Who Will Bag The Crown?

The verdict is out. Four judges decided who should wear the crown of the 'Most
Successful Solution Provider' in the country. It was not an easy selection, as
there were several contenders for this coveted award. But in the end, like they
said, the best company won.

A noticeable shift in the channel industry has been going on for the past few
months. It is the shift from box pushing or trading to the more pervasive
solution providing. Several partner organizations have already made the
transition. And those that haven't are well on their way to do so. After all,
the writing on the wall is clear: Start offering solutions or perish.

This is precisely why DQ Channels India decided it was time that this niche
community within the channel gets its due recognition. And the CI Excellence
Awards was born. The objective of this award was simply to appreciate the
efforts put in by the solution providers themselves to survive and succeed in
this dynamic market.

Moreover, there no awards are being given in this space. So staying true to
its tradition of being a path-breaker, Channels India decided to constitute this
awards and be the first publication to recognize the efforts of solution
providers.

The Excellence Awards will award solution providers who have consistently
performed well in the past and provide innovative applications to their
customers, rather than just deployment of machines. This award will not focus
merely on the revenue generated by the partners. Instead it will appreciate the
success they have achieved due to progressive strategies and ethical practices,
as well.

ROBUST METHODOLOGY

Channels India had a robust methodology and selection process to eliminate
any bias. It adopted a top-down approach by first speaking to several vendors
and got their feedback on the relevant parameters that should be considered for
the award categories.

One reason for engaging the vendors for this endeavor is because most
solution providers work directly with vendors. This gives the vendor a better
insight on what makes a successful solution provider.

Once the parameters were drawn up, Channels India invited representatives of
leading vendor and distribution companies to adjudge which solution provider
best fitted the bill for the various categories.

The panelists included Sanjeev Keskar, Country Manager of AMD Far East
(India), Biju Bruno, National Channel Sales Manager of APC India, Chandan Kumar
Sonowal, Country Sales Manager, (High Volume Products) eServer xSeries of IBM
India and Sanjiv Mehrotra, Group GM-Enterprise, Solutions Group and Strategic
Accounts, Ingram Micro India Ltd.

Channels India furnished the panelists with a suggestive list of the leading
50 solution providers of the country with a brief synopsis on the best
deployments they had done in the last fiscal, their human resource structure as
well as number of accounts they had added in the past three fiscals. However,
the jury was given complete liberty to add any other companies, which they felt
would qualify for the awards.

“Channels India has managed to compile an exhaustive profile of the leading solution partners and helped me get better insight into the partner's business operations” - Sanjeev Keskar, Country Manager of AMD Far East (India) “The parameters and categories for selecting the winning solution providers were very well chosen and comprehensive”  - Biju Bruno, National Channel Sales Manager of American Power Corporation India  “Adjudging the winners was time well-spent as I learnt about the capabilities of several solution providers, which I was unaware of”  - Chandan Kumar Sonowal, Country Sales Manager, (High Volume Products) eServer xSeries of IBM India  “This is a very good initiative undertaken by Channels India, as solution providers were not getting any recognition earlier”  - Sanjiv Mehrotra, Group GM-Enterprise, Solutions Group and Strategic Accounts, Ingram Micro India Ltd

Arriving at the right candidate was not an easy task. The panelists had to
sift through several criteria, select appropriate contenders and decide for the
best qualifier. At times, they had to eliminate companies by grading them on
several

capabilities.

PARAMETERS FOR SELECTION

After brainstorming with several vendors, Channels India came up with the
following parameters for which solution providers were selected for the
Excellence Awards:

• Best two projects implemented in last fiscal: Here the size and value,
  nature, location and uniqueness of the project were considered.
• Service capabilities of the partner: The number of qualified support staff
  employed by the solution provider was taken into account along with the
  number of locations where service was supported.
• Investment in training and certification in the past three months: Since
  the technical strength of a company can make or mar its prospects, the level
  of investment in training employees was considered.
• Revenues for the past three years: These figures helped gauge the growth
  of the business in that time frame. However, it was not given high weightage
  as a company could grow stupendously from a small base to touch higher
  revenue figures.
• Nature of solutions offered: It is imperative for a solution provider to
  offer the entire plethora of solutions to truly present a complete portfolio
  to his customers.
• Number of vendors partnered with: A partner who had alliances with several
  vendors could offer various flavors of solutions. It also underlines the
  trustworthiness of the company as more vendors vie to partner with it.
• Certified employee rate: The best way to gauge a company's skill sets is
  to find out the ratio of certified personnel to the total manpower. He
  attrition rate was also considered.
• Number of customer accounts: Here the numbers of accounts that the partner
  currently had and the additions made in the past two fiscals were taken into
  cognizance. The solution partner's customer retention rate was also noted,
  as an increase in the number of buyers would show that the company is very
  aggressive.

AWARD CATEGORIES

The leading award for the 'Most Successful Solution Partner' is given to
that company which averaged the maximum votes in several criteria like size,
capability, service location etc. This award has two runner ups, while each of
the following awards had one runner-up each

• Best deployments: This award is given to the partner who has deployed the
  maximum successful deployments. Here the innovative nature of the
  deployments was taken into account.
• Best service: This award is given to partners who have the biggest service
  network with well-documented service-level agreements and qualified service
  manpower.

• Fastest growing partner: This is given to partners who
  have demonstrated the fastest revenue growth percentage in a CAGR of three
  years.

• Most comprehensive partner: This award is given to
  partners who offer the maximum number of solutions across several
  technological platforms like security, storage, networking etc.

THE SUSPENSE THICKENS

Now that the verdict is out, everyone is waiting with bated breath to know
who will finally walk up the aisle and claim the prestigious award. The award
show will be held on 15th January, 2005 at Hotel Le Meriden in Bangalore.

The event will be preceded by a panel discussion, with the theme 'Taking A
Quantum Leap-Opportunities And Challenges'. This panel will have a mix of
vendors and solution providers who will debate on the best way to upscale from a
tier-two partner to a tier-one solution provider.

TEAM DQCI