The Indian networking solution market has seen tremendous growth in the recent years. The adoption of networking devices has dramatically increased across verticals and one of the major growth driver is the increase in hybrid work models. Netgear is one of the leading networking solution providers in India and keeps on bringing cutting-edge products for its customers. It has cemented its position in the market with some great innovations that are being adopted across sectors. In order to know further about the latest trends, market landscape, channel engagement plans and product strategy, Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal held exclusive interaction with Marthesh Nagendra, Country Manager - India, ME & SAARC, NETGEAR. Read below the excerpts:
Rajeev: How do you see NETGEAR growing in terms of innovations and market share?
Marthesh: Times change and businesses must change as well to meet the ever-evolving needs of the customers and to stay profitable. External factors such as environmental, economical, technological, etc. affect the way companies go to market, provide services, and remain competitive. To meet these needs, small and medium businesses rely on tools and service providers that keep up with the times with new solutions and updates that solve the problems of today and tomorrow.
NETGEAR is one such company that has pioneered in advanced networking technologies for homes, businesses, and service providers around the world for the past 25 years and leads the industry with a broad range of award-winning products designed to simplify and improve people's lives. Over the years, the company has led the way by successfully enabling more than 50 million businesses worldwide. These products combine years of networking from leading experts with unmatched ease of use, reliability, and cost savings that benefit all networked solutions.
The brand recognizes the challenges of staying on top of potential roadblocks to the seamless running of the most critical business infrastructure for Small and Midsize Businesses (SMBs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). NETGEAR continually updates and improves its products and services to ensure that IT managers and MSPs have the best-in-class tools they need to deploy, secure, and monitor their networks. With increasing costs and expenses to everyday business, the brand continuously looks for new ways to curb costs as well improve efficiency for long-term savings.
Rajeev: Please tell us about the success that you have witnessed in the Wi-Fi router and PoE Switch segments.
Marthesh: Being first in the market has definitely given us an edge in the Wi-Fi router segment, we were the first to launch Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi mesh, and today there’s talk of Wi-Fi 7. Most of our consumers understand the concept of a superior product and a reliable one which enables us to drive better value for customers.
With reference to PoE switching, we have a wide range of PoE switches - ranging from unmanaged to fully managed, from 2 port to 48 port, and more with PoE, PoE +, ultra 60 ++, and now ultra 90++. Within the PoE space, today there is a wider range of applications as well, similar to security and surveillance - today we have the AV segment leveraging PoE. And NETGEAR is well-geared to handle the demand.
Rajeev: How do you conduct training programs for your partners to boost their knowledge about your latest product portfolio? Is there any upcoming training program lined-up this year?
Marthesh: We have channel partners across all major cities – including most of the Tier2 and Tier3 cities where there is growth. From time to time we conduct training programs in these cities both in large-scale offline events to small-scale events focused on particular product verticals. For major cities, it’s more focused where we give them hands-on experience of our product line, for a better understanding of our products.
We enable our partners with the right pitch to position our products accurately with our customers and hence always end up being the right fit for the SMB customer. Our business in India is purely driven by the channel partners and therefore it is critical that we educate our partners about our offerings.
Rajeev: What sort of recognitions/margins/value do you provide to your partners? Do you have any channel expansion plans?
Marthesh: NETGEAR being a channel-oriented company implements various channel Partner programs from time to time, to make it easier and more profitable for VARS to grow their businesses. These programs run on a quarterly basis, specially customized for targeted partners to make it mutually beneficial. We have a tier system - Titanium, Gold, and Silver for our partners that have a long-standing relationship with us based on their NETGEAR revenues. We want our partners to grow along with us so that they benefit as much as NETGEAR if not more.
Our company provides them full support in terms of working together on any of the projects. For most of the known brands, the wider the network, the lesser the opportunity cost. We are constantly looking to expand our network and any growth-hungry firm will say it's never enough.
Rajeev: How do you serve your customers with the best quality products in different segments? What remain your key commitments to your customers in terms of after sales service support?
Marthesh: We help and support our offline and online partners in all possible ways by providing them with best after-sales service support. It's not just about building an e-commerce page, it's more than that. Getting the product to the customer in 24 hrs, last minute deliveries, exchange, a support team available 24/7 etc., and other challenges should be taken care of.
