Asif Khan, Director, Technocrat Infotech talks about the best business practices and how the company has chartered its growth in the distribution business
Tell us about your journey as a distributor of IT products?
Synonymous to IT hardware, we started our journey in 1995. The primary objective of the company is to cater to the ever increasing needs of IT industry by procuring and delivering quality products from world class manufacturing companies at affordable price.
The company has lived up to the market expectations since inception and grew from strength to strength with each year as a team. We had started with just 2 employees from a small setup and today with 16 branches, we are covering the entire East and North India. Our current employee strength is about 300 and last year, we clocked the revenue of Rs. 438 crore with a growth of 18.2 percent. About three years ago, we also forayed into the telecom business and in FY 2017-18, we came up with our new vertical i.e. consumer durables.
What all best practices should be followed by a distributor to become one of the leaders in the industry?
We need to be systematic, transparent, and ethical in our business practices and this is how we can succeed. In order to become one of the most powerful distributors in the country, one should change its present style of doing business. Just focusing on billing and delivering of goods will not help you sustain in the current market scenario. Besides, one also needs to focus on areas like marketing, claims, and accounts. We should act as a bridge between vendor and the channel to grow the business. Following this practice will definitely benefit the businesses in future.
Tell us about your business operations?
We are headquartered out of Kolkata where all the directors and senior management staff operate from. We have implemented a centralized ERP system. Our HR, Admin, and Finance all are handled from Kolkata and we also have regional manager, branch manager, sales accounts, and back office team operating from our different branches.
Our major areas of expertise is in distribution wherein we deal with channel partners. As part of the distribution business, we cater to verticals like IT, telecom, and consumer durables. We operate from 15 locations and are partners of Epson, HP, Samsung, LG, Dell, Lenovo, Philips, Nokia, Delink, CP Plus, and Kelvinator.
What has been your major achievements / projects in the last couple of years?
In the FY 16-17, despite the slow industry growth, we managed to grow with a percentage of 18.2 percent, which we consider as a big achievement for us.
What all business innovations you have done to stay ahead of your peers in the industry?
We continued to update our associate partners with products, changing market dynamics, technology, and commercials. Besides, we also trained our partners on the latest technology trends and encouraged them to be dynamic so that we can grow together.
What are the challenges that you have to tackle in your day-to-day operations?
The main challenge that we face on daily basis is resource management and day-to-day operational issues. However, our senior team members try to address the same on a regular basis and help us to find permanent solution to avoid any future hassles.
What are your expectations from the vendors that you are working with?
Our expectation from the vendors is that we are here to do business as an associate. Hence, we want a complete transparency and everything should be clear between us so that we can grow together in long term. Besides, business and claim settlements must be done on monthly basis.
