Grayscale Plans Market Awareness Campaign for FingerTec in Maldives
 
Grayscale Private Limited, a company in Maldives was founded in 2002. The company started as an IT company providing value added services to Maldivian businesses which include network implementations, website development, Applet development and related consultancy services. Always accommodating to its client needs, Grayscale decided to go into biometrics business about four years ago. The changing trend of the Maldivian Businesses from manual attendance clocking system to electronic system also had prompted Grayscale to venture into biometrics business, which was seen as the trend of the future at that time. Four years later, FingerTec business of Grayscale have shown that the move was right as Grayscale is now known as the renowned supplier of fingerprint systems for time attendance and door access control in the island of Maldives.

FingerTec Worldwide had the opportunity to interview Mr Abdulla Shuhood, Director/General Manager of Grayscale Private Limited to find out more about the business of FingerTec in Maldives.
   

What made you choose FingerTec® amongst other brand in the market?
 
FingerTec® has speed, reliability, elegance and style as well as service & support.
   
What kind of marketing activities carried out by Grayscale for FingerTec and which one yielded the best results in terms of enquiries and sales?
  So far we had participated in trade shows, we did web advertisements, print advertisements, inclusion of the FingerTec® products in our corporate profile, telemarketing campaigns and word of mouth. The power of word of mouth helps in the small community that we work in. By far, the best outcome is responses received from the trade show. The market responsiveness to other modes is very low except on one-on-one discussion or over word of mouth.
   
How many resellers do you have in Maldives right now and from which industry are they?
 
Maldives is a small island and we have managed to sign up 4 resellers, 3 of them are hardware suppliers and another one is a solution provider.
   
Director/General Manager of Grayscale Private Limited, Mr Abdulla Shuhood
How do you conduct reseller selection, do you do interviews, background checks or you just recruit them as they come?
  We do background checks on interested parties. There’s no formal application process and we conduct no formal interviews. However, an informal background check is made to ensure reliability of service support and rapport with customers. An informal credit check is also conducted before final decision is made.
   
Which products are bestsellers in Maldives?
  Bestsellers have been in the order of TA100, TA100-R and R2.
 
Tell us who are your prominent clients in Maldives?
  We have done 8 installations for Villa Group, 6 installations for Reefside Pvt Ltd and 6 installations for Lintel.
   
From your experience, what do you think is required from your market for door access and time attendance products?
  We think that the market needs awareness of availability of solution options. Grayscale is currently running telemarketing and other modes of marketing campaigns to bridge this gap.
   
What do you like about FingerTec®?
 
FingerTec® TA100
Grayscale likes the friendly business relationship that FingerTec offers, its reliability in support as well as the solution range.
   
What are the major obstacles for you in selling biometrics in your country?
We often observe that due to the close knit of our community and due to the tie up of many potential clients with other IT service providers, clients often end up choosing competitors product without much research on FingerTec. On our marketing campaigns, we will put more focus on the issue of market awareness.
 
Who are your biggest competitors in Maldives?
  Simply, there isn’t major competition to overshadow the strength of FingerTec products. However, there are presences of other ID card and fingerprint products in the market. Main competition driver is ID card, which was introduced into the market about 5 years ago. Again, our strategy in market awareness is to promote the new trend and availability of more efficient biometrics solutions that we provide from FingerTec. The other issue is the low pricing strategy of Taiwan product.
   

What would be your future plan for FingerTec®?

  Grayscale has already positioned FingerTec along its mainstream solutions, which include Microsoft Solutions (under its GOLD Certified Partnership), SAP B1 Solutions (under its exclusive Channel Partnership), QuickBooks (under exclusive Master Reseller Rights). Grayscale will carry FingerTec with its HR Solution (custom applications and embedded SAP HR solutions).
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