By 360 Magazine Staff
Mumbai, Jun 27, 2006
One of the most populous cities in the state of Uttaranchal, Haldwani, in Nainital District, is also a fast evolving IT hub with 100-200 vendors having an indirect presence. Little surprising therefore that the recent Yatra meet became a leveraging platform for both the vendors and the resellers.
Twenty-seven channel partners attended the event, which was presided by Seagate, Logitech and Trend Micro.
Parveen Sharma, channel manager, Delhi & NCR, Logitech, said, “The channel partners in Haldwani were keen to know about the vendors’ prospects and plans for the city. Seeing the growing IT potential of this city we plan to bring our retail program in the city. A Nainital-based partner has already shown readiness to become the first retail partner for Logitech’s peripheral program. We plan to invest on partners for brand-awareness programs and promotions.” The vendor plans to appoint three more new partners by the end of this year.
The Home segment is the major IT buyer in Haldwani followed by educational institutes and the corporates. Haldwani, which is the second biggest city in Uttaranchal after its capital Dehradun, sells 200-300 volumes of PCs in a month and the laptop business is also witnessing rapid growth. According to the resellers, Trend Micro was new to the channel as Macfee and Norton are the fast-selling antivirus software in the city.
Ironically, despite its growing IT market, none of the major vendors have their service centers here. Charu Mainali, properitor, Ace infotech, said, “Haldwani partners feel neglected as none of the vendors including Seagate, Logitech and HCL have their service centere in the city. And for any customer complaints we have to take the default product either to Delhi or Dehradun and all the expences have to be borne by the partners only.”
Another matter of concern for the channel community is their unorganized nature due to which they are susceptible to fly-by-night operators. “Last year two cases of cheating came to light and more than 12 partners were duped to the tune of Rs 20 lakh, but no serious effort has been taken in this direction. The partners lack unity and never think of forming an association,” Mainali said.
Summing up the general sentiment, Ashwani Bansal, proprietor, Comnet Sales, said, “Today’s Yatra has brought many new products and technolgies, and a new perspective, which will definitely give us an edge in our business.”
News Source: http://www.channeltimes.com
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