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Sudipto Dey
New Delhi: The PC business in India is fast metamorphosing from selling boxes to value-added services. Margins are on a squeeze and discerning customers are looking for more value for money spent -- be it better after sales service or more freebies. No wonder, smaller players are being kept on their toes. To beat the heat, an increasing number of them are learning to play the game, taking a leaf out of the books of the bigger players -- bundling branded software and other support services along with their products.
"As the PC business becomes a commodity business, bundling original software helps small system integrators to add more value to their services," says Rajiv Popli, manager, OEM, Microsoft India.
An indicator of the increased interest of the small player in building their brands is that Microsoft's partnership programme for system builders, which encourages use of Microsoft products and tools among small and medium-sized players, has swelled over the years. "What started with 240 partners in1996, grew to 585 in 1997," says Popli. By the end of 1998, Popli expects the figure to cross the 1000-mark.
The partner programme adds value to system builders by helping them in pre-loading software and equipping them with technical back-up support and training to service their customers. "The idea is to empower the system builders to enable them to provide better after-sales support to customers," says Popli. Microsoft organises training and skill upgradation programmes from time to time to keep the system builders up to date on technology and market trends. It recently ran a programme to pep up the sales teams of system builders. "Interactive meetings with customers of system builders help to build customer confidence."
To add mite to their marketing muscles, Microsoft actively sponsors seminars and road shows for its system builder partners to show case their products and services, says Popli.
To help the smaller players reap the benefits of branding their products and services, a programme is onto encourage groups of system builders to come together under a common brand name. In Delhi, 10 system builders have joined hands to launch "Horizon PC".
According to Shyam Modi of Modi Peripherals, one of the partners in the programme, branding their product helps them to create a niche in the market. "The fact that we enjoy the confidence of a big player such as Microsoft is re-assuring for our customers."
The success of brand-building programme is attracting new players into the fold, says Popli. Similar programmes are on at Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
For becoming Microsoft system builder partner, the aspirant must be a PC manufacturer or system integrator who must in principle agree to bundle original software. "A partner must be able to ship out at least five PCs per month with pre-loaded original software," says Popli.
The system builder partner programme helps to educate consumers on the issue of software piracy, feels Popli. "It expands the market for original software andeducates users how to get the most from their PCs."
Microsoft has a three-tier OEM strategy with MNC brands such as Compaq and HP on the top, local OEMs such as HCL and Zenith in the middle and system builder partners at the bottom. While MNC brands with their deep pockets set the standards in the market, local OEMs have a strong presence in the corporate segment. The system builders, comprising mainly small and medium-sized players, cater to the burgeoning SME and home markets. "The OEM range accounts for 24 per cent of Microsoft revenue," says Popli.
The company is likely to expand the product range it pushes through the OEM channel. The coming quarter will see more small business products, hardware such as keyboard, mouse and multimedia titles being pushed through the OEMs, says Popli. A programme is on to market Window NT in the SME market through the system builder partners. India is one among the top five emerging markets for Microsoft. Plans are afoot to be more aggressive on the OEM front, saycompany officials. "In this scheme of things system builders will continue to play a crucial role," says Popli.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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