AGC Networks On a Global Expansion Spree

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Samir Sayed, Vice President- Sales, AGC Networks Ltd. shares with ITVar News about the network solution offerings by the company, long- and near-term demands for network solutions, about newly initiated channel program ‘Channel Partner Connection 2011’, channels plans, market strategy and other vital details.

ITVar News: What all are the network solution offerings by AGC Networks? To what extent do these solution offerings help in accelerating the revenue growth of the organizations?

Samir Sayed: We at AGC Networks have a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to cater to the networking needs of enterprises. We design, supply, implement and manage the entire spectrum of network solutions right from intelligent passive network to wired and wireless LAN to routing to network security and everything in between. That’s why we are called as Solution Integrators & not System Integrators. Our whole approach is keeping the business user and their business requirements at the core and not just a particular technology/OEM when we are designing a solution.

ITVN: AGC Networks also offers Information Security Services (ISS). Kindly give an insight about this service by the company.

Samir Sayed: A key requirement for enterprises today is to have a strong wall to protect their information. At AGC it has been our constant endeavor to make this offering a rich yet customized for our customers. Over last 18 months, post the acquisition of AGC Networks by Aegis Limited, an Essar Enterprise, there has been constant up gradation of this solution. The solution offering comprises of Information Security, Storage, Servers and Virtualisation. Within Info-Sec we cover network security, data security, Identity & Access management with a wrap of managed services/SOC on-site. One of the largest desktop virtualization projects spanning multiple countries has been executed by us.

ITVN: What are the long- and near-term demands for network solutions?

Samir Sayed: With expiration of IPv4 and adoption of IPv6, there will be a definite need to update and upgrade existing network infrastructure. This need alone will propel high growth in the domain. Besides this, we are now witnessing huge demand from verticals like IT/ITES, hospitality, healthcare and government.

ITVN: What are some of the top priorities for the company in 2012?

Samir Sayed: With the shifts in industry & customer requirements, we have already moved into a space where we are an end-to-end IT services provider. In 2012, we plan to fully integrate our business applications team thereby being able to offer solutions from partners like SAP, Siebel, Oracle, JD etc to our customers. In addition to it, our top 3 priorities in 2012 would be to expand into atleast 4 geographies outside India, maintain our market leadership as a Solution Integrator in the Collaboration space and continue the focus on increasing the addressable market by expanding the solution portfolio.



ITVN: Who all are your alliances? Are you planning any fresh alliances in 2012?

Samir Sayed: We have 100+ alliances helping us provide tailor-made solutions to our customers. Depending upon the business understanding and level of involvement with a partner, they can be classified into Core, Strategic or Transactional. But the journey of having strong partner base doesn’t end here. We continue to strive & look out for partners who can help us increase our addressable market. Thus fresh alliances are definitely on card. Key criteria would be to see how together we would be able to address the growing SMB market.

ITVN: Currently, which all verticals do you cater to?

Samir Sayed: Currently the verticals that we cater to are:
    Healthcare
    Hospitality
    Manufacturing
    Government
    BFSI
    ITES/ BPO

ITVN: Off lately, the Company has initiated a new channel program called ‘Channel Partner Connection 2011. Kindly give some details about this initiative by the company.

Samir Sayed: AGC truly believes in mutually beneficial relationships. On one hand we focus & create associations with right set of partners, on second hand we ensure we provide them right ecosystem & platform for them to grow along with us. As we continue to grow as a company, we have seen that partners are duly contributing to this growth story.  Our partners are forming a pivotal support system and playing a critical role in our growth strategy in India.
To take this relationship further we have launched a program called ‘Channel Partner Connection 2011 wherein we invite the existing & potential partners at a common forum & discuss various ICT solutions available for their target customers, and the strategy to take these solutions to right audience.

ITVN: Channel Partners forms the backbone of any business. Are there any immediate plans to further strengthen the channel base?

Samir Sayed: SMEs today are playing a pivotal role for the growth of Indian economy by contributing around 45% of industrial output, 40% of exports, employing 60 million people, create 1.3 million jobs every year and produce more than 8000 quality products for the Indian and international markets. A lot of this $1.5 billion SME opportunity gets created in Tier II cities.  These locations can be best tapped with support of a strong channel network with strong in roots in these markets.
Today we already have strong presence across all the metros & key markets like Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Nashik, Coimbatore, and Indore. But by end of 2012 we will have many more locations added to this list.

ITVN: What will be the Company’s Go to Market Strategy for the year 2012 and what all initiatives are you taking to tap the upcountry markets?

Samir Sayed: We firmly believe in creating and contributing in development of an eco-system where customer requirements are well understood by integrators like us and we through our network of partners fulfill these requirements. Our GTM is strategy is to see how best can we build and nurture this eco-system which will help al entities grow. So the GTM would be 2 pronged. On one hand it will have prospective & existing clients where we understand their requirement and serve as trusted consultants.  This will be mainly through direct customer engagements with large and high end of medium enterprises, and with network of channel partners addressing the Medium Business. Other end of GTM is to understand our partner’s strengths and seeing where and how best can they be utilized. So this would be vertical specific + solution specific approach.

ITVN: How is the company positioned currently and what kind of market share do you anticipate in future?

Samir Sayed: Our growth rate for this fiscal has been extremely encouraging and much higher than other players in our industry. We have been able to maintain our dominance in the collaboration space while rapidly gaining market share in networking, Information Security, Storage, virtualization & SMB.