“We see increased deployment of fibre-optic systems including components and MPO/MTP solutions”

Enterprise organizations have understood the importance of structured cabling and are willing to ensure that their network cabling performance is top notch. Global cabling major, R&M is present in India and operating successfully in this dynamic market. Shailendra Trivedi, Director Operations and Channel Development at R&M India shared his views with Faiz Askari exclusively for ChannelTimes.

Edited excerpts of the interview

What are the key trends in cabling industry in the enterprise segment of India?

There has been an inclination towards cabling solutions that are easier and quicker to install that will drive growth of pre-terminated cabling solutions. Designed as per customer requirements, such solutions are ready to use, plug-and-play. Therefore it eliminates the time required for termination.

Another trend is the increased emphasis on compliance to industry standards. With a growing number of installations in the industry, cabling manufacturers, the installers / integrators continue to ensure that the quality of the cabling installation is as per global standards and is tested to ensure the required grade of performance.

We see increased deployment of fiber-optic systems including components and MPO/MTP solutions. We believe this will be in line with the growing performance needs of data centers and networks.

Geographically, we’ve seen the emergence of tier 2 and tier 3 cities. These cities are also growing and have large projects being planned in the near future. These will all boost demand for SCS. There is also a very prominent channel and re-seller ecosystem which demands high performance cabling systems.

Please highlight your channel structure in India? Also mention the channel footprint in the country?

R&M has an agile channel set-up allowing us to respond in the best way to our customers across the country. At the national level, we have 2 national distributors: Vibgyor Net-Connections and Inflow Technologies. At the regional level, we have 6 regional distributors managing different regions—Gateway Networking for Kerala region, UltimaInfotech for Maharashtra and Gujarat region, we cover Tamil Nadu region through DuPont Networks and Secutron Systems. For Karnataka region we have Magnified Solutions, ARS Powertech is for Andhra Pradesh region.
Furthermore, each of our regional distributors have their own resellers in their respective regions.

What new opportunities do you foresee for partners?

R&M has always sought to create programs that benefit our partners. At the centre of our initiatives is the Qualified Partner Program (QPP). This is a global, exhaustive program where in partners are both trained and certified so that they have hands-on knowledge of R&M’s products and solutions and can install R&M’s products as per best practices of the industry and technical specifications of the customer.

Our qualified partners are given sales and technical assistance as required so as to help them win more customers faster. Furthermore, we organize technical sessions and product briefings for partners periodically so that our partners are updated with information so that they can sell efficiently. In the last quarter, we organized a technical briefing of data center solutions at Bangalore, attended by over 80 representatives.

Profitability for partners is essential for growth. How do you ensure better profitability for your partners?

R&M engages and assists over 180 partners with a high degree of sales and technical support so they win more customers faster. We have sales and technical representatives for each region who can offer direct assistance, as necessary. Any leads generated receive complete attention in terms of sales and technical assistance. The teams at R&M are agile in sharing any information and support that partners need to convert these leads into business. Furthermore, our regional distributors also assist this process by reaching out to the channel partners. This way we hope to create mutually benefitting conditions that help further our partner’s business goals.

Are there any plans for expanding the existing channel partner base for Indian market?

R&M has expanded its sales team over the last year and now has direct presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad. Our sales and technical teams in these cities can therefore address each region’s demands efficiently.
We also have over 180 partners certified under R&M Qualified Partner Program (QPP) across India. We continue to add more partners as we conduct QPP trainings and certifications each month across India.
R&M is looking to add more regional distributors in other states of India and is in talks with some companies as we speak. To augment awareness, each month R&M has been conducting roadshows across several cities in India for partners and resellers.

What is the long term growth that a partner can expect while working with R&M? Also, highlight your activities around partner ecosystem?

As an R&M partner, they can expect to receive access to a portfolio of high-quality, differentiated products that offer best-in-class performance. These solutions are not only tailored as per the needs of different industries and applications but also contribute significant value to the end user in terms of reliability, cost savings and being future-proof.R&M is admired for its technical support and briefings to partners. Technical representatives from R&M work with the partners to create designs and specifications for passive networks and projects of all sizes.We hope to engage more with channel partners across India as well as enter new tier 2 and tier 3 markets to augment our presence and make our high-quality cabling products accessible to more partners.The appointment of six new regional distributors in 2012 is an important part of improving our channel relationships whereby our regional distributors can deliver required products and solutions as per partners’ expectations.

We intend to continue building on the success of 2011 and offer high performance cabling solutions that meet international quality standards and are modular so as to be highly flexible and future-proof.