HCL Peripherals, a strong brand name across India : By - S. Pattabiraman Executive Vice-President, HCL Peripherals

Successful product and company names may appear to have been created by magic, but it is possible to develop names that are dynamic, effective and fully leveraged a brand’s potential if you have the right process in place. A process that is clear, insightful, logical and focussed will lead to a name and tagline that are powerful components of your brand strategy, and pave the way for buy-in throughout the organization.

Building a brand image is more important for IT companies than mere branding. You launch a new product on the shelves, and your competitors will have a similar one, possibly an improved one, in a relatively short space of time. Moreover, it becomes difficult to persuade an overcautious consumer to take a final decision with regard to the purchase of a technology product. In such circumstances, the act of image building assumes more importance. It is the brand, which makes you stand out in the crowd. People do not expect or like wild swings in the personality behaviour of other people, and they are just as much concerned when the brands to which they have grown used to exhibit similar “schizophrenic” changes. Hence, the brand image is everything the company wants the brand to be seen as.

The vision is to be a global market share leader in each of the markets one serves. Then, one can earn this leadership vision by providing to their VARs (Value Added Resellers), VAPs (Value Added Partners) and end-user customers innovative, high-quality, cost-effective and environmentally responsible products. Then, corporates will add value to these products by providing legendary customer service through their uncompromising commitments to customer satisfaction and this time we are focussing on HCL Peripherals. Based in Chennai (India), this business unit of HCL runs under the leadership of S. Pattabiraman, Executive Vice-President of the company.

Though HCL is a three-decade-old enterprise and India’s original IT garage start-up, HCL Peripherals became a Strategic Business Unit of HCL Infosystems in 1983, and, since then, it has grown by leaps and bounds and has also emerged as a leader in its business verticals.

HCL Peripherals started its operations primarily with an objective to manufacture very competent and state-of-the-art quality products for the captive consumption of HCL. Thus, it all started as a manufacturing unit for the production of Monitors, Keyboards and later ventured into OEM business making the best use of its Global Standard Manufacturing facility. Later on, steadily the company further expanded its operations and made an entry into the channel business, too. Meanwhile, in due process, the company was also having Unix Terminal products for major industries like Railways, Telecom and et al. Soon, the company diversified into other products and technologies, encompassing networking products and projects as well as technology products.

The company’s core competency lies in providing technology-centric domain knowledge and expertise in IT products and IT-enabled Services. HCL Peripherals product-width encompasses: Thin Clients, Touch-Screen Kiosks, RAS, Console Servers, Touch-Screen Solutions and Unix Terminal solutions; Display Products – CRT Monitors, LCD Monitors, LCD TV and Plasma Monitors/TVs of various models and sizes; Network Products & solutions – Switches, Routers, Structured Cabling Products, Fiber/UTP and Wireless Products and Solutions, N/W Racks, N/W turnkey projects, etc.

The company holds its R&D activities responsible for the success of its products. HCL Peripherals has a full-fledged Research & Development division with highly skilled and motivated professionals. The R&D efforts are more focussed on IT Products, Commercial/Industrial Display Systems & Solutions, Computing products, Networking and Remote Access Servers (RAS). Apart from that, R&D is undertaken on specialized applications based on WINBee, Windows XP embedded, Linux platforms. And, the company is also into embedded systems development, medical electronics, automotive electronics, special-purpose electronic power distribution system, multi-layer PCB design and IT products development for industrial applications, which run in an uncontrolled environment at extreme temperatures and humidity. Under a new initiative, the company’s R&D activities are happening on hi-end digital signages.

To support the HCL Peripherals’ aggressive marketing and R&D strategy, the company has three manufacturing units. One is at Pondichery; another is at Chennai; and the third one is at Rudrapur Uttarakhand. These facilities are equipped with the state-of-the-art machineries. While both Pondy and Chennai plants have been awarded with ISO 9001:2000 certification for manufacturing of global standard quality products, the Rudrapur plant has been commissioned recently. The Pondy plant is spread across 20,000 sq. ft. with a capacity of 1,00,000 monitors per month. It can also manufacture 10,000 Thin Clients per month with an option of expansion in the future. Similarly, the facility at Ambattur, Chennai is sprawling across 29,015 sq. ft. and is a multi-product manufacturing facility.

The Pondy plant is not only responsible for all display products, including CRT, LCD, Flat Monitors as well as Touch Screen Monitors for various applications but also for Thin Clients, Keyboards, Terminals, etc. This unit has also won ISO 14001:2004 for International Std. Environment Mgt. Systems; ISO 13485:2003 for manufacturing of World Standard – Medical Equipment Products, which are being supplied to the Indian and overseas clients and ISO/TS 16949:2002 for Global standard – Automotive Electronic Components manufacturing facility.

Similarly, HCL Peripherals’ Chennai Plant is responsible for networking racks, information/interactive kiosks, touch-screen kiosks, elevator components, power distribution boxes, sheet metals, etc.

The third thing, which the entire group stresses upon, is the branding exercise. As a strategic move, HCL brand is made to be the flagship brand for all the group companies of HCL. HCL Peripherals has executed many branding exercises, including branding advertisements on a 360-degree perspective, hoardings, signages, schemes, conducting seminars, road shows and events that are intertwined around specific occasions/festivities and sales melas. Those things apart, branded e-mailers are also sent to the target audience, POP/POS Branding and thorough implementation of a few novel promo tools and techniques are also taken up by the company.

Pattabiraman says,’“HCL, as a Master Brand, has recently set up HCL Digital-lifestyle showrooms in a few metros, displaying the techno-savvy lifestyle products. This chain of showrooms is going to expand across India in a major way and is poised to revolutionize the Indians’ life for an advanced and better living.”

Over a period of time, HCL Peripherals has garnered a healthy market share. Particularly, in the OEM segment, for monitors, it has achieved 65-per cent market share and channels business with 20-per cent market share. In WINBee Thin Clients, HCL is the market leader, enjoying 60 per cent of the market share in India and seriously exploring more export avenues. Similarly, in Industrial Touch Screen Monitors, it is the main contender from south India and is a leading player nationally. HCL Peripherals is also the market leader in structured cabling, wireless, N/W switches, N/W routers and WAN. It has strong domain expertise and N/W project consulting and implementation encompassing: Wireless, WAN, Cabling, etc. in major segments like ITeS, IT, government and education. If this is not enough, HCL Peripherals is the market leader in the Information/Interactive Kiosks.

For the quantum effort of HCL peripherals the company has won accolades from various quarters, including VARIndia Star Nite Awards for the Best Thin Client Technolog y in 2006. Similarly, it has received Bhoomi brand award for the quality and excellent performance in monitors. NCR Corporation has given it a Best Supplier Award for industrial monitors for ATM applications.

Along with the company’s development, HCL Peripherals also contributes to national development.’“By offering an array of IT products and services with the sate-of-the-art technology and global quality standards at a very competitive price, we thus make the IT and ITeS services very affordable to the Indian public and organizations,” says Pattabiraman.

Moreover, through the state-of-the-art IT manufacturing set-ups at various locations and its extensive R&D initiatives, embedded technologies, hardware, software and BPO centres along with its sales offices across the nation has created a mix of wide opportunities for diverse occupations to many people. Apart from that, the company has not only contributed in a big way for the GDP of the nation, but has also been bringing substantial foreign currency to India through its global operations. Similarly, as part of its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), HCL conducts HCL Concert series in India locations. This is an effort to recognize and encourage young talent in the Indian Classical Music & Arts and to further strengthen and spread the Indian culture and arts. The parent company HCL Enterprise is a leading global technology and IT enterprise with annual revenues of US$3.7 billion (Rs.16,801 crore). The HCL Enterprise comprises two companies listed in India – HCL Infosystems and HCL Technologies. HCL’s range of offerings span Product Engineering, Technology and Application Services, BPO, Infrastructure Services, IT Hardware, Systems Integration, and distribution of ICT products. The HCL team comprises 40,999 professionals of diverse nationalities, who operate from 16 countries including 300 points of presence in India. HCL has global partnerships with several leading Fortune 1,000 firms, including leading IT and technology firms.

As a brand, HCL is present in 300 locations across the country, including the cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Mumbai, Nagpur, Noida, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichy, Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam, etc.

The company’s footprints are also found globally in the locations like Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington, Sweden, Washington, Michigan, the Netherlands, Germany, Connecticut, Ireland, Belgium, Illinois, UK, France, Colorado, New Jersey, California, Virginia, Texas, etc.

Finally…

For 2007, the company is investing to expand its reach and strengthen the customer base as well as channel mindshare through various events and promo-based activities and programmes.