Quantum leap for solution providers

Earlier in the evening Prasanto Kumar Roy, Chief Editor for CyberMedia
publications moderated a panel discussion on 'how can solution providers take
a quantum leap'. The panelists for the occasion included, Harvi-nder Rajwani
of Juniper Networks, Sanjay Mittal of Techpacific India, Devendra Taneja of PC
Solutions, Ranjan Chopra of Team Computers, Avijit Basu of HP and GB Kumar of
Intel.

When asked about ways to take a quantum leap, Chopra said that solution
partners may start off with a desire to move up the chain but the key is to
develop deeper customer engagements and this is the way forward. "Going
deeper with customers and finding its problems in the key. This way a solution
provider can make sure to move up the value chain and engage its customers as
well," he added.

Mittal added that value proposition differs from customer to customer and
from time to time. Solution providers must show flexibility to inculcate right
value propositions in front of their customers. "I am a firm believer that
it is more a question of value delivery than of service delivery. So solution
distributors should look at niche areas and develop various value propositions
for their set of customers," he added.

Devender Taneja pointed out that each player should have its own vertical
focus and try to engage its customers on a long-term transaction basis.
"Solution providers should look forward to building a bank of people, so if
they have enough stakeholders working in favor of them, opportunities will come
with time. It's all up to an individual to increase the level of
engagements," he added.

Commenting about the mantra of taking a quantum leap, Kumar informed the
gathering that players are so focused about today and tomorrow that they lack on
the long-term perception front. "Everybody is concerned about today or
tomorrow. I think that they should have a long-term perception of things. They
should develop skills in areas like management, technology and other related
areas. This will give them a solid ground to stand on when it comes to overall
value proposition," he added.

Pointing the importance of training, Taneja said that solution providers
should continuously look forward to upgrading their skill sets. "They
should develop skills in the areas of finance, technology business and
enterprise management. They should bank on their customers to move up that's
the only way forward," he added.