Kolkata, and Chennai. In Kerala, we have also done pilot projects for 3-4 local RTOs. Moreover, we have excellent solutions and wins for State Data Center projects of the Indian government.

And what about penetrating the ever-growing SMB segment in India?
While network video is increasingly replacing analog technology in larger installations, smaller video systems still rely heavily on analog cameras and DVRs. India has the largest SMB base in the world, so we are thrilled to offer a solution that addresses the needs of this important segment. Our unique offering for SMBs-Axis Camera Companion (ACC) is an entry-level IP video solution for small installations. With this small business, owners can enjoy the benefits of network video, such as excellent HDTV image quality, remote access to video, and scalability.

ACC is a simple solution that can solve the problems of SMB companies in India. Unlike analog surveillance installations, ACC does not require a central recording device, digital video recorder (DVR), network video recorder (NVR), or a computer. The cameras are powered over the network, eliminating the need for separate power cables. All images are recorded onto a standard SD memory card in each camera, and even if a network fails, the cameras keep recording. This reduces the cost, simplifies installation, and makes the system more robust as there is not a single point of failure.

Now, with this kind of solution, we are trying to educate the security channel as well. Here, the buying decisions of these companies are typically influenced by the channels. So, our job is to educate the channel base so that our solution is well represented with the SMBs in India.