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At dusk of 2022, it is time to reflect and analyse the achievements and learnings and look forward to planning for the year ahead. According to the latest forecast by Gartner, worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.6 trillion in 2023, an increase of 5.1% from 2022. Moreover, the research firm says the demand for IT in 2023 is expected to be bullish as enterprises accelerate their digital business initiatives in response to economic turmoil. In this edition, we’ve explored the trending technology initiatives this year and the predictions for the next year.
More than ever, enterprises are depending on channel partners to chalk out their technology roadmap and drive positive business outcomes. Vendors, on their part, are giving their partners tools and resources to become an extended arm of business. Today, the channel plays a vital role in bridging the gap between technology functions and their customer’s business requirements. One sure-shot way to bridge this gap is by providing vendor-authorized training and certification. End-users trust trained and certified partners, which also helps maintain the channels’ commitment to the technology vendors they represent. This month’s cover story sheds light on the importance of building skills in the channel community.
ICT megatrends, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine learning (ML), low-code/no-code platforms, and blockchain, are shaping the industry’s digital transformation push. As companies surge forward with digital initiatives, the channel is presented with significant opportunities for growth. We have featured industry thought leaders in this edition who share how digital transformation is opening up new growth opportunities for the regional channel community.
2022 has been an incredible year for us as we introduced Champions of the Channel Awards, celebrating the achievements of our channel community and recognizing the role channel partners are playing in the digital transformation journey of the IT landscape. This festive event brought together who is who of the regional channel industry to celebrate and take pride in each other’s triumphs. Flip the pages to find out the details of this year’s winners.
Enjoy reading, and happy holidays.
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Fortinet announced five new managed security service providers (MSSP) have adopted Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to help drive better business outcomes and experiences for their customers. B.Online, Cirion, ngena, PT&T, and Telefónica join a growing list of service providers utilising Fortinet Secure SD-WAN as the foundation for new and differentiated connectivity services without compromising on security. Enterprises also benefit from a faster return on their investment and the ability to deploy solutions more quickly with the help of their MSSP.
John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet said, “Fortinet has the unique ability to deliver industryleading SD-WAN, SASE, Universal ZTNA, SD-Branch and many other solutions built on a common operating system. This allows our global MSSP partners to easily grow their business and deliver new services. We’re proud to support our partners and their customers with flexible solutions to tackle their biggest digital acceleration challenges.”
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN Helps MSSPs Secure Networks Now and Into the Future MSSPs continue to rely on Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to deliver flexible, on-demand access to business-critical applications, whether they’re deployed in the cloud, the data centre, or onpremises. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN is the industry’s only solution with the flexibility to seamlessly expand to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), SD-Branch, and more, and can be used as the foundation of new services today and into the future. When enterprises have remote users that need to connect to local applications located in a data centre (on premises or public cloud), the recently launched Secure Private Access integration with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN can be used as well to protect their existing investments.
Fortinet Secure SD-WAN also integrates with third-party cloud-
delivered security capabilities, such as Secure Web Gateway (SWG), ZTNA, Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) that are available from an MSSP. By integrating these solutions, MSSPs can set up a powerful multi-vendor SASE offering that extends the same connectivity and security advantages to remote workers that employees have when they are in a traditional office.
Fortinet also delivers a comprehensive single-vendor SASE solution by integrating cloud-delivered SD-WAN connectivity with clouddelivered security service edge (SSE). FortiSASE extends the convergence of networking and security from the edge to remote users. This single-vendor SASE solution is powered by a single operating system (FortiOS), so MSSPs can easily deliver new services to expand their business.
Fortinet continues to invest heavily in its Secure SD-WAN solution and that effort is widely recognised by
customers and third parties. In fact, Fortinet was recently named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN and ranked number one in three out of five Critical Capability Use Cases in the 2022 Gartner Critical Capabilities for SD-WAN report.
Moreover, a commissioned study by Forrester has recently quantified both the network and security benefits of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN. The results showed that a composite organisation comprised of interviewees with experience using Fortinet Secure SDWAN delivered 300% ROI over three years and payback in eight months, highlighting the benefits customers and partners gain by investing in the solution. To further support our service provider partners, Fortinet has a strong history of working with MEF to establish industry standards for SD-WAN, SASE and ZTNA. These standards are leveraged by service providers to help customers make informed decisions about the products they purchase.
Here’s is the new service provider that have recently launched managed SD-WAN services powered by Fortinet are saying about Fortinet Secure SDWAN:
“From the beginning, our vision was to develop a service offering that not only provided the value of traditional SD-WAN but would be flexible enough to blend SD-WAN and cloud-delivered security to deliver SASE offerings to our customers. We knew this would allow B.Online to commit to any service level the customer required for any type of traffic. By adding a recognised SD-WAN leader like Fortinet to our portfolio, B.Online was able to achieve this goal. Not only have we seen an increase in our sales growth for network services since adding Secure SD-WAN to our services, but Fortinet’s reputation across the industry and stellar performance has further increased customer trust in B.Online globally”, comments Ayman Abu Jalalah, Directory of Technology at B.Online KW.
Partner, Middle East. He joins from Accenture Middle East and has extensive experience in financial services, delivering digital and core transformation programmes across top tier banks in this region.
Nutanix announced the introduction of its new Referral Programme, designed to reward partners across the entire lifecycle of any project.
Wipro Limited announced the launch of a new Middle East financial services advisory capability. Capco, a Wipro company, will offer strategic management and technology consulting capabilities to financial services firms in the Middle East to enable their transformation, digitisation, and business consolidation initiatives.
Regional macroeconomic trends, including diversification from a petrodollar economy, are driving significant investment in financial services, with a focus on digital innovation, neobanking, postmerger integration and core largescale transformations. Against this backdrop of change, consulting spends in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region reached USD3.3 billion in 2022 – of which financial services accounted for some 30% – and is expected to grow by 30% year-on-year in the near term. Given its expertise in successfully driving transformation programmes for tier-one financial institutions globally, Capco is well positioned to tap into the growth opportunities in the region.
The new consulting capability will be led by Naim Alame as its Managing
Lance Levy, CEO of Capco and Executive Sponsor of Wipro’s Financial Services Business said, “Our ambition in the Middle East is simple – for Capco, as a creative, disruptive management and technology consultancy, to support the region’s most prestigious financial services institutions. Capco has always been about pushing boundaries and creating new opportunities, for our business and our people. Our new Middle East presence continues to deliver on that.” Naim Alame, Managing Partner – Middle East, Capco said, “The success of Capco’s innovative and entrepreneurial approach is recognised across the financial services industry. Capco’s bold ideas and value propositions will allow financial services firms in the region to enhance the scope, accessibility, and attractiveness of their offerings to their customers. I look forward to partnering with Middle Eastern clients to design and implement bespoke, strategic programmes that will deliver true value and differentiation.”
Mohamad Hamza, Regional Head of Banking, Financial Services, & Insurance (BFSI) – Middle East, Wipro Limited said, “The launch of Capco’s financial services consulting capability will allow us to accelerate our Middle East clients’ innovation plans and end-to-end transformation journeys. The combination of Capco and Wipro capabilities will enable us to offer a front-to-back proposition that addresses our clients’ most pressing challenges and opportunities. We are confident that this new advisory focus will strengthen our growth ambitions in the region.”
Part of Nutanix’s innovative Elevate Partner Programme, the Referral Programme changes the traditional partner-vendor relationship model and recognises the entire partner ecosystem, rather than just the ones that transact the deal.
It recognises partners’ different business models and the ecosystem of partners that customers engage with, depending on where they are with their buying cycle. In particular, it rewards partners who help customers shape their strategy early in the buying cycle, as well as ISV partners who engage more with line of business at the application level but might not be involved in the end transaction.
At its core, the Referral Programme means that Nutanix is able to recognise all partners involved in a customer’s buying journey and help build profitable partnerships. This gives a clear signal to the industry of the value that Nutanix places on its entire partner ecosystem and the customers they serve. It also highlights how the Nutanix Elevate Partner Programme framework is continuing to evolve to maximise partner profitability, based around the opportunities at hand.
Adam Tarbox, Vice President of EMEA Channel Sales at Nutanix, said, “Analysts talk about how customers engage with at least seven partners across the lifecycle of any project and there are multiple touchpoints. Despite this, vendors have traditionally tended to only concern themselves with and reward the partners involved in actual transactions, forgetting the whole ecosystem around each deal and how it comes to life. We’re changing that, and our new Referral Programme is intended to reward more of our partners who are involved across the process – especially those who help customers to shape their strategies in the early stages of any project and support them through the buying process.”
Veracode announced it has acquired Germany-based software security tool, Crashtest Security, a rising developeroriented dynamic application security testing (DAST) product. The investment will enhance the existing DAST capabilities available as part of Veracode’s Continuous Software Security Platform and broaden customer access globally.
Web applications are fast becoming the most exploited attack vector for cyber threat actors looking to infiltrate enterprises and critical infrastructure. In fact, web apps now account for 40 percent of breaches. The Crashtest Security product makes it even easier to get started with web application scanning in runtime environments to find vulnerabilities that static analysis is not best suited for. This developer-friendly solution complements Veracode’s platform capabilities as part of a complete modern application security programme that secures the entire software development life cycle (SDLC).
Brian Roche, Chief Product Officer at Veracode, said, “Our customers have never been under greater pressure to
ISSQUARED announces a new partnership with Bulwark Distribution to extend the reach of its cybersecurity solutions to the Middle East. Two digital security firms will bring their expertise together to help organisations strengthen their cybersecurity posture and minimise cyber risks.
Bulwark is an established distributor of security technology and has over 23 years of experience in the IT Security market, working with customers across the entire GCC and India regions. Bulwark will bring its extensive network and knowledge of the Middle East market to the partnership.
ISSQUARED is an emerging provider of Cyber Security, Cloud,
secure their web applications in response to heightened risk. They seek simpleto-use products that can be onboarded quickly and seamlessly. The Crashtest Security product offers just the solution— it is a highly innovative DAST tool and already has deep roots in the European market. This acquisition supports the growing demand for run-time scanning and allows customers to quickly and easily experience the latest developments in DAST.”
Crashtest Security, based in Munich, Germany, was founded in 2017. The solution can be used to analyse JavaScript-based apps, REST (Representational state transfer) APIs, and traditional web apps, and automate security testing via integration in the software development pipeline.
Veracode will incorporate the Crashtest tool into its existing portfolio, allowing customers to use the same login credentials across both products. Users will be able to leverage the most powerful aspects of the integrated technology for a 360-degree view of scanning and reporting architecture across all applications utilising a DAST product.
Felix Brombacher, CEO and Cofounder of Crashtest Security, said, “We are thrilled to extend advanced DAST capability to a broader market. We have invested heavily in our plug-and-play solution to meet the demands of customers in Europe and enable continuous testing throughout the development process. The acquisition of our dynamic analysis technology and resources by Veracode will enable us to deliver the next generation of DAST to customers globally.”
Infrastructure, Consulting and Digital Transformation services. In addition to an extensive set of digital transformation solutions, ISSQUARED offers a comprehensive portfolio of products to address operational excellence and solve the most pressing security and governance needs.
’The prevailing crisis has paved the way for new innovations and coming-of-age technologies. We at Bulwark foresee a spike in demand for identity & access governance (internal and external) and access manager (SSO, MFA, RBA, etc.) solutions in the current market scenario. With ISSQUARED, we can monitor & reduce cyber risks to provide complete and round-the-clock cybersecurity requirements of customers in the region”, said Jose Menacherry, Managing Director, Bulwark Distribution FZCO.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Bulwark to gain coverage across the Gulf region,” said Mridul Ganguly, VP of Sales at ISSQUARED.
“Timing is right, market demand is growing, and companies need to gain more insight into identity & access management. I am delighted that we have an opportunity to take the ISSQUARED platform to a new market with such a respected distributor as Bulwark.”
comprehensive Cloud assessments, Cloud enablement, and management Operations. MontyCloud’s automationfirst strategy enables partners to rapidly upskill their existing team to provide new solutions that Cloud customers need.
more than 70% effectively. Simple, easy and fast – that is MontyCloud.”
MontyCloud announces its partnership with First Video Communications (FVC). The collaboration brings automation to accelerate cloud adoption throughout the Middle East and Africa.
FVC’s Customers can now simplify cloud adoption and operations, maintain full visibility into usage, achieve quick digital transformation, and save up to 70% of overall cloud operations costs, all without writing code or requiring additional cloud expertise.
FVC’s Cloud Consulting and Managed Services Partners can now offer
It is now easy to double top-line sales and enhance bottom-line profitability without adding expensive cloud experts or complex tools.
Prakash Krishnamurthy, Chief Sales Officer at FVC, says “FVC is extremely excited with the strategic agreement signed with MontyCloud as it is an exceptional tool which simplifies cloud management and operations in just a few clicks. It is the perfect low -code, nocode SAAS platform which can not only to monitor and manage cloud services of customers – but also deliver secure, compliant and well-architected AWS infrastructure which helps customers to reduce total cost of cloud operations by
Redington Value was awarded with Distributor Partner of the Year – APJ and the Rising Star Distributor of the Year – EMEA by Amazon Web Services (AWS) at its annual conference AWS re:Invent 2022 recently. These accolades are a testament to the company’s strengths and efforts in accelerating cloud transformation agendas across the region.
Redington’s vision is to simplify cloud journeys for regional organisations, and towards this, the company is continuously enhancing its capabilities and embracing innovation. One such initiative includes its cloud commerce and marketplace platform CloudQuarks by Redington. The digital aggregator supports partners to deliver on the promise of cloud and fasttrack go-to-market strategies efficiently through this platform.
The 2022 AWS Partner Awards recognise a wide range of AWS Partners which have embraced specialisation,
innovation, and collaboration over the past year. AWS Partner Awards honor partners whose business models continue to evolve and thrive on AWS as they work with customers.
Commenting on the milestone wins, Sayantan Dev, President, Redington Value, said, “Cloud is an important strategic bet for us and this recognition coming from a cutting-edge technology and a world class platform company such
Walter Rogers, CEO of MontyCloud, says “Our partnership with FVC brings over 20 years of cross-domain expertise in the Middle East and Africa regions, allowing us to help customers accelerate cloud adoption and digital transformation. FVC’s cross domain expertise along with the innovative MontyCloud DAY2 Platform enables Customers embrace the public cloud in a rapid, secure, and cost-efficient manner. Our unique No-Code approach simplifies and accelerates Cloud adoption, enables self-service consumption with preventive guardrails.
Raj Sivarajan, EVP of Operations at MontyCloud, says “FVC’s partners can now instantly offer highly valuable and differentiated cloud services without adding expensive cloud talent to their teams. Partners can deliver cloud assessments, continuous cloud governance, cost optimisation, cloud security & compliance management in a single solution that saves 70% of total cost of operations.”
as AWS is an endorsement of Redington’s efforts in this space. We are investing heavily into several cloud assets including Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) and our proprietary platform CloudQuarks, which help our partners to manage their AWS practice more efficiently. We also offer advisory, migration and managed services on cloud, all of which are delivered through a scalable and unique two-tier model.
“Our goal is to empower our partners to help their customers seamlessly grow in their AWS journey. We not only assist them to embrace the opportunities presented by AWS cloud solutions but even offer support while consuming the platform to see if they can transition to better and bigger workloads. We look forward to continuing being an important catalyst for digital success in the region and strengthening our collaboration with AWS and taking it to new levels in 2023.”
Redington has a long-standing relationship with AWS and has several accreditations with AWS including AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and AWS Distributor.
What they want is to drive more value from their current environment by making it more effective. That’s where Infoblox comes in,” explains Chris Millerick, Vice President, Worldwide Partner Sales at Infoblox.
Infoblox BloxOne is the first cloudnative platform delivering DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IPAM) and DNS dataenabled threat detections, and offers partners predictable, reliable renewal margins year after year. A Forrester Economic Impact Report found that BloxOne Threat Defense can deliver a staggering 243% return on investment.
experience requires a level of trust, one that only highly skilled and competent technology partners can provide.
Infoblox is privileged to offer partners a programme that helps them acquire the competencies required to stand out and grow in the cybersecurity market.”
Benefits partners can gain through the new programme include partner-hunted sales incentives and deal registration, “Guardians of the Network” rewards and incentives, marketing campaigns, marketing development funds, and demonstration software.
Infoblox unveils its new partner programme designed to maximise opportunities partners can secure and deliver. The Skilled to Secure trusted partner programme reflects the changing security landscape and shifting customer requirements – and the need for providers of security solutions and services to adapt in response.
“The rules of cybersecurity have changed. Customers want more than just another security solution or tool – they have dozens, if not hundreds, already.
Turtlefin has announced a partnership with The Continental Group. Turtlefin will provide its leading SaaS platform modules, enabling The Continental Group’s distribution teams to access relevant information and seamlessly customise proposals for their clients.
Through this strategic partnership, Turtlefin will onboard new insurers on their cutting-edge platform to provide seamless access to the users of The Continental Group. This will lead to increased insurer participation bringing in more choices to clients to make the right decision on their insurance needs. The solution will bring significant operational efficiencies through the automation
Integrated into the security ecosystem, BloxOne enables DNS data to be used to address blind spots in enterprise threat defense and security systems. Internal and external threats can be identified, prioritised, and remediated in a fraction of the time without significant additional investment in new solutions.
In the new programme, partners will be assigned levels based on their acquisition of the competencies required to deliver BloxOne and maximise its value for customers.
Chris Millerick continued, “We recognise that an exceptional customer
The Skilled to Secure programme is built around three tracks designed to deliver support across the channel: Valueadded Reseller and Systems Integrator, Service Provider, and Value-added distributor. Based on their track record and meeting the defined competency requirements, partners’ awarded level will be announced in May 2023.
“We’re excited about the evolution of our partnership with Infoblox, and the opportunity provided by their new professional service certifications,” says Denis Ferrand-Ajchenbaum, SVP Global Business Development & Ecosystems at Exclusive Networks.
of proposal journeys, management reporting and dashboards, which will be accessible from a single source rather than multiple dependencies. Speaking on occasion, Amreesh Kher Chief Partnership Distribution Officer of Turtlefin said, “The Continental Group is one of the leading financial intermediaries in the UAE. With Turtlefin’s seamless digital journey that we offer across multiple insurers, users at The Continental Group will save time on quotations and proposals, thus enhancing their sales efficiency. Adding to this, Laxmikant Pawar – Head of MENA at Turtlefin said “This partnership is important for us as it re-affirms our belief in the Middle East markets’ potential and will benefit The Continental Group’s extensive distribution network.”
Ashok Sardana, Founder
and Managing Director of The Continental Group said, “We are delighted to partner with Turtlefin and are assured that Turtlefin’s unique and customised technology solutions would help redefine how the insurance segment in the UAE is served. This alliance will provide us with the technological edge to advance towards improved consumer engagement and experience.”
Turtlefin develops distinctive, tailored technological solutions that provide real value for institutional clients and allows their sales teams to offer insurance as a solution in an educated and effective way. TurtleFin’s solutions will enable financial experts at The Continental Group to enhance their distribution capabilities with applications like Digital Prospecting, Learning and Skilling on the Go and paperless transactions.
Industry thought leaders weigh in on how digital transformation is opening up new growth opportunities for the regional channel community.
position and offer the right solution, and to build all the required skills to be able to deliver all the services around it, which is the most important part for the partners as their profitability relies on it.
Why is it important for the channel to offer digital transformation solutions?
Digital transformation is no longer an option for businesses, as the recent pandemic has demonstrated the need for businesses to adopt technology as an enabler for growth in today and in the future. This is a global trend and the market in the Middle East is no exception. The nature and the scale of the projects we have been witnessing for the past three years are more geared towards the new distributed and decentralized cloud services with also a lot of emphasis on data protection, which require a different kind of skill-set and competencies. In other words, there is a very high level of expectations from both vendors and channel partners in order to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the market.
Since Veeam is a 100% channel-driven company and our partners - and their ability to meet customers’ needs - are at the center of everything we do, it is very important and crucial that our partners are fully enabled to engage with customers regarding their digital transformation challenges . Our role is to facilitate their enablement and to work closely with them to understand the current business challenges, to
Can you share with us how are you enabling your partners to transform themselves in this digital era? Channel Enablement is among our top priorities and we drive it very seriously with all our partner-profiles – our Channel and Presales organizations are very aligned and they are working hand-in-hand to ensure that we have the most knowledgeable and highly skilled channel resources from all perspectives (Sales, Presales and technical). We continuously launch major initiatives to ensure that our partners competencies are up to date and they are fully capable of engaging with our customers to successfully deliver the right solutions. One of our priorities in the Channel is also to empower our ecosystem of partners by engaging different partner-profiles through multidimensional initiatives, creating synergies among them to leverage their expertise and focus areas. Adding to that all the tools and resources that we provide through our ProPartner program.
Why is it important for the channel to offer digital transformation solutions?
With the pace of transformation accelerated, progress can only be made when organizations strive to relentlessly innovate, improve and advance. Fact is almost every organization has digital transformation in their top priorities and that presents an ideal opportunity for channel partners should they possess the ability to address the customers’ need.
As customers and business requirements are changing at a fast pace, the channel needs to adapt their business models and routes to market accordingly: we are closing in
on a turning point where offering solutions that will enable the digital transformation will differentiate the leaders from the laggards of the channel ecosystem. This will result in a change within the channel landscape and we believe that:
• The partners’ own IP & consultative skills will drive their differentiation & profitability
• Partners will shift from selling to servicing with the “As-aService” market projected growth
• Increased complexity would lead to multiple partners collaborating on the same opportunity
Can you share with us how are you enabling your partners to transform themselves in this digital era?
At Dell Technologies, we are committed to our partners’ growth and believe it is our responsibility to empower them to drive a healthier business. My team and I drive our Ready To Sell (RTS) framework which we’ve designed to assist our partners in building their capabilities on the different solutions we offer thus enabling them to adopt innovative strategies to respond quickly to new opportunities, new markets & new technologies. RTS provides our channel ecosystem with practical trainings, certifications & the right materials around the technology solutions we jointly could offer to our customers. And as we see new next generation technology shifts that will make a huge business impact such as multi-cloud, edge computing, AI/ML & others and with our commitment to bringing those to market, we will continue to equip our channel ecosystem with the knowledge to enhance their skills and with the right tools to help them drive the business.
Furthermore, the 2022 Program incorporated enhancements that have streamlined the partner experience, enabled business transformation and growth. These changes were put forth to enable partners to focus on positioning the best solutions for their customers, while earning consistent, lucrative incentives, regardless of route to market.
Gomaa Acting Chief Executive Officer at Omnix International
Why is it important for the channel to offer digital transformation solutions?
In Digital Transformation these days, there are a number of complexities and a lack of skills on the customer side and require channels to help them develop applications or manage data or manage their environment due to the nature of the new era of applications. It is important for customers to use the channel to master skill sets and to be able to help them develop and deploy applications quickly. It is also important to support customers by extending services to be able to do application modernization, application development, data, and digital twins, industrial metaverse, etc. All these are new technologies where customers may be lacking resources and skills. This is where the channel steps in and is crucial within the IT ecosystem especially in today’s era of digital transformation.
Can you share with us how are you enabling your partners to transform themselves in this digital era?
At Omnix, we believe in supporting our partners with any type of enablement be it technical or sales to identify opportunities and help customers throughout the digital transformation phases whether it is in the consultant, deployment, development phases. It is also important that we support our partners in the skill development stage right from pre-sales to sales, and across the technical and delivery stages.
Due to the nature of digital transformation and lack of skill available for a few years, we have to handhold our channel partners and move forward with them in terms of identifying the best use cases for customers which will help yield the best return on investments. For this, we have enablements for different phases and segments, including sales enablement techniques and enablement services as well as identification of use cases that helps in adopting best processes and optimization.
Walid
Why is it important for the channel to offer digital transformation solutions?
The term Digital Transformation is a much maligned term, however sceptic or not, the change over to a new way , a new thinking , a new paradigm is here to stay. It is imperative that solution providers (if they haven’t already) offer digital transformation. This acquires more importance because of the importance progressive organizations attach to agility and the rethink of old methods and practices. Organizations do need to adapt very fast and cope with changing customer expectations. It makes a strong case for transforming their current business model and introduce comprehensive automation, data analytics, new technology incorporating AI & ML, etc. Missing the digital transformation train could be existential in effect and hence the need to be an active digital transformation evangelist.
Can you share with us how are you enabling your partners to transform themselves in this digital era?
The success of digital transformation in any organization is people centric. People can be the enablers and drivers and at the same time hinder the transformation. Apart from identifying the right partners, it is also very critical that the right people are identified to drive the effort. The need is to have people who knows and understand what is good for the organization and also not afraid to innovate. The advantage nowadays is the increasing adoption of new technologies and models which was difficult to achieve previously. This has reduced resistance considerably. When people walk the talk, then it is technology that propels the transformation. The constant evolving of digital transformation is proving the old methods and practices ineffectual and would definitely go a long way in making the organizations more agile, adaptive and productive.
CEO, TEXUBWhy is it important for the channel to offer digital transformation solutions?
The B2B buying process is changing, and the seller needs to change the sales strategy. Lack of time with buyers, coupled with rapidly shifting buying dynamics, powered by digital buying behaviour is reshaping the strategic focus of IT sellers.
The strategic priorities for digital adoption are driving top line, improving the consumer experience, building new channels, and expanding their reach globally. The is important for sales leaders is to upgrade their skills for future trends, adapt to digital business transformation, enhance the business scope, and create value.
Can you share with us how are you enabling your partners to transform themselves in this digital era?
The economics of digitization and trade is evolving across the globe, and TEXUB supports and empowers channel partners in growing their business revenue by shifting from traditional systems to digital systems. TEXUB helps them to leverage the B2B marketplace platform to expand their reach and business globally, while accessing it locally. Diginomics is a program offered by TEXUB for skill development and skill upliftment, and for helping partners to adapt to digital transformation. While it supports their digital transformation journey, it also helps in reducing offline costs.
Spectrum Networks delivers premium training and consulting services within numerous domains to augment and expand its expertise to remain futuristic in this dynamic market. With a track record of over 18 years, Pournami Nair, Vice President - Sales & Alliances (MEA), Spectrum Networks, emphasises the importance of upskilling and reskilling through Microsoft trainings & certifications to empower the channel ecosystem.
the respective domain, improve staff efficiency and productivity, mitigate risks, drive business agility, and reduce costs in the long run. The Microsoft channel ecosystem is also mandated to train and certify resource pools as part of their channel program. To top organisational benefits, global certifications like Microsoft’s also positively influence an individual’s career profile, market value and boost employer recognition.
What is Spectrum Network’s vision and mission for upskilling the IT Workforce?
Like our tagline suggests, Spectrum Networks’ vision is “Making Digital Real” by enabling companies to seamlessly adopt their digital transformation initiatives through continuous skilling of their resources, and our mission is to be the preferred and trusted skilling partner for end users and channels alike on their digitisation journeys.
How many Azure trainings has Spectrum Networks churned out over the past year, and how many are you targeting for 2023?
Over the past year, we have trained app. 10,000 professionals on various Microsoft technologies, including Azure, within the MEA and APAC regions. We hope to double that figure in the coming year. These learners are then supported on their certification journey via free exam preparation bootcamps, discounted exam vouchers, complimentary practice exams, interactive Q&A sessions, etc., with the eventual opportunity for them to attempt final certification exams from Spectrum Networks’ Pearson VUE testing premises in the UAE.
Being a Microsoft Learning Partner for over a decade, why is it important for channel partners to get trained and certified?
Vendor-authorised training & certification is one sure-shot way to ensure that channel partners are well-equipped to sell and implement
respective products and solutions. The more partner resources are trained, the more comfortable and adept they become at what they are at selling. End customers most definitely trust trained and certified partners, which also helps maintain the channels’ commitment to the technology vendors they represent. Certifications prove your expertise in
What was the strategy to handle the training delivery on a larger scale catering to government and large enterprises?
Government establishments and large enterprises is a key segment for us, and account for the majority of our customer portfolio. Owing to the sheer number of learners in such companies, a custom-made skill gap analysis tool is an important strategy we implemented to cater to these metrics. Through brief
questionnaires and probes to identify existing skill deficits in workforces, we map out customised learning paths for each learner based on their current capabilities and job roles. Through this, we are able to provide businesses the best value for their money, with better and optimised resource planning.
How are the training programs curated and customised for various sectors and domains in the region?
Our certified trainers are equally qualified consulting professionals with relevant expertise in servicing customers from various verticals and domains. This has helped us immensely in curating training programs relevant to each sector; based on trending, industry-specific, technology skilling requirements to help customers stay up-to-speed in an IT landscape that is forever evolving at a rapid pace. We also customise private batches for customers conforming to their preferred delivery timings, agenda, location, training modalities (physical, virtual or hybrid), the language of delivery, duration of classes, and any other such choices.
Spectrum Networks has launched Certification Drives in Turkey, KSA, Kuwait, etc.; what were the factors considered in the process? Were there any challenges faced? That’s correct. We have launched Microsoft certification drives in various territories in the Middle East and Africa. As global organisations continue to hunt for digital professionals with particular skill sets, certifications provide a foolproof way to ensure current and future employees have the knowledge and talent needed to help progress their digital transformation journeys. For businesses to harness the talent in these resources, they must train and certify them. While customers do understand the importance of having skilled resources to be able to implement and sustain high-end technologies that are imperative to their businesses, getting their employees to attempt and clear the certifications is still a challenge in the region. To help learners go the full circle, we provide fast-track exam preparation boot camps, structured practice exams, interactive Q&A
sessions, extended lab support, amongst other benefits assisting them in passing the final certification exams. Language preferences in certain geographies proved to be a challenge of a different nature that had to be considered too, although we addressed this gap by expanding our resource portfolio to include localised and multilingual resources.
Organisations are rapidly evolving. What are Spectrum Networks’ best practices to keep up with the pace?
We have implemented global industry standards and best practices, including various forms of skill gap analysis, online pre & post assessments, customised boot camps, fast-track exam preparation sessions, complimentary webinars and workshops on various topics and using our own digital training portal called the Spectrum Training Management Portal (STMP) to manage the total skilling journey from registrations, attendance, feedback, analytics, and reporting, resulting in a higher degree of customer satisfaction. Apart from being an award-winning training partner for many of the vendors we represent, we are a digital training partner for multiple vendors and an authorised Pearson VUE testing center in UAE with the ability to conduct various IT and non-IT certification exams on behalf of the principals. Organisations can benefit from this partnership by utilising the opportunity to train and certify their personnel in these technologies, as a result improving business efficiency and productivity, reducing attrition rates, augmenting employee satisfaction, reducing costs, and increasing agility with respect to being able to quickly and efficiently adapt to a rapidly changing technology landscape.
We also provide a more consultative approach to certification training; in that we do not just provide a plug-and-play training proposition but engage deeply with the customer to identify existing skill gaps and advise appropriate tailormade training plans for organisations to address those breaches.
How is Spectrum Networks using its partner network to meet the
knowledge and skill demand for today’s digitally transformed organisations?
We strategically align with channel partners to reskill and upskill their own resources apart from extending these authorised trainings to their end-user fraternity through privately and publicly delivered physical or online classes. Whilst channel partners can certainly execute projects on these technologies, having certified resources on the ground gives them the much-needed edge in this competitive market. In alliance with these channel partners, we drive Microsoft trainings and certifications to address existing skill gaps in highend and niche technologies within the market.
How has Spectrum Network’s partnership with Microsoft benefitted both the organisations and the IT Industry?
Having been recognised as a finalist amongst 4400+ Microsoft partners across the world, Spectrum Networks has been an award-winning learning partner not just for Microsoft but for many other technology vendors that we represent. We have been training professionals on Microsoft technologies for the past 15 plus years, with inhouse certified trainers in all major solution areas like Azure Infrastructure, Data & AI, Digital App & Innovation, Security, Modern Work and Business Applications. We can deliver best-inclass Microsoft training on leading-edge technologies that organisations are mandated to implement, especially in this era of cloud transformation. Our partnership with Microsoft has been the crux of a joint commitment to skill and help certify the IT fraternity in the region and with the unwavering support we receive from Microsoft on all aspects, we anticipate to act as their extended arm to evangelise and enable professionals on existing and upcoming Microsoft technologies in this expanse.
What is the organisation’s growth target for the upcoming years?
Today, we are a $7M services-oriented company aiming to exceed the $10M mark within the next few years, with individuals trained overall to cross 200,000.
Our inaugural Champions of the Channel Awards, organised by Channel Insights ME, recognised the changing dynamics of the regional channel business and celebrated the achievements of key players and individuals.
Channel always has been an essential part of go-to-market strategies in the Middle East and will continue to be so. Traditionally, the channel was focused on volume and margins – now, it is all about value addition. Enterprises are relying on channel partners to drive strategic business outcomes with the right technology solutions. Vendors, on their part, are giving their partners tools and resources to become a true extension of business and gain a competitive advantage. As a result, the channel is bridging the gap between technology functions and their customers’ business requirements.
With the rapidly evolving IT landscape in the region, the channel is the only way to scale and grow market share for any business. As a result, vendors eyeing business opportunities in the region have been placing a stronger emphasis on enabling their channel partners. To thrive and grow in today’s cloud-led and accelerated digital transformation business landscape, partners must have not only sound business acumen but also a long-term innovation vision.
The event spotlighted innovation and excellence across the whole channel ecosystem, including vendors, distributors, value-added resellers, system integrators, and solution providers spanning multiple categories. Likewise, we honoured leading personalities driving transformational change in the channel business.
K.S. PARAG Managing Director, FVC
FERAS AL JABI General Manager, Itqan Global
HESHAM TANTAWI Vice President, Asbis Middle East
DR. ALI BAGHDADI SVP, Ingram Micro
Syscom Distributions are the next generation technology solutions provider, having expertise in cloud, security & firewall, network solutions, software development, mobile app, IoT and open source technology. Their Mission is to deliver the best value and volume proposition to both vendors and channel partners; by following a proactive approach for product marketing and distribution to become a partner of choice. On the journey of fulfilling this mission, company’s Managing Director, Hamid Ansari, discusses about their achievements this year and future plans.
What were the major announcements made by Syscom in 2022?
For Syscom, success is a journey and not a destination. We always thrive to expand our footprint and present our clients with a diverse selection of unique solutions. As the year 2022 is about to conclude, we can proudly say that this was a year of great expansion for Syscom. We are delighted to announce that Syscom now has its presence in the UK and USA. Apart from this we have also expanded our portfolio into Cybersecurity solutions and joined hands with many renowned vendors. We have also upgraded our vendor partnerships to the highest level to help cater with better support to our customers. We are grateful to our Distribution partners for their enduring support to us all the way.
Being a network solutions provider, according to you, how agile and innovative is the network industry in the region? How can you contribute in its improvisation?
Network industry has been one of the fastest growing segments in the region. Network systems are the backbone of every infrastructure, without which there is nothing. Post pandemic, there has been an increase in demand that has in turn resulted in the rise of the network segment.
With the increase in demand for more bandwidth as the usage of online solutions have drastically increased post pandemic, the requirement for latest technology products have increased.
With our large portfolio of networking products from all major vendors and with sufficient stocks, we can meet the market demands for all verticals in every region.
What is Syscom’s USP to keep up with the rapidly evolving Channel Market?
‘Customer first along with the best price’ has always been our motto. Over the years, the company has been striving to meet the demand for niche solutions in the region through its plethora of quality products and highly skilled manpower. A major factor in networking business is the immediate availability of products. We make sure that enough stock is available in every region to cater to the increasing demand.
We offer our customers the most comprehensive range of products and services with the maximum value. Our
dedicated specialists anticipate client needs and address them proactively, handing every detail. We deliver high level of service by quickly responding to issues. Our unique and powerful marketing strategies always play a major role to make Syscom stand out from its competitors.
What are the top trends and technologies that you are going to focus on in 2023?
2023 will be a year of cybersecurity innovations for Syscom. Cybersecurity threats have become so frequent and dangerous that no human being can track them all timely and successfully. In such circumstances, our comprehensive industry-leading solutions will help the clients predict attacks, proactively respond to threats, ensure compliance, and protect data, applications, infrastructure and endpoints.
In 2023, we will also be focusing on the cloud solutions and cloud-based applications. Businesses nowadays are looking for greater flexibility in the deployment and management of widely distributed IT resources, optimized network performance therefore they must take advantage of the benefits of virtualizing network functions. The cloud allows them to set up a virtual office, where they can enjoy the flexibility of connecting to their business anywhere, anytime. With the rise in cloud solutions and cloud-based applications, the requirement for advanced network monitoring and threat analysis will be a must have for all customers irrespective of their staff strength or vertical.
private environment to a public one or multi-cloud one. There is a compliance mandate for governments and the public sector, but in the private sector, especially in the Middle East, there is no such thing. We are one of those providers who work along with such customers.
And the second is managed services. Every industry has a different model they must adopt from the business need point of view. Most customers have now started looking at choosing the right partners for services. It’s about more than just box moving or meeting the customers’ needs with devices or a tangible product. As a system integrator, we provide packaged solutions with a lot of services and support, which is now the need of the entire industry.
Challenges have always been there, but anything which came up in 2022 specifically?
There’s always a gap. For instance, the market is still weak in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) domains. The customers need more clarity and understanding. So we spend a lot of time educating ourselves as well as the customers. Even after that, there comes an issue in getting approvals from the management as they are also sailing in the same boat.
So what were the major announcements made by Visiontech in 2022?
We ventured into two new territories. One is Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) to minimise risks and improve our customers’ operational efficiencies. Our GRC consultants take the time to
understand the business so that we can implement the right GRC framework. Being into cybersecurity domain for the last six years, we felt the need to enter this domain, as customers are rapidly moving into multi-cloud space where a lot of audit risk assessment is required. This is because you’re moving your information from your
So yes, there are challenges from an integrator’s point of view. It is finding the right resources because an infrastructure integrator usually takes more time to adapt than a technology-driven company or a digital transformation-driven company of the new age. Though the market is vast, these challenges are still there, and it’ll take some time to mature, especially in the Middle East.
What is the scope of innovation in this market with all these restrictions?
Huge. Being highly equipped with the tools and technologies, organisations still need to be using them efficiently and effectively. There is a dire need to adopt AI with proper planning because as you move towards intelligence, you become more vulnerable to security hacking and similar issues.
Two major factors are to be considered. One is the right understanding of how to adopt the technology, which is completely missing, and the second is how to budget it, keeping in mind that these things cannot be connected immediately with ROI. At the adoption stage, it’s too early to measure the ROI.
All this applies to every industry, be it retail, aviation, education, healthcare etc. Although everyone has their challenges to be dealt with, the opportunity for innovation is still massive.
What is Visiontech’s contribution to digital innovation as an organization?
When we started this company, the typical formula was selling laptops, desktops, servers, WLAN etc. Eventually, we started evolving along with the vendors. We are already into cybersecurity, GRC, and managed services. The new approach we are following is providing the customers with a solution instead of just the product. We define the solution and then give them choices on what fits their needs. The scale and complexity of the network define their choice of product. The same applies to security products, unified communication, video conferencing, and software application. We have started building teams in-house and leading them by practice.
We’ve got ICT as a practice, in addition to unified communications, lead audit and bespoke software and application development.
We are simultaneously working with many different brands, which gives us more clarity regarding how to assure the customer that we understand their problems.
So it’s more of a problem-defined approach rather than product selling approach.
What has been Visiontech’s USP to stand out in this competitive market?
One is our long track record. It gives us an edge because, obviously, we’ve been in the industry for 20 years. The second is that 85% of the company is driven by technical people. Our technical team is highly experienced and certified. We have qualified engineers for every lead practice we run in this company. We are a team of 140, with three offices in UAE and two in India. We have a professional services team working with the customers and spending time with the technical and IT teams. We build a strong relationship with the customers. We have roadmap discussions with them; we even go to the customers and do workshops. So it’s more of the customer’s comfort in terms of the realization that they need a good technology-driven system integrator rather than a box mover or a trader who does just fulfillment.
What will be the top trends and technologies that you’re going to watch in 2023?
A traditional system integrator’s definition in the next two years will completely change. Customers or channel partners continuing with the supply chain approach will not exist because security devices or networking tools are readily available in the marketplace. Therefore, there has to be more of a service approach which we are facilitating by investing heavily in certifying and training our team on a regular basis. Also, we are one of those few companies open to vendors who want to approach and work with us. Eight years back, the
company worked with around 55 to 60 brands, and today, we’ve already crossed over 80 brands.
A major focus will be, again, on helping the customers adopt the managed services platform. Most customers have started looking at 360 degree approach to securing the environment, managing the environment, and building the next-level roadmap. We have started offering large companies the extended services by providing more support in domains and technologies which are completely new or are yet to be adopted in this market.
We are also moving into the automation zone. We have started getting certified engineers on board who are not only consultants but can also do post and pre-activities with the customers to build a use case wherein they can go and start automating a certain level of processes and grow with it. Consequently, we have started tying up with brands like Automation Anywhere and so on. Apart from this, we have started building a team in-house to educate the customers about the benefits of adopting automation.
And the most important vertical that we are bringing eventually will be on the cybersecurity front. Cybersecurity is now moving in a direction where customers have started asking for a lot of services, like penetration testing, having lead audits, and even certifying with ISO. We ourselves are ISO 27,000 certified company that gives us access to customers who want to certify and audit themselves. We can do the whole process of auditing, documenting, and user training in the field of security. The definition is evolving very fast. If you have a firewall, a data centre and a device in that data center that nobody’s aware of, anybody can hack you. So you need a system integrator who is wellinformed and knows how to share that information. So we are moving completely in that direction.
Looking ahead, channel partners have the opportunity to play an even greater role in the IT ecosystem in 2023. But doing so will rely on you anticipating customer needs and providing solutions to address arising issues, while also building and maintaining the capabilities to evolve alongside them says Sherifa Hady, Vice President Channel Europe Middle East & Africa, at HPE Aruba
first principle by 2025, partners must be prepared to help their customers adapt as the technology becomes the new centrepiece for workloads.
As the world marches ever onwards in its transition to a digital-first economy, the business landscape around us continues to shift in fundamental ways. Against the backdrop of increasingly distributed workplaces, rapid digital transformation and accelerated cloud adoption, business as usual is out of the window.
For channel partners like yourselves, this will lead to new levels of customer service requirements as you are called upon to help businesses navigate, survive and thrive in this new reality. And with this, we will see the role of channel partners evolve from traditional resellers to service providers and trusted advisor.
Looking ahead, channel partners have the opportunity to play an even greater role in the IT ecosystem in 2023. But doing so will rely on you anticipating customer needs and providing solutions to address arising issues, while also building and maintaining the capabilities
to evolve alongside them. Here’s how I expect we’ll see partners adapt, and the areas where we’re anticipating significant growth and investment.
The partner ecosystem will become increasingly complex as we accelerate towards multi-cloud environments
The world of IT is characterised by ever increasing complexity. In 2023 organisations will continue to leverage technology to completely transform themselves in myriad ways – unlocking efficiency, fostering innovation and enabling new services and business models. While the potential of technology is endless, however, its adoption will continue to present businesses (and their IT teams) with the challenge of combining multiple, discrete elements – from networks and servers, to analytics tools and cloud platforms into a single dynamic environment. With Gartner estimating that over 85% of organisations will embrace the cloud-
Chief Analyst at Canalys, James McBain, explains “The ‘decade of the ecosystem’ is here as the pressure on channel leaders intensifies to deliver results at a new level of scale, complexity and personalisation. We are witnessing a once-in-a-generation shift in the global economy, and partnerships play a leading role. Most business leaders across every industry, of all size firms, and in every corner of the world are considering significant business model shifts. They are realising that they can’t do it alone in the decade of the ecosystem.”
Looking ahead partners, vendors and service providers must update their business models to reflect the growing need to source distinct solutions and services from various IT organisations. Nowadays a customer might require connectivity from a service provider, look towards a vendor from a hardware perspective, involve a systems integrator to bring this together and then finally seek counsel from a specialist partner with relevant vertical expertise i.e. around healthcare or retail. Outside of vertical expertise we’re also expecting sustainability to be an increasing focus for businesses in 2023. Channel partners that can talk with credibility about helping companies reduce their energy footprints will stand out from the crowd.
As the partner ecosystem rises – the reseller will be at the very forefront. As vendors, it will be our job to support this ecosystem and ensure we are purposefully partner-centred. The ability
to build collaborative partnerships will be a key determinant to channel success for everyone.
Partners must leverage the rising appetite for Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) – or risk losing out Hybrid work is here to stay, with Gartner predicting that if an organisation were to go back to a fully on-site arrangement, it would risk losing up to 39% of its workforce. Set against the backdrop of distributed office locations, networks will grow more and more complicated as a spike in IoT devices rush to connect. It’s no wonder the transition from a hardware-driven industry to a softwarefirst market, or an as-a-service-based economy will speed up. Research from Canalys shows this looks set to surge, predicting that the channel software market will reach $8.9 billion in revenue by 2027.
With distributed office locations the norm, securing the business inside and outside its boundaries in a flexible and scalable manner will be a key priority for your customers. To do so they must modernise their networks, unify their infrastructures and rethink their IT consumption models.
To address this requirement and ensure seamless connectivity, organisations should look towards consumption driven NaaS models to balance the cost of their network growth with the digital experience of their stakeholders.
Our own research has shown that interest in this model is rising – it is now being discussed in 86% of EMEA companies. Recognition of the channel’s role in its enhanced popularity is also clear – with IT resellers showing up strongly in respondents’ expectations of who they’d like to purchase NaaS from. Elsewhere, market indicators demonstrate that mass adoption is imminent, and so partners looking to succeed in 2023 must ready themselves to capitalise on this increased interest.
This starts by working with vendors like Aruba to close any existing education gaps and address any customer confusion around the new concept. Broadening this beyond NaaS, channel partners like yourselves must play an increasingly
role in articulating IT benefits in general and delivering technical consulting. Partnering with an experienced vendor means you can become a trusted advisor to your customers. What’s more, the ability to offer flexible payment models can increase the potential to generate recurring income, while also opening up new opportunities to layer specialist value-added services on top.
Sustainability will soar to the top of the business agenda
As I’ve already mentioned, we’re also expecting sustainability to be an increasing focus for businesses in 2023. Canalys has confirmed that the environmental accountability of IT investments will be one of channel customers’ top priorities within the next two to three years.
NaaS adoption provides a concrete option for customers looking to pull sustainability levers as it presents them with sustainable networks that they can ‘rent’ from the experts on a subscription basis. By partnering with an experienced NaaS vendor, channel companies can benefit from a vendor’s depth and breadth of product and solution knowledge to provide a network configuration that optimises energy consumption.
NaaS offerings should also be underscored by an environmental approach to networking across the entire IT supply chain. Channel partners will need to reassure customers that they are connected to certified sustainable vendors to make certain that sustainable objectives are embedded at the top of the value chain.
NaaS services are often accompanied by IT assed disposition (ITAD) services, a practice built around recycling or disposing of unwanted IT equipment
in a safe and climate-conscious way. By embedding asset decommissioning strategies into their NaaS approach, partners can allow customers to play a part in the circular economy, where the life cycle of products is extended for as long as possible.
Finally, the model also allows customers to reduce the amount of IT equipment needed and operate their existing equipment at higher levels of utilisation, offsetting environmental damage through hardware reuse and technology refreshes.
While the future IT landscape looks promising in regards to the depth and breadth of technologies out there, there is one key roadblock we must address – the growing digital skills gap. The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) shows that every third person who works in Europe lack basic digital skills. It has been estimated that 14 G20 countries could miss out on $11.5 trillion cumulative GDP growth if the skills gap isn’t addressed.
This tech talent shortage is impacting not only the IT sector, but of course every industry looking to make digital changes. Enlisted with delivering digital transformation, the channel must ensure that it is addressing these skills gaps both on behalf of customers and itself. As customers continue to look for IT implementations that are both focused and specialised, those in the channel must sharpen their expertise around these offerings. Channel partners must look for vendors that offer robust partner-centric programmes, equipping them with the knowledge needed to foster IT evolution.
2023 looks hopeful for those operating in the channel, as the role of resellers is set to strengthen. As businesses look towards new channel ecosystems where partners will take on increasingly important roles, it’s vital that you arm yourself with the right insights and offerings to underpin emerging services such as NaaS. In order to achieve this, and truly unlock competitive advantage by addressing your customers’ most pressing needs, you must find ways to close the IT skills gap and build out a resilient and talented workforce.
Sherifa Hady, HPE ArubaGiven the vital role channel partners have, they need to ensure they have the expertise, skills, and solutions to support their clients, particularly in the shift to cloud-native technologies, which will be essential for IT departments to improve development velocity and achieve more agile and resilient IT infrastructures by Mark Maslach, Vice President, Global Channels and Strategic Alliances, Cisco AppDynamics
There is widespread consensus in IT departments across the UAE that we’re entering into an exciting new era of innovation. Technologists are beginning to turn their attention from the constant fire-fighting of the last few years to a more proactive and strategic approach
to innovation. Across all customer segments, the speed, and scale of innovation is set to accelerate in the coming years in response to unstoppable customer demand for ever more intuitive and personalised digital experiences. Against this backdrop, IT departments are faced with the challenge of having to embed
rapid innovation into all areas of operation, so they can deliver on their organisations’ digital transformation objectives in a controlled, sustainable and secure manner.
Given the vital role channel partners have, they need to ensure they have the expertise, skills, and solutions to support their clients — particularly in the shift to cloudnative technologies — which will be essential for IT departments to improve development velocity and achieve more agile and resilient IT infrastructures.
The latest research from Cisco AppDynamics, the ‘Agents of Transformation 2022’ report, explores the challenges IT teams need to overcome to satisfy their organisations’ demands for accelerated innovation. The research reveals that, especially as several organisations continue to offer remote and hybrid working options to their employees,
technologists agree that there is a need to reimagine applications over the next 12 months to meet the changing needs of customers and employees. And these initiatives will require an accelerated shift towards modern application stacks, based on cloud-native technologies, in order to drive the wholesale digital transformation that business leaders are demanding.
For the channel, this shift to cloud-native applications and infrastructure represents a huge and largely untapped opportunity. Gartner predicts that cloud-native platforms will be the foundation for more than 95% of new digital initiatives by 2025. And our research shows that technologists expect their organisations to increase investment in a wide range of areas over the next 12 months to support the shift to cloud-native, including application security, OpenTelemetry, network monitoring, advanced AI, and hyper automation.
Perhaps most significantly, though, technologists point to a need to increase investment in technologies and platforms that provide greater visibility and observability across the IT stack. 71% of technologists believe it will be essential to increase investment in solutions to observe cloud-native applications and infrastructure over the next year.
Visibility into cloud-native environments is crucial Right now, only a handful of IT teams have complete and unified visibility across what has already become a highly fragmented and complex IT environment. They’re being bombarded by data from every corner of their IT estate, but they don’t have the tools and insight to cut through data noise to quickly identify and fix issues before they impact end users. This means that they’re constantly on the back foot, firefighting issues and unsure where to focus their efforts.
But a bad situation could quickly become far worse if organisations
plow ahead with their moves toward modern applications stacks, without ensuring that their technologists have visibility into these new environments. Cloud-native technologies are built on highly distributed systems which rely on thousands of containers and spawn a massive volume of metrics, events, logs, and traces (MELT) telemetry every second.
Without the right tools in place, IT teams will be unable to manage this level of data noise when troubleshooting application availability and performance problems caused by infrastructurerelated issues that span across hybrid cloud environments. And this, of course, will have knockon effects in terms of digital experiences for customers and employees.
Technologists are clearly aware of the need for full visibility into their IT environments — in fact, 85% claim that full-stack observability is core to sustainable transformation and innovation in their organisations.
How partners can help organisations reimagine applications
Consequently, channel partners have a crucial role in helping customers to future-proof their digital transformation initiatives, ensuring they have the full-stack observability solutions they will need to transition to modern application stacks in a strategic and sustainable way. They need to guide clients as they set out to reimagine their applications and ensure that their investments are maximised.
This means continuing to build out full-stack observability practices that can deliver clients a broader and more strategic set of products and services. Critically, partners need to provide their clients with access to cloud-native observability solutions that are truly customised to the needs of future applications, and that can scale functionality at speed. This
allows technologists to simplify the complexity of cloud-native application architectures and provide observability into highly dynamic and complex cloud-native applications, landscapes, and architectures.
Alongside this, partners need to work closely with clients to embed the right processes and frameworks to ensure the smooth and seamless roll-out of new full-stack observability solutions. In such a rapidly evolving area of technology, organisations need a trusted partner that can not only deliver best-in-class solutions, but can also help them navigate the cultural and operational changes needed to maximise the benefits of full-stack observability.
Finally, partners need to be providing purpose-built solutions that can deliver the capabilities that clients will need not just this year, but in five or ten years’ time. Even those businesses that are yet to make the switch to cloud-native technologies will want to know that their partners can support them when the time comes.
Across all industries, partners are already accelerating the move into cloud-native and hybrid environments, while focusing on recurring revenue, OPEX, and SaaS. They now need to demonstrate to clients how fullstack observability, including observability into cloud-native environments, is fundamental to the success of their digital transformation programs.
Mark Maslach, Cisco AppDynamics
Vibin Shaju, Presales Director (EMEA), Trellix explores the challenges MSSPs are facing and the possibility of XDR becoming the foundation of effective, ‘living security’.
Two years on from our planetwide migration to the cloud, the unease experienced by IT and security teams lingers. Consumers demand more and better digital experiences. Employees demand more flexible working conditions.
The C-suite demands more value and lower costs. And all of this takes place in an atmosphere of skills and resource gaps. On top of all this, everyone from the customer to the board expects delivery of their wish-lists in absolute security. But mounting evidence suggests security teams are not confident in their ability to meet these requirements.
In a global report by Trellix, companies revealed how unprepared they were in battling digital predators, especially when it came to the use of shared data. More than 90% confirmed they were in possession of such data but that it was incomplete and often did not give adequate details of attacks or their effects. This nervousness about the threat landscape can be felt everywhere.
A recent PwC report found around 43% of Middle East organisations
expected a “surge in reportable incidents” in 2022.
Security teams need help from several quarters. First, their organisations must change their culture to accept that cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. And second, IT and business stakeholders must recognise that handling the entire security function in house is no longer viable. Today, in the age of cloud, managed security service providers (MSSPs) are increasingly the answer to under-resourced and beleaguered teams.
MSSPs are also the answer to gaps in strategy. For example, Trellix’s report revealed one in 10 global organisations to be without a security strategy, and many must lean on third-party support to identify the perpetrators of attacks. But it is important to note that these vulnerabilities can extend to MSSPs themselves. MSPs in general have been the source targets of supply-chain attacks such as those on Kaseya and SolarWinds. So, if MSSPs are to take their place as the go-to solution for plugging skills
and resource gaps, they need to think about their own strategies to contend with an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape. And they need to consider how they will sift through the variety of tools currently vying for the title of “Cyber Panacea”.
To be an effective partner for the region’s embattled security teams, an MSSP must be able to independently and automatically identify and react to threats without complex SOAR integration. It must be able to convincingly demonstrate how its own backoffice and customer-facing systems are protected from advanced persistent threats (APT). And it must link to third-party threat assessments that are made available
to the end customer. The endpoint detection and response (EDR) system used by the MSSP must provide actionable directions when threats are found, so customers can take their own timely steps to mitigate the effects of incursions.
Even for MSSPs, the securing of digital experiences against cyber threats is challenging. In reality, policy and human commitment must come together with nextlevel technology to create an enterprise-wide environment of “living security”, where all roles and business units participate in defending the digital estate. On the technology side, extended detection, and response (XDR) is the ideal complement to human agency in building a living-security
model. It goes beyond EDR to drive automated responses without complex integration into SOAR for many reactions, delving into telemetry and log data from devices, applications, and shared sources.
For MSSPs to add value, their interhuman coordination (internally and with partners and customers) must come together with their XDR capabilities to create a shared-information ecosystem that can thwart today’s sophisticated threats. To be an effective business partner, MSSPs must be able to offer clients a unified security posture that accounts for postCOVID hybrid setups. It must allow the organisations it serves to peer into every digital nook and cranny, from the endpoint to the cloud. Security teams that have 4K resolution across their domains will be better placed to see the previously hidden and take timely action to prevent damage.
XDR used as part of a livingsecurity environment enables faster, more accurate decisions through automation and correlation analysis across multiple vectors. Security teams can go on the offensive for a change, and SOCs, no longer encumbered by a deluge of false positives, can target their efforts more effectively. An open, interoperable XDR platform backed by a cooperative hive of human ingenuity allows the integration of the toolsets everyone needs to arm themselves against digital adversaries. XDR and living security form a hybrid threat posture that learns, adapts, and empowers people to be proactive in their own protection.
XDR has been gaining popularity in the industry. But many organisations that engage with an XDR vendor are left with buyer’s remorse. This is because many vendors sell the technology as a one-shot, unified, integrated platform that can do it all. For MSSPs, the assumption that a
single-pane, catchall sentinel can be deployed to watch over all their clients’ infrastructures is erroneous. XDR is still evolving. The living-security approach is one of the best ways to accelerate this evolution. The more data sources and cross-vendor cooperation we cultivate, the more value XDR will be able to add.
MSSPs are on a mission to shield their clients from the cyber battlefield, to fight the fight on their behalf. XDR and living security bring them the right weapons for the job. An end to alert fatigue. Faster, more accurate detection. More effective remediation. Greater visibility and control. XDR and living security are to an ideal MSSP what an ideal MSSP is to its clients, a cost-friendly boon to productivity and effectiveness.
Vibin Shaju, TrellixTo be an effective partner for the region’s embattled security teams, an MSSP must be able to independently and automatically identify and react to threats without complex SOAR integration.”
Cyber-threats affect not only businesses, but all of us since the digital world is an integral part of our daily lives, and we spend a considerable amount of time online working, shopping, connecting with friends and so forth, Joseph Carson, Chief Security Scientist and Advisory CISO, Delinea reflects on the Cybersecurity trends of last year and predicts the Cyber resolutions for the upcoming year.
The year drawing to a close has shown that cybersecurity continues to be a major challenge for many governments, organisations, and citizens around the world, as they step up their efforts to protect businesses and mitigate risks from malicious attackers.
The reality check is that cyber threats are increasing at the same time when many businesses are becoming entirely dependent on digital services, with cybercriminals vigorously looking for ways to gain remote access, steal credentials, elevate privileges, and exfiltrate sensitive data that could bring a business to a complete stop and result in significant financial costs.
Cyberthreats affect not only businesses, but all of us since the digital world is an integral part of our daily lives, and we spend a considerable amount of time online working, shopping, connecting with friends and so forth.
Looking back on this past year’s developments, I have identified these Top 5 Cybersecurity Trends.
With so many geopolitical tensions and conflicts happening in the world, we have seen a major increase in Information Wars that have become a vital factor in how we see and believe in what is our version of reality.
At the same time, algorithms are determining not only what data appears in our social feeds but also who we are
connected to and, at the same time, reinforcing our beliefs and whether they are true or fake. Algorithms are often shaping our lives more than our education, and this is becoming very scary. As we look through our social feeds, we only see what the algorithms want us to see to power our dopamine needs.
The reality is that we are now living in an era of Information Warfare where our digital society is overlapping with the real-world.
Cybercriminals are always looking for the easiest ways to access an organisation’s network or systems. They continue to look for the quickest and cheapest path that allows them to stay hidden under the disguise of an authorised employee.
Social engineering has been on the rise for the past ten years, but in 2022 it went to a whole new level. In response, more organisations have strengthened their security controls by adapting two-factor (2FA) and multifactor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risks associated with employees continuing to choose weak or repeated passwords.
However, following this increase in security controls, attackers have adapted their techniques, looking for ways to bypass these additional security challenges through social engineering and cyber fatigue. This should be a reminder to organisations and businesses that not all 2FA and MFA are equal.
Additionally, they need to find the right balance between security and productivity to reduce the risks of
cyber fatigue, which can increase the risks of social engineering techniques being successful.
As a result of COVID-19, in the past few years, we have experienced the explosion of remote working which has also accelerated digital transformation to cloud services for many organisations. The postpandemic reality is that we now have a modern hybrid workforce.
The new working norm is that employees only go into the office about 3 out of 5 days of the week, if at all. This has resulted in employees’ homes becoming an extension of the workplace and introducing the evolution from Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to employees needing to Bring Your Own Office (BYOO).
Business leaders are looking to mitigate the risks from cyberattacks and ransomware, which had devastating consequences for many, both in terms of business availability and financial stability. The need to reduce the financial burden of cyberattacks has seen many business leaders look to cyber insurance as a safety net, making it a de facto mandatory requirement for business resilience and continuity.
A recent survey report from Delinea revealed that 33% of IT decision-makers applied for cyber insurance due to requirements from Boards and Executive Management. Furthermore, their policies are getting a workout – almost 80% said they have had to use their cyber insurance, and over half of them said they’ve used it more than once.
As a result of cyber insurance policies being used and, ultimately, many businesses needing them, the cost of cyber insurance is continuing to rise at alarming rates.
The advancements made in the quality of deep fakes in 2022 are scary to the point that with only a few images and audio clips available on the internet,
an attacker can become a digital version of you.
We have seen many deep fakes circulating on social media that make identifying the real original version almost impossible without technology assisting in analysing the bits. We now must become aware that any digital video or audio must be validated for authenticity.
While cybersecurity threats can appear overwhelming, we can nevertheless make it harder for malicious attackers to disrupt our lives. As we start the New Year, take some time to make some changes to your cyber hygiene and increase your security posture.
Renew your password experience – reward yourself with a Password Manager
Creating and remembering new passwords is a pain that no one needs to endure. Starting from January, let’s stop reusing passwords and let a password manager do all the work for you in the background. It will help generate a complex strong password for each credential and remember it for you. Some tools can also alert if any of your passwords might have been compromised in one of the many data breaches happening all the time.
Turn on MFA – More than Just a
Let’s not leave passwords to be the only protection for your credentials. For at least one of your most important accounts, try enabling multi-factor authentication. Once you get past the first time you will find it much easier to enable MFA for more accounts. This will help reduce the risk of attackers gaining access to your accounts.
Take a moment to check your audit logs and look for suspicious activity, such as any failed login attempts from suspicious locations or devices. If you find unknown or old devices you are no longer using, make sure to revoke access or update your passwords.
Joseph Carson, DelineaTechnology continues to permeate all aspects of the modern enterprise and has seen continued increases in investment over the past several years. And while organisations have been looking at efforts to operate more cost effectively, IT budgets continue to grow with Gartner forecasting a 5.1% increase in worldwide IT spend through 2023. As companies surge forward with digital initiatives, the channel is presented with significant opportunities for
growth. Success of course will come to those that are best prepared to adapt to market dynamics. So, as 2023 dawns, here are the horizonshaping trends that we need to work together to navigate.
No longer do we just sell to the IT buyer – we must now appeal to a broad spectrum of disciplines. In every sense, we now sell a user experience, and to multiple endusers. We must demonstrate a
leap forward in both the customer experience and the employee experience to get a senior decision maker on board.
During a time of economic uncertainty, customers are demanding more measurable outcomes. Transactional engagements on their own will not be enough. Partners will need to develop ways to sell a complete business outcome rather than just a
Alex Thurber, SVP Global Partners and Alliances, at Riverbed Technology elaborating Top 6 Trends Partners Need to Skilfully Navigate in 2023
technology solution. Procurement teams will be looking to systems integrators and value-added partners to show a clear path to business objectives while enhancing security posture and compliance maturity. Partners must now sell capabilities as part of a productand-service ecosystem that ensures customer success, which also presents a range of upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
3Growth in demand for disruptive tech Investments will be steered towards technology that solves one of the industry’s most complex problems – providing seamless digital experiences that are secure but capable of performing at scale in a hybrid environment – especially with distributed users, apps, and data everywhere. Networks and the path that data takes have never been so complex, so understanding network flows is critical to identify what is truly happening within an enterprise. We see a significant market opportunity in unified observability, which industry analysts estimate to be worth around US$19 billion globally by 2024.
Redefined routes to market SaaS is rapidly becoming the preferred technology consumption model for organisations, and this trend will continue to gain momentum in 2023. However, it does present challenges for partners as SaaS solutions are notoriously easy to swap out. Financial impacts around ARR (annual recurring revenue) and the classification of deals around ACV (annual contract value) versus TCV (total contract value) will occupy customers’ (and CFO’s) minds. Partners must understand the positive and negative business implications of moving to a recurring revenue model. They must also build compelling narratives and plan for the short-term cash-flow and financial implications.
Just as partners will need to embrace selling new, disruptive solutions rather than legacy point
products, they will also need to transact across multiple business models where they provide endto-end solutions that deliver the right capabilities for the right business situation while integrating seamlessly with the overall IT environment. We will need to leverage hyper-scalers and understand how to do business in marketplaces such as Microsoft Azure and AWS. We now see customers going directly to such marketplaces and partners must learn to transact there or risk losing customers. The shift to on-line marketplaces is a reality and vendors across the board will be adopting this delivery model across their route-tomarket ecosystem.
The global IT skills gap has only been exacerbated by recent changes in workforce models. Today, organisations no longer compete for talent solely in local resource pools. The ability to work remotely means that companies now find themselves competing for talent against counterparts from any location across the globe.
Channel partners will need to maximise the effectiveness of their IT teams, and simultaneously, enable their customers do to the same. In part, this will mean doubling down on training and certifications and leveraging the enablement programs vendors have in place. Equally important is fostering the ability to ‘shift left’
by leveraging solutions that free up more senior resources to focus on higher-value pursuits. This proposition also ties into the “doing more with less” goal.
Vendors will seek out and reward ‘True Partnership’
Customers’ focus on business outcomes and their yearning for value addition will mean vendors will increasingly prioritise channel organisations that demonstrate a commitment to developing a ‘true partnership.’ Sure, transactional partners will continue but in order to build sustainable revenue streams, vendors will shy away from partners who are only interested in a particular deal. Channel players that recognise this and move from fulfilment to committed partnerships will see a host of benefits unlocked – granting them the support they need from vendors to bid for the most complex, and lucrative projects.
A year of change 2023 will be another year of change for the channel industry but with IT budgets set to grow, so too will the opportunity for revenue growth for those channel organisations that are ready to capitalise on the opportunities that the trends present.
Alex Thurber, Riverbed TechnologyWe see a significant market opportunity in unified observability, which industry analysts estimate to be worth around US$19 billion globally by 2024.”
will head up its CIS sales and operations, facilitating clients to continue to expand and grow with TEXUB.
TEXUB having established a significant presence in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, is now expanding in CIS and Central Asia with the appointment of Vitaliy Kanter as the company’s Vice President of Sales for the CIS region. This leadership shift in CIS and Central Asia teams will empower TEXUB to focus on new growth strategies. In this role, Vitaliy
TEXUB is aggressively looking to expand its operations across CIS regions and with the appointment of Vitaliy, TEXUB expects to take off its business growth at a fast pace. Vitaliy will be based out of Almaty, Kazakhstan and his key responsibilities include expanding the existing channel network, boost sales, and enhance product and brand visibility. Vitaliy will also work closely with the distributors to expand the presence of TEXUB within the country.
“Vitaliy is an outstanding addition to our TEXUB team, as he brings a deep blend of dynamic channel experience and what it takes to deliver client success,” said Suchit Kumar, CEO of TEXUB. “As TEXUB continues its rapid growth and focuses across the
CIS and Baltic markets, Vitaliy’s sales leadership and his strong background in building top performing sales teams will accelerate TEXUB’s growth. We are thrilled to have him onboard!”
“I am honored to join the TEXUB team and help build on the solid foundation developed ever since its launch,” says Vitaliy Kanter, Vice President of Sales for CIS, TEXUB. “I see great potential in the business and industry, especially in the idea of ‘One world, One market: Business without Borders’. TEXUB is perfectly positioned to help its clients digitally transform their business for better customer experience and compete in the B2B digital marketplace.”
Vitaliy joins on board with a rich experience in B2B industry sales and leadership in CIS markwets for over 20 years. He is a proven leader with strong business acumen in pre-empt strategies for sustainable and profitable growth.
Platform, a unified solution that secures access to devices, cloud apps, private apps and the global web.
Lookout announced the appointment of sales veteran Dan Donovan as its chief revenue officer (CRO). In this role, Dan will oversee all segments of Lookout’s global sales operation, including Sales Engineering, Channel Development, Customer Success and Sales Operations. His extensive industry expertise will help enable the Company to meet increasing demand for the Lookout Cloud Security
Donovan brings more than 20 years of IT and security sales leadership experience to Lookout. He most recently held the position of vice president, America sales, at security solutions provider SentinelOne, where he was responsible for scaling the company’s large enterprise, federal, state/local and commercial markets. Prior to SentinelOne, Donovan was the vice president/general manager OneNA VMware Sales at Dell Technologies, where he led the company’s $3 billion North American software unit. His leadership experience also includes senior sales roles at Code42, World Wide Technology and Capricorn Diversified Systems. Earlier in his career, Donovan built, launched, and grew a consulting firm focused on business and technology solutions/ services and IT financing brokerage.
“Dan is a powerhouse in the IT and security space, and brings extensive sales leadership and customer success expertise that will help advance our growth agenda,” said Jim Dolce, Lookout CEO. “I am delighted that he has decided to join us at this juncture of the Company’s journey as we continue to transform and expand the business from a mobile security provider to an endpoint to cloud security solutions organisation.”
“What attracted me to this opportunity at Lookout was its bigger purpose – Lookout sits at the intersection between personal and enterprise data, where the lines are blurred and where every access point is a potential breach,” said Donovan. “There is no other company better placed to drive this security transformation forward on behalf of consumers and businesses alike, and I am incredibly excited to be part of this mission.”
Veeam Software announced the appointment of Larissa Crandall as vice president of Global Channel and Alliances. Most recently, the Vice President of Global Channel and Alliances at Gigamon, Crandall is an industry leader that will guide Veeam’s investments in a global partner and alliance ecosystem that ensures customers’ data is protected across multiple environments, whether cloud, virtual, physical, SaaS or Kubernetes.
“Data is the most important asset that businesses own, which also makes it vital that it is protected from
ransomware attacks and unplanned outages,” said Larissa Crandall, vice president of Global Channel and Alliances at Veeam. “I’m excited to work alongside our sales, marketing, research and development and engineering teams to build strategies that are mutually beneficial to our Veeam partners and alliances, while also ensuring the highest level of data protection and recovery for our joint customers. I’ve long admired the strong Veeam brand and their commitment to the channel. I’m thrilled to be part of the team and am confident the alignment and collaboration we create will lead to even greater success as Veeam continues to accelerate its enterprise presence.”
Crandall has spent her entire career in the channel working for security, networking and cloud vendors. The foundation of her career was spent working for Connection, a large solution provider leading enterprise, commercial and public sector teams. She joins Veeam after four years at Gigamon where she led the global channel and alliances organisation to
record channel contribution growth, developed the partner program and was an integral part of the partnerfirst strategy. Crandall also helped launch the creation of the Gigamon Playbook, built and executed creative demand generation, training and enablement programs, as well as the development of GTM solutions to accelerate revenue.
“With more than 35,000 partners and alliances, our 100% partnerdriven global ecosystem is critical to the success of every aspect of our company,” said John Jester, chief revenue officer (CRO) at Veeam. “Larissa’s appointment underlines the importance we place in our partners. She has a proven passion, vision and a track record of leading programs and extended teams to heightened success based on collaboration, alignment and mutual strategy. Veeam continues to evolve but our partner-focused approach to build, market, sell and integrate Veeam solutions and Veeampowered services remains one of our highest priorities.”
and has successfully led companies through business transformations, international expansion, and accelerated growth.
Barracuda Networks announced Joe Billante as its new Chief Financial Officer. Billante brings more than 20 years of executive leadership and finance experience to Barracuda,
“As we continue to evolve our award-winning security solutions and go-to-market ecosystems, we are excited to have Joe on our team, with his deep expertise in business strategy, financial integrity, stakeholder engagement, and operational excellence, said Hatem Naguib, CEO of Barracuda. “Joe is a thoughtful decision-maker and innovator, who shares our business vision and commitment to our team.”
“I am very proud to join the Barracuda team and excited for the business opportunities ahead.
Barracuda provides customers and partners with the solutions needed to protect their businesses from an increasingly complex security environment,” said Joe Billante CFO of Barracuda. “I am thrilled to be part of this important mission and look forward to getting to know and working with our customers, partners, employees and stakeholders.”
Billante joins Barracuda most recently from eBay where he spent the last 13 years in several business, finance, and analytics executive leadership roles. Before eBay, he spent 11 years at General Electric in a number of finance roles including CFO for a $1B international division of GE Healthcare.
21:9 aspect ratio, WQHD (3,440 x 1,440) resolution screen. It is also the very first 45-inch display with an 800R curvature: an exciting, new form factor designed to deliver next-level gaming experiences. Certified as a low blue light product by leading global testing organisation UL Solutions, the matt Anti-glare & Low Reflection OLED panel of the curved UltraGear monitor is easier on the eyes than a conventional LED panel, meaning users can play for longer with less eye discomfort.
LG Electronics (LG) is exhibiting its latest lineup of premium UltraGear OLED gaming monitors (models 27GR95QE and 45GR95QE) at CES 2023. The new UltraGear monitors demonstrate LG’s leadership in the fast-growing OLED category and its continuing strength in the global gaming display market. In the UAE, the launch of the new UltraGear lineup is scheduled for the first half of 2023.
Equipped with the world’s first 240Hz OLED panel, which is exclusively manufactured by LG, the new 27- and 45-inch models deliver a record-breaking response time of 0.03 milliseconds Gray-to-Gray (GTG), not to mention superior self-lit picture quality complete with accurate, lifelike colors and infinite contrast. Courtesy of these cutting-edge display technologies, the latest models tick every box when it comes to what consumers want in a gaming monitor.
LG UltraGear OLED Gaming Monitor (model 27GR95QE) offers the level of performance needed to get the most of the latest game titles; its QHD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution OLED display providing a 240Hz refresh rate and a staggering
0.03ms (GTG) response time for delightfully smooth, low-latency gaming. It also covers 98.5 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, ensuring vibrant graphics that fully capture the vision of the game designers and digital artists who created them. Additionally, the monitor’s Antiglare & Low Reflection (AGLR) panel makes it easier to see what is on screen so that users can enjoy a distraction-free gaming experience regardless of ambient light conditions.
Featuring support for variable refresh rate (VRR), NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible, FreeSync Premium, LG’s 27-inch UltraGear provides seamless visuals with minimal tearing or stuttering. It also supports HDMI 2.1 specifications and DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity, and incorporates a 4-pole headphone jack that allows users to relish the realistic, spatial sound of DTS Headphone:X. Meanwhile, the included remote control provides quick and easy display management plus the added convenience of programmable hotkeys.
A CES 2023 Innovation Award honoree, model 45GR95QE is LG’s first-ever 45-inch curved OLED gaming monitor with a
The 45GR95QE’s remarkable, curved OLED panel offers a 1,500,000:1 contrast ratio and 98.5 percent coverage of DCI-P3, producing the bright colors, deep blacks and crisp images that not only make the onscreen action come alive, but also heighten the player’s focus. Like its 27-inch sibling, the 45-inch model has a response time of 0.03ms GTG and a 240Hz refresh rate. Harnessing the immense potential of OLED, the 45GR95QE provides total gaming immersion.
“Featuring our industry leading display technologies, these purpose-built monitors boast the speed needed for competitive gaming as well as picture quality that makes everything look and feel more real,” said Seo Young-jae, senior vice president and head of the IT business unit of LG Electronics Business Solutions Company. “As a pioneer of the gaming space, LG will continue to invent completely new customer experiences through its highperformance LG UltraGear gaming monitors that come in various sizes and form factors to satisfy every kind of gamer.”
Visitors to CES 2023 from January 5-8 are encouraged to stop by booth #15501 in the Las Vegas Convention Center to experience the latest UltraGear OLED gaming monitors. Available to pre-order in the U.S. starting December 12, LG’s latest OLED gaming monitors will be launching in key markets throughout North America and Asia in January, in Europe from February, and in the Middle East and Latin America in the following months.
The gaming industry has come a long way. From its simple, twodimensional debut in the 1970s and 80s, gaming has kept pace with the rapid evolution of digital technology, rising to become not just a form of entertainment but a truly immersive sensorial experience with uniquely powerful appeals. Increasingly, modern gamers expect a brand that reflects the diversity of their tastes and desires while their identities are embraced. In light of this, MMD, the leading display specialist and brand license partner for Philips monitors, is delighted to announce the launch of Evnia.
The word Evnia (Greek: Εύνοια) consists of eu (good) and nous (mind), which literally means “well mind” and “smart thinking”. Evnia is used as a word to show interest to support and protect someone or something. It’s often used in the context of luck. Everyone can be a gamer, and Evnia, true to the name, supports the joy of gaming for all.
The definition of a typical gamer is more diverse than ever – however, the stereotype that gaming is only for teenagers is still the norm. The need for a welcoming community required a brand that could embrace every gamer, making them feel truly part of the group. Starting from its unique design, Evnia differentiates from the crowd of spec-only-driven aggressive models, bringing back the joy and fun of gaming, keeping emotional benefits at the core.
“Philips Monitors believes that the joy of gaming should be accessible to everyone. Our goal for Evnia is to provide today’s gamers, in all their diversity, with the monitors and accessories they need to get the most enjoyment out of every gaming session, whether in terms of performance, graphics, or overall user experience. Evnia, true to the name, encourages gamers to bring their most genuine selves to their sessions and to reconnect with the original purpose of gaming.” -Carol Anne Dias, Sales Director Middle East & Africa at Philips Monitor
The Evnia range reflects its mantra: “Reinvent the rules”. Far
from the known gaming stereotype, Evnia adds freshness, premium and elegance to the mixture. From product lines to Ambiglow lights, it prioritises emotional benefits as well as technical advantages. The sophisticated design fits every environment, being a perfect addition to the furnishing of a casual gamer lounge or a proper PC gaming set-up.
First model available: Philips Evnia 34M2C7600MV Philips Evnia monitors are every gamer’s dream come true. The range’s stylish design will match any interior décor, while its generous displays invite gamers to get into the game.
The first Evnia model to be released, the curved Philips Evnia 34M2C7600MV monitor, ensures an almost cinematic experience with UltraWide Quad HD 3440 x 1440 resolution and HDR 1400. The monitor’s mini-LED backlighting with 1,152 zones allows enhanced control of the lighting and contrast ratio for deeper blacks and brighter whites. Ambiglow adds to an all-around immersion in the game. The visual performance is matched by its gaming features – With a 165Hz refresh rate, ultralow input lag, and Adaptive-Sync, even the most action-packed games are sure to be smooth and fluid.
Comfort is always a priority for Philips Monitors, and the Evnia range is no exception. The Philips Evnia 34M2C7600MV offers great flexibility with complete connectivity of USB-C ports as well as KVM and height-adjustable stand to adapt to users’ preferences and ensure gaming sessions that are a pleasure for the mind and the body.
The Evnia monitors range starting with this launch will see in the future further performance-driven products with models: 42M2N8900 (42” OLED flat screen), 34M2C8600 (34” QD OLED curved screen) and 27M2C5500W (27” VA curved screen).
Join us in the new era of gaming.
Pricing and availability – The Philips Evnia 34M2C7600MV will be available for purchase from 2023 onward. More information on the Philips Evnia range: https://www.evnia.philips
Marketing is an important function across all businesses in all sectors. If partners didn’t pay attention to this task before, they are certainly seeing its value today. Investing in digital marketing strategies are becoming fundamental for growing revenues, acquiring new leads and enhancing brand image. In this section, marketing leaders who deal with the regional channel business shed light on the top trends channel players should watch out for in 2023.
FARAZ ALI KHAN Marketing Manager, ASBIS Middle East
What are the top IT trends channel should watch in 2023?
Top IT trends in the upcoming year would be emerging technologies, including data analytics, AI, ML, metaverse and remote tools. It gives a competitive advantage for organizations by configuring themselves with these latest technologies. We should enthusiastically work with system integrators and solution providers to make that happen.
What are some of the key challenges channel partners must overcome in 2023?
In my opinion the key strategy for 2023 to overcome business challenges would be “Consistency and Focus”. Partners must continue to create a solid association, expand portfolio, offer excellent support to the existing ones and that should be the culture, we must follow to achieve business goals.
Partner Marketing, APAC & Middle East, Checkmarx
What are the top IT trends channel should watch in 2023?
Developers and security team would need to leverage advanced Application Security Software tools to help provide intelligence to protect their organization from infected code that attackers have planted in open source packages. One of the worst outcomes from open source supply chain attacks starts with infecting a developer’s computer. With US Govt coming out with new compliances for applications, developers need to start understanding how they can create SBOMs, knowing what packages are being used in their applications.
Modern, cloud-native applications also increasingly consist of microservices, containers, open source libraries, infrastructure as code, and an abundance of APIs. Enterprises need to adopt a completely new and innovative way of securing APIs that complements WAFs and API gateways, so organizations can improve their API security posture overall.
Enterprises must allow security to be integrated into the application development life cycle rather than an afterthought. DevSecOps is based on the idea that security is everyone’s responsibility, the collective attention on security across engineering and security teams can lower risk for their entire organization.
What are some of the key challenges channel partners must overcome in 2023?
Partners need to invest in enabling their sales team to sell solutions rather than product. Need to be able to invest in training their sales team to articulate the benefits the solutions bring that help to mitigate the challenges of the customers. Sales need to equip themselves with more knowledge about the latest security tools.
Marketing Manager, Syscom Distributions
What are the top IT trends channel should watch in 2023?
When we look up to the top trends in IT, AI will have a greater impact on Cybersecurity and Hyperautomation. The security measures are made stronger with years passing and our vendors are keen on inculcating AI to their security solutions and products. Big Data Analytics would lead the way in analysing the ever-growing data for accurate insights, along with Cloud Computing.
What are some of the key challenges channel partners must overcome in 2023?
To address the key challenges, which we expect the channel partners to overcome will be meeting the end customer expectations, especially on product availability. Also, being agile with the market trends, will add a competitive edge for them as well.
SREEBHASKAR JAYA MOHANMarketing Manager, Real Secure IT Infrastructure LLC
What are the top IT trends channel should watch in 2023?
As we enter the New Year, IT professionals and technology enthusiasts need to remain up-todate on the latest trends and developments within the industry. A few key trends that should be monitored in 2023 are the advancement of 5G technology, the growth of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the ongoing rise of cloud computing and the increasing significance of cybersecurity. To summarize, the coming year looks to be a fascinating one for the IT industry, with many new technologies and developments on the horizon. As a technology enthusiast or IT professional, it is crucial to stay informed and on top of these trends to remain at the forefront.
What are some of the key challenges channel partners must overcome in 2023?
Some of the key challenges that channel partners in the IT industry may face include, keeping up with the rapid pace of technological change and emerging trends, providing adequate training and support for their teams to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively address client needs, differentiating themselves from competitors and highlighting the value they bring to the table, establishing and maintaining strong relationships with vendors and clients, managing costs and pricing.
Introducing
