ICT market in India are now fueling due to projects like digital India, Smart Cities, IoT, Make in India and others. GST also played key role in its growth as this has given hassle free business environment for market players. Global players are very much aggressive now in taking advantage of this immense opportunity. ECS, the market leader in offering wide range of innovative products also eying Indian market to boost their market share. Year 2017 was very encouraging for ECS in India as their flagship product LIVA Mini PC successfully established its presence in India’s key market and verticals. The company is also planning to support government’s Make in India mission by establishing manufacturing facility in India. Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country Manager-India, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), outlines his ambition and plans for Year 2018. Mr. Bhatt who is very instrumental in growing ECS business India shared his thoughts on overall go-to-market strategy with DT.
DT: What have been the crucial milestones of your company during year 2017?
Mr. Bhatt: We see this passing year as major contributor in positioning our key products in India. We have been able to sustain constant growth this year as well. We successfully established ECS mini PC brand LIVA in Indian market. Believe ECS is only company which is offering range of products catering to different applications & verticals. ECS is only company who has 4 models of mini PC which are BIS certified offering peace of mind to channel partners and authenticating that LIVA mini PC from ECS is suited for Indian conditions.
DT: What were the major challenges for your company? How do you fought those challenges?
Mr. Bhatt: To develop more verticals of mini PC is the biggest challenge for ECS. In 2017, we see ourselves as an important role to accelerate Digital India. Therefore, we started attending some exhibitions related to smart city, and tried to approach system integrators in different industries. We expect ourselves to develop solutions and to replicate the successful experiences to different SI partners.
DT: How do you support Government of India's 'Make-in-India' program? Do you have any suggestion for government to make this much more attractive?
Mr. Bhatt: ECS view India as very important market and we believe Indian PC market still has great opportunity to grow. In line with the government's 'Make in India' initiative, ECS is investing facility and planning to manufacture our motherboard in India. Considering the demand of an ever expanding market, we are really excited about our investment and we hope it would help us to broaden our market and bring our innovative products to consumers much more effectively.
DT: How GST changed your business affair in year 2017? What were your preparation to adopt this biggest tax reform?
Mr. Bhatt: ECS as company and its channel partners are very happy and were looking forward to GST implementation.Beside little slow business just before the launch date, we didn’t face any other challenge. We have been able to shift our billing as per new tax regime to fall under GST compliances. We also supported our partners during this transition period.As GST came into picture we see this as a huge opportunity for us as well. Our Mini PC models are very much suitable and affordable solutions for small and medium businesses in India to help them start their digital journey. We do believe PC hardware industry should see some growth because of GST implementation.
DT: What's your channel strength currently in India? How do you plan to boost channel strength in year 2018?
Mr. Bhatt: Channel partners are our biggest assets and strength. We have very strong presence across India through our key partner. ECS currently reaches in almost 54 cities and town across India. Since Rashi Peripherals Pvt. Ltd. is our exclusive distributor partner, our presence are very strong. Rashi also takes care of our after sales support. In 2018, we will keep improving our sales volume by educating our partners about our products, guiding them target segment and insuring profitability for all the concerns in value chain.
DT: How do you assure your customer excellent service support? What are your investments plans to enhance service support infrastructure to cover entire India?
Mr. Bhatt: Our exclusive distributor partner Rashi Peripherals Pvt. Ltd. has 54 branches across the country, and we position our products at suitable & affordable price offering rich features. ECS will be sole brand in India who has not changed its channel structure & support system which confirms that all concerns in value chain are more than satisfied with present setup.
DT: What will be your key Go-To-Market Strategy for year 2018?
Mr. Bhatt: ECS is the World's leading hardware and PC system manufacturer. Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has the many products, but few quick update are the world's first mini PC powered by the Intel processor, education notebook as a niche product and intelligent gateways for IoT field.
DT: What will be major products you will be launching in year 2018? Which will be your key target market?
Mr. Bhatt: ECS’ latest mini PC LIVA Q will be the major product to promote in 2018. LIVA Q the smallest 4K ready mini PC in the world and this is suitable for various industries. LIVA Q is also a good choice for end user who wants to save power, save space and save money. Additionally ECS will also enhance existing portfolio be launching many more models under mini PC & Motherboards categories. Please watch this space.
DT: Please share your current revenue and market growth rate. What is target for year 2018?
Mr. Bhatt: ECS has been growing constantly at a healthy pace YoY. We have been able to sustain leadership position where we are able to offer high quality and innovative products to Indian customers. Our target is to be among the top 2 brands in mini PC product category and to be number 1 brand shipping to India if one consider the shipment to SIs & OEMs.
