WD endeavoured to strike a fine balance between its product portfolio and partner-strategy as it sent a clear message of innovation with the launch of digital storage solutions it launched in 2014. KhwajaSaifuddin, Senior Sales Director - South Asia, Middle East and Africa, WD shares more insights.
A.We had an exciting 2014. We launched a whole host of advanced and user-friendly digital storage solutions for our consumers. We introduced our personal cloud solution for consumers, My Cloud, in India. With it also came the freedom to access your files from any location on any device without actually carrying a physical storage drive with you. All you require is an internet connection and a freely downloadable My Cloud application.
We also launched My Passport Wireless drive in India. It is a Wi-Fi enabled device that broadcasts its own wireless network and allows connecting with up to eight devices at the same time.
In recent times, surveillance has become a priority. We introduced WD Purple line of specialized surveillance drives that are specifically designed for the harsh 24/7 always on, high-definition surveillance environments.
A.Our channel partners are extremely important to us and consistently help in steering our business forward. We also conduct channel partner meets and training continually across major cities in India as well as in smaller cities to engage with our partner community. ‘WD Master Blaster’ is a way of reaching out to our channel partners at their doorsteps and updating them on our solutions in a fun-filled manner. ‘WD Ki Paathshaala’ consists of regular training sessions with our channel partners to apprise them of our offerings. ‘WD Contact Program’ helps to initiate and grow relationships with relatively new channel partners in the upcountry markets and provide them direct access to the company.
The my WD Partner Program is specifically created to help our resellers, solution providers and system integrators grow their business. WD University is a valuable resource that helps it easier for the partners to sell WD products by staying up-to-date with product information to build the knowledge and expertise.
A.We are looking forward to an exciting 2015 where we’ll be introducing new solutions and technology, especially storage for small businesses and enterprises. We would also like to be part of the Indian Government’s Digital India initiative and the vision of developing 100 smart cities in future. Creative professionals and SMBs are one of the focus areas. We recently introduced personal cloud storage solutions for SMBs and prosumers in India. My Cloud EX2 and My Cloud EX4 systems belong to the My Cloud family of personal cloud solutions and are designed to fulfil data storage needs of creative professionals, prosumers, workgroups and anyone looking for a reliable way to save, share, back up, stream and manage massive amounts of digital data.
We will continue our foray into non-metros, targeting more cities in the process and spending time in educating and training our channel partners and addressing their concerns. We will also continue to help our partners through marketing campaigns to ensure that we spread enough awareness regarding our solutions to our consumers and potential users.
A.Our channel partners and associates are very critical for us as they help us understand the trends and demands from different regions. They are the link between us and the users and remain the biggest contributors to our sales in India. We want to reaffirm our commitment to our channel partners and resellers through our outreach programs and meets.
