''We are focused on strengthening the productivity of our existing partner network''

Sameer Mathur is upbeat about deploying new strategies for HP India that focus more on the small cities, by conducting 70 reseller meets in over 50 B- and C-class towns. 

What strategies have you put in place to attract partners?

We aim at building long-term relationships with our partners and are working
on a strategy to further strengthen our existing channel network. This will also
enhance their productivity and help them to simultaneously grow with us.

We have around 300 partners nationally, covering almost leading locations. Of
these, 75 are our premier business partners. While adding more partners, we
would be more focused towards strengthening the channel productivity.

HP is currently focused on strengthening the upcountry market. How would
you go for that?

We are aggressively emphasizing on upcountry markets, where we foresee great
potential. Strengthening our present channel network is of a high priority. We
would conduct 70 reseller meets in 50 to 55 towns nationwide and complete them
by the end of this quarter. Apart from this, we are also going to conduct around
20 end-customer meets in these upcountry towns by the end of this quarter.

As HP grows geographically, how are you planning to expand your service
capabilities?

We have already strengthened our service network. In the last quarter, we
added 25 more service partners in our service network. Now we have 75 service
partners covering almost all the locations where we are present.

As of now, we are content with the kind of service coverage we have. But at
the same time we want to focus more on the upcountry market, which is growing at
a fast pace. Especially verticals like education and SMEs.

Will there be a new strategy to add new verticals with the current network
of partners?

We are working on some new strategies of market penetration. We would
closely look at the nature of our existing channel partners and would probably
upgrade them to specialized partners for any respective business verticals. For
example, we would have a dedicated partner for servers, a partner for home users
and so on. We will develop their specialty within our partner network by looking
at their area of expertise and interest.

Any exclusive planning you have made for training resellers and partners
who belong to the upcountry market?

Training is one of the key factors that we are going to give our partners.
In the last quarter, we trained around 200 partners from 12 different cities.
This quarter we are planning to add 12 more cities in our training program.

What is the biggest challenge ahead of HP with today's expanding
business context?

Since the market is expanding exponentially, the biggest challenge I observe
is logistics. We need to create a model through which partners would get least
affected by the logistics constraint in running their business fluently. To
create such a model in which we can reach out to our partners in remote places
without losing much time is the biggest challenge ahead of us.

FAIZ ASKARI