Interviews

SIs Can Play A Key Role In The Digital Era

Digital Era
Gurpreet Singh
Managing Director, Arrow PC Network

Companies undergoing digital transformation are looking at an end-to-end partner to help create an engaging customer experience via web, mobile, and social. As a result, they are looking for system integrators with a strong digital know-how that can better support experience and engagement delivery across digital touch-points. This implies that with traditional solutions-delivery approaches are no longer sufficient to overcome the challenges associated with developing a digital customer engagement strategy, the role of SI is undergoing massive change.
In an exclusive interview with Channel Times, Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director at Arrow PC Network, a hybrid System Integrator and solution provider, explains the role of SIs in today’s changing digital era, the company’s go-to-market strategy and the road ahead.

Channel Times: What are the latest trends in the IT Channel and distribution industry and how it has shaped in past few years?
Singh: Gone are those days when distribution industry used to be a mediator between the company and the end consumers. Channel and distribution market has come a long way in recent years. Today, it is not just about trading, but understanding the specific business needs and providing end to end solutions for businesses. Now, they also provide consulting, technology implementation services and post-sales support.
We see a few trends such as software-defined everything will be ruling the distribution market in coming months. Also, in the coming years, more and more distributors will realize the importance of data-driven business decisions.
Everything getting software-defined means – the SIs, distributors and resellers are now going to be a consultant for their customers. They will face a totally new sales game now. They will be responsible for finding the most appropriate solutions to take to market in order to start their transition into the brave new world of a ‘business-led consultancy approach to IT’.

Channel Times: What are the opportunities for partners in India with the latest initiatives like Digital India, Make In India?
Singh: We have welcomed the government initiatives open armed. The Make in India has been taken up across multiple industry verticals and departments. Definitely it has opened a lot of opportunities for business partners like us. Recently, we have been partnered with a well-known healthcare company for providing them end to end service and support for business processes. Basically, we have re-framed everything, ranging from their infrastructure management to data management along with security and surveillance.
However, I believe that the Digital India wave has yet to create a significant impact on the IT industry, as most of these initiatives are in initial phases. It will take a few more years to mature. Meanwhile, creating digital awareness and accessibility will definitely have a positive impact on the future workforce.

Channel Times: How technology has changed the market for System Integrators and subsequently their role in the digital era?
Singh: Digital transformation, Big Data, Analytics, IoT and SMAC are changing the way businesses operate. Now, System integrators think beyond trading and generating revenue and have become services integrator and consultant. They even implement the solution and provide post deployment support as well. With technology running at a fast pace, we have witnessed many worldwide changes. Businesses have mfrom the traditional solutions to modern which are in accordance with the latest technology. Similarly, the next generation SI has also transformed. They have altogether a new way of dealing with end customers.

Channel Times: Tell us about your recent achievements and differentiation which sets Arrow apart from its competitors.
Singh: Being an SI, today, our offerings are more adapted to client needs and bring distinctive value across diverse technology catering effective, adaptive and perfective solution along with consultancy services and maintenance, in turn, helping customers’ to reach their goals.
The Arrow’s professional team is well trained and understand the key development areas in depth. We are known for our attention to detail. With a strong understanding of the competitive Indian IT market dynamics, Arrow has successfully implemented several large projects across verticals namely, IT, BFSI, Health & Pharma, Lifestyle, Retails, Telecom & Manufacturing. In the past, we have deployed high end projects at various locations in India, which includes even the remotest parts of rural India.
We have garnered much vaunted recognition from the industry in terms of the acceptance and feedback of our clients. Moreover, we have been recognized by leading forums and entities for our end-to-end service. These esteemed third party recognition are acknowledgement of our work and potential to deliver products, solutions and services that address the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Channel Times: What’s the Go to market strategy of Arrow in India?
Singh: Since our inception, we have come a long way in a short time frame. Starting with IT solution distribution, we have transformed to IT specialist & consultant for our customer base. Today, we educate and advice our customers for IT solution according to their business needs. We are known for our services and reliability. We will be working towards adding more and more clients in our customer base and spreading footprints across geography. In the coming months, our strategy will be around seizing new business opportunities and tap untapped zones and verticals in India.

Channel Times: Can you tell us something about your future plans?
Singh: In the coming year, we will continue to focus on satisfying our customers with latest solutions to face challenges that come their way. For example, we are looking at making high end sophisticated IT solutions available for our customer portfolio by working closely with them and understanding the requirements in depth. We are also looking to increase our reach by acquiring new customer in untapped verticals and do cross selling to our existing clients. Finally, we plan to add more people who will have clear vision to grow ethically and adding value to the customer’s business.

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