IAMCP to strengthen Indian membership strength

The International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) India,
is organizing activities to increase its awareness as well its membership
strength. Suresh Ramani, President of IAMCP, West Chapter said, “The association
is new in India and the strength of its regional chapters is minimal. We are
conducting monthly meetings, where we invite members as well as people from the
software community. The latter will be encouraged to register with the
association.”

He added, “The last meeting was held in Microsoft Office in Mumbai and two
Mumbai-based Microsoft registered partners joined IAMCP.”

West is the first chapter of IAMCP and has 15 members, while South has 11
members and North and East chapters have 30 participants. These members meet
once a month not only to discuss the issues they face, but also to educate
themselves on issues of finance, management, planning etc, which improves their
business functionality.

According to members, there are four major advantages of having IAMCP
membership. One is the geographical advantage. If a partner wants to open an
office in another part of the country he can take the help of an existing
association member in that region. Competency is the second advantage, where
product exchange between partners can happen. If an association member wants to
expand his business overseas, he can take the help of an IAMCP member in that
particular country as well. Also, members can exchange manpower for projects.

Ramani said, “If there is any crisis regarding manpower in an organization,
that member can ask another member to deploy a person on the site for a minimum
amount. This way members can not only profit from the arrangement, but the
loyalty of its customers can also be constantly maintained.”

IAMCP is present in 35 countries all over the world. In case of any serious
problems, the president of the Indian association will discussion the issue with
the IAMCP presidents in other countries and inform them about the same.

IAMCP will set up its stall at the Microsoft partner summit taking place in
Mumbai from September 11 to 13, 2008. It will engage with attending software
partners about the advantages of joining IAMCP for an annual membership fee of
Rs 4,000. Out of the total fees, 85 percent will remain with the Indian
association and 15 percent will be transferred to IAMCP World.

The association will meet again next week to decide on the other programs as
well.