“Innovation Is The Key To Lead In The Market” Says Mr. Kriplani from AsRock

Mr. Manoj Kriplani

Mr. Manoj Kriplani ( International Sales Head) at AsRock Inc. a leading motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan shares his view with Himali Chandwani from IT Voice, about the company’s strategy to target the Indian consumers & the company’s future plans.

1.  What is your global expansion plan ?          

Manoj Kriplani :  ASRock has been taking PC gaming and eSports as an important marketing tool for global branding exposure  For further Expansion in 2015, we will eyeing mainly on Gaming Segment. High End and Gaming Boards market is still growing. We think the reason could be linked to the emerging gaming groups. GAMING market’s potential is quite huge and this is why ASRock continuously devoted to developing real gaming products. As we’re the only mainboard maker that cooperates with a real gamer (World Champion Gamer Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’) to develop products, we’re confident to claim that ASRock’s gaming series are the only and truly outstanding gaming gears in the market.

2.  How to get your customers ? What has been your most successful form of marketing ?      

Manoj Kriplani :  We are using all approaches and methods to create awareness among end users and also channel. We are using Traditional medium like print, advertisements in channel magazines, Online portals and online  promotions, holds marketing events to promote  key products to the market. The events are held in diverse format in order to reach different audience segmentation: distributors/dealers, media, and end-users.  The event types vary from press conference, exhibition, online promotion events, and gaming/OC competition.  ASRock products, not only excel in hardware development and cut-edge technologies, but also focus more on trendsetting features that might redefine how the average person practices daily computing.

4. Where you see your business within a year ?  What is your    short term & long term goals ?        

Manoj Kriplani :  Indian Market this year (Q1-Q2 2014) for Motherboards didn’t turn out to everyone’s expectations and its quite down in comparison to last year (somewhere around 25-30%) and main reason behind this was low demand and no pull from end users. And with Growing demand & popularity of Tablets and Smartphones also added to the low demand for Motherboards. A class cities and now followed by B cities prefers Tablets / Laptops over desktop which provides them with basic computing & internet. But we have some good Hopes from Q4 2014 and 2015 from Indian Market Specially from the Baytrail, High End & Gaming segment which is growing very fast in India.  Our Long term Goals will be focusing on putting more resources in service, man power, Pre & Post-sales support for  India market  to have coverage of our brand in breadth.  

5. How fast have you been developing last years ?            

Manoj Kriplani : As many superb products have launched recently including – 5.1 Super Alloy X99 Series Motherboards    5.2 World’s First Windows 8.1-Certified Intel X99 Extreme4 Chipset Based Motherboard    For  last 3 three Years in row, we are Gaining Market share in India, Today we are No.2 Brand in India in terms of Market Share.  We are constantly challenging ourselves to be the pioneer in our industry.   Technology wise recently only ASRock  launched the world’s first Windows 8.1 certified X99 motherboard, implementing Super Alloy components on our products for advanced quality and performance. You Can say that we are moving fast and heading for the top.

6. In-the-cloud security: Dreamy or dangerous?  Tell us about your related products ?    

Manoj Kriplani : Technologies like these are often said to be a double-edged sword. Of course cloud brings convenience and possibilities, but on the other hand, if safety is neglected there’s going to be lots of issues just as what we’ve seen recently. Nevertheless, we believe cloud computing is the future, and ASRock takes online security seriously. Hence we encourage users to try our private cloud service ASRock Cloud, which keeps your files in your devices. It is relatively secure than public clouds that upload your privacy onto servers

7.  As ASIA is your big market, what’s your channel partners strategy ?    

Manoj Kriplani : For different countries we have different strategy. But for all regions we work very closely with our partners on product development & Marketing strategy . Asia’s Key Markets Like Korea and Japan where quality is the first preference , we are already No.1 and No.2 Brand. Same we are heading for other Territories, and soon before this year end we will be No.1 Brand in Many regions.

8.  As you have only few competitors for become 1st. What’s your competitive advantage ?

 Manoj Kriplani : ASRock always believes in giving more & more not only with features, value addition to the products and extra protection to its end users but also to the our channel partners and that’s what makes us different than other brands. Recently we are out with Exclusive feature called  ASRock Cloud, which gives the freedom to access your desktop anytime and anywhere in the world from your Mobile devices, one can also upload and download stuff from desktop using remotely through your mobile devices and this all in FREE only on purchase of ASRock MB.

9. Excluding mother-boards, what about your industrial PCs & home theatre PCs (HTPC) ? Summarise their contribution for revenue generation.

 Manoj Kriplani : ASRock IPC is one of the top industrial motherboard manufacturers and specializes in industrial motherboards design. Our focus is providing value-oriented computing platform with longevity lifecycles that appeal to volume driven ODMs.   Our products are manufactured to the highest quality in ISO 9001/14001 /9002/ UL certified facilities with an emphasis on flexibility and cost effectiveness.  These boards are designed for intelligent systems and applications with low cost and high performance and also fan or fanless operation requirement for various intelligent systems including KIOSK, vending machine, Point of sale & ATM machines, automotive, medical , security, surveillance and in vehicle infotainment. Our capabilities include:  

 1. Turn key custom design and manufacturing service for industrial motherboard.

2. Provide the longevity up to 7 years    

3. Flexibility production.

10. How big the addressable market is for your brand today and what kind of expectations do you have from market?

 Manoj Kriplani : ASRock did pretty well last year in India Market in terms of numbers & market share. After Intel Exit from MB, we are very much positive and looking forward to Increase our market share.

11. Today, new form factor taking center-stage in motherboard market. Could you explain the reason?

 Manoj Kriplani : Well, we all realize that the compact IT products generate huge responses around the world, changing the average user’s computing behavior. This is why ASRock pays special attention on developing new Mini-ITX and Thin Mini-ITX mini-sized motherboards. The recently-launched Intel Bay Trail Q1900TM-ITX with ultra thin form factor that allows users to build up the most compact AIO system with rich functions.

12. What are the key differentiating factors of your brand in comparison to others?

 Manoj Kriplani : Innovation is definitely the key to lead in the market. Unlike other motherboards, which may seem lifeless and boring with cold hard specifications or marketing gimmicks. We strive to differentiate ASRock motherboards by making them more customized. We’re going deeper into three different routes. The Gaming series will accompany hardcore gamers in endless battles, while the Overclocking series will assist overclockers break world records, and the Extreme series will satisfy the tech savvy. We will also provide a wider selection in price and features, so that everyone can find his/her own motherboard.