Top 12 Channel Chiefs of India

DQ Channels brings to you the most powerful as well as popular channel chiefs of 2012, who have brought a transformation in their channel efforts and tasted success in the Indian market

Pramodh Menon, president, partner business group, Cisco India & Saarc
Contribution as a Channel Head
Cisco believes in building capability and practices to help partners become a solutions provider in their own right. The company has significantly increased this effort by providing leading practices, tools, and knowledge transfer, which in turn enable them to have more repeatable, successful, and profitable customer engagements.

Initiatives undertaken
Recently introduced Partner Plus in India, a new channel program designed to empower and reward partners to lead the sale with SMB customers. Advantage Now! is another bi-annual road show aimed at enabling partners to better serve SMBs across the country. This program has reach out to over 1500 partners across the country.

A glance at achievements
Cisco is a partner-driven organization and the way we engage with our partners defines our success. We have seen tremendous growth in the partner-led business, at a pace which is significantly higher than the market growth over the last three years.

Major take-aways from 2012
The partner ecosystem is very dynamic and provides a continuous learning curve. In addition to this, partners want to move into new markets and expect the vendor to help them move up the value chain and are willing to consistently invest in their success.

Vision & mission
Cisco has been encouraging its partners to adopt architecture based approach to customer opportunities. The company sees that partners are anticipating demands faster and building capabilities to move to new business models like cloud and video and that's why it is partnering them aggressively on this.

Message to the partners
Cisco is a 100% partner led company and it ensures that every activity and strategy it pursues has a significant positive impact on partner growth and profitability.

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Anoop Nambiar, director, Business Partner Organization, IBM India & South Asia
Contribution as a Channel Head
With resellers in over 130 cities in India, the company has built an ecosystem of more than 1000 plus partners. IBM has been able to develop and retain one of the best channel team across the country.

Initiatives undertaken
Launched IBM Grand Master Series, which was designed in association with IIM Bangalore, to build sales skills of partners. Rolled out Channel Yatra in 8 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Offered financing options to the Business Partners through IBM Global Financing.

A glance at achievements
Built a channel ecosystem by formulating a consistent channel policy, being fair and giving equitable treatment during potential conflicts.

Major take-aways from 2012
In 2012, IBM Business Partners were uniquely positioned to take advantage of technological opportunities like cloud and stream computing, sensor capabilities, virtualization, visualization and algorithmic models.

Vision & mission
Focus on SMB market will continue. Nowhere is the combination of IBM and its Business. The company wants its partners to move up the ladder from selling boxes to solutions and to be perceived as consultants and advisors rather than sales representatives.

Message to the partners
Understand the market, leverage the skills and capabilities of other Business Partners in the ecosystem through communities and forums, create innovative solutions, reach new markets, and broaden business, transition to solution sales and broaden the portfolio with software and services.

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Sanjay Yadav, director, Sales and Distribution, CSMB, Dell India
Contribution as a Channel Head
Apart from having a strong foothold in the tier-1 cities and metros, Dell has focused on making its channel network more robust and strong. It has successfully reached out to the tier-2 and 3 through district coverage and pin codes. The company been able to drive channel profitability even at premium price points through the concept of long-tail retail strategy and not over distribution.

Initiatives undertaken
In August 2012, the company announced "Engage, Empower and Excel" Campaign, aimed at helping the partners to get the most out of the festive season.

A glance at achievements
At a stage where everyone is talking about low consumer demand, dollar fluctuation, slow economy conditions and the impacts of these factors across industries, Dell's strategy was to hear its customers and channel partners more closely than ever and reach out to them through all possible routes.

Major take-aways from 2012
While the company had faced challenging times during the year gone by, it has learnt that innovation is the key to strive. Dell believes that it is important to focus on its channel strategy to make it stronger in tier 2 and 3 cities.

Vision & mission
Dell's unique distribution model, comprising of direct and indirect channels, wrapped with the service standards ensures availability of all products across regions. The company's hybrid national and regional distribution model, comprises of dedicated partners to drive distribution to channel and retail.

Message to the partners
It's going to be a great year as winds of change can be witnessed and signs of good consumer demand in 2013. The company is positive about reinforcing its ties with the channel partners which will further help it in reaching out to the customers in a better way.

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Unaez Quraishi, sales and distribution director, System Business Group, Asus India
Contribution as a Channel Head
Articulated a well-mapped channel strategy to increase market penetration. Understood partners' requirements and initiated plans and schemes for their benefit. In order to ensure that the channels grow positively and there is a satisfaction at both the ends, the company worked towards maintaining a constant communication with the partners.

Initiatives undertaken
In order to focus on the high growth areas, the company strengthened its presence in the tier II and III cities. Empowered its distributors and manpower to reach out to a larger target audience. Appointed Compuage as the Authorized Service Provider for its wide range of notebook and tablets.

A glance at achievements
With sophisticated craftsmanship and technology, the company has launched products that have created their own niche in the market. In 2012, it appointed one National Distributor and 8 Regional Distributors, which is a significant feat.

Major take-aways from 2012
The importance of channel market has been further distinguished in order to reach the desired target audience. It has become a two way process where companies have creative schemes and offers for their successful transactions and in return partners are adding value with their specialized services. Effective association with the channel has become an important consideration for organizations to deliver their products and services timely.

Vision & mission
New technology-based effective options like Windows 8 will transform the market and will be an important driver for growth in 2013. On the channel front, the company will continue to keep its partners informed on every development that takes place at their end. It will also work towards enhancing the training programs for both products and technology for its partners.

Message to the partners
Asus' channel ecosystem plays a crucial role in making its products and solutions widely available and it has new channel initiatives which are designed to empower and make them profitable. Partners work with Asus to develop profitable and sustainable businesses and in turn, the company rewards them with training, certification, specialization, business planning and marketing tools as well as very competitive margins.

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Praveen Sahai, VP, channels, EMC India & Saarc
Contribution as a Channel Head
In 2012, EMC transformed and reinvented itself with an endeavour to become the most channel friendly company in the tech sector. Increased addressable market for its partners with back-up/ recovery portfolio and new initiatives to create sales adjacencies to help them on the system integration business.

Initiatives undertaken
Through EMC Velocity Partner Program, it has been building services capabilities with the partners to help them increase ASP (Average Selling Price) and bottom-line. Focusing on leveraging marketing tools with localized/partner leveraged programs for lead generation and increasing pipeline with channel only solutions like VSPEX, and channel only products like VNXe and DD 160.

A glance at achievements
The channel has worked as a prime growth engine for its go-to-market strategy and has helped shaping up EMC's objectives. Reorganized internally as unified channel organization so that channels can access the complete solution portfolio.

Major take-aways from 2012
The channel community will be key to customer confidence and technology adoption while the vendor has to keep a sharp focus for all its partners on 3P - Profitability, Pipeline and Performance. In the background of the tough economic environment, it is critical to increase the addressable market for partners and build discipline around sales adjacency growth. It is also important to help partners shape their strategic outlook besides meeting short term goals and quarterly goals.

Vision & mission
EMC is striving to become the most channel friendly company in the tech sector. The company would provide the channel community broader variety to be a true systems integrator and not just a box-pusher. The growing acceptance of Cloud with the advent of Big Data will only lead to a huge opportunity for the channel community.

Message to the partners
Channel partners need to differentiate themselves in the marketplace through news skills and services as the economic environment continues to be challenging. Being a generalist will not help the cause. The focus should remain on bottom-line i.e. profitability and partners should align to vendors with whom they can expand and grow their business.

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Gurpreet Brar, director, SMB and Commercial Channel, HP PPS India
Contribution as a Channel Head
Fortified channel engagement for HP and created a sustainable platform for partners so they can increase their bottom line. Focused on enabling partners sell solutions while taking the micro vertical route. Strengthened product and solutions offering for the SMB sector.

Initiatives undertaken
In 2012, the company engaged with its channel fraternity in a consistent, effective and well defined manner, in line with its policy and process mandate. Some of the major channel initiatives that have been taken include Channel Solutions Program - HP Document Solutions Specialist Program, HP Speed Programme, HP Reseller Compensation Programs, HP AchievePlus, HP Partner Learning Portal, HP Mobile Moghuls Programme, and HP Sales Odyssey Programme.

A glance at achievements
Empowerment of partners in building more synergy in selling products and solutions from the PPS standpoint, while improving the product mix. Regained its leadership position in the Indian PC space in Q2, 2012 and also increased this leadership in Q3, 2012.

Major take-aways from 2012
The year 2012 was clearly a shift from transactional engagement with partners to one which is solution led. The initiation of micro vertical approach helped it to offer customized portfolio offerings for its vertical customers.

Vision & mission
The vision is to continue delivering programs and solutions that partners can count on. The company is excited to launch new and exciting channel programs.

Message to the partners
As per the commitments to the partners, HP has prioritized further engagement to understand how it can assist in making all of its partners successful, as well as building a stronger partnership.

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Ritesh Chopra, country sales manager, India and Saarc, Norton by Symantec
Contribution as a Channel Head
2012 was an exciting year for Norton and in his capacity, the aim was to increase profitability through focused channel initiatives. The company worked towards restructuring the go-to-market strategy for Norton's solutions with the help of channel partners, which also resulted in enhanced market visibility.

Initiatives undertaken
In October 2012, the company launched a Hindi language pre and post sales tech support call centre. Another major initiative carried out during 2012 was to place products with tier III partners and implementing an incentive program to drive sales from them to end customers. In addition to these customer-focused initiatives, Norton also conducted security training programs for its partners to help them have a greater understanding about its solutions.

A glance at achievements
One of the achievements that can be proudly mentioned is that the company has multiplied its channel partner base in India, reinforcing its commitment to the India market. Currently, it is doing business with over 3,000 channel partners on a regular basis.

Major take-aways from 2012
2012 was a very good year for Norton and in 2013, the company would like to continue having regular and meaningful communication with its channel partners to grow the relationship with them and be able to offer value-added initiatives and programs that meet the partners' needs.

Vision & mission
Norton would to continue to consolidate on all the initiatives that it had started in 2012 which was essentially to improve the channel health, drive channel expansion for its business, and scout for new opportunities aligned with the some of the innovative products that it has brought to the market.

Message to the partners
The company would like to thank all its channel partners for all the support. It is the channel that has made Norton successful in India and the company looks forward to strengthening its relationships with more channel partners and are committed to taking this partnership and its business in India to greater heights.

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Sunil Sharma, VP, sales, Cyberoam India & Saarc
Contribution as a Channel Head
Under his leadership, Cyberoam continued on its higher revenue growth at around 30% in 2012 compared to 2011. There was a 37% increase in appliance registrations, well above the industry average of 15%. Besides, the company's partner base also increased by around 37%.

Initiatives undertaken
Created a dedicated team for enterprise business with a target to offer products and services to enterprise customers. Strengthened its relationship with key NSI's like Tata Teleservices, AGC Network. The company increased its reach in states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, and Uttar Pradesh. Formalized partner programs and conducted major marketing drive to reach majority of channel audience.

A glance at achievements
The company penetrated into newer markets and segments. Generated around Rs.2 crores of revenues with the addition of PSS, WAF, OBS to its products/services portfolio. Around 200 plus new partners were added who had billed directly to the Cyberoam distributor. Trained around 1000 plus IT professionals through 18 training programs conducted in 10 cities.

Major take-aways from 2012
While the company dominates the SMB/SOHO segment, enterprise is one area that needs to be worked upon and focused more on. Vertical based solution approach, especially for Education, BFSI & Government verticals would be the key to the growth.

Vision & mission
Achieve 40% growth rate, add 100 new partners, tie-ups with 4 more NSI's and develop focussed MSSP partners for security business, to feature amongst top 5 global players in UTM segment, create a strong hold in the enterprise segment and retain the leadership position in SOHO/SMB, and lastly, create new benchmarks in post sales support, customer satisfaction and marketing.

Message to the partners
The company is continuously innovating new ways for their profitability, enablement and more avenues for business. As a 100% channel oriented product, Cyberoam is committed to ensure higher profitability, strict deal locking mechanism, more transparency and lots of partner enablement programs for channels for better profitability and more revenues.

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Ganesan Arumugam, director, channel and alliances, VMware India & Saarc
Contribution as a Channel Head
The past year was an exciting year for VMware here in India. The channel team in the organization grew and the company was able put a lot of focus around building its partner ecosystem in structured manner. It also focused on the development of its Solution Providers, SIs and OEM partners.

Initiatives undertaken
VMware has launched a new incentive scheme for its partners to increase focus in addressing the SMB market. As the company recognizes its partners for their solutions and competencies, it also undertook a number of partner enablement initiatives to help them develop new solutions and competencies.

A glance at achievements
The company's transactions with its partners have been straightforward and smooth, which has help increase the partners' confidence and trust in transacting with VMware. Regular focused engagements with SIs have helped cultivate and convert large deals for VMware.

Major take-aways from 2012
Over a period, the company has learnt that all the partners are not same. VMware needs to be flexible and adopt a different approach and strategy for engaging with each partner based on their business model.

Vision & mission
In 2013, VMware would like to build a more predictable, reliable, structured and capable partner ecosystem, in terms of revenue, commitment and skills.

Message to the partners
VMware believes that the advantages partners have are the relationships that have been built and nurtured over years with customers. Technology will continue to evolve, but as long as partners remain focused on cultivating strong customer relationships, they will continue to see success even with any changes in the technology landscape.

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Bimal Raj, CEO, Smartlink Network Systems
Contribution as a Channel Head
In the past one year, from the current channel traction perspective, Smartlink introduced new suite of products in the market that suits the mobility scenario. The company constantly looked at what is happening in the market as well as the new customer requirements with the coming of mobility devices. This also created opportunities for the channel partners both in terms of upselling to their current customer base and generating additional revenue.

Initiatives undertaken
Launched a Digisol Alliance Partner program for the training and enablement of the partners' field force and their both technical as well as pre-sales team in terms of providing them a better access to technology and getting them focused on certain verticals. This program, conducted in 14 cities, was very well accepted by the channel community. Besides, the DAP program also gave the company a good amount of boost in secondary and tertiary cities in terms of revenues.

A glance at achievements
From the secondary and tertiary city perspective, as a new brand, Digisol was able to make an entry and the DAP program helped the company penetrate and establish itself in many places. For example, in Kerala, Uttavr Pradesh, and Gujarat, the growth has been phenomenal. On an average, the company registered a growth of almost 80-90% in the new territories. This not only generated revenues for Digisol but also improved partners' margins.

Major take-aways from 2012
With the increasing adoption of mobility in the country, it is imperative for the companies like Smartlink to enable its partners to address these requirements from the customers. Partners also need to keep themselves abreast as well as adapt these new technologies.

Vision & mission
In the last financial year, the programs launched were from the consumer or SMB product line perspective but in this fiscal year, the company embarked upon a journey and built a product portfolio catering to the enterprise and especially mid-market side and enabling partners towards this direction.

Message to the partners
The company has embarked upon a journey to build an Indian networking brand with a local manufacturing story. And the response received till date from the country is again phenomenal. The company expects the same level of continued support from the channel community in its endeavour to build the Indian brand.

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Vipin Tuteja, executive director, technology, channels and international business, Xerox India
Contribution as a Channel Head
After the company decided to overhaul the channel value proposition and the way channel needs to be structured in the marketplace, it went 100% through the channel in the country. This move required channel expansion, evaluation of the current channel ecosystem and extensive coverage all across the Indian market. Xerox went ahead with the plan to cover top 200 cities and made special categories of the channel to take care of the coverage of these cities. The company also ensured that the channel would work together to promote all the products in its portfolio.

Initiatives undertaken
Introduced Xerox Partner First program involving the three tiers of channel and as per their eligibility, they receive the benefits. Launched Expert Program to impart face-to-face training to the partners. Also, introduced ‘X-Connect' where a quarterly email newsletter is provided to the partners. Besides, the company launched Partner Net Portal for the channel to have access to all the information regarding any product and online learning programs. Then, there is a Xerox Partner League to reward all the partners. Incentive programs were also introduced like Fantastic Thailand Trip and Xerox Olympic Trip.

A glance at achievements
The introduction of these channel programs and incentive schemes yielded very positive results for Xerox in the year 2012. These initiatives were taken to make sure that the company supports its partner very well and by all means. This, in turn, has strengthened Xerox's value proposition and also made partners invest into its business.

Major take-aways from 2012
The company needs to invest into the partnerships. In today's market dynamics, partners won't grow if there is no investment. Until and unless partners grow first, Xerox cannot grow as an organization. There is also a need to align the company's approach with end customers' requirements.

Vision & mission
In this financial year, Xerox needs to double its growth as compared to the last year.

Message to the partners
Partners must understand the customer requirements and be a consultant. Today the market requires a collaborative approach and hence, it becomes important to look at contract or solution life cycle instead of a transactional business.

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Sanjoy Bhattacharya, IT Head, LG India
Contribution as a Channel Head
LG's vision has been to become the undisputed digital technology leader in India and globally. To achieve this vision, the company's core strategy has been the focus on innovation in every product category. In the past three years, LG has rapidly expanded its product portfolio across IT segment in India to become a full-range player.

Initiatives undertaken
Supertron Electronics is the company's national distributor for laptops. Under Supertron, the company has created 110 retail points which are typically multi-brand outlets and its concentrations is to increase sales from those retail points.

A glance at achievements
Ranked as the number one monitor brand in India the company also created a good impact in 3D laptop segment. LG is leading the Indian display industry by introducing 3D Monitors based on FPR technology with advanced panels like IPS.

Major take-aways from 2012
At this moment, the company is not focusing on the market share and wants to introduce more innovative products. The company is confident that it would retain the top position in monitor segment, as it has always focused on listening to its customers and then innovating around those needs.

Vision & mission
The company wants to consolidate its strength in consumer channels for next 2 years. In laptop category, LG plans to take #4 or #5 slot within 3 years, as it has well-crafted and ambitious plan to meet this goal.

Message to the partners
LG is known as a channel-friendly company, hence, it understands channel need very well and always thrive to fulfill them. All of the company's programs are designed keeping in mind expectations of its partners.