The Confederation of IT
Associations (Confed ITA) held its
href="http://dqweek.ciol.com/ChennaiEdition/CHNews/107102601.asp">third
annual summit in Ooty last
week. About 500 dealers from 17 associations participated in the
summit.
R Ramachandran, Professor
of Sanskrit, RKM Vivekananda College, Chennai was the chief guest. He
spoke about business ethics and crisis management. The summit kicked
off with presentations from various sponsors and each member of the
associations present gave a brief on what they expected from the
newly-elected board. The main objective of the summit was to provide
a platform for vendors to showcase their products, share roadmaps and
take feedback to improve channel partnerships.
All member associations
made efforts to educate their members about various issues like VAT,
GST and conducted many awareness programs. Salem IT Dealers
association (SITA) and Coimbatore IT Association (CITA) conducted a
project for reducing e-waste and planted trees in exchange for
electronic goods. S Prakash, Vashini Systems and Solutions, Salem and
President Elect, Confed ITA spoke about his goals, “I want to bring
back the SOUL project as soon as possible. This year, we are hoping
that
href="https://www.dqweek.com/itdat-joins-hands-with-confed-ita">more
associations will join us.”
All the Confed affiliated
dealers, distributors and vendors will contribute 0.1 percent of
their purchase amount towards a member welfare project called Stand
On Our Legs (SOUL). The main purpose of initiating SOUL is to cover
unforeseen mishaps like accidents, frauds etc. The project has
received a favorable response from everyone in Confed ITA.
The association's
bulletin called 'Clarion' was circulated amongst members. The other
important decisions taken included, implementation of SOUL project,
increase of insurance cover for all members, details of newly formed
associations, forming of an arbitration council and imparting members
on various soft skills.
N Gopalakrishnan of
Emerald Inffosys, Coimbatore remarked, “More associations should
join the Confed, so that we have a body to fight for our causes. We
are spreading awareness amongst our peers and are educating them
about various happenings in the market. Alexander Kanagaraj of Alex
Computers, Tuticorin, said, “I have attended the previous two
summits and each time I have seen it grow. I have met many fellow
businessmen from across the region. The summit has provided us with
an opportunity to meet various members of our fraternity and learn
best industry practices.”
G Ravikumar of Pentagon
Compushop, Madurai, said, “We are grateful to Confed that they take
up issues plaguing our community. They have educated us on
VAT-related matters and other best practices within the community. We
are in turn passing it on to our members.” S Sanjay, MD, Kondaas
Automation, Coimbatore spoke about green initiatives, “I strive to
educate my peers and colleagues about being green. I understand the
importance of recycling and try to reduce energy consumption as much
as possible. It is possible only if same practices are taken across
all cities.”
Members put up impromptu
skits, songs and even danced to popular songs to retain the
entertainment quotient. Toshiba was the main sponsor of the summit,
while Microsoft, Samsung and HP were co-sponsors.
href="https://www.dqweek.com/s-prakash-is-the-new-confed">Confed
now has
elected its new board and they will be in charge from 1
href="https://www.dqweek.com/s-prakash-is-the-new-confed">
size="3">st
April 2010.