We are not just a UPS vendor: Emerson

Worldwide Emerson Electric USA is known as a company that provides integrated
solutions that can design, build and support a customer's entire power network
from grid to chip. But its Indian subsidiary-Emerson Network Power India is
still viewed as a UPS manufacturer in the country. And this is the perception
that Emerson would like to change, especially among its systems integrator
channel and corporate clientele.

"We want to get our SIs conscious of the value they can offer in Emerson's
power solutions, with an emphasis on selecting the right set of partners. We
will get their salespeople trained on our products, so that they look beyond
merely selling to customer ownership," elucidated Hitesh Prajapati,
Director, Channel Business, Emerson Network Power Asia Pacific.

Hitesh Prajapati To develop partner strength who will be proficient in selling to the SME and mid-enterprise segment, as we are witnessing a channel vacuum there

As part of this endeavor, Emerson will select a few partners and teach them
on various aspects of selling power solutions to corporate clients. This will
start with consultancy, depending on the outlay of the customer's IT
infrastructure, doing a power quality audit, criticality definitions to ensure
zero-downtime on the business-critical operations, nature of power solutions
needed for different areas.

The vendor has 50 business partners who largely sell in the enterprise domain
and it would like them to be well educated on how to project Emerson as a
complete power solutions company, rather than just another UPS provider.

"We have a few select partners who cater to the cream of the enterprise
segment and several resellers who sell to the SOHO segment. We now want to
develop partners that will be proficient in selling to the SME and
mid-enterprise segment, as we are witnessing a channel vacuum there,"
explained Hitesh. He added that the company was working on a formal structured
program for this genre of partners which will be rolled out in another two
months.

Realizing the importance of the Internet, Emerson is also setting up an
online portal for its Indian partners. Besides technical and product
information, the site will also give members a clear technological roadmap as
well as white papers. It will also have articles on channel management skills,
which can help partners move further up the value chain.

The company is also planning to appoint a third party service provider to
offer post-sales support. Details of this initiative are still being worked out.
Currently, Emerson provides service through its own branch offices and a network
of channel partners who also double up as support centers.

Emerson recently made a foray into the SOHO market as well with the launch of
its two UPS models, the 600VA and the 1000VA under the ITON range, priced at Rs
2,999 and Rs 7999 respectively.. As per MAIT, the UPS market size touched Rs
1,400 crore in 2003-2004. Of this market, the sub-5 KVA segment, comprising
home, SOHO and SMB users, constitutes Rs 745 crore. The enterprise segment
accounts for the remaining Rs 650 crore. With the launch of the ITON 600VA and
ITON 1000VA, Emerson plans to capture 5% of the SOHO UPS market in India by end
of next year.

As per IDC estimates, there are about 1.7 million organizations that fall
under the small office home office segment comprising 1 to 9 PCs. These
businesses run on a daily revenue generation model. For them, every transaction
is important and valuable. Given the importance of uptime, most customers in
this segment look for longer backup time along with reliable hardware
protection.

Commenting on the launch, Shrikant Bapat, Senior VP, Uptime Solutions,
Emerson said, "The SOHO segment thus represents a tremendous business
opportunity for players such as Emerson who aim to provide superior technology
at an affordable price point."

For these SOHO products, Emerson is also experimenting with its existing
channel model and will soon have 20 sub-distys under its national distributor,
Ingram Micro. "This product requires focus on a city-level as it is
targeted at the home users. And the best way to achieve this is by appointing
regional-level distributors who can provide the thrust for it," stated
Hitesh.

VINITA BHATIA