Linksys living its own personality & character to woo customers

Linksys wants to build a business on a strong foundation of great partnerships with its distributors, resellers & system integrators, as they are the core of the company’s business.  In fact 90% of all IT businesses happen via general trade especially in the B2B segment and this is going to remain its focus for some time now. Kartik Bakshi, Country Manager - Linksys India shares with VARINDIA of how this strategy will be a differentiating factor for Linksys - 

What are some of the Networking trends that are shaping the industry today?
In today’s world we need to focus on speed and coverage. Due to high usage of data from both end users and corporates, the demand for good output from their internet has become imperative. This demand has led brands to create products such as the Whole Mesh Wifi system & innovate on existing cloud management systems to manage the network more efficiently. 

In India, the adoption of the internet at home is indeed a growing trend. For the home internet, a bigger challenge still is to provide seamless connectivity especially in smaller cities, and this is gradually improving. India as a country has already taken a giant leap and there is a large population today using internet over the mobile phone. Hence, the two most important trends today in the industry according to me are the availability of better products because of demand for good speed and reliability, secondly the significance of post sales service, about which, not much is spoken. I believe excellent after sales support is a must when you are trying to build a robust IT infrastructure network.

How do you position yourself as the leader in this space post de merger from Cisco?
Linksys has always had its own personality and character. When Belkin bought it in 2013, we focused a lot on bringing back that identity, which is Linksys, as a brand. We had a lot of success promoting our WRT classic series earlier and launched newer products such as the Velop Whole Mesh Wifi System which has been winning awards globally. As a brand we focused on building equity & value - the post sales services we offer, best in class warranties, performance & product design all play a huge role in how we think and create. All those ingredients put together make our brand truly unique. A lot of the competition in the Indian market focus on price and that is not the game we want to get into. 

Which are the target verticals for you?
The target verticals on the SMB front are many - you have schools, education, hospitals, hotels, small offices, home offices as well as start-ups. So I don't think there are very specific target verticals. I would rather say that we do not plan to target too many verticals to place our products in the beginning. Having said that, our main target audience, the channel partners and solution providers will always remain at the core of our business, since that is an area where most of the networking industry is operating right now. 

What new opportunities do you see in the Indian market with respect to market expansion and new customer deals?
I think the market today is going through a lot of changes for the better. To give you an example, a few years back, Apple products were considered to be aspirational, however now you would see many people using their devices not just in major metros but in other tier 2 cities as well. So the customer has evolved through times to become that someone, who aspires to have the best in quality products regardless of cost. The modern Indian customer is ready to spend money to get a good quality product irrespective of the industry. Hence, focusing on brand awareness and visibility will be key for our success. Offering our Cloud Management services for free (for the first 5 years) will be a great boon for IT Managers & Procurement leaders to help build cost effective IT networks for their companies.

What is your channel in return strategies like?
The traditional IT channel is very important for us because even today 90% of all IT businesses happen via general trade especially in the B2B segment. Obviously, modern traders are a very important channel as well as we believe in driving retail experience. Hence, every channel will have its own unique strategy but for now our focus is the general IT trade.

What will be your roadmap for the year 2019?
In 2019 for Linksys, we have the Cloud Manager based Access Points which was recently launched. And obviously, we have a lot of focus on Smart Home segments hence the Smart mesh Wi-Fi products will be essential. Next month, we will also be launching our gaming router, MR 8300 which is extremely powerful. We are also going to have a couple of products coming in the next four to six months, which will be very appealing to the Indian customer, not only in terms of features, but also in terms of price.