She is one of a fewer woman managers in India who has significantly contributed towards making India into a respectable IT destination. A widely know figure in the Indian IT distribution landscapes, Kamini Talwar, Director, Iris Computers, believes in handling the channels’ issues with greater consideration. She is emerging as India’s true IT feminist, who is extremely sensitive towards the welfare of channel partners. In a frank tête-à-tête with Digital Edge, Kamini Talwar, speaks her altruistic mind. Excerpts.

Are you happy with the contribution of women in the IT industry, where do you find them standing?

Certainly, there’re growing instances of women becoming vital components in the overall IT workforce in India. Software, and services industry (including BPOs) is absorbing women folks substantially. But, again the number of women at top managerial posts is appallingly minimal. The conspicuous absence of women at decision-making positions is starker in the case of hardware sector. Barring a few cases, they’re negligibly present. However, if I look at myself, I’ve effected a thaw in the hackneyed stereotype of women not being an active element in the hardware industry. I’ve been into the hardware distribution business for many long years, and

have made a point that a woman can execute challenging tasks, and can bring about desired business results. Every day, I close business deals worth crores of rupees. It doesn’t mean that there’s a dearth of qualified women in the country (there are engineers, and scores holding MBA degrees), but they’ve not been able to cope with the demanding nature of IT business, especially hardware. Moreover, I’m cautiously happy about women who are becoming active participants in the cyber industry. Most women want to win, but very few want to pay the price for it. The corporate boardrooms of IT industry have only opened up to 3 per cent women representation; meaning a long way to go. Apart from the hardcore managerial chores, how do you see the ‘role sets’ of Kamini Talwar evolving? In my 11 years old journey with Iris Computers, my objectives have been evolving, and my ‘role sets’ getting wider. Now, my propensity is to teach, and guide my sub-ordinates. My endeavour is to mould them into more knowledgeable professionals who understands the IT market dynamism, and grasp the products they deal in. The cumulative effect of this kind of drive is to guide our organization towards excellence.
People who move out of Iris and join MNCs (likes of Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems) they proudly say that they’ve come from an institution called ‘Iris Computers’. These people have gone under my guidelines. Every time, they make mistakes, I catch them, and correct them then and there. I’ve been able to groom them well so that dedication, and professionalism become the integral hallmark of ‘Irisian’. So, I take pride of that.

How do you look at Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman of Iris Computers?

I think Sanjiv Sir is a very knowledgeable person. He has given an altogether different image to the IT distribution business in India. He is a great practitioner of ethics, sincerity, humility, and steadfastness. On the top of the business acumen, he is highly up-to-date on the issues of geo-politics, IT industry dynamics, healthcare, and science.
On the issue of woman empowerment, he took some of the earliest initiatives in the Indian IT industry. He chose a woman in Kamni Talwar, and handed over to her the entire business of Iris Computers. He did that at a time when instances of women at higher posts in India were scanty. Today, I handle the entire transactional nature of the business spread all across the country (so that he could relax on the business front; and concentrate on the strategic guidelines and initiatives for the company). I take some credit that I’ve been able to prove my loyalty. Sanjiv Sir believes in corporate federalism by giving the due share of power to his people.

What are the thrust areas of Iris Computers at this moment?

We’ve been doing pretty well on distribution of mainstream products in servers, network storage, desktops, notebooks, monitors, projectors, handsets, and passive networking components. Iris Computers is a national distributor for IBM, HP/Compaq, Lenovo, Acer, BenQ, Motorola, and Raritan among host others. As of now, close to 80 per cent of our revenues come from IBM, HP, and Lenovo line of products. Though, servers and storage products are doing great for us, the notebook segment has become one of the top revenue earners for us. We’re doing fantastic business around notebooks coming from the houses of HP/Compaq; Lenovo; and Acer. Recently, HCL Infosystems has also tied up with us as a distributor for their (HCL Infosystems’) line of PC products. I hope, in the case of HCL Infosystems, we would be able to do equally well.
However, we’re aware of the growth happening in other product categories as well. So, we’re keen to venture into the power conditioning, and networking products distribution as well. Congruent with this aspiration, Iris Computers has tied up with US-based Apache Micro Peripherals Inc., for distributing its (Apache’s) IT peripherals (including life-style gadgets), and networking products here in India.

What is the expansion plans underway at Iris Computers?

Iris Computers has embarked on a massive expansion plan, a plan that is witnessing new thrusts on product enhancements, and geographical spreads. As I’ve told you that we keep on adding new product line ups, however, on the issue of geographical diversification, we’ve become very bullish. As of now, we’ve got 29 branches across the length and breadth of the country (We have added 5 new branches quite recently). I think, there is no dearth of business in the country; you just need good people in the organization. In the case of manpower, Iris Computers has deployed more than 250 employees in the country who are effectively reaching out to 1200 channel partners of ours. Our resolve is to make our reach further pervasive in the country. That is a constant challenge we face as the Indian demography is getting increasingly IT savvy, demanding more. In the meantime, Iris Computers has garnered funds (Rs 25 crore to begin with that can be expanded to Rs 60 crore) from Hong Kong based venture capitalist called Oriental Financial Services (OFS) Capital Group. We would be using this capital for our holistic expansion drives. By 2009, we expect a revenue of Rs 1000 crore (from Rs 504 crore in 2006-07).

Do you think, women at decision-making position can understand the channel issues more sensitively?

Iris Computers handles the channels issue more sensitively. We can draw a lot many lessons from the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Amartya Sen, who propounded the topic of ‘development economics’, where all-round welfare of people including healthcare, and education is a must for any tangible economic advance of any nation or the world at large. This is my firm belief that our IT channel community requires concerted support, and encouragement from us so that they really perform well, and become party to the process of nation building. This is my conviction that women can be more sensitive about the needs and requirements of the people who work so hard in making the country into an IT fortress.

As the people of India are becoming more adept at using IT, the demand of hardware, and software is even coming from village talukas of India. With rapid pace, people from B, C, D, and E class of cities of are adopting the tools of IT. So, channel partners in smaller towns may not be very strong in terms of pecuniary prowess. They do have the vision, and the required aspiration to move up the value chains, but they don’t have deep pockets. Here comes our role. We’ve devised mechanisms through which we give them credit (normally, they don’t get credit from IT vendors, or distributors). It’s nice to work with channel partners who are strong on monetary front, but the pleasure of helping the ‘not-so-strong-channel-partners’ is ethereal. We want to see them grow into bigger business entities. I think when there will be more women empowered in the IT field, there’ll be fewer wars in the market, and much kinder world to look forward.