The second general assembly meeting (AGM) of DCTG held yesterday is set to be a turning point in the association’s fortunes. While the first AGM last year made the announcement of the association getting the approval from the Dubai chamber of commerce, the trade body made some critical announcements yesterday that are likely to reshape the fortunes of the industry in an hour of crisis.
Among the landmark decisions reached yesterday was its decision to rechristen itself as Dubai Computers Group, in an attempt to involve the larger ecosystem of distributors, sub-distributors, wholesalers, retailers and others involved in the IT industry. This was announced by Suchit Kumar, now Dy. GM of AOC and one of the founding members of the association.
While continuing to focus on critical business issues that continue to plague the local IT market from time to time, including price undercutting, defaults and runaways episodes as well as delayed payments from large customers, the association seems to have embarked firmly on the second phase of its journey. Judging by the enthusiastic participation from attendees yesterday at the meeting held in Royal Ascot hotel, Dubai, there is the likelihood that this is a trade body whose time has come.
Rakesh Bohra, spokesperson for the group and one of the founding members advised members present yesterday to exercise caution when they transact business , especially in cases where signatory of the cheques issued as well owner of the business would be different individuals.
Mohammed Jomaa, Emcredit, Business development manager in his keynote address at the event said, “credit bureaus are specialised in delivering secure information sharing polatforms through which credit information and payment experiences could be shared, such institutions help industry groups manage common risks through collective risks.”
Emcredit is the UAE’s pioneer information services company formed in January 2006 and provides enterprise and credit information solutions, offering credit information reports, data verification, data enrichment, decision support analytics and other tools necessary to improve customer acquisition, assessment, servicing, debt collection and portfolio management.
DCG recognises credit frauds as one of the most serious hazards confronting the industry and will try all means to ensure stricter legal action is enforced against offenders. In this context, the decision to have a credit rating system in place for all members of the body is very relevant and is expected to go a long way in making it easier for serious businesses to focus on their profitability and sustainability.
Shailendra Rughwani, President of DCTG said, “The credit rating system will help our members identify the most credible partners to do business with and safeguard their organisations against fraud. With this system in place, members will be careful about making sure that their reputation remains intact in the market.”
He pointed out that this year alone has recorded the highest number of fraud cases in 15 years. Totals losses in this year as a result of this trend is estimated at AED 19 million, with frauds amounting to AED 14 million committed in the past three weeks alone.
The credit ratings start from A for a member providing basic information to A+++ for those providing maximum credible financial information. Members will be inducted into the group after a rigorous screening process and the credit rating will be a continuous process.
The screening process involves a cross-checking of a potential members’ credentials, collection of the member’s information, including personal data from his home country and family details. Membership is approved only after DCTG’s examiners are confident that an applicant can add value to the group and after all information is proved to be credible.
While the association has above 150 members as of today, it hopes to take that number to around 500 in a year’s time and build a ring of solidarity around the group with healthier business practises adopted by members. The association will encourage members to transact business only with other channel partners who are members of DCG.
The event was sponsored by Netgear. Besides, resellers and retailers, the event was also had representation from some distributors including Asbis and Jurrasic Technologies, as wells as credit insurance company Euler Hermes. The association hopes to rope in more support from the vendor and distributor community for events in future.
Renaming itself as Dubai Computer Group, the association also announced a credit rating system for members to help reduce the menace of runaway resellers at the second AGM held yesterday
