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HP
PC strategy
Many
a time people may recognise the brand but not the company
which manufactures the product. But in HP’s case it was
the other way round. Most customers would probably be more
confident about buying HP’s product if the brand name
can in some way be associated with the product. Brand names
like Brio, Pavilion, Vectra etc are popular only in nine or
ten major cities in the country. But now that these markets
have been saturated it is necessary to move on to other smaller
markets. In these markets it is necessary to win the customers
confidence by offering them a brand which assures reliability
and quality at affordable rates. HP’s move to consolidate
all its various brands and sell them under one name will definitely
help them in maintaining its dominant position in the market.
Hemant Jayshankar
Via
e-mail
Services
to products
The Indian IT industry seems to be finally feeling the pinch
of the global IT meltdown. Till recently, most Indian software
companies denied the fact that they had actually been affected
by the slowdown. But now more and more companies are coming
out into the open and accepting the fact that they have been
affected. Only IT-enabled services seem to be picking up,
but not as much as expected. The pressure on companies to
cut costs was expected to increase the demand for outsourcing,
but with most US companies adopting the policy of watch and
wait the amount of business outsourced hasn’t been much
and most of the work outsourced has been low-end work. In
order to offset the slowdown, Indian companies need to shift
focus from services to product development.
Naveen Kudroli
Delhi
STPI
vs private players
STPI’s
have played a major role in the promotion of IT in India.
However, of late, the non-occupancy rates in most of these
parks have been quite high. Still, there are many private
players entering the fray, especially in states like Maharashtra
and Gujarat. This could be a pointer to the fact that there
is still hope for the beleaguered IT industry. The call centre
segment and the business process outsourcing segment have
been growing at a fast rate. The government’s plans to
privatise the five profit earning centres will enable more
private players to come in. Privatisation will ensure that
companies buying these parks will focus on providing quality
infrastructure and service at competitive rates.
Pramod Kulkarni
Hyderabad
What
about resellers?
EC has over the last few months left the reseller segment
for good. While it may be a good business move for you, for
us readers it has left us in the lurch as we can no longer
get information on the goings-on in this sector from the most
respected publication in the industry.
Anup Shah
Mumbai
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