...Nilgiri association

Nilgiri Information Technology Association (NITA) saw its new executive
committee taking charge on May 8. The installation function of the association
took place in Ooty, where PN Prasad, President, Confed-ITA was invited as the
chief guest. Balakrishan, VP and Muthuswamy, Secretary-Confed graced the
occasion. Terrance S Rajesh, CEO, Key Info Development Systems has been elected
as the new President of the association.

The other office bearers include-Max E Dextor, VP; Lawrence, Secretary;
Gunesekaran, Treasurer; Rajesh, Joint Secretary; Wilfred, Public Relations; Ravi
Kumar, Samanth and Naguvendran, Executive Committee.

Sharing his sentiments on being elected as the new President, Rajesh said,
“Our motive is to develop IT in the remotest areas of Tamil Nadu. We want to
minimize the distance between vendors and distributors, dealers and channel
partners and our association would be working in this direction. The main issue
for channel partners in Nilgiri district is that the end-users tend to go down
to Coimbatore or nearby places, all the way from the hillstation, for all their
IT needs due to the lack of awareness about the channel partners functional in
the region. During my inaugural address, I put forward this point strongly that
we dealers need to have our share of sales, and it is possible only if there is
proper awareness in the region about channel partners,” Rajesh claimed.

With margins coming down constantly, the association would be focusing on
onsite servicing. It has planned for more activities to increase the mindshare
of the dealers among the customers. The activities include free service camps in
Ooty and Connoor every month, and half-an-hour consultation program on the local
cable TV every week. “We have planned to use the local cable television in an
effective manner by increasing the visibility of our dealers through continuous
scrolls of all their names, address and conducting half an hour consultation
program every week.”

Pointing out that channel partners in Nilgiri need to come out of their
current model of selling for increasing their opportunities, Prasad said,
“Partners must try to forge closer ties with the vendors and sell directly. Also
they should see other opportunities like residential training programs and
corporate training programs in their area, as they would be incurring only
minimal expenses in running them.”