A few week ago, I wrote about how IT associations in India were not going
anywhere and that most of them had forgotten the objective for which they were
created in the first place. In response to that I got a rather interesting mail.
The mail in itself was a novelty to me, because though time and again I meet
people or talk to them and they comment on what I have written, this was one of
the few rare instances where someone had actually written back to me. The mail
'A Concerned Reseller' came from Kauser Dabhiya from Taurus Infotech, Pune. Now
though I have not had the pleasure of having met Mr Dabhiya personally but he
raised some very valid points, and I thank him for that. And instead of
personally replying to his mail I am using this space to add more gist to my
arguments.
For those of you who might not have read the letter that Mr Dabhiya sent,
which was duly printed in last issue of The DQ Week, he essentially asked me
'which association has rubbed me the wrong way' for me to write such a stringent
piece. Also he squarely blamed the media for creating the monster that IT
associations have become today because we highlight the activities of the
associations in our paper, give them national rankings and awards and print
their pictures in our paper. He asked and I quote, “Who made them devils? Is it
the members who don't take any interest in the association? Is it the media? The
vendors , who may have wanted to be in their good books? Lets take a hard look
and since you have started this debate, end it also.”
To answer some of the queries as to who created the associations, if memory
serves me right, the associations were created by channel partners themselves.
Yes, as a newspaper which serves as a medium of highlighting the issues of the
IT channel community, we have actively propagated the idea of forming
associations, but did we force you to make them? No, in the cities where the
associations were formed it was primarily because partner thought they should
unite. Not because someone from a media house told them. After some of these
associations became proactive and started deriving benefits from unity, other
emulated them. We just helped in highlighting the success stories.
But does that mean we did not highlight their failures. Of the total 97 IT
channel associations of which I have a record, I'm sure there are more, only 30
percent would be active. That is not a big figure, and I have always written
about how partners in the cities which have no associations suffers. But then
the main idea was to provide a forum for partners to get together and resolve
issues, and not go on a witch-hunt or to use the association for personal
profit. I have a strong objection to that and have stated the same many a times
and will continue to do so.
My sincere belief is that the problem is that people who come to power forget
that they got the post because the promised something to the community and that
they should come good on it. I know it is easy to say that this is how it
happens in India, but in election after election we have seen people exercising
their choice and sending political 'kingmakers' into oblivion. The members of
the association need to take a call as to what they want their executive council
and president to do and not get busy in either manning their own business or not
talking openly about it lest it hurt the associations chances at the annual
ranking.
And before I end this I just need to say two more things one is that, my job
as a media person is to just be a mirror, which projects what happens in the
ecosystem. And secondly I am happy you started the debate, I do hope that other
people join in and help both you and me to bring in transparency and
accountability in the way the associations behave.
Shivangi Yadav
shivangiy@cybermedia.co.in