Interact Commerce on a ramp up mode, setting up a subsidiary

Punita Jasrotia Phukan / New Delhi

Considering the huge opportunity in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) space, Interact Commerce Corporation (makers of the CRM products SalesLogix and ACT) is planning to ramp up its Indian operations to tap this potential. Part of the expansion strategy includes increasing the channel and installation base and setting up an Indian subsidiary to earn more revenues. Presently, the company operates through a liaison office in India with three more sales offices in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi, and is mostly involved in pre-sales activities. While Sales Logix is targeted at the enterprise level, ACT is targeted at the SME segment.

Thomas Abraham, director of India operations, Interact Commerce Corporation, points out that the company is adopting a different model for the Indian market. “In case of ACT, what we have done is to appoint regional distributors (who would be city-centric) and build relationships with them. These distributors will not only be involved direct selling, but would also be involved in channel sales. The company is planning to replicate the success of ACT (3,000 installations) in other ASEAN countries,” he said. The company has already signed up three regional distributors namely, Camellia Infotech, Six Sigma and Vikas Global and is aiming for three more in the next six months.

In addition, the company is also using seeding methodology to create demand for their product. While for ACT the company is tying up with different SME players with whom they can club the product, in the case of Sales Logix the target is the Indian ERP product companies. “We are bundling an older version of the product (not networked) with their new products to build awareness and also get people interested in buying the latest version of Sales Logix,” he added.

Six months down the line, the company is also planning to set up a subsidiary in India. According to Abraham, this is in view of the growing importance and maturity of the Indian CRM market. However, the subsidiary will be mainly for the services business, which Interact Commerce plans to start in the next 6-8 months. “Our focus would be to provide high-end technical support to Interact Commerce’s clients in the Asia-Pacific region. The reason why we are not providing such support in India is because it is already being provided through business partners. They provide consulting and implementation services to our customers and we do not want to encroach on that business,” he said. In addition, this will also help the Indian subsidiary earn revenues and make India a profit centre. It is understood that the company would also be recruiting some more professionals for this purpose.

In terms of its future plans, Interact Commerce is looking at tripling the number of installations in Sales Logix and ACT products. Sales Logix addresses sales force automation, campaign management and customer support requirements of companies and presently has close to 20 enterprise customers. ACT is a contact management software, which addresses lead management, database management and sales automation requirements of SMEs.