US firm eyes SMEs in Davao

By Nelson C. Bagaforo
Sunstar Davao

AN AMERICAN firm that manufactures power backup systems is seeking partnership with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Davao Region, offering products and services specifically designed for SME clients.

Emerson Network Power, which started its business operations in the Philippines in 2001, launched Friday a whole line of products and services that would address power protection needs, not only of large corporations, but also of other sectors, such as manufacturing, telecom, banking, and small and medium enterprises, which comprise more than 90 percent of businesses in Davao Region, and even individual personal computer users.

Emerson also launched its uptime partner program in Davao to better serve SMEs and other targeted partners, such as government agencies and business process outsourcing (BPOs).

"We want to keep their equipment work all the time...to boost their productivity and competitiveness," Emerson Network Power (Philippines) Inc. managing director Laurence Chan said.

He said Emerson intends to gain a bigger share of the market in the region, adding that they have embarked on similar product launches in Metro Manila in May and Cebu on Wednesday to tap SMEs, the fastest growing sector in the region.

"We would like to get a piece of that market," Chan said.

Emerson Network products are distributed in the Philippines by Lamco International Trading Co., but Friday's launch here was also meant to bring in more resellers.

Lamco is the country's largest IT distributors in the country, distributing computers and computer-related products to value-added resellers, systems integrators and retailers.

Emerson, on the other hand, provides a full spectrum of reliable power, connectivity, and precision cooling solutions for computers, communications, healthcare and industrial system.

Hitesh R. Prajapati, Emerson's channel business director, said the company has operations and distributorship in almost all parts of the world. It has three manufacturing plants in Asia, including one in Philippines located in Rosario, Cavite.

He said the company posted a sale $17.3 billion for fiscal year 2005.

Prajapati said he foresees Emerson's remarkable growth in the next few years as more sectors realize the need to protect equipment, products, and data from power supply interruptions.

He said the prices of Emerson Network Power products are "very competitive" but there are more value-added benefits in purchasing the systems.

Chan said customer care services, which Emerson has outsourced to Sykes, also provides 24-hour technical support to buyers.

He expressed confidence about the company's technology, saying the company has been consistently named among Forbes top 400 most admired companies in the world.

In 2005, Emerson also landed on no. 2 spot as world's most admired companies as listed by Fortune magazine, behind General Electric (GE). On the third spot was Sony.

Emerson Network's customers include Globe Telecom, Smart Communications, Dell, IBM, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Nokia, Siemens and Citibank.