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Infotech Software
Dealers Association (ISODA) recently conducted its first Tech
Summit
in Bangkok, Thailand from January 20-23, 2011. The congregation
witnessed a mix of around 100 entrepreneurial minds coming together
at one platform; be it system integrators, resellers, or VARs. The
event, which kicked
off with great fanfare, was well supported by the vendor community,
including the likes of Microsoft, CA Technologies, Symantec, Trend
Micro, Quest Software, and Hitachi Data Systems.
In his keynote address,
Rajesh Kothari, Chairman, ISODA said, “This Summit is one big
achievement for us, as an association. The ecosystem in which we are
operating, ISODA members are the last mile people. If we are united,
strong, and at the same time making profits, it will not only benefit
the customers but vendors and distributors will be benefited as well.
There is a requirement for a stronger ecosystem and I am sure that
the last mile people will make it happen one day.”
The main agenda of the
Summit was to transform, organize, and bring profit for the members
of the association. Elucidating further on this agenda, Devesh
Aggarwal, President,
pointed out, “Transformation is required
to sustain in this market. We need to do more and more collaboration
in order to ensure that all complementary services are available
within the ISODA committee and also, we can go beyond geographies.
And though we achieve top-line, we also need to ensure that we are
getting enough bottom-line to sustain in the marketplace. We,
therefore, need to have a clear cut road map, that will guide us in
terms of how to transform and organize our business, so that we can
achieve maximum profits.”
After conducting a series
of panel discussions, the esteemed dignitaries identified top three
priorities for ISODA which needs to be addressed in the next 12
months. The three focus areas would be growing the brand of ISODA,
collaboration between partners, and highlighting the partners issues
with the government authorities. Speaking on this occasion, K V
Jagannath, CEO of Choice Solutions said, “We are looking to
establish partnerships with ISODA members to enhance and leverage the
business opportunities. Here, we can see internal growth
opportunities within the community.”
The major takeaways for
ISODA from this first Tech Summit include growing ISODA as a
community, motivating the industry people to join the association,
conducting training for member organizations, building the knowledge
base, creating standard operating environment for collaboration, and
automating the knowledge base of ISODA team online. In the next five
years, ISODA wants to be known as a constructive body. On the eve of
the Tech
Summit, ISODA announced an annual Best Partner for Business
Excellence Award that will be given to either ISODA or non-ISODA
members. The winner will get a citation and a gold medal for which MP
Kini of Kinfotech has donated Rs 1,11,111.
Meanwhile, by the end of
the Summit, ISODA also announced the date for its second Tech Summit
which will be held in Singapore between January 26-29, 2012.
(The author was
hosted in Bangkok by ISODA)