Compaq has a good year in the govt

The government sector seems to have bailed out Compaq Computers during a tough year with sales in the sector pegged at roughly Rs 150 crore. With dismal purchases by the SMB segment, and with retail and enterprise sales also tapering off, government spending was the only constant. What's more, vendors expect more spending during the current quarter since typically most purchases in the government sector are usually in this period.

Although Compaq has been focusing on the government sector since 1999, it was only in 2001 that the sector contributed significantly to the company's revenue pie. The economic downturn spurred the company to aggressively pursue the government sector and a separate business unit was formed to address the segment. The company also launched a roadshow across 13 cities showcasing e-government solutions in collaboration with Microsoft and PWC during September and October of last year.

The most significant achievement of the company during the year has been that it has managed to get itself empanelled in most of the government procurement agencies. These include the NCCF (National Confederation of Cooperative Forum); NIX NIC, the procurement arm of NIC; HARTRON, the procurement wing for Haryana state government; UPDESCO, the procurement wing of UP state government; and MP LUN, the procurement wing for the MP state government. All of these achievements have been during 2001 except with NIX NIC with whom Compaq was already empanelled.

Compaq usually implements government tenders through its set of partners focussed on the segment. CMC, Tata Elxsi and Tata Infotech are its three main implementation partners in the government sector.

Speaking about the company's focus in the segment, A Talapatra, Business Manager (Federal and State Government), Compaq, said, "It was relatively easy for us to foray into the segment since we had made an impact by installing and maintaining computers of a government body across 486 locations. So we had a ready reference to give."

Although he admitted that HCL is by far the biggest player in the segment, sometimes Compaq does win because tenders call for only MNC brands. "Since tenders are usually determined by the L1 which is the lowest bidder, HCL manages to walk off with most of the orders. But Compaq has an edge in tenders which specify higher specs," he added.

(CNS)