Bangalore-based Avientek India is a leading value-added distributor of audio-visual (AV) & unified communications. The company recently forged a distribution partnership with Swiss company Logitech, which designs hardware and software solutions for businesses and people. Avientek will distribute Logitech’s various products and applications in India. The collaboration was met with unwavering optimism from both parties.
EFY got an opportunity to chat with Logitech’s Head of India, Mr Anand Lakshmanan and Avientek’s Country head, Mr Shrinivas Timmanagoudar and learn more about this new partnership, its intent, extent, and after-effects. Here’s an excerpt:
Q. To begin with, would you like to describe your partnership with Avientek and how it benefits you?
Customers who want to do business with Logitech are spread across the country and any amount of presence that we provide is always insufficient because of the opportunities that we see in the market. So, from that perspective, I think that Avientek’s presence, coupled with its existing collaborations with companies like Microsoft, offers great potential for augmenting the businesses of both organisations. We are looking forward to a great partnership with them in India as well.
A. Shrinivas Timmanagoudar (ST). Since Avientek provides value-added distribution in the field of AV and UC, getting on board with Logitech provides us with the opportunity to address a lot of end-customer businesses. At the same time, since Logitech is a market leader, we expect good traction with the end customers and enhanced visibility in the market.
Also, as Logitech is a well-known and reliable brand, it gives us a chance to build confidence with the end customers. Moreover, we have got to increase our revenue and this partnership gives value addition to our partners, wherein apart from our own products, we’re also selling Logitech products.
Q. What is the exact geographical parameter of this agreement?
A. AL. Avientek has a global presence but as far as this partnership is concerned, we are initially looking at India as a territory. Even though Avientek is already working with some of the other regions in Logitech. This particular partnership is all about providing us with coverage support in the territory of India.
Q. How do you envision Logitech contributing to your company’s growth and success in the Indian market?
A. ST. Of course, it will help us to increase the revenue. At the same time, it will strengthen our position in the market. Earlier, we were covering at least 60-70% of the solutions for meeting conference rooms and personal workspace. But with Logitech onboard, we can confidently say that we can cover at least 85-95% of the products related to the boardroom solutions.
At the same time, we are going to increase our market share as Logitech will help us to cross-sell our products, say, into the enterprise space. So, we expect a good reach there by aligning with Logitech.
Q. To expand it further, if I may ask what Logitech products or solutions does Avientek distribute?
A. A.L. Logitech in India primarily does two businesses, one for the consumer segment and the other for enterprises. Even though Avientek possesses all these skills required to support us in most of our product lines, to start with, I think we’ll be looking at the b2b portfolio of products that Avientek will be distributed in the Indian market.
Q. What measures have been taken to ensure effective distribution and marketing for Logitech products in India?
A. ST. As far as Avientek is concerned, we have split into three different verticals: sales, support supply chain and finance. Everything is driven separately at Avientek. As far as Logitech’s business is concerned, we have a dedicated team to promote its products in the market, along with our existing team which is also promoting all other AV products. At the same time, for the supply chain, we have a ‘mother warehouse’ in Bangalore while we’re also creating more hubs in tier-2 cities as well as in major metros. I can say that now, we have the hubs for the distribution of the products for immediate supply to the partners.
Q. How do you ensure availability and after-sales support for your products? And can you shed light on your customer support infrastructure in India?
A. AL. As far as availability goes, Logitech is already available through many partners in the country, specifically the systems integration partners who specialize in AV projects. And companies like Avientek are only going to further augment the capacity by becoming our new distributor and they have their aspirations to grow in the country. And through that, I’m sure the availability will only further increase.
This is as far as people who want to do business with Logitech and be able to access the products are concerned. When it comes to post-sale support, Logitech believes in interacting with customers directly and providing them with the Logitech experience that they deserve. So, we have set up a post-deployment support organization called ‘Prosupport’ in the country that customers can access through email and phone.
If they have any issues with the products that they purchase from Logitech, they can call these hotline numbers and raise a ticket. There are a bunch of engineers who sit behind this hotline and they provide direct support to customers for any of the challenges that they may be facing. After troubleshooting if they realize that the product has to be replaced, we also have arrangements to ship the products to the customers, depending on the city that they are in, in less than 48 hours.
Q. So, can we expect to see new product launches in the region because of this partnership?
A. AL. As a product company, Logitech keeps launching new products for its own product evolution. And Avientek being our strong distributor otherwise in the rest of the region, needless to say, will have access to our NPIs as well.
So, not specifically for this partnership, but Logitech has its own product roadmap through which we will be launching new products for the Indian market, and Avientek will be distributing them as well.
Q. So, before I conclude this interview, what is your outlook for the Logitech market in 2023 and beyond?
A. AL. What customers are wanting from Logitech is solutions for addressing some of the real-life challenges that they are facing. The world today is working in hybrid mode. So, the experience that we get when we work across different locations, we want to make it as seamless and similar as possible for users. That’s our biggest aspiration to the extent that we are launching different solutions that address the day-to-day challenges that people face.
For example, during the pandemic, to keep collaboration easy and effective, people invested in lots of different gadgets like microphones, headsets, monitors, keyboards, etc. For a period of time, they had so many gadgets, but the laptop could only take a few of them because of the limitation on the number of ports. So, one of the solutions which we launched just after the pandemic was a product called ‘Logi Dock’, which coincidentally is one of its kind in the category at the moment. It connects to multiple devices that customers use and acts as a single control console if I can call it so, for their video meetings.
So, like this, we have many other innovative products that we have already in our portfolio and that we intend to launch as well and thereby ensuring that the experience of the customers is always seamless and superlative.
