For the world’s highest-valued semiconductor chipmaker Intel, it is time to put its might behind the ultimate no-compromise computing device — the Ultrabook. While it focuses its marketing on this product, it is also busy building India as a key location for its research. In an interview with Rajarshi Bhattacharjee, Makiko Eda, director, marketing and consumer sales, Intel Asia Pacific, and Sandeep Aurora, director, marketing, Intel South Asia, share the company’s vision for India.
Intel has launched an initiative to drive internet and PC penetration in hinterland India. Is it a corporate social responsibility initiative or a business model on trial?
Aurora: The idea here is to nurture science and technology in tomorrow’s world. We try to get more youngsters to study science and mathematics, so that the community does not lose out the edge in research and innovation. We invite people from the small towns to share proposals either on a business plan or plans to invent something meanigful. Our science fair, the Intel ISEF helps with the same — make science more interesting. On the one hand, we train teachers to use technology as a teaching aid in the class-room and on the other, encourage students to participate in science contests and eventually compete internationally. So, these are not related to any business strategy. But then, even the research we invest in does benefit the society because once a standard is defined, we open it up for others to use.
What is the idea behind your rural marketing push then?
Aurora: More and more people from the rural peripheries of the country are travelling to small and big towns and are getting exposed to a lot of technology than they were 10 years ago. The urban-rural divide itself is getting fuzzy. In that sense, our effort is to reach out to as many people as possible. To meet this target, not just rural marketing, we undertake activities like educating people on technology, having partnered with computer manufacturers. We also partner with the government in the common service centres (CSC) scheme to touch the rural masses with technology so that they are able to get government-to-citizen services without wasting time.
One of our fundamental roles has been to train businesses and institutes on using technology to do their tasks better, since we don’t sell directly to consumers. So, that is a way to grow the market but not necessarily push our brand to the rural audience, for example. Once they are able to use technology, they will automatically remember Intel.
Where does India stand in your global expansion plans?
Eda: Intel is an American company, but it is a global business we are running and India is a key market. Our quarter (financial) reports reveal, two-thirds of our revenue comes from outside the US. India is definitely a growth market and an interesting one since there is so much variety. The consumption pattern of the Indian middle-class holds a huge opportunity for us. We have been here for 15 years and will continue to invest in India.
What are your key areas of investment in India?
Eda: In India, there are still a lot of middle-class households which are buying a PC for the first time. 70 to 80 per cent of the people who buy computers are first-time buyers in India. They are our focus. We are investing in touchpoints for these first-time consumers who will move on to more of our devices in the near future.
Aurora: The other focus area for Intel is developing India as a site for innovation. We have close to 3,000 people working in research and development here. They collaborate with counterparts in Israel, US and Ireland and are coming up with a lot of innovation is coming from these people. That is one more big investment Intel has made in India — making it one of our largest research sites outside the US.
Are you also working on product and services that are more India-centric or regional in nature?
Aurora: We are a silicon company, that is the core of our business. We are in PCs, we are in servers, in data centres, and now we are in tablets and phones. So, it is all about how a small microprocessor chip can be used. Because we don’t built any product that goes straight to the consumer, innovation happens at both our end as well as at many of our partners’. We work closely with them and as mentioned earlier, intelligent digital signage is the most interesting for India.
Almost all Intel products are sold business-to-business (B2B). So, what is the rationale of your campaigns for the end consumer? Also, how relevant is the digital media to this end?
Eda: We do have a business model that is B2B2C (B2B to consumer). However, it is really important to talk to end consumers about the latest technology so that they can choose the best technology when they pick their PCs or other devices. The social and digital media is the core of the B2C marketing strategy. Facebook probably has one of the largest number of registered users in India. So many people are having a conversation with us on Facebook — not just questions about technology, but also about Intel as a company — and our fan base continues to expand.
Please share with us a brief on your consumer marketing campaigns.
Eda: Usually our communication attempts to introduce a new generation of chips (microprocessor). Last year we promoted smart computing through the 2nd Generation Core chip. This year, it was the Ultrabook experience. Ultrabooks are designed with an ecosystem that goes beyond the Intel chip. These are the ultimate no-compromise computing devices. They are not only light, but have long battery life and very high performance processing units. So, the campaign says, ‘Ultrabook, inspired by Intel’.
Beyond hardware and software development, what are your focus areas for business development?
Aurora: A major segment of our business is the large enterprise. Large enterprises understand the latest technology and adopt it as needed. So, we reach out to them with a future roadmap for them to plan what to buy. We also work with security providers to provide enterprise solutions for their specific security needs.
If we look at the millions of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India, they are not aware of IT’s impact on their businesses, even though they now compete with larger corporations. Our effort is to get them started on use of IT. If an SMB buys two systems, we partner with the retail seller to give the SMB a free website. There are so many of them who don’t have websites yet. So, we put them on the internet to reach out to prospective domestic and overseas clients. For the domestic operations of SMBs, the use of technology can speed up data flow. Our SMB programme is relatively new, but the response so far has been very encouraging because it helps to build the confidence of SMBs to use technology efficiently.
