Channel Chief
“Enterprises will buy with vengeance in H2”
 Acer India is all set to launch its enterprise business in the country in July.
S Rajendran, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, spoke to Ramdas S about Acer’s plans for the months ahead
You have recently restructured your go-to-market strategy. Can you provide some insight?
In January 2010 we took a call that if we wanted to go after the large corporate and enterprise market we needed to move beyond the transactional business model we were then employing. We therefore started a process where we divided the sales team into transactional and consultative business units. The former will look after our core business of Acer retail/consumer PCs, monitors, the large-volume projector business, as well as brands such as Gateway and eMachines. The new business division will focus on selling to specific enterprise markets by strengthening relations with customers through partners who are focused on selling to the enterprise market.
We have set up sales teams which work with partners and large enterprises on the specific requirements of customers. We have had several major wins from large Indian and MNC enterprise customers. The names include Tata and Reliance.
Your entry into the server business has been awaited with a lot of interest by channel partners. Can you tell us about your strategy?
We had a soft launch for our server business in May at the CRN Leadership Forum in Lavasa. Actually, for many years, we did carry single and dual processor servers. Even before the launch, we had sold close to 2,500 units during Q1 FY2010-11. However, most of the orders were largely part of other orders from the education and government sectors.
In July, we will be formally launching the servers.
We will offer a complete range, which will include blade servers and high-availability server arrays. In Q3 FY2009-10, we had launched a channel program called Acer Select which was our first attempt to tap the SMB and enterprise markets. In the initial days our server business will be an extension of this program.
In Europe, we have already launched the storage business successfully with a technology tie-up with Hitachi Data Systems. By the end of the year it’s likely that this business will be replicated in Asia-Pacific markets, including India.
Mid-market resellers are curious about Acer’s channel policies and how you will work with the systems integrator (SI) channel. What are your rules of engagement?
Acer is known for its strong indirect business model, and we will remain channel-centric and partner-friendly. While we do not have formal rules of engagement, we have established certain strong practices which assure the interests of the channel partners involved. We always prefer to work with the partner who locks in the enquiry. Even in certain cases where the order needs to be rerouted through another partner, mostly on customer demand, we see that the partner who locked the enquiry gets some tangible benefit.
Don’t you feel that your lack of ISV relations and a solutions-centric approach will hurt your growth plans?
While we admit that we do not have a solutions-specific approach, and also that we do not have the ready ISV relations which some of the more established enterprise vendors have, we believe that the lack of these will not hurt our plans.
Most mid-market SIs today need a hardware vendor who will offer them value for money, assured margins in the business and overall sustainability. Partners we speak to have solutions ready, but they need a hardware vendor who can deliver for them. Acer is ready to support the SI channels.
What’s the progress on your other brands, eMachines and Gateway?
We have doubled the number of eMachines sold since last year. Today we average between 6,000-7,000 units a month, and have refreshed the product range.
When we started off with Gateway we offered it only through Croma stores. Now we have also started offering it through other LFRs and Acer stores. We have close to 100 stores offering Gateway products, and more stores will be aligned over the next few months. We expect the numbers to move from the present 1,000 units a month to around 2,500 units in a few months.
We will soon showcase a new brand icon called Mr Bull for the Gateway brand. This will differentiate the brand’s products from the Acer brand, which will be promoted by our brand ambassador actor Hrithik Roshan. Our idea is to create a fresh and separate brand appeal for Gateway products, and position the new set of notebooks against brands such as HP Pavilion and Sony Vaio.
Gartner recognized Acer as the No 1 desktop vendor in the country in Q1 FY2010-11. What have you specifically done to achieve this ranking?
We had a fabulous Q1 when it came to large desktop deals, especially from the government and education sector. While sustaining our leadership over the coming quarters will be a challenge, the fact that we gained the top slot has given our sales team and channels the confidence to keep working harder.
You recently restructured the sub-distribution channels. Why?
We have appointed close to 63 Master Resellers across the country. We have identified very strong partners with regional strengths, and the move has paid rich dividends. Acer retail outlets as well as LFRs continue to be served directly by the distributors.
Master Resellers have a clear mandate to grow the channels outside official Acer retail chains, targeting channels addressing consumers and the SMB segment.
What’s your message to channel partners?
The recession is now behind us, and we expect the SMB and enterprise markets to buy with a vengeance in the second half. Many customers who missed a technology refresh cycle will buy in the next 12 months. Intel’s new Core i3 and Core i5 processors and Microsoft’s Windows 7 will accelerate the spending because these technologies are robust and offer tremendous value for money.
Globally, Acer has announced its ambition to take the No 1 slot in the PC business by the end of the year or early next year. In India we aim to grab the No 2 slot by either Q4 FY2010-11 or Q2 FY2011-12. |