Recession Fades the Glow of COM-IT

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The biggest IT fair of western region, COM-IT Expo 2008, which was organized by TAIT, concluded. Even though the exhibition evokes mixed response in the IT industry, recession did hinder the smooth flow of the exhibition.

The biggest IT fair of western region, COM-IT Expo 2008, which was organized by TAIT, concluded. Even though the exhibition evokes mixed response in the IT industry, recession did hinder the smooth flow of the exhibition.     
The entire effort was for a noble cause. By organizing COM-IT 2008, Mumbai-based Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT) envisaged to give a big push to the recession hit IT industry. They meant to provide an ideal platform for IT industry to showcase their products, solutions and a great avenue for TAIT members for new business. But recession besmirched the resplendence of the show in a certain level. 
According to Pravin G Dhoka, Director, TAIT, "The exhibition went of very well with the active participation of 109 brands. Big brands such as Intel, Microsoft, Logitech, CA, Samsung, AOC, Cisco, etc were among them. Microsoft and CA sponsored the seminars and approximately 30,000 visitors attended the show." 

The organizers of the show claimed that the show generated ample business for participants and high awareness for their products and solutions besides providing them long term business benefits. 
"The presence of large number of visitors and high quality seminars, titled Synergies 2008, were the specialty of COM-IT 2008. While Logitech came with their full range of consumer products, Intel and AMD showcased their latest gaming systems," Pravin told. Although he reiterated the show was a success, he accepted that the global recession influenced the show in a certain extend.
Abacus Peripherals exhibited their Zion Memory Modules for Desktop, Laptop and Server, Biostar and Asrock Motherboards and Sparkle Graphic Cards in the exhibition. They also arranged a high-end gaming system so that their visitors could get 1st hand experience of good Graphic Card.
According to Megha Modi, Marketing Manager, Abacus, "The exhibition was good. Visitors came from all over Maharashtr

a and from different categories like businessmen, professionals, dealers, assemblers, system integrators, end users etc. Besides Zion, we exhibited other products like Biostar and Asrock Motherboards, Sparkle Graphic Cards. All our products possess good quality and give best performance. Hence, the response was positive with lot of enquiries."
"The market slowdown has declined the glory of this exhibition. The publicity was not up to the mark and participants were also less. The exhibition was not as big as last year. However, we manage to collect good database with whom we are following up for Business," Megha added further.
Bimal Shah, Regional Manager-West, K7 Computing, told that they showcased Antivirus S/w - K7 Total Security (Internet Security) in the exhibition and the exhibition evoked good response from the visitors. But at the same time he accepted that the recession faded out the glory of the exhibition in a certain extent.
Being a member of TAIT, Intex Technologi

es put up a great show and showcased varied products in computer, computer peripheral and electronics categories. As per Naved Chaudhary, Senior Marketing Manager, Intex, "The exhibition was good and walk-in in the tune of 10,000 a day were there except weekend, totaling to about 1Lac. The activity also provided a platform to get a lot of channel queries and interaction with competition also."
Among computers, there were models powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors and notebooks (Business & Education). Also, complete portfolio of computer peripherals was showcased which included computer multimedia speakers, webcams, mouse, keyboard, add-on cards, UPS etc.

"Response was very good as we got queries from direct consumers and channel partners for varied products like PC, Notebook and Computer multimedia speakers. But in some extent, market slowdown affected the show. However, being an IT specific event walk-ins do happened and helped the larger cause to interact with direct

consumers and showcasing the complete range. Also, lot of queries which were generated was a bonus to us," Naved said.  
"Considering the footfall and queries generated, the exhibition was a success. Anyways, we take participation in exhibitions as one of our major activities across categories. Also, we look at Mumbai as one of the potential markets to be developed further. These have eased our cause to larger extent," Naved told further.
Rakesh Singh, Dray Tek's Chief Consultant-India, attended the show as a visitor. While participating the expo, he wished the presence of a crowd of serious visitors and many more IT and technology companies.
"The exhibition had big potential, which I feel that could have been exploited in much better way. Yes, market condition may be down, enthusiasm may be down, in such scenario it is the role of organizers to work extra hard and leave nothing to chance. They could have ensured or motivated the good IT companies to participate which I

feel they perhaps did not do, and the result was visible. In troubled times we all got damn serious about whatever business we are in to and just can't afford to be complacent or leave things to chance. I have full faith in organizer, TAIT, PCAIT, MAIT and definitely next exhibition will be grand success," Rakesh told.
"Expo is no exception in market slowdown condition, but it's also due to fact too many expo have started, and not enough attention are paid to ensure success of expo. Organizing expo is one thing, and organizing successful expo is another thing," he added.
While evaluating the whole scenario, we reach in a conclusion that the impact of recession was seen in the event. Compared to the previous year's footfall, the number of participants was also less. Moreover, inadequacy of proper publicity also hampered the show. Aloofness of big corporates and absence of adequate number of serious visitors also contributed to besmirch the show.