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The beginning of a year is a time of much speculation and hope. It is also a time when most people set resolutions and goals for them selves. Channel partners are also getting their acts together to cash in on the booming IT sector. The DQ Week spoke with partners from across the country to see where they saw the industry, as well as their businesses, headed in the year 2007. Also, the one product/trend according to them, that would cause ripples in the market next year. Most of them agreed that mobility-laptops, Wi-Fi/WiMax and networking products-would be an area to watch out for.
Ajaya Kumar, MD, Park Electronik: IT is a booming a sector and will perform tremendously well in the coming year. The reason behind such growth is the high penetration in the Indian market. IT companies are growing manifolds and the trend will continue in the coming years also. As per an IDC report, IT industry has shown upward trend and I am very optimistic about the overall performance in 2007.
In the coming year, I feel that there are some issues that vendors need to look after and one of them is channel health. I believe that the time has come when vendors should take care of the channel health and they need to fix reality prices.
According to my observation, Wi-Fi is going to pick up very well in the market and it will create a wave for its demand in sectors like commercial places, malls, airports and various public places.
Another product that I think will do considerably well is the storage device. End customers are becoming more conscious of new technologies and are adopting it very well. This mindset will lead to the rise in demand of media products.
One common trend that will continue in the next year also is the possession of laptops and this will create consistent growth in its demand.
Naresh Kohli, MD, International Computer Resources: IT industry will perform extremely well in 2007, as there has been growth in all four corners. A phenomenal change that will take place is that the direction will shift towards B and C class cities as the market in metros is almost saturated. Vendors are now targeting up country regions and the demand in this section will increase.
We have specific plans and targets for 2007 and we are making full efforts towards it. We have plans to tap the SMBs that have not been fully explored yet. We are hoping to get overwhelming response from them and our next year will be dedicated entirely towards it. We are expecting enough growth in this sector that will boost more demand. Our baseline will be fixed pricing, prompt delivery and timely service, so that the end users have faith in our service and us. I don't think that there is any product or trend that will create ripples in the market.
Manoj Gupta, MD, Challanger Computers: IT market will perform very well in the next year and the reason is the increasing consciousness among customers to possess latest technologies. I feel that the industry will perform immensely well and there is no doubt about its growth. I am hoping that 2007 will bring prosperity and will observe growth in my company. I expect that my company will grow at least 40 percent.
A trend that I believe will take place in the market is that big distributors will perform as regional distributors and that will create a kind of ripple among the channels.
Suresh, CEO, Karthik Business Machines, Bangalore: As far as the India market is concerned, we have already seem retail boom happening. That would in fact continue to grow bigger and better. According to me bigger players like Reliance would increase their investments in this space to an even greater extent in the coming year. While the increase in the number of retail outlets would initially be visible big time in the metros, upcountry markets would catch up soon as well.
As far as the trends in the products are concerned, laptops will surely be the flavor of the season. With greater user adoption, sales and demand would increase rapidly.
Another interesting trend that would be visible is the greater adoption of technologies like MP3 players and pen drives. This is because 'people on the move' would rapidly increase and therefore the need for technologies 'on the move'.
All of the above said would imply a huge business opportunity for players like us who are in the IT space. It is up to us to maximize our benefits from the opportunities that lie ahead of us.
Sanath Babu, Director, Sri Durga Computech, Bangalore: The Indian IT industry is set on a rapid growth path. The trend would continue in the near future as well. The market is showing an increased growth in the retail space and this would perform tremendously well in the coming year. In fact we will see huge levels of growth and expansion in the retail space in India and most of us will attempt to maximize on this opportunity.
Among other trends, products like laptops will sell more, given that the buying capacity would increase tremendously. This means that demand would increase and provide us a good opportunity for business. Growth is also expected to be big in storage devices, networking as well as other accessories. With users getting increasingly quality conscious, brands will create a huge impact and customers would adapt to new technologies. This mindset will continue across market segments be it metro or elsewhere. As far as our individual business plans are concerned, we would keep in mind the above trends and then devise our strategies for the year ahead as regards or products and solutions.
Narendra Dhanuka, CEO, Galaxy Computech, Kolkata: According to me, 2007 will see IT retail into its full bloom. The trend, which has taken the industry by storm for the last couple of years, will be matured and dominating in the coming year with more people venturing into retail. Even I have also planned to focus more on retail apart from consolidating my sub-distribution business. Also, the distribution mode will be simplified further with the middle tiers being incised out.
2007 might witness Microsoft launching a new and advanced version of Windows, which may bring a revolution in computing.
Sanjay Chhajer, Advance Management Systems, Kolkata: The voluminous growth, which the IT industry has been witnessing for the last few years will continue in the coming year. The bigger players will become bigger and sustenance will be a matter of concern for the small and medium players. However, since the grass root level growth of IT is also taking place, they will be able to carve out their own space though competition will be very high.
Once again 2007 is going to be the year of laptops. Laptop sale is going to touch new heights with each passing day and will become an enormous threat for desktops. Indians are becoming more lifestyle conscious and thus crave for niche and high-end products are increasing. People don't mind paying extra and buy quality products. And since we deal in niche products we are going to be more aggressive. The acceptance of high-end speakers, laptops, iPods and now Xbox are indicative enough of the change.
Magan Gangani, Director, Newtrack Computers, Mumbai: We are very positive about the next year and are expecting it to be good. The products that we expect to do well are LCD monitors, laptops, notebook PCs. Apart from these the MFDs are the next big thing that are picking up fast and will grow faster.
Ashok Bagaria, CEO, CableHouse, Nagpur: Branded computers will takeover the entire business share of assembled industry. The price drop is an important factor for bridging the gap between the two options. Laptops will continue to sell more than desktops. Nowadays it is mostly college students who are buying laptops. Lot of old computers are coming to us for exchange against new laptops. This is mainly because their college premises have also become Wi-Fi. Business is expected to increase over all by minimum eight to10 percent.
Benley Noronha, Director, Nortech Infonet, Cochin: The year 2006 was good and 2007 will be fantastic. No doubt about it. Economy is going strong, country GDP is growing, FDI is pouring in, retail is booming and so on. It is indicative of growth and prosperity, at least for the next couple of years. From the company side, Nortech did well in 2006 and we have some expansion plans for 2007. The one product/trend, which would create ripple in the market in 2007, would be mobile computing. With convergence as theme, people will go in for more mobility products where data, voice, video can be integrated and delivered.
S Pulla Reddy, Director, SP Software, Hyderabad: It was an eventful year for us, as we bagged prestigious projects from Satyam and a few other software companies. SP Software expanded its business on all fronts and we have also forayed into online corporate training. Thanks to the booming IT industry and Indian economy, which is on a blazing path. We wish 2007 will be even more exciting and SP Software has some major announcements for the New Year. As for trends in 2007, ERP is the area to be watched out as Indian companies (especially SMBs) are maturing with their systems and process in the organization.
P Shrikanth, CEO, Vellore Online System, Vellore: 2006 was neither good nor bad for us. It was just another year for Vellore Online System. Even for the industry, I do not think it was an exciting year. There was a little boom in the communications side and the IT industry witnessed many transitions in product categories. Many new technologies came in and customer education/awareness was going on (in the new product categories). However, the year 2007 should give a good start in business, as people will start spending on these new technologies/products. WiMax is a product to bet on.
Source: DQ Week
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