As India is growing faster than other countries including China, it is taking all the necessary technologies on its stride. It has changed the way citizens were looking at their life style, entertainment, etc. and government’s looking at the citizen centric services including city surveillance, etc. SME Channel spoke to Ramya Chatterjee, Director – Sales (Visualization & Entertainment), Barco India. Excerpts…
What sort of sales target does the company have for 2018? What kind of growth the company wishes to register particularly in Visualization and Entertainment BU?
We believe that in 2018 Barco India is going to witness solid business growth, especially in the Visualization and Collaboration space. Barco is expanding its presence across India by building up its own in-house team. Historically, Barco used to have a very lean Sales Organization and business was essentially driven by its channel partners. However, to strengthen, assist and help partners to drive exponential growth, Barco has decided to adopt a focused regional business team approach that would primarily focus on
(1) Partner enablement for addressing opportunities &
(2) Creating new strategic business opportunities.
Barco aspires to show double digit growth in both its wireless collaboration business & in the ProAV/Event business with an acceleration compared to the expected segment growth.
From the vertical market point of view where do you expect the majority of growth coming from?
Recent advancements in home entertainment technology and OTT streaming services have made it imperative for Indian theatre owners, as well as the larger entertainment community, to adopt innovative solutions that deliver more engaging, immersive experiences to their audiences. The aim has to be to provide a unique entertainment experience that cannot be recreated in a living room. Barco’s latest, advanced & innovative Laser Platform Projector deployments leveraging on state-of-the-art projection technology can help in delivering this differentiation by enabling a more immersive theatre environment to provide captivating, mesmerizing entertainment experiences on the large screen.
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“Many ‘mission critical’ projects pertaining to the Visualization and Entertainment domain would be up and live in 2018.”
Ramya Chatterjee
Director – Sales (Visualization & Entertainment)
Barco India
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For the wireless collaboration business line, key growth is expected from Large Enterprise (IT/ITES, BFSI, Manufacturing, Professional Services sectors) & SME space. For ProAV projection business major wins are expected from 3D mapping/Projection mapping, Water Fountain Projects, Large venue installs, Infrastructure development projects, Smart City Projects and projects related to visitors’ attractions.
How many projects are in the pipeline? Can you name the major projects that the company is working on right now which would be materialized in 2018?
There are many large projects wherein Barco is working very closely with its valued customers and partners. Barco’s technology innovation and extremely high quality are sources of confidence for its customers. Additionally, many ‘mission critical’ projects pertaining to the Visualization and Entertainment domain would be up and live in 2018.
Are you planning any alteration in terms of your engagement with the market? For e.g., would you go direct more, or go through Solution partners / SI partners more / would like to enhance your foot print in the channel community?
There would certainly be a couple of selected disruptive go-to-market strategies that will be adopted in 2018. However, Barco will continue its partner focus. A majority of its businesses are executed through authorized channel partners across South Asia. To further strengthen, assist and help our partner network in driving solid growth, Barco has decided to develop its own regional business team in the forthcoming year. The team is being built to focus primarily on the Wireless Collaboration & ProAV/Event Business. Its primary objectives would be to facilitate partners in tapping business opportunities effectively and also creating and introducing new opportunities for them.
Would you like to enhance your sales force or feet on street? If yes what is that number?
Barco India currently has more than 10 sales professionals apart from 30 service/support/project team members who are driving business in the overall South Asian market. Barco is in the process to double the size of its sales team (including feet on street) to drive incremental revenue growth in 2018 and beyond and also materialize its business mission of 2020.
What is the kind of sales incentives that you are planning to adopt or upgrade for the year to come?
We have interesting & exciting channel incentive programs in the pipeline for Barco’s channel partners in 2018. These are essentially target-linked quarterly programs where partners’ efforts would be recognized with a set of tailored rewards.
Any geographic presence strength that you would like to enhance for better coverage in the upcoming times?
For Visualization and Entertainment BU, our major focus for 2018 would be metros & state capitals. For penetrating wireless collaboration solutions in the education vertical and DC projectors (E Cinema to D Cinema conversion initiatives), we would heavily focus on upcountry markets, leveraging on our partner ecosystem.
