As more and more enterprise and SMBs look for reducing their operating expenditures, Video Conferencing is seen as a great enabler in terms of expanding the envelope of communications and collaborations and Hyderabad based PeopleLink is positioning its software based video conferencing solutions for the enterprise and SMB segments.

In an exclusive chat with ChannelDrive.in – Damanjeet Kaur, Director-Marketing & Media Communications, PeopleLink Corporate Solutions talks about how the company is focusing its efforts in India and why channel partners are important and close to their hearts.

Q) What are some of the key focus areas for PeopleLink today?

PeopleLink started its Indian Operations in the year 2009 & has ever since targeting the software Video Conferencing industry with our Next Generation Infrastructure Solutions. We are a clear market leader in software based video conferencing in India and are getting Bigger & Bigger and also getting global attention.

The Key focus areas for us today includes bringing in State of the Art innovations geared towards ensuring Video Conferencing to become a one-stop-solution for all communication needs. Video Conferencing should be looked upon as an alternative to not only traditional audio calls, but also business travel & face to face meetings.

This is possible only if the VC solution is Flexible, mobile & easy to use – one which can customize itself as per the client’s requirement & available network resources. We are also focusing on providing our customers with not only in-house implementations but also cloud based services & solutions for BYOD in order to expand our market penetration & to gain larger customer base globally.

PeopleLink is now offering end to end software & hardware products for the unified collaboration market. We are focused on providing cost effective & easy to use convenient technology to our clients & gain a higher market share globally.

Q) What is the go to market strategy that the company has towards pushing its telepresence solutions in India?

In the last 3 years itself Video collaboration industry has seen a major change with availability of Bandwidth in the urban areas. With PeopleLink TelePresence set ups have become everyday functional equipments rather than being the rarely used ornaments of the corporate Boardroom.

We are in the process of expanding our solution portfolio in India and are entering into strategic agreements with various Telcos. The next major go to market strategy involves us partnering with large Global SIs & Partners who are not the average AV guys, but who believe in building a everyday practice around PeopleLink. We encourage our partners to use our technology for their day to day communication needs as well.

The same attitude they take to the customers & equip them with the knowledge on how to embed video into business process & corporate applications. We are also in the process of setting up TelePresence centers across major metros in the initial phase & later at Tier II cities which will act as demo centers for our clients & partners alike. These centers will display the entire range of PeopleLink product offerings along with our partners’ offerings.

We are prepared to take on the market with leveraging on available sales channels and strong global alliances. We also aim at enhancing sales effectiveness & accelerate our time to market by providing to our customers an excellent after sales experience through quick & timely implementations, effective service & support strategy.

Q) How do you look at the Solution Provider community in India? How can you align yourself with the SIs and SPs who are looking towards increasing their growth possibilities today?

Solution Provider SIs and Service Providers are our hands & feet into the industry. We are building a stronger, more-competitive business model to align the interest & growth options of reputed Sis and SPs with ours. We are developing our solution partners on regular basis where product trainings & certifications are carried out in workshops. This keeps our partners staff with up-to-date skills & aware of all the recent product enhancements. It also keeps them knowledgeable of the full range of PeopleLink products so that customers can get the best solution suited for their projects as well as shorten their sales cycle. We have built various products around emerging trends such as BYOD and Cloud-Delivered Video-as-a-Service to help our SIs to service their existing clients and gain new customers.

Most of our clients have been acquired via word of mouth appreciation from existing clients so when a Partner introduces our products to his clients he knows he is taking the best in class technology to the end customer – earning him long term trust, appreciation & business from the client.

We also have a unique case lock facility as a partner work protection mechanism where we ensure that partner who has worked upon any case is rewarded no matter what. We provide full support to our partners in terms of training, case protection, implementation and execution as well as ensuring aid to our channels in closing larger deals.

Q) How is your telepresence solution better than the other global vendors?

Technologically, PeopleLink is the most advanced and future ready Video Conferencing & TelePresence technology. We have the best unified communications software platform. That’s exactly what we have been leveraging upon. Our solutions cater to the ultimate wish list of any customer which are Inter-operable, functional, flexible, robust, scalable, easy to use and cost effective.

Most importantly we have launched on 20th Jan 2014, our latest Telepresence Platform which is Software based and uses Intel’s Core i7/6 core processor, 16thread architecture – The Single Fully Integrated Codec which is based on Windows platform and has 4 HD Display capability along with capability to connect 3 Full HD PTZ Cameras. It can send-receive three Full HD Video streams and one Stream for Data Collaboration all at the same time. Traditional telepresence implementations have been limited to very few customers due its price points, PeopleLink’s focus is to make it available for even SMB segment so we have decided to bring down the Price Point from an average of USD 800,000 to USD 50,000. We are providing a much more advanced technology at a lower price point to the customer and we plan to convert many HD Video Conference Customers to Telepresence.

Q) Please elaborate on your channel structure for India?

PeopleLink works on partner model and they are segregated into different tiers based on their expertise & commitment they are ready to give on promoting our product line. We have a vast partner & SI network including Siemens, Wipro, Neoteric, Total Presentation, Tikona Digital to name a few leading names which work with us.

In a competitive global marketplace, it is important to have an effective channel structure that understands the goals of the OEM, shares our vision & goals and accomplishes it in a set timeline. PeopleLink currently operates via Distributor, Dealer, SI & VAR Partner network. Partner identification is based on market segment, technical know-how, geographical region as well as current product line. We further Train & coach our partners & their employees for superior performance in a win-win fashion. Our regular certification programs ensure that our channels are up to date with product enhancements as well as create mindshare & loyalty benefit programs.

Q) How does the company look at the enterprise community today? How are you targeting different verticals in enterprise domain?

India remains one of the world’s most compelling & growing markets, providing exciting business opportunities for Indian firms and multinational companies alike. India’s enterprise community is one of the largest and fastest growing in the world. According to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), India has passed Japan as the world’s third-largest economy. India’s enterprise community is welcoming with open heart new technological products from upcoming companies rather than being orthodox about sticking to old brands. Once they have faith on the technology they go ahead with upcoming brands like PeopleLink which are more economical & technically stable & advanced.

We have a range of products for targeting different verticals which are custom designed to suit the requirements of individual verticals as well as organizations. We have Top Names as our clients today, across different verticals, be it Healthcare, Education, Enterprises, Govt, Defence or SMBs. PeopleLink Video Conferencing technology has been deployed with leading organizations, and is now being rolled out to other international markets as well. We are also focusing on taking Video Conferencing out of elite Boardrooms into the usability range of every single employee of the organization without compromising on the quality.

Q) There are many operators who are aligning with telepresense vendors and providing solutions to the enterprise. Do you have any such alliance?

Frost & Sullivan predicts that the APAC region’s telepresence market will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 22.9% from 2009 to 2015, hitting a market size of US$110.1 million by the end of the period. We are on advanced stages of evaluating leading key operators with whom we will work in alliance for providing TelePresence solutions to enterprises. Our key Focus is to Commoditize TelePresence by making its deployment extremely easy and bringing it to a price point where even a Customer who was planning to go for implementing HD Video Conference will change his mind and go for PeopleLink TelePresence set-up for the enormous advantages it offers over any other traditional setup.