The evolution of the Indian visualisation market within the last decade has been quite drastic, in keeping with the changing dynamics of the sector’s global outlook. With higher brightness and a broader colour gamut, laser is fast replacing LED as the dominant technology in projector illumination.
Tell us about Barco’s product and the sectors where the company is focussing.
Barco designs and develops networked visualization products for the Enterprise, Entertainment, and Healthcare markets. The markets & industries Barco operates in are Government, Corporate, Security & Transportation, Utilities & Process Control, Automotive, Broadcast, Cinema, Education, Retail & Advertising, and Venues & Attractions. Barco provides solutions to Smart cities, the world and is the single largest source for the control room solution. Convergence and collaboration are the future drivers, and Barco already took a pole post in these areas. Barco also plans to work closely with the Government to expand the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives. We believe it is a win-win way of creating an entire ecosystem that will facilitate industry collaboration for promoting latest manufacturing technologies.
Whats your plan scaling up R&D center in India?
India is home to Barco’s largest software lab, and we have plans to expand it in line with our growing contribution to product development. We are defining the architecture and standardizing software development aligned with Barco divisions and measurability at every stage. Our goal is to scale up not just in numbers but also the quality of our output. We also have a hardware R&D unit in Noida for product innovation.
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“The way channel used to be perceived within Barco is now changing. We are now a fast-moving company and we are looking for loyal channel partners to take our technology forward.”
Rajiv Bhalla
Managing Director
Barco Electronic Systems
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How has been the overall market for you in terms of business in the last one year? Is the growth in line with your set targets?
2016 was a good year for us at Barco India. We registered double-digit growth, thanks to the market demand for our state-of-the-art networked visualisation solutions. We are looking to build on this success by introducing more innovative offerings in the future. Control room solutions for smart cities and safe cities are a big part of our long-term vision. With our diverse product portfolio and effective networked visualisation solutions, we aim to be the go-to enabler of an interconnected smart infrastructure which facilitates an intersection of utilities, processes, administration, and the end-user.
What are the major opportunities and challenges you face in the Indian market?
More than developing Barco hardware and software, India is also becoming an increasingly attractive market for our enterprise, entertainment as well as healthcare solutions. The opportunities are significant:
The Indian government, for example, launched an ambitious project to develop over 100 smart cities. The initiative generates great potential for Barco to commercialize its large video walls and related software. The market for entertainment solutions is also booming. Bollywood & cricket are hugely popular in India. However, there are only eight cinema screens per million inhabitants, while there are 120 in the States. That means there are ample chances for us to enlarge our footprint of digital cinema projectors. Also the healthcare market is expected to grow significantly. As the ratio of imported medical equipment is slated to come down, big OEMs are involved in big healthcare projects. By collaborating with them, Barco could strengthen its foothold in the healthcare market.
How many Channel partners Barco have in India, Any plan for channel expansion
Given that we are B2B Company our focus has been primarily to work with System Integrators, Consultants and VARs for the Healthcare, Enterprise and Cinema space. For our Innovative collaboration product we have a network of over 180 channel partners that are catered through our distributor CEECO technologies. Overall, we have more than 350 channel partners currently in India.
We are expanding our channel base and we have recently appointed Online Instruments as channel partner for the education market and VDSPL for the ProAV market. With multiple channels in place, we ensure that our customers are well informed about our products and services.
What is Barco’s Channel strategy in India and which vertical of your business is contributing more on Barco’s growth.
For different markets, we have different channel strategy. For example for the enterprise market, we work through system integrators. For Entertainment market, we follow a 3 tier strategy with distributor and resellers in place. With the new management in place, Barco is now fast moving to increase its channel base and this will continue for the next 2 years. For our corporate business, we are planning to induct 7 large corporate IT resellers in 7 metro cities.
Moving forward, what are the strategies you are looking to implement, and where do you see Barco in India in the next three to five years?
Barco provides networked visualisation solutions to smart cities across the world and is the single largest source for control room solutions. Convergence and collaboration are the future drivers, and Barco has already established its leadership position in these areas.
We also plan to work closely with the Government to support the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives. We believe it is a win-win way of creating an entire ecosystem that will facilitate industry collaboration for promoting latest manufacturing technologies.
