iBall is a technology company that manufactures, sells and exports various computer peripherals and other electronic equipment. The company that is privately held is headquartered in Mumbai and currently has a presence in India. they deal with more than a hundred different technology products and also have a well-established sales and service network across 750 regions in the country.
The company has been growing ever since its inception in the year 2001 and currently has a revenue of 150 million USD. In addition to computer peripherals iBall also has its own mobile phones and tablet PC’s in the market. With an employee strength of 2500, the company envisages to take the technology space by storm but is yet to build a name for itself in a domain that is governed by some of the biggest conglomerates in the world.
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Strengths in the SWOT analysis of iBall :
Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its competitors. The following are the strengths of iBall:
- Product Portfolio: iBall started off as a small company that used to deal with just one product category – mouse in 2001. Currently, it has to its credit more than 26 product offerings which include a mobile phone and a tablet PC. The company is increasingly into research and plans to widen its product portfolio more.
- Pan India Presence: iBall has a strong network across India with a presence in 750 cities through 26 branches in various Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities. The company also has around 125 service centers in these regions ensuring that it reaches out to the maximum number of people.
- Strong after sales service: iBall has a very strong team which caters to after sales service and through their network of 125 service centers spread across the country and a call center and customer support cell that functions round the clock the company ensures that the top quality service is offered.
- Product Innovation: In a very short span of just a little more than a decade iBall could capture the hearts of the customer owing to its relentless commitment to product research.iBall is credited with the introduction of close to 80 products for the first time in India and has been a pioneer in numerous technologies.
- Commitment to values: iBall has a very clear vision, mission and values and a strong code of ethics. Each employee is briefed on the same during joining and the leadership insists that a strict code of ethics be followed in every transaction.
Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of iBall :
Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement. Some of the key weaknesses of iBall are:
- Value versus price: iBall had introduced its Compbook as a value for money option with good features at an affordable price of Rs 15,000. But recently the company adopted a change of pricing where their current offerings are priced higher. This may backfire since they are still perceived as a newbie.
- New Player in the market: Though iBall has seen success in most of its introductions it is seen as a new player in the market and thus customers are still unsure about the quality.This lack of credibility is something which the company will need to work on.
- Fewer Choices: iBall loses out to bigger players in the market also because it has a lower number of options for customers to choose from. In comparison to industry majors like Samsung or Motorola who dominate the market, the company does not have too many options for the customer to choose from.
Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of iBall :
Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:
- Growth in the commercial segment: Though the consumer market for tablets, PC’s and peripherals may stagnate, it is expected that the demand for these in the commercial segment like government and educational institutions will be on a rise and this presents a lot of opportunities for economy options of iBall.
- 4 G networks: Most of the telecom service providers in India are now offering 4G which means that the internet speeds will improve. Moreover internet is being made more affordable and accessible to everyone and this is expecting to create a surge in the demand for phones.
- Connected devices: The possibility of cities migrating to smart cities and the emergence of connected devices will present a new segment that technology companies can target.
Threats in the SWOT analysis of iBall :
Threats are those factors in the environment which can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:
- Reduced demand for tablets: Tablets are seen as an in-between of mobile phones and laptops and many people prefer the other two. This has seen a dip in the sales of tablets which can eventually be a threat to the company.
- Competition: iBall is a small fish in a big pond where it will face high competition from players like Samsung, Motorola, Apple and even Xiaomi.
