Sushil Bandi, Country Manager, WD on Channel Roadmap, Future Plans, Strategy and Focus Area for 2010

• Email
• Print
• ( 0 )
• 

Western Digital (WD) recently tied-up with Redington India Pvt. Ltd. to strengthen its channel base in India. With this move, the company is expecting remarkable growth in its success path in India market.

Western Digital (WD) recently tied-up with Redington India Pvt. Ltd. to strengthen its channel base in India. With this move, the company is expecting remarkable growth in its success path in India market. Giving an insight about this tie-up, Sushil Bandi, Country Manager for the Indian sub-continent, Western Digital shared his views in a te-te with Jalaj Roy Choudhury. He also discussed companys latest product & solutions focus area for 2010, companys growth strategic tie up and with other important information, in the interview. Given below are the excerpts from the interview :

Jalaj Roy Choudhury: What all products, services and solutions are you offering?

Sushil Bandi: WD provides products & solutions across the storage spectrum for its end users. To begin with, we have a vast portfolio of External storage solutions that are categorized into Desktop, Desktop for Mac, Portable, Portable for Mac, and Network storage solutions.

The

Internal storage range offers Desktop, Mobile, AV and Enterprise storage products that also include recently launched VelociRaptor 600GB. These are followed by the Home Entertainment range comprising of media players, portable media players and DVR Expanders. This range also features our popular WDHDTV Live. Finally, we have the Solid State Storage range that offers desktop and mobile SSDs and embedded systems. Further, we also offer bundled software and web-applications like WD SmartWare and WD Photos that enable users to do more with their digital content and keep it secure.

JRC: What will be your main focus area for the year 2010?

SB: Our main focus will be strengthening our channel network in the country, especially in the tier 2 & 3 cities. The inherent growth potential in these cities is evident, and we are confident that it will boost our sales volumes. However, there is much to be done in tier 2 & 3 in terms of customer outreach. Tapping th

e market in these cities is a big opportunity as well as a challenge for Western Digital. Though there is scope for brand-building, a lot of effort will also go towards developing relationships with the channel partners.

JRC: Recently you have tied up with Redington (India) Ltd. How beneficial it will be for WD?

SB: As stated earlier, strengthening our channel base is one of our focus areas for 2010 and WD wanted to work with a firm that brings deep domain expertise coupled with a pan India footprint. Moreover, we are expecting a sharp rise soon in the demand for content storage from businesses and households. We have to get prepare to meet the high expectations of this fast-growing market. Redington (India) Ltd. has an established capability and we are sure that it will provide immense value to our offerings, by helping us to reach out to the consumers across the length and breadth of the country. We are delighted to have Redington as our distributor, and

we look forward for a long and mutually beneficial relationship.

JRC: What is company\'s strategy to take on competition from other players?

SB: WD has a wide range of top-notch products, supported by a good distribution network and efficient after-sales services. For our comprehensive product offerings in Desktop, Mobile, consumer electronics, Enterprise and external drives, we ensure that these products launch and made available in India on the same day as it is in USA. Therefore, WDs latest technology is readily available in India. WD ensures efficient after-sales service through WD Express, a door to door warranty service anywhere in India for end user, system integrator and resellers. Consequently, WD has the lowest rate of return in the industry.

JRC: How do you identify challenges faced by the IT industry and design your products accordingly?

SB: Our products and designs are inspired by the \'continuously evolving\' co

nsumer. For example, we have recently introduced industry\'s highest capacity hard drive to the date in 2.5\" form factor - the Scorpio Blue 750GB. Another new product - the VelociRaptor 600GB - is the only one with 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive in the market. Both these innovations have been inspired by today\'s consumer that demands a combination of high performance, capacity and smaller form factor in a single hard drive. Content security is another area of concern for all users, which we have tackled well with the introduction of WD SmartWare as portable software in all portable drives - an efficient means of automatic data back-up and retrieval.

JRC: What kind of roadmap channel partners should adapt in order to sell these products and solutions? Is there is any haul from consumer side or selling these products and solutions is just about pushing the products in the market?

SB: WD is among the world\'s leading brands in storage solutions, and is a well-k

nown name among Indian consumers as well. However, we constantly advise our resellers to keep the preference of end consumer in mind. Strategies and plans should be made around the consumers\' requirements and convenience. We firmly believe that a customer-centric approach is the best assurance of short and long-term growth.

JRC: Please brief about your Warranty and RMA services.

SB: WD has a unique customer service in India - WD Express, a door to door warranty service anywhere in India for end user, system integrators and resellers. Consumers can access this service online for warranty checks, product replacements and RMA status from anywhere in India.

JRC: What are the future plans of the company?

SB: Over the last few years, WD has gained prominence in the Indian market. We will try to maintain our leadership status through our innovative marketing initiatives and channel friendly policies. I am confident that these polici

es and practices will make WD a stronger brand in future. I would like to channelize the efforts to continue the momentum which WD has gained and ensure that it will remain one of the leading brands in India.

JRC: What are the new challenges that your company is facing?

SB: I believe the biggest challenge is to correctly anticipate the consumption pattern of storage technology in the Indian context, and to be on the pulse of the consumers\' needs and preferences. This market is very dynamic and intriguing. The digital revolution has triggered a steady consumption for digital content in Indian homes and businesses. With changing lifestyles and higher disposable income, the storage market in India is witnessing phenomenal growth. If we will be able to identify our consumers\' behaviour accurately, able to tap the huge demand and play an important role in defining the evolution of storage devices, I would say that we have successfully overcome this challenge.

JRC: Are you planning to focus on B and C class cities? If yes, please give detailed inputs how?

SB: Yes, we are focusing on B & C class cities, and our efforts are primarily in the direction of expanding the channel base and providing fast & effective after-sales service. Apart from expanding our reach and distribution, WD is also trying to connect with consumers in these markets to increase awareness on storage technology and products. We organize road shows at regular intervals in these cities, and they have turned out to be a very beneficial in terms of consumer engagement. With such activities, we have also tried to reach out to the students as they are increasingly becoming an important consumer segment and are influencing storage devices space.

JRC: Any message for the channel community?

SB: The market prospects are bright and WD wants profits from the demand surge to trickle down the channel community. Here, I

would like to reiterate the importance of the channel community as part of WD\'s business, and its contribution in the company\'s growth. We will be continuously focusing on providing best training to them and will help them to serve customers\' needs in a better way. To lend our partners an edge over the competition, WD will continue to manufacture best-quality storage solutions based on our customers\' unique requirements and will be on the forefront of technological innovation