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“My biggest achievement is contributing to the creation of a favorable IT ecosystem”
The CRN Outstanding Channel Contribution Award for 2009 was presented to Jaishankar Krishnan, Managing Director, Ingram Micro India. Chosen by the editorial board of CRN, the award is a tribute to industry captains who through their continuous initiatives and hard work have contributed significantly to the creation, expansion and nurturing of the IT channel business.
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Sajid Desai, Publisher & Director, UBM India, presenting the award to Jaishankar Krishnan, MD, Ingram Micro
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Jaishankar, over his 16 years at Ingram Micro (earlier Tech Pacific), has been instrumental in making the company the largest and most-respected distributor in the country. Under his leadership, Ingram has constantly created new paradigms in distribution.
Jaishankar joined Ingram Micro (then Godrej Pacific) in 1993 as a regional manager for their north operations at the age of 36. His first job however was with Lucknow-based Uptron Digital Systems, where he developed software for 8086-based systems designed for real-time applications such as temperature scanners and data loggers.
After a couple of years, he along with his colleagues started their own software company in Lucknow, primarily focusing on developing applications for customers. Not finding success in his maiden entrepreneurial venture, he joined the Electronics Corporation of India as a sales manager in their computer systems group in Mumbai, and here he worked for nine years before joining Godrej Pacific.
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Channel Contribution
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• Set up the credit department at Tech Pacific;
created credit management systems
• First to launch services like door-delivery and drop-shipment
• Introduced channel financing for partners to access relatively cheaper credit
• Pioneered the value-added distribution
• Smoothly integrated Tech Pacific and Ingram Micro
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Milestones
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1993-95: Regional Manager, North
1995-97: National Sales Manager
1997-99 : Vice President, Operations & Credit Control
1999-2000 : CEO & Head, Volume Distribution
2000-2004: CEO, Tech Pacific
2005-till date : Managing Director, Ingram Micro
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Jaishankar then rose fast. Within two years of driving northern region operations, he was promoted to head national sales. Having proved his mettle in sales, the management gave Jaishankar the challenging task of setting up the credit and supply chain operations departments. This was the time when Tech Pacific, the joint venture partner in Godrej Pacific, acquired majority control of the company and decided to broad-base IT distribution. It was also the time when IT in India had reached an inflection point.
“In my new role as head of operations and credit, my responsibility was to set up a credit department from ground up, create a credit policy, and put in place credit evaluation and risk management processes. Structured credit practices were non-existent in the industry at that time. The processes we implemented helped us manage and control our risks better, and at the same time they gave our partners clarity on what they needed to do to avail of credit from us,” recalled Jaishankar.
The credit systems set up by Tech Pacific compelled other distributors to do the same, and this led to the expansion of channels. The introduction of distribution credit in a structured way significantly contributed to the inclusion of many partners in the mainstream IT channel who earlier couldn’t buy directly from the distributor.
Tech Pacific also became the first distributor to provide door-delivery services in metros, and also introduce drop-shipment services for channels. “My main aim as head of operations was to make it easier for partners to deal with us which would then help them focus on their main business instead of getting distracted with logistics or credit issues,” explained Jaishankar.
Another first to Tech Pacific’s name under Jaishankar leadership was the introduction of channel financing facilities through banks. “This was a key initiative in helping partners access relatively cheaper credit and grow their business as well as engage in larger project orders that had longer cash flow cycles,” said Jaishankar.
In spite of the several changes in ownership of the distributor, Ingram Micro in its current avatar has been able to maintain a strong management team, and this many attribute to the management skills and culture of transparency and openness cultivated and nurtured by Jaishankar who has been at the helm of the company since 2000. The biggest of such ownership changes happened when Ingram Micro acquired Tech Pacific in 2004. The integration process of the two companies was complex and required a good balancing act. While Ingram Micro was the largest IT distributor in the world, in India Tech Pacific had a larger footprint than Ingram’s local subsidiary.
To Jaishankar’s credit the integration process was conducted smoothly without creating any discontinuity of engagement with the channels of both companies. “The integration was a significant challenge in India. Firstly, we were fierce competitors locally, and secondly, both had differing processes and cultures. While Tech Pacific was more entrepreneurial in its business model, Ingram was more process-driven. To top it all we had to merge without causing any discontinuity in our partner and vendor engagement,” noted Jaishankar.
About the future he envisages Jaishankar said, “I foresee a churn in the IT distribution landscape in the next five years. Some distributors who are primarily focused on revenues through credit deployment in the market may find it difficult to survive as margins continue to shrink while working capital requirements continue to grow. Distributors who have strong internal controls and systems as well as a VAD business model will thrive. On the partner front, I believe that VARs and SIs will continue to thrive and grow. Some who have already built valuable businesses will probably cash out by either selling their businesses or taking the IPO route. I think many are just waiting for the markets to revive.”
Finally, when asked what he thought his contribution to channel is he said, "A distributor’s main responsibility is to enable business for the vendors and channels. The biggest satisfaction for me is being part of a company that has enabled the creation of a favorable IT ecosystem in the country so that young entrepreneurs can fulfill their ambition of creating successful ventures. Many of them have today created organizations that have added significant value to the industry."
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