Man With The Midas Touch

Sunil has made Mercury, a household name for motherboards in the country.
His stress on quality and committed service has led Kobian to achieve much
higher growths than the industry average. Sunil is now working on making his
company a top-notch hardware services exporter.

It´s been an exciting year for Sunil Sharma – the man be hind Kobian –
whose Mercury brand grew to command a majority share in the motherboard market.
Besides making inroads into upcountry markets, Mercury also garnered
international recognition.

But what really gave Kobian a boost was Sunil´s innovative ideas, his ´dare
me if you can´ attitude and keenness to work closely with channel partners.

The company recorded a turnover of approximately Rs 182 crore ($35 million)
from its Indian operations last year. Call it optimism laced with confidence,
but Sunil is looking at crossing Rs 235 crore ($50 million-mark) by this
June-end itself.

Not just that, the company is also targeting to grow its motherboard business
by 72%. And Sunil feels that his decision to introduce extended warranty option
is one such initiative that will help Mercury boards acquire greater mind and
marketshare.

SUNIL SHARMA EYE-CATCHING ACTION Steers the company to capture a 35% share in the motherboard market  Launches Kobiankare service centers, offers extended warranty on Mercury boards Sets up manufacturing facility, doubling capacity to 1,00,000 boards Makes Kobian the first Indian company to export motherboards

CARE THROUGH KOBIANKARE

The extended warranty option (of one or two-year), in addition to the
standard one-year, was received with great enthusiasm among partners. Sunil was
also instrumental in launching service centers, called Kobiankare, exclusively
for local resellers and end-users. This initiative was complimented by the
introduction of a toll-free number to provide online support to remotely-located
resellers and end-users.

"The main goal is to reduce the time taken for product servicing and
achieving this goal will help us gain resellers´ confidence in us," says
Sunil.

EXPLORING UNCHARTED TERRITORIES

It was to the credit of Sunil, that Kobian started commercial manufacturing
of motherboards at Silvasa in January 2002. The initial capacity was 50,000
boards per month, which was soon upped to 1,00,000 boards per month to enable
exports.

Kobian thus achieved the unique distinction of becoming the first Indian
exporter of motherboards. Today, it exports to the Middle-East, Europe and
Africa amongst other countries.

Sunil´s vision to position India´s hardware expertise in the international
market led Kobian to also export hardware services. "This is a killer
opportunity for Kobian as we would be the first computer component manufacturing
company to offer a total service support to the international market," says
he

Currently, Kobian offers component-level repairing service to the
international market comprising hardware manufacturers and major OEMs. Its
Bangalore-based repair center is currently equipped to repair products like
motherboards, higher-end AGP cards and TV tuner cards. Soon it will undertake
repairs of optical devices.

After the exceptional success in the motherboard market, Kobian is now
planning to consolidate its share and expand further. Currently, the company
enjoys a share of almost 35% in the Indian motherboard market.

The company has already touched optimum levels of satisfaction among channel
partners due to its proactive support initiatives. But not one to rest on his
laurels, Sunil has now set his sights on bringing revolutionary products in the
market for emerging technologies.