ALE eyes SMB, expand reach in India

Alcatel Lucent Enterprise, (ALE) collaborating with Neoteric a value added distributer of their products, recently organized Xplore, an event to expand their reach across India in the SMB space. The multi city roadshow received a very enthusiastic response from the partners, and has helped the company to expand its horizon beyond metro cities, into tier II and III cities. In an exclusive chat with Bhawna Satsangi,  Prasath Rao, Head of Channels and Operations, South Asia, ALE, speaks about ALE’s expansion plans and channel strategies to create a niche in the Indian market.

1. Tell us something about Xplore  ?

Between November 5th and December 5^th, the event has covered seven major cities, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Delhi.  The objective was to recruit partners, create awareness, and display our value proposition of the vast ALE SMB portfolio.  The sessions focussed on new enterprise applications, product road maps and their unique selling propositions that deliver more value to the fast growing Indian SMB market.  Partners benefitted from hands-on product demonstrations delivered by the Neoteric team.  The event also highlighted how cost-effective ALE products and solutions in the Communications & Networks and Wireless segments enhance business results & ROI (Return on Investment), making their customers’ and their businesses future ready.

Through Xplore, our aim is to recruit more partners in the untapped regions both in Tier 1 & Tier2 cities across India.

Adding to Prasath Rao’s words, Varun Mata, Business Head- Neoteric Infomatique Ltd. said, “These roadshows complement ALE’s major focus on the Indian SMB market.  They empower our channel community to explore business opportunities and facilitate brand building besides partner on boarding.  Through this event, we look forward to educating partners on the latest technologies in a solutions- format so that they can position and pitch end- to- end solution to their customers.”

2. How did it help to leverage profits for ALE?

As I have mentioned we only sell through partners. Our focus is to recruit more partners to strengthen our SMB plan in India. Our growth depends on the on boardment of more partners, and that will be direct benefit to ALE. We have also launched partner incentive program during the roadshows to attract more IRs to sign in. Our partner incentive program includes free basic level training, special discounts for lab & demos; direct marketing support, and sales rewards.

3. How many channel partners does ALE have in India? Did you add any more to the portfolio after the roadshows?

We have 50 active IRs in India today, and after this event, we are looking to add about 50 more.

4. How do your partner programs help your channel partners?  

Our partners are our lifeline and we support them through marketing initiatives like demand generation skill support for their staff, quality services delivery support to their customers and to be profitable.  We are fully geared to support our partners with pre-sales and post-sales services.

Our key partner program, Enterprise Partner Program (EPP),   drives expertise and recognition of Business Partners to ensure the highest level of quality to sell, deploy and support ALE SMB solutions through a profitable model. It offers a flexible and scalable framework, which allows our business partners to meet their business goals now and in the future with a long-term mutually beneficial relationship.

We have a very robust and flexible Partner accreditation program too, and tailor-made programs to suit our SMB collaborators in India.  They can choose their preferred area of specialization in Voice or Data or both and can evolve their accreditation status as they grow.  With only one specialization, they achieve ‘CERTIFIED’ status and they can grow to the highest level-‘PREMIUM’ at their own pace.

5. How important are channel partners for ALE? How do you make sure that your partners move up the value chain? How do you incentivize them?

A large number of SMBs are still on TDM and have not moved to all IP platforms, since they are unsure of the benefits of the converged & collaborative applications. The main reason for this is lack of awareness amongst the SMB channels, and the idea that such applications are expensive and limited only to mid and large enterprise.

We are the only vendor in the SMB space (sub 250 users) to have a comprehensive portfolio encompassing Voice, Data, Wifi and collaborative applications, and this will help break this myth. We see tremendous opportunities for our channels in this migration to IP and converged & collaborative applications in SMB segment.

As part of the SMB initiative program, ALE gives 2% to 4% backend rebate depending on the post-sales certification status. This is in addition to the 3% Backend rebate that they can achieve on the business volume. ALE also funds initial stage of trainings for select ‘committed’ partners. We understand that the SMB partners need simple recruitment process, fast enablement and quick return on their investment and we already have been fulfilling this demand.

6. What is the growth pattern and verticals for ALE? Any specific growth for the SMB sector?

We are growing across all key verticals in the region with strong solutions in hospitality, education, government and enterprises. Overall, it has been a good year for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. We have seen good growth and are bullish for next year. For expansion, we see that untapped regions both in Tier 1 & Tier2 cities across India offer a huge potential.

Today, SMBs contribute 12% percent of our India revenues, and with our aggressive SMB plan in place, we expect the segment to grow at a CAGR of 25%-30% year on year. We are looking to double our revenues in SMB in India over 2-3 years’ time.

Besides targeting the SMB segment, we will continue our leadership in key verticals such as Hospitality, Healthcare, Education, and Government through our Direct Touch sales and open the doors for our partners.

7. What are your short term and long-term goals?

India is strategic to our overall company growth. We already have global customer care and R&D labs for Enterprise solutions in Chennai and Bengaluru. One of our key priorities in India is to grow and continue to deliver value in the SMB market. We want to tap the exponential opportunities in the SMB space in India, and are scouting channel partners to expand our reach in the country. To boost our SMB focus, we will be ramping up resources.

Our SMB strategy in India can be broadly summed up by the acronym: 4P. It stands for ‘Portfolio, Presence, Program and Price’. We already have extensive portfolio, right & flexible program in place, aggressive price points are being planned for sub 50 users market and about our presence – we want to increase our presence by recruiting more partners through ‘Xplore. In addition, we are increasing our presence by having PAMs – ‘Partner Account Managers’. The PAMs will be placed in select cities and will be giving 360-degree support to our partners, from enablement to closing sales.