Strategizing and snorkeling at SP Summit

From discussing about Green IT, manpower retention issues to dealing with
IPOs or managing fund management, mergers and acquisitions; solution providers
attending the third DQ Channels SP Summit in Andaman, had their platter filled
with knowledge on various issues of concern. But they did not miss out on a bout
of snorkeling and karaoke singing

Bangalore

January 23rd, 2008

The third edition of the DQ Channels SP Summit, held at Port Blair in Andaman
between January 18th and 20th saw the participation of nearly 100 channel
partners from across the country. Conducted in association with Sun
Microsystems, AMD, Linksys, Siemens PLM Software, Airtel Broadband Solutions,
Emerson Network Power, Lifesize Communications, Realtime Systems and AOC, the
summit served as a platform for conversations on business, market and industry
trends.

The event began with an inaugural address by Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor, DQ
Channels, who said that the year 2008 and beyond will be a big challenge for
solution providers especially those focused on the SMB space. "The focus of
most IT companies will be the domestic market and solution providers will have
to see how they can better their services and maximize on the growth
opportunities thereof," he noted.

Green is in:

The first session of the summit was a panel discussion on 'Green IT'. The
panel was chaired by Prashanto Kumar Roy, Chief Editor, DQ Channels who
mentioned that the driver for Green IT in countries like India is the huge
shortage of power, which leads enterprises to invest in IT Infrastructure that
can accommodate power back up. "This in turn means greater cost," he
reiterated.

Agreeing with him was Sandeep Nair, MD of Emerson Network Power who said that
CIOs globally must think of deploying the right kind of equipment that can help
save power. Sharing his thoughts, Sudhir Nayar, Director-Partner Sales, Sun
Microsystems said, "As a first step towards 'Green IT', Sun has gone in for
consolidation of its own servers. By doing that, we managed to increase
performance and reduce power consumption considerably."

According to Saurin Shah of Ashtech Infotech, the concept of green IT is
still nascent in India and it is the CEO who takes a call on the adoption of
'green' technologies and equipments in most organizations. Ranjan Chopra of Team
Computers felt there was a need to become a little more conscious about what one
does and what we will leave behind for the next generation. The concept of going
green according to him was more personal.

Continuing in the same vein Sivashankar K, Country Manager of Lifesize
Communications India felt, "It is time to make available better systems and
processes that can save power."

Mergers, acquisitions - What they hold:

R K Malhotra of Velcosis Systems, who made a presentation on 'Handling
Mergers' said, "People retention is a key challenge during a merger because
people's expectations post merger will increase. The level of commitment and
involvement of employees tend to decrease. So it is important that a H R process
be put in place to meet the changing needs."

He further added that the biggest challenge of a merger is establishing a
common culture that would bind the various entities together. Communicating to
the people, stakeholders and customers about the merger is also crucial because
conflicts at various levels tend to arise.

Speaking about his own experience, K Jagannath of Choice Solutions said that
although his company's proposed merger with Locuz was called off, the experience
taught them the need to employ a professional consultant and consider the merger
option after due consultation.

The third session was on 'Acquisitions' and included a presentation by
Sanjeev Bhavnani of Visesh Infotechnics who said that acqusitions need a lot of
thought. "While contemplating such an exercise, one must carefully consider
bottomlines, market opportunities, IPOs and people because all of that matter to
the success of the acquisition," he noted.

Speaking about Visesh's various acquisitions, Bhavnani said that if one is
clear about how he wants to grow, then inorganic ways of expansion be it mergers
or acquisitions are a good option.

Manpower retention: Key challenges:

Addressing a session on 'Manpower Retention' Shyam Malhotra,
Editor-in-Chief, Cybermedia said, "Manpower retention occupies the
mind-share of most CEOs. The need of the hour is more time and budgets to
address the issue proactively."

Some of the tools that organizations can adopt to ensure people retention
according to him include showing a clear growth path for the employees,
delegating various responsibilities and giving power for decision making so that
a sense of ownership prevails. "It is also important to check if the
employees have a job of their desire, provide them with a good work environment
and train managers on various aspects of relationship building with their
team," Malhotra added.

Manpower retention is not a one-time exercise but something that needs
dedicated time, felt Malhotra who suggested that a H R Consultant could be
outsourced in order to ensure people retention.

IPO, Fund management: How and why:

Addressing a session on IPOs Bimal Raj, CEO Of Allied Digital Services said,
"System integrators (SIs) must chose to go along with a category-one
investment banker because they can give the right advise for the IPO
process." He further added that most SIs have a revenue generation
methodology that is not in sync with the rest of the world. So we need to do a
bit of restructuring and establish a different revenue generation methodology.

In a related discussion on 'Fund Management' Pradeep Gupta, CMD of CyberMedia
India said, "For most businesses the concern is not just about taking funds
but where to take it from. Whether venture capital (VC) is a better option or
IPOs are a way out, seems to be the concern."

Participating in the discussion, Devendra Taneja of PC Solutions said that
his company had grown through internal approvals and did not opt for either VC
funding or private equity. "We kept our focus on bottomline and have met
all our fund requirements through internal approvals. We are a zero credit
company today," Taneja indicated.

According to Sanjay Modi, Chairman and JD, Realtime Systems VCs look at a
company's growth plan and scalability before funding. "VCs invest in
companies which have a clearly defined growth path and show consistency in their
profitability," he stated.

Gupta suggested that companies must have mentors from whose experience they
can learn and decide whether to opt for VC funding or IPO. Additionally he
stressed that one must be very clear of the exit path. Panelists also felt that
debt could be a good option to consider because VCs would be convinced of the
company's credibility before investing.

IDC: Growth phase 2.0:

Partners assembled at the SP summit also learnt about "Domestic IT
Market: Beginning of Phase 2.0" from Kapil Dev Singh, Country Manger IDC
India. He noted that the years 2007 and beyond will see a new phase of growth
that would revolve around the domestic market. Mobility and convergence will be
key trends while infrastructure management will be a challenge.

He further added, "Making IT responsive to the growing demands of
reducing costs will be a huge challenge and vendors will increase their focus B-
and C-class cities."

Panel discussions apart, the event saw presentations by various sponsor
vendors who spoke about their organizations, products and solutions and dealt
with their partner engagements as well as various partner initiatives.

Work done, channel partners got an opportunity to look around PortBlair. The
highlight of their in-city excursion was a trip to Coral Cove and North Bay
where partners went snorkeling to watch the corals and touched base with the sea
from very close quarters. If one were to judge by the look on their faces, it
seemed that partners not just enjoyed themselves at the beach but were actually
thirsting for more!