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Working for a Mutually Beneficial Partnership
By
P. K. Chatterjee
Mumbai, Mar 28, 2008 1815 hrs IST
Corel, the graphics and digital software company, is planning to make India a major contributor to open source. Anti-piracy is Corel's next big priority. The company's aim is to ensure that its users get easy and affordable access to licensed versions of its software range.
In an exclusive e-interview with ChannelTimes, RAM KUMAR, head (India & Asia Pacific) of Corel Corporation, reveals the company's India-specific plans to P. K. Chatterjee.
Excerpts:
Could you brief us about Corel's India-specific plans for 2008?
Corel products have been widely used in India, and we are also expanding our reach into the market. Our plans are to hire more manpower to manage the vast opportunity in India. We will also work closely with BSA to reduce the piracy level of Corel products in India.
How're you gearing up to prevent piracy?
We are working closely with BSA, and also with other government bodies, to educate the users to buy original software. Sometimes, if education does not work, we use legal methods, such as filing a case in court. Users have to understand that we need legal users to enhance our software and to make better innovation.
What sort of progress are you expecting through your tieup with BSA?
The anti-piracy campaign is one of the activities that we would be actively looking to do. Apart from that, BSA is actively pursuing government bodies to educate the best practices of using legal software. Schools and the education community also play an important part in the education process.
What's the best way to build up a dedicated users' community?
We have internet-based user community for our products and it has been very informative and productive.
What'll be your marketing strategy to reach more users?
At Corel, we strive to deliver the software industry's best combination of high quality, feature-rich functionality and affordability. Our products provide features and technical capabilities that are comparable to products offered by bigger vendors, typically at significantly lower price points. We're trying to use different channels to reach out to customers, such as online campaigns, online contest, monthly eDM, channel activities, campus seminar, etc.
Do you educate users through across-the-table approach?
We have training video and product manual to go along with products. Also, in different regions, we'll associate with vocational institutes to have training lessons for Corel's products.
How's the scenario in India as far as Corel's non-design suites are concerned?
Corel is emphasizing on our design suite in Asia Pacific, and we are concentrating most of our effort in the design market.
What're your plans to encourage your channel partners in India?
We have dedicated channel partners to sell our software. We work closely with them. Information is shared with all our channel partners via our dedicated website, and they can get important information directly once they are registered. We are also looking at having more partners in Tier 2 cities to have a better reach in these markets.
What's your message to the Indian channel partners and users?
Corel is a world recognized brand and a lot of our products are used widely in India. There is great potential for up-sell in terms of upgrade and also legalization of Corel products in India. We hope to work closely with our dedicated channel partners for a mutually beneficial partnership.
Related Link
Corel, Quark, and Quest Partner BSA
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