In a significant development for the national channel community, the
recently-formed National Association of Channels of Information Technology (NACIT)
and Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) have decided
to come together and work on common issues affecting both the channels as well
as the vendors.
The two associations will now work on resolving matters of common interest
and help channels to work along with vendors. As a first step, NACIT and MAIT
have decided to hold a joint meeting once every quarter, which will act as an
interface between the vendors on one side and the channel community on the
other.
Pointed out an excited Saurin Shah, President, NACIT, "By working
together with MAIT, we could take up issues with vendors directly and resolve it
together. This is one of the first steps NACIT has taken of getting the channels
closer to the vendors. There are a lot of new initiatives being planned as there
are also new members becoming part of the association."
Interestingly, this important development happened far from Delhi–where
MAIT is headquartered–as well as Mumbai–where NACIT is located. The venue
was the annual IT Expo of Surat where both Shah as well as Vinnie Mehta,
Executive Director, MAIT, came together on the same platform provided by the
South Gujarat Information Technologists Association (SITA). Concurrent with the
Surat expo, a meeting of the representatives of the channel associations from
all over Gujarat was held at the Surat Police Station’s conference room.
The meeting was attended by various associations from Ahmedabad, Baroda,
Valsad, Surat etc besides MAIT and NACIT. The channel representatives put
forward the major issues in front of the channel community and urged MAIT and
NACIT to resolve them. And to the delight of all the representatives present
there, MAIT and NACIT resolved to work together for the betterment of the
channel community.
Meanwhile, NACIT now plans to go all out to increase its membership base
which currently stands at 25. According to Shah, an intensive campaign will be
conducted in the coming weeks to get more channels associations–especially
from the north and the east–come under its fold.
The other areas of focus for NACIT will be to interface with the central
government on policy issues, regular dissemination of policy information,
develop ethical code of conduct for the channel community, channel development
through annual national conference, interface with users through workshops and
seminars, weekly/monthly e-newsletters on topical issues of interest to the
industry, publishing of member company’s profile and other requisite details
in the prestigious annual NACIT directory of members with a wide distribution in
India and overseas, workshops and tutorials on new technology and business
management forum in each region, which provides an ideal forum for interactions
for best business practice exchanges.
DQW News Bureau
Mumbai