Bimal Das, HCL Infosystems: “Enterprise 360 is the pillar of our transformation journey”

Bimal Das, Joint President, Enterprise Distribution, HCL Infosystems in an exclusive talk with DQ Channels discusses focus on Enterprise Business and Enterprise 360 which has led HCLI to new heights.

HCL Infosystems hasn’t changed its Go to Market strategy for a long time, tell us about it? What are the focused verticals around it that you are working?

Yes, this is true that we haven’t changed our strategy; at least from last seven quarters, we have stuck to Enterprise 360 strategy. It is because it has helped us tremendously and is the pillar of our transformation journey.

It has also helped us in building capabilities in emerging technologies for growth. In our transformation, traditionally we have changed from an OEM to a distributor. We have built strong enterprise organization. Enterprise 360 model had resulted in growing traction in the private sector corporations.

Also in FY 2016-17, the GTM journey driven by Enterprise 360 has resulted in growing traction for the company’s enterprise business and is proving to be the catalyst in our mission to become the preferred Technology Lifecycle Partner for clients.

Let me explain more in detail; so we have further divided Enterprise 360 into two i.e Enterprise organization and Partner organization. In Partner organization, we purely deal with channel partners. So we can say it is product led business with service attach.

We have got almost 3,500 partner base and at least every month we deal with 800 to 900 large SIs. Whereas; Enterprise organization is service led engagement sector. Here we now have grown much larger and it almost contributes us 70 to 80 % of the company business.

In Enterprise space, we are working out with large global system integrators as a part of a consortium and not bidding ourselves. Also in addition to this, we work on four Route to Market. First is BFSI, we have a strong team of 20 to 25 people of sales and solution architect and there is 90 named BFSI accounts that we deal with.

Then we have IT/ITES where we have 70 named accounts and there also a dedicated sales and solution architect team is working. The third one internally is called as Strategic Business Organization (SBO) which is actually the combo of Manufacturing, Healthcare, Education and all other large enterprise accounts are part of it. The fourth one is GSI/LSI as I earlier told you that we work with large and global SIs. A significant part of the business comes from BFSI and SBO.

What are the practices that you are focusing on?

There are six practices where we focus. One is Datacenter practice where there are marquee customers and large opportunities. Other is network security practice traditionally we are very strong in these both and have a strong product portfolio. The third one is Workplace Practice where we have boardroom solutions, surveillance solutions etc.

These all three are infrastructure driven practices. Then we work on new technology or emerging tech-driven practices i.e. Cloud, IoT and Analytics. These 3 comes from digital transformation practices. In addition, the company continues to invest and build competencies in emerging technologies to leverage for growth in a challenging market environment.

Our focus on enhancing capabilities in digital technologies such as Cloud Computing, Analytics and Internet of Things (loT) to deliver business-aligned solutions is helping our clients attain competitive advantage in a dynamic business landscape.

We have also adopted a Cloud first strategy to deliver cost efficiencies and positively impact business operations. We have developed multiple loT pilot solutions for clients across diverse industries such as FMCG, Healthcare and Manufacturing.

We believe that loT applications can not only be a significant new line of business but can also enhance the value of our existing services such as Infrastructure Managed Services. By focusing on delivering accelerated business impact through digital technologies, we have positioned ourselves as a strong player in the Enterprise space.

What are the reasons that you have moved out of the government sector completely?

At the enterprise level, we have changed our strategy a lot; we have completely gone out from government business. If we talk about the figures, it is almost close to the now single-digit percentage of our total business. One of the reasons is high gestation cycle of the projects, number two is the long-term commitment for commercial terms and there are several other factors as well. And also we now don’t have our own products we work more into distributor role.

What are the challenges you are facing in terms of cloud evangelization?

It is a tough task, every OEM is struggling but we dealing with it, however, the adoption rate is improved a lot. In last 4 quarters consumption has gone up. There are no pure cloud customers.

People are getting into the hybrid mode so getting cloud and driving the motion especially in case of adoption we are running marketing campaigns we put resources in the organization to drive the initiative and closely monitor the consumption because one thing is buying and the second thing is not using as you will pay when you use. We do a lot of marketing campaigns give training to our marquee customers.

Tell us about your latest partner programme?

We have recently launched P3 or Premier Partner Programme where we will leverage their System Integration expertise to enable the Channel Partners to provide a complete business-aligned IT solution to their respective customers. So far 26 Select Channel partners have been inducted into the programme.

HCLI P3 will empower the Channel Partners to grow their business through a suite of exclusive benefits including Subject Matter Expert (SME) support, Demand Generation Campaigns, Priority Response, Financial and Operational Support Services. Leaders from HCLI will also regularly interact as Executive Sponsors with P3 Channel Partners to chart out respective growth paths.

The programme will expand offerings of the Partner thereby providing more business opportunities to current and new customers. P3 will have its own Program Management System which will include Joint Business Plan Workshops, Joint Account Level Engagement and Fast Track Processes. A Partner Portal and Partner Support Desk with TollFree Number and Email Support will also be available under the programme.

What sorts of training programs are there?

For enablement, we have external and internal training programs and other initiatives such as certification programs. We conduct lots of boot camp for partners around different technology. We have a separate calendar for training sessions for both. In fact, in 2017 we have designed new courses which were launched during the year.