Acer India to focus on SME segment

Asim Raina & Rajitha Saleem

After emphasizing on large corporates for a significant
period of time, Acer India has devised a new strategy for the Indian market
wherein it would be focusing on the SME segment.

As part of the initiative, Acer, in association with
Microsoft recently organized a Microsoft Overdrive event, which consisted of an
exposition featuring tailor-made solutions from a number of ISVs based on Acer
servers. The event also consisted of a seminar where the participants were
educated on the various solutions for managing the growth of the company.

"The SME segment consists of 20 percent of the
overall business of Acer. This is expected to increase to 30-35 percent with the
new initiatives," disclosed S Rajendran, GM (Marketing), Acer India Pvt
Ltd.

In the initial phase, Overdrive has being conducted in
10 cities, which include Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore,
Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ludhiana and Lucknow. The second level of Overdrive
would include the next level of 10 cities, which include the upcoming towns such
as Mysore, Cochin, Trichy etc.

"The SMEs need to be educated about the various
options that are available for doing business and this channel initiative is
doing exactly that," added Rajendran. The event is in addition to the
channel initiative that Acer had announced early January--'Fire Your Aces' for
its channel partners. The scheme works on a slab basis and not only addresses
organizations, but also rewards individual marketing executives in the channel.
The highlight of the initiative is a return ticket to Singapore, which would be
awarded to the organization that has earned maximum incentives, in each region.

Almost 150 resellers had attended the event in Delhi.
"The good turnout that we get in the Overdrive, which we have been
conducting all over the country from last month, tells us that we are addressing
the correct audiences," explained Rajendran.

He informed that with about 250 resellers all over the
country, Acer India has been doing significantly well, even in the very
difficult February month, when the company has bagged some major contracts. In
the PC segment, Acer has targeted sales of about 40-45,000 units in the current
year. Rajendran also disclosed that Acer intends to increase the share of
barebone PCs from the current five to 15 percent. The company, which currently
has five offices in India--Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, will
be opening an office in Kolkata, within the next three months.