SIVA to get back into action next month

System Integrators Voluntary Organization (SIVA), which was formed in the
year 2002, has planned to get back into action from April 2004. This association
was formed to tackle issues affecting their business, but SIVA had been quiet
and out of action for quite some time. In fact, in the year 2003, the members
were completely quiet with no activities at all, making the association almost
non-existent.

When contacted, Nikhil Mogre, Proprietor of JNM Prime Infotech and one of the
founder members of SIVA, said, "The association is still existing, but all
the members have been involved in guarding their own fort. But this is going to
change as we are planning to hold a meeting in April."

There are presently 50 members in SIVA out of which, at least 20 to 25 are
active participating partners. As part of their initial activities, the
association had introduced a rate card to standardize service and support
prices.

This was the only activity, which the association actively carried out and
was also practiced by 20 to 25 members. When contacted some of the channel
members, many of them were of the opinion that the association was never
successful. "Many of the SIs are not even aware of the association, it hasn’t
taken any efforts in popularizing the association and solving problems of the SI
community," added a Mumbai-based SI.

But on contacting SIVA active members like Paresh Shah, partner of PH Teknow,
he said, "From the beginning itself, the association was formed with the
intention of solving problems faced by SIs with vendors and consumers. SIs
typically face problems like training and warranty support. This goal still
exists, though SIVA was not active for sometime. We want to add more members;
therefore a lot of backend activities are being carried out like planning
strategies to invite more members. Earlier other associations like TAIT and
SCALE would not give relevance to SIs but now, even they have realized and
include a lot of activities for SIs."

When formed in 2002, SIVA had also planned to take the cause of small time
dealers eating into SIs’ margins and was also considering a tie-up with TAIT
as a lot of SIs are a member of this organization. But Mogre now shared a
different opinion on the TAIT partnership, "Tying up with TAIT is not a
possibility, as the goals of TAIT and SIVA are completely different." While
on the SI margins, members are confident it would be taken up at the meeting in
April.

Nancy Sudheer

Mumbai