Reseller Middle East July 2014

ISSUE 211 // july 2014 WWW.RESELLERME.COM

reseller middle east partner excellence awards 2014

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

Partner Excellence Conference 2014

byod prospects

CONTENTS

ISSUE 211 // july 2014

cover feature

Highlights 6

News

We help you catch up on all the major news and announcements in the regional channel community.

Opinion

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channel royals

Reseller Middle East celebrated its fifth annual Partner Excellence Awards last month, at an all-out spectacular awards ceremony held at Emirates Towers, Dubai. Read on for more details.

Review

20 Excelling at mobile customer service

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Shaheen Haque from Interactive Intelligence, explains how companies can build winning customer relationships.

Samsung Gear Fit

Feature 50 Staying ahead of the game

Reseller ME explores how channel partners can make the most in the BYOD space.

Vendor focus 56 Partner first

hot products

Fady Iskander from Symantec, explains the revamped partner programme that promises more benefits for the channel partners.

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58 Removing barriers

Florian Malecki from Dell, discusses how partners can take advantage of the opportunities present across business units.

60 Sharing memories

Reseller ME finds out memory card vendor, Eye-Fi’s channel plans for the Middle East region.

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Sony’s unveils HD business projectors

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BenQ launches RTS gaming monitors

Lenovo displays S860 Smartphone july 2014

Reseller Middle East

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editorial Chairman Dominic De Sousa CEO Nadeem Hood COO

Georgina O’Hara Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1511

And the winner is…

Editorial Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1513 Assistant Editor Janees Reghelini Contributing Editor Anna Bricker Online Editor James Dartnell Advertising Sales Managers Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1510 Nasir Bazaz nasir.bazaz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1512 Circulation Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1645 Production and Design Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1643 Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1504 Digital www.resellerme.com DIGITAL SERVICES Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy P Maagma Web Developers Erik Briones Jefferson de Joya

Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor Talk to us: E-mail: jeevan.thankappan@ cpimediagroup.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ ResellerME Twitter: @ResellerME

Reseller Middle East was launched more than 17 years back to chronicle and serve, which was then, a fledgling Middle East channel industry. We launched this publication with a mandate to champion those companies that were springing up to facilitate a new supply chain for vendors. Over the years, the channel community in the region has grown stronger, providing vendors with more efficiency in their supply chains, riding on the buoyant IT industry. We are proud to have played our part in this transformation.

We started Reseller Partner Excellence Awards five years go to recognise high-achievers in the channel and within a short span of time, these awards have come to symbolise the coming age of our industry.

This year, we received more than 250 nominations, each thoughtful and praiseworthy, and more than 5000 votes were polled online for two readers’ choice categories. All the shortlisted entries were reviewed by our judges, who included industry experts and independent consultants, according to a set of stringent criteria.

As the industry continues to evolve towards new business models and address the sweeping technological changes, we celebrated and commended the courage and tenacity showed by the vendor, distributor and reseller communities in face of some really trying times. Our partner conference, which preceded the awards, provided a perfect platform for the industry stakeholders to come together and discuss in detail some of the burning issues, including profitability and credit. When you flip the pages, you will read about all these front runners who made it through the times to become the influential players in the Middle East ICT channel industry.

Last year, the channel turned the corner after couple of turbulent years of stagnant growth and market volatility. 2014, so far, looks even more promising. The business is growing, margins are healthy, and there is an air of optimism all around. We may not be out of the woods yet, but things are definitely improving, and we need to thank ourselves for coming out of such harsh times successfully. Now is the time to stay the course and embrace the future, which appears very bright at the moment.

Photographer and Social Media Co-ordinator Jay Colina webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

Registered at IMPZ PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 375 1500 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 Printed by Printwell Printing Press © Copyright 2014 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

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highlights

News

Cyberoam partners with SNB ME

Sanjay Raina, Director, Networking & IT Security, SNB ME

Ravinder Janotra, Regional Sales Manager, ME, Cyberoam

Cyberoam, a global network security appliances provider, has appointed SNB Middle East as the distribution partner for the Middle East region. According to the company, this partnership is aimed at making deeper inroads into the region.

SNB will be the authorised distributor for the vendor in UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. As a value-added distributor, it will provide sales support, market intelligence, pre-sales support and commercial skills services for the entire Cyberoam stack to its value-added reseller

partners. Prediction reports by security vendors have listed UAE high on countries susceptible to cyber crimes. Having realised this obvious and slowly growing menace, both Government and organisations are showing increased cyber security awareness in the Middle East.

The distributor will focus on the development of the new channel for the vendor, driving deeper adoption of Cyberoam’s technology and products within the Middle East IT channel.

Ravinder Janotra, Regional Sales

Manager, Middle East, Cyberoam said, “With SNB’s strategy of having a dedicated Cyberoam Presales engineer and Sales team, we are confident to grow business and have deeper penetration in the Middle East regions. Considering the rising awareness among business in Middle East for security, we see some huge potential in the region.”

“The unique capabilities and comprehensive security of Cyberoam has already seen it successfully ensconced in the region and now we are set to strengthen this trust that customers in this region have on its network security appliances,” he added.

“We see this collaboration as mutually beneficial,” said Sanjay Raina, Director, Networking & IT Security, SNB Middle East, “as Cyberoam is one of the leading names in network security and teaming up with them will help us offer impressive network security to our customers, especially when it comes to virtual security.” He added, “Cyberoam’s network security solutions for both virtual and physical appliances will enable us to reach and offer more to our customers.”

Xerox Emirates appoints RAK Tech Xerox Emirates, a member of the Mohamed Hareb Al Otaiba group, has announced RAK Tech, an IT solution provider company based in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE as an authorised business partner. Through this partnership, Xerox Emirates will be able to provide its customers in Ras Al Khaimah with the benefits of RAK Tech’s IT solutions and services, while assisting it to grow through their channel programme.

Through its channel partner RAK Tech, specialised services such as consultancy, design, and implementation, as well as support services for infrastructure, enterprise and software solutions will be delivered to customers. On-site support throughout all project stages including strategy formulation, package selection and integration, testing and training packaged with after sales support, will help build profitable businesses and manage the

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growing needs of the industry.

“We believe there is significant opportunity in this region and the partnership with RAK Tech will help improve and provide primary assistance to our customers. We look to focus on the Northern Emirates region, especially in supporting business in Ras Al Khaimah and capitalising on its growth opportunities. The partnership will benefit both Xerox Emirates and RAK Tech in driving performance and exploring future business opportunities,” said Andrew Horne, General Manager, Xerox Emirates.

“Through our partnership with Xerox Emirates, we aim to provide best-in-class services to our customers bundled with operational excellence and business agility. Through the Xerox Emirates channel programme such as regular training workshops, demand creation

Andrew Horne, General Manager, Xerox Emirates campaigns and various incentives, we are able to further add value to businesses,” said Sheikha Fatima Al Qassimi, Owner & Director, RAK Tech.

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Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2014 15 – 16 September | Raffles Hotel | Dubai, UAE

Smart Risk: balancing Security and opportunity The launch Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit will for the first time bring the Gartner analyst and security and risk management community together in one location in the GCC to bring the latest research, insights and forward-thinking perspectives found nowhere else.

The Summit features multiple track programs, 11 analysts, and more than 25 sessions and roundtables, and will provide the ability to collaborate and network with peers and gain immediate take-aways you can apply back to the office.

Hot topicS to be coveRed: Cybersecurity Risk and Compliance Internet of Things Mobile and Cloud Security Single Sign-on and Identity Governance Operational Technology Risks Security Metrics and Analytics

For more information visit: gartner.com/me/security

highlights

News

Spectrami to open South Africa office

Anand Choudha, Managing Director, Spectrami

Spectrami has announced that it is opening a new office in South Africa. The company then plans to get into East and Southern Africa along with the Indian Ocean Islands. The company has long term plans for the entire sub-Saharan Africa to be served from the South Africa office.

Anand Choudha, Managing Director, Spectrami, said, “South Africa is among the top four markets in the Middle East and Africa region. Thus, it makes sense for us logically to enter into the market as a part of plans to increase our footprint in the region. We also see the right indicators in terms of market conditions, customer requirements for the technologies we represent, and willingness from our vendors to get into the market.”

The new office will be headed by Hugh Donald Ross Watson, Country Business Representative, South Africa, Spectrami.

Watson has worked with brands such as Actifio, IBM, Stortech, I-Fusion, and EMC. “South Africa has undergone economic and industrial development in recent years, and these steps have contributed to an increased uptake of the latest IT solutions and services on the regional market,” Choudha said. “The opening of an office in South Africa reflects Spectrami’s commitment to the African market.

The new office will enable us to further improve our client service in South Africa by shortening client response times and by providing us with a

more in-depth understanding of local business conditions and key IT requirements.”

Initially, Spectrami will have one full time employee stationed at its South Africa office, who will be supported by the company’s existing technical team in Dubai, UAE. The company plans to induct an additional technical resource in the coming quarter, and hopes to have a team of four employees by the end of the year. “South Africa is a mature market and we see customers pretty much having the same problems as we have seen in other markets we represent in currently. These challenges are related to areas such as security, data protection, data management, storage explosion, and mobility management. Hence, we definitely see opportunities in effectively all the technology stacks that we represent,” said Choudha.

Watson highlighted how last year the government in South Africa enacted the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI).

“This is causing lots of customers to actively look at mobility and DLP as a requirement and they are making an active effort to acquire those technologies,” he said. “So we see a very good opportunity for our products from Good Technology and Verdasys in that market. To start with, we will be taking Actifio for copy data storage, Violin Memory for All Flash Array, Good Technology for Mobility, and Logrhythm for SIEM technologies in the South African market.”

RedSeal Networks reinforces partnership with Oxygen Oxygen, a regional secure mobility value-added distributor (VAD), and RedSeal Networks, a network infrastructure security management, have reinforced their partnership to offer customers security risk management solution to help in preventing cyber-attacks.

Khalid Laban, CEO, Oxygen said, “In today’s environment of mobile, cloud and bringyour-own device (BYOD), the extended enterprise poses

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particular challenges, and organisations are finding it difficult to make traditional vulnerability management work for them. RedSeal Networks provides an integrated platform that fills security gaps within its customers’ network infrastructure.”

The vendor has also extended its security risk management capabilities to visualise and monitor access policy for wireless network

controllers. According to the company, support for wireless network controllers extends visibility to constantly changing and elusive Wi-Fi endpoints.

With the rise of BYOD initiatives it can be critical to monitor additional endpoints and ensure that access to critical network assets is monitored.

Duncan Fisken, SVP & GM, EMEA said, “Today’s enterprise networks are complex and everchanging, making it extremely

challenging to identify key points of attack risk on an on-going basis. Oxygen is a recognised for its secure mobility expertise and is one of our key distributors in the region. RedSeal offers wireless network support and is capable of accessing data seamlessly from the Wi-Fi infrastructure to obtain a more complete topology map and risk model for faster detection of security risks and gaps in security posture.”

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Advertorial

Being a gamechanger Firosh Ummer, MD, EMEA, Paladion Networks, discusses the channel strategy for the company’s Middle East operations.

Can you elaborate a bit on Paladion’s plans for Middle East?

Today, Paladion has offices in 4 cities with 104 employees across ME. We have earmarked 2 Mn USD with a plan of doubling our presence and our headcount in the region. Like mentioned earlier, by end of 2014, we will be setting up Security intelligent Centres in UAE, Qatar and KSA. We are happy to share that Paladion has raised $10M to embark on our next stage of growth. This capital will be used for enhancing cyber security intelligence technology and building a comprehensive cloud security services platform. This will be rolled out by early 2015 across ME.

A lot seems to be happening for Paladion in 2014. Can you share some insights?

Information security is entering an interesting phase. It has transmogrified from a good to have option 14 years back to a key discussion item by boards today. As an outcome, Paladion is currently driving this wave of increased customer traction and industry attention. I believe being the one of the first companies in Asia, to provide specialized information risk management helped our cause.

Since 2006, Middle East has been one of Paladion’s focussed markets and we have chartered an aggressive growth plan for the region to address the increased demand in the Gulf region. As the ME’s only Gartner rated Managed security provider, we are commissioning next generation Security Intelligent Centres (SIC)in UAE, Qatar and KSA. While Security Operations Centres (SOC) provide comprehensive monitoring, they provide only a reactive approach to address plethora of threats that an enterprise face today. Paladion’s latest, state-of-art Security Intelligence Centres leverage the power of big data analytics together with cloud computing to provide not just monitoring but an advanced managed services framework for proactive protection. We’ve also rolled out very ME focussed services in 2014, like PKit, a solution built for Government entities to comply with the Dubai Government’s Information Security Regulation (ISR).

So is cloud and analytics the game changer for Information Security?

Today, security data load is fast emerging as the main problem faced by enterprise across the globe. Various tools &technologies deployed for security of IT infrastructure is churning out large amount of data making manual analysis impossible. Paladion’s SIC leverages latest big data technologies to make sense of this enormous security data.

Another advantage of this approach is that this empowers the enterprise teams with predictive analysis making information security teams a proactive outfit. On the other side, managing information security for medium sized and niche companies require scale and flexibility. The emergence of cloud computing is enabling us to address this market with variety of Infosec services relevant for the segment at friendly prices.

As a global player with well distributed presence across GCC, how do you rate Middle East’s information security landscape?

Though business processes in the Middle East are quite unique in comparison, the threat landscape is identical to that of other more developed geographies. Rapid business growth and robust compliance drives helped the region leapfrog to latest IT infrastructure and framework. So Paladion’s SICs in the region see a definitive trend of worldwide attacks being mirrored in the region almost instantaneously. Another noteworthy point is the spike that the region has seen in Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) like Stuxnet, Flame or Mahdi particularly devised to infect entities in Middle East due to the Geo Political environment in the region.

What is your channel strategy for ME? As security is becoming the priority of businesses across segments, mid-market is fast becoming the largest chunk of this industry. In ME we expect to see this transition in 201415.The traditional, on-site security solution deployment and services will no longer suit these customers and cloud powered security services is the need of the hour. This also calls for a different customer outreach programs enabled by partners with strong focus on cloud and computing. We plan engage with forward thinking channel partners in this space to build a strong Security-as-a-Service brand in the next couple of years. We will be rolling out our channel program in Q3, 2014.I would like to invite all like-minded partners who want to explore this excellent opportunity to reach out to me directly at mdemea@paladion.net.

highlights

News

ComGuard renews partnership with Acunetix ComGuard, a value-added distributor for networking and IT security products in the MENA region has renewed its partnership with Acunetix, a global player in web application security scanning. The renewal reinforces the existing partnership to provide organisations across the region with web security solutions, support, and infrastructure.

The renewed collaboration allows organisations of all sizes and security professionals in the region to benefit from the vendor’s advanced crawling and vulnerability detection technologies while at the same time be assisted by the distributor’s team with specific tailor-made security solutions.

“The partnership between Acunetix and Comguard comes at a time when there has been a surge of new and dangerous vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed and an increase in hacking incidents across the globe,” said Jayadevan K, Director, Operations, ComGuard.

Chris Martin, General Manager, Acunetix

According to the statement released, the distributor will focus on developing, enabling and empowering the channel through technical and sales training workshops while the security engineers at Acunetix will focus on further enhancing the crawling and detection capabilities of Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner.

“The additional value that ComGuard brings to this product is the diversified and strong sales and presales team for both the SMBs and Enterprise segments of the market. This year, the ComGuard Sales Team has been further reinforced to be able to better assist our clients across the regions,” added Jayadevan.

“The renewed commitment of the partnership is based on a two-fold strategy in EMEA, which is aggressive marketing and penetration into new regions,” said Chris Martin, General Manager, Acunetix.

“Together with ComGuard, we will have the opportunity to showcase our technology’s capabilities during various roadshows, seminars and other educational events.”

Bit9 and Carbon Black merge to battle cyber threats Bit9 has merged with Carbon Black, a next-generation security company to prevent and detect advanced threats on endpoints and servers andprovide immediate incident response. The combined entity, retaining the Bit9 name, has raised $38.25 million to fuel its explosive growth as businesses race to protect themselves against the ever-increasing damage from advanced attacks.

“Every enterprise endpoint and server is a defenseless blind spot for advanced threats,” said Mohammad Aquib Aftab, Regional Director Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Bit9.

“Traditional defenses such as antivirus cannot detect or stop

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stealthy attacks orchestrated by malicious actors, or help companies respond to incidents, which has been painfully underlined globally by the recent high-profile intrusions into leading retailers.

Organisations in the region can now avoid becoming a victim of a costly attack with continuous surveillance of all of their computers using Carbon Black, and by stopping advanced threats using Bit9’s signatureless prevention technology”.

Mike Viscous, CEO, Carbon Black, said, “We founded Carbon Black to dramatically lower the cost and complexity of incident response. In today’s environment, organisations

simply can’t afford to call expensive incident response companies every time they suspect they have a breach. Carbon Black was built by talented, offensiveminded, security experts who understand every facet of the response process. The result of that expertise is a product that has enabled companies to respond to incidents in seconds. By integrating the best technologies for prevention, detection and response, Bit9 and Carbon Black are addressing the full lifecycle of endpoint security”.

Avinash Advani, VP Business Strategy, StarLink, Bit9’s valueadded-distributor in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa said, “Bit9

and Carbon Black are highly complementary and together will bring our customers an exceptional level of security against next-generation malware.

Enterprises and government organisations in the region have been struggling with incident response expertise, resource availability and costs, yet shortening incident response timeframes is at the top of their priority lists. By combining Bit9’s market-leading endpoint/server advanced threat prevention solution with Carbon Black’s breakthrough incident response solution, Bit9 offers companies an unprecedented ability to detect and stop cyber threats and respond to incidents—all in real time.”

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For deeper network security and control

look beyond the obvious.

Dell™ SonicWALL™ next-gen firewalls provide a deeper level of network security and application control without slowing down performance.

Not all next-generation firewalls are the same. To start, Dell SonicWALL next-generation firewalls scan every byte of every packet while maintaining the high performance and low latency that busy networks require.

Additionally, Dell SonicWALL network security goes deeper than other firewalls by providing high-performance SSL decryption and inspection, an intrusion prevention system that features sophisticated anti-evasion technology, context-aware application control and network-based malware protection that leverages the power of the cloud.

Now your organization can block sophisticated new threats that emerge on a daily basis and stay productive.

Go deeper at: sonicwall.com/deep

Copyright 2014 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell SonicWALL is a trademark of Dell Inc. and all other Dell SonicWALL product and service names and slogans are trademarks of Dell Inc.

highlights

News

StarLink becomes SpectorSoft’s disti

Avinash Advani, Director, Business Strategy, StarLink StarLink has announced its appointment as SpectorSoft’s distributor for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. The distributor will sell, install and support SpectorSoft

products and solutions through its channel partners across the regions to enterprise and government customers.

“As the leading provider of insider

threat detection solutions, SpectorSoft is the benchmark in user activity monitoring and analysis software,” Paul Down, Vice President, Sales, EMEA, SpectorSoft said. “Our solutions enable the detection and review of security risks, helping our customers protect their assets and reputation while ensuring adherence to company policies. Beyond security, our solutions help customers optimise productivity and efficiency. Our collaboration with StarLink will robustly address security concerns in the regions they cover, and assist their partners to provide best-of-breed insider threat technology to customers,” said Down.

“By becoming the distributor for the company that has been awarded Best Fraud Prevention by SC Magazine Awards Europe in 2014, StarLink has initiated yet another success story in the promising segment of employee monitoring,” Avinash Advani, Director, Business Strategy, StarLink, said. “StarLink is now geared to offer companies the high value benefits of digital activity monitoring.”

Misys launches InFusion Partner Programme with HCL Technologies Misys, a provider of software solutions to financial services institutions, has announced the launch of its InFusion Partner Programme. HCL Technologies, a global IT services provider, joins Misys InFusion Programme at the Premier Elite Consulting Partner level, the highest level of partnership.

Brian Gibson, VP Partnerships and Ecosystems, Misys, said, “Having officially launched the Programme to the market in January we are absolutely delighted with the positive feedback and reaction we have received from our

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partners and our clients. It validates that our increased focus on partnering is the right one and that the InFusion Programme strongly supports that. We will be rapidly reviewing our partner ecosystem and on-boarding partners to the InFusion Programme in the coming months.”

As part of the partnership, HCL will work closely with Misys on joint client engagements using the latest Misys products. The two companies will collaborate and help customers to modernise applications, improve process efficiencies and reduce costs.

“As a global firm, we understand the importance of developing deep relationships with our clients and partners to provide the best services to financial institutions,” adds Nadeem Syed, Chief Executive Officer, Misys. “The recent joint win at Student Loans Company is further tangible proof that we can team and win together in the market. We are delighted with the momentum built thus far with HCL Technologies and we welcome them to the Misys InFusion Partner Programme. We look forward to working even more closely together as we further

advance our joint business in a number of exciting areas.”

“Misys is a long-standing and important partner and we have a track record of delivering many successful customer engagements on Misys products. The new Misys InFusion Partner Programme fits in well with our systems integration strategy in financial services and helps our customers compete in the digital world and derive more value from their technology investments,” said Rahul Singh, President, Financial Services and Business Services, HCL Technologies.

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highlights

News

Sico Tech launches tablet & smartphone range Sico Technology, an Egyptian-based company, has recently launched a lineup of tablet and smartphone products at an event held at Atlantis, Dubai. The product line-up includes Smartphone Pro with its dual active SIM card and Tab2 and Tab2Go featuring 1280×800 resolution LED display. The launch event was attended by representatives of more than 50 retail and reseller partners across the UAE. “We have a strong product range to rival the midlevel tablets and smartphones available in the market with stronger and better features,” said Engr. Mohamed Salem, Chairman and CEO, Sico Technology. “We had a very

good response from the channel community – both retailers and resellers. We are committed to develop high quality, customised products and services that offer international quality standards for consumers and businesses at affordable prices.”

The smartphones and tablets are currently available in SharafDG, Lulu Hypermarket, Al Manama, Al Maya, Al Ansar Gallery, Al Falak, Micro and other retailers across the UAE. The company will establish a branch in Nairobi, Kenya by the end of this year to expand into the African region to cater specifically to Eastern and Central Africa.

Prestigio unveils digital signage solutions Prestigio has recently launched its new business solution – digital signage, a range of digital display devices for a dynamic demonstration of media messages to a target audience.

The Prestigio digital signage range combines video and audio streams driven by an onboard computer for the most effective communication with an audience. It is shaped as either elegant kiosks or wall-mount video panels, said the company.

“Each Prestigio digital signage device features an interactive display, speakers and a PC with the most popular interfaces and Wi-FI connection within a mix of functional design with installation and service simplicity. Thus, we have managed to combine quality with the most affordable pricing and I am perfectly sure that Prestigio DS media displays will make a successful long-term business investment,” said Dia Hamdan, Prestigio MEA Marketing Manager, commented on the new Prestigio digital solution.

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The company’s digital signage multimedia displays are a solution in the field of digital out of home (DOOH). They are widely used in airports, malls, banks and other public institutions.

The core of this business solution appears in a system of real-time multimedia information playback and content management. By means of a powerful media server with special software or with the help of cloud services a number of digital displays are integrated into one system that shares media content with an audience. Thus, all the displays can be managed from a central point. It provides the opportunity to play back actual information in real-time mode as well as present several dynamic promotions on one display.

Prestigio’s digital signage solution includes a range of protected indoor displays that include wall-mounted horizontal panels and kiosks with vertical and horizontal display orientation.

The wall-mounted displays feature

screen sizes, such as 22-inches or 42-inches and a computer with basic specifications running on Android. Internal kiosks are equipped with 42 – 55 inches horizontal and vertical displays and Android and Windows computers.

Otherwise all the displays are identical in their main features: Full HD resolution (1080×1920), aspect ratio 16:9, view angle of 178 degrees and a lifetime of 30.000 hours.

Indoor displays feature optional multi-touch function. Secure 4-mm tempered glass and a solid aluminum housing protected display for regular use in public places.

Digital Signage media displays run both on Android and on Windows. An integrated PC gives the possibility of fine tuning of the device whether an Internet connection is available or not. Specialised software facilitates the creation of advertising campaigns in real time that may be shown dynamically on any display chosen by the operator. Also, according to the company, the software helps to track any possible system failures very quickly.

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highlights

News

ProCons spreads wings in Kuwait

ProCons, the accredited SAP gold partner and master VAR for SAP Business One, has signed a joint venture with Al-Awama Group of Companies– a large Kuwaiti Group involved in a spectrum of business activities such as electro-mechanical works, catering services, telecommunications, education and travel and tourism.

The joint venture comes during the company’s aggressive expansion plans and growth of the services sector in Kuwait.

Ibrahim Al Ghanim, CEO, Al-Awama Group said, “The services sector is highly dependent on the IT platforms and

infrastructure that we acquire in Kuwait. The service industry is a large and growing source of jobs across the country and our strength in the area will play an important role in economic and social development. Our joint venture with ProCons will establish highly productive sector generating benefits for many industries, and this in return will provide services that power inclusive growth.”

He added, “We are very pleased to have agreed terms and established this joint venture with ProCons. The company is one of the most reputable in its industry and has clear benefits for our investment portfolio. We welcome our

new partners and look forward to a long and successful business relationship.”

Wassim Hassanieh, Managing Director of ProCons said, “Kuwait is very strategic for us; it took us sometime to find the right partner which shares the same values, but now we are very glad to partner with Al-Awama.”

He added: “Using our industry expertise, technological capabilities and SAP software, we will help move any business entity in Kuwait from one level to another.”

Hassanieh added, ”ProCons strong network and partners is all what Al-Awama needs to significantly improve their performance by brining greater competition and better technologies to any services sector in Kuwait.”

As SAP’s gold partner with more than 10 years of business project experience, the reseller said it is committed to developing innovations that improve the lives of people everywhere.

Over the last few years, ProCons has built a strong network of channel partners and resellers across the Middle East and Africa. Established in Dubai in 2005 with offices in UAE, KSA, Lebanon, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey the company provides professional SAP consultancy and expertise to businesses within the MENA region.

Sophos signs up ComGuard as VAD for Middle East Sophos has appointed ComGuard as its new valueadded distributor for the Middle East region. According to the terms of the agreement, the distributor will promote and distribute the vendor’s complete range of security solutions including its network, endpoint and server security solutions through its strong reseller network across the region.

Thomas Thoelke, Sales Director, Sophos NEEMEA said, “Over the last few years, Sophos has established itself as a vendor of choice for endpoint security solutions in the Middle East. In order to strengthen our position, we were looking for a distribution

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partner with strong market knowledge, resources and expertise to grow our business and market share further.

ComGuard, being a reputed and trusted security specialist VAD in the Middle East, was the perfect partner for Sophos.

Their in-depth understanding of the market dynamics, skilled technical team and timely channel enablement programs will play a big role in our success in the Middle East.”

“We are happy to sign on Sophos, which is a global leader in IT security and data protection.

Our focus is to bring Sophos’ superior solutions to our highly skilled reseller base and support their own customer development

initiatives with our pre sales, post sales, market development, and training and vendor certification services. Therefore from our partners’ perspective, there is immense scope to benefit from Sophos’ wide range of product suites and to exponentially increase the business by signing up with a single and reliable brand. We look forward to working closely with the Sophos team to increase their footprint in this region,” said Ajay Singh Chauhan, CEO, ComGuard.

The distributor will work closely with Sophos’ local sales and technical team to provide its channel partners complete support, greater flexibility and easy access to the local team as

well as deliver broad access to the vendor’s solutions.

ComGuard has put together a consolidated business and marketing plan, which includes promotional strategies targeted towards various market segments. The company will offer its partners pre-sales, implementation and post-sales support and has planned reseller enablement and end-user programmes in the second half of 2014.

Sophos, on its part, will extend technical, sales training and certification support to ComGuard and its channel partners and will also participate in the distributor’s joint marketing and channel activities.

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for more info, please contact: Sam Johny | Product Manager - Cisco Email: samj@aptecme.com Mobile : +971 55 510 34906 | http://apteconline.com

highlights

News

Psilog signs up Citizen Systems

Psilog International, a value-added distributor in infrastructure, storage, security, mobility, networking, components and computer accessories in MENA has signed up with the printer vendor, Citizen Systems for its label, mobile and POS printers ranges in the Middle East.

Chandan K Das, General Manager, Psilog said, “We have faith in Citizen because it is known for the quality and precision the brand brings. There is quite a massive potential for growth for the products in the region as the market

penetration has not yet been completely realised and Psilog identifies this as a great opportunity.”

“Citizen Printers have a proven ease of use and reliability, so therefore a high ROI for users. Of course each model has its own USP and this will be promoted by Psilog as required when addressing the market,” he added.

The market the company is targeting includes businesses that optimise their operations with Auto ID, according to Vijay Sangam, Enterprise Business

Unit Manager, Psilog. “Our immediate strategy would be to target existing and new users of other print solutions in the Auto ID market segment, and then on the longer term, we are looking at incremental expansion in conjunction with our full range of compatible products,” Sangam added.

“Citizen’s presence is not new in this market, however our association with Psilog is extremely important. We have found a distribution partner with great market presence, in-depth application knowledge, experience of regional distribution and with the technical knowhow to represent our products,” said Mark Moore, EMEA Sales and Marketing Director, Citizen.

“Psilog’s has a market proposition of versatility, handling precision products, a proactive approach, providing access to credit facilities, and an immediate stocking and service capability,” said Emmanuel Kongolo, Regional Sales Manager Middle East, Citizen. “We are very committed to our distribution partners. We work with a limited numbers of partners within the same region, this is defined by the vertical and geographical coverage, and we see a great match with Psilog.”

Cynosure Solutions achieves ISO 9001:2008 certification Cynosure Solutions, an enterprise IT solutions and services provider in the Middle East, Europe and Africa region, has announced that it is now certified as ISO 9001:2008 compliant organisation.

According to the company, it received its certificate of ISO 9001:2008 registration last week after a stringent evaluation process that included assessment of quality management system, documentation review, preaudit and initial assessment, and clearance of all nonconformances—all of which work

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to identify corrective measures that eliminate non-conformances in the quality management system—to meet the expected standards for certification as a ISO 9001:2008 compliant company. The certification of compliance recognises that the policies, practices and procedures of the company are geared to deliver consistent quality in their products and services, with highest efficiency and responsiveness to guarantee client satisfaction.

The company is certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 for a range

of activities such as software development, IT outsourcing, systems integration, consulting, design, implementation, customisation, maintenance, support services for IT infrastructure, cloud computing, IT security and business application software solutions.

“We are proud to say that Cynosure Solutions embraces the business processes that ensure high quality solutions and services delivered to our customers,” said Amandeep S Mehta, Director, Cynosure Solutions. “We believe that our decision to become ISO 9001

Certified is a proactive one that not only anticipates the demands of our customers but also reveals our deep commitment to providing quality solutions and services to our clients.

This certification demonstrates our strict adherence to quality management practices and our commitment to continuous improvement.”

The company’s offerings include application services to IT infrastructure, networking to information security, business continuity to disaster recovery through consulting and professional services.

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GBM appoints Philippe Jarre as CEO

Philippe Jarre, Chief Executive Officer, GBM Gulf Business Machines (GBM) has appointed Philippe Jarre as Chief Executive Officer post Cesare Cardone’s retirement after 14 years in the role.

Jarre has extensive international expertise, spanning the United States and Europe. He joins GBM from his most recent role with IBM,

as the general manager for the global strategic outsourcing business based in Ireland. He brings significant services experience and a strong, long-term vision for the company’s future.

“GBM has seen tremendous success and growth under Cesare’s leadership, and he will be greatly missed, but we are confident that Philippe will bring a strong, long-term strategy to take the company to the next level,” said Jalal Mohammed Jalal, Chairman, GBM. “We are delighted to welcome Philippe on board, and his understanding of the rapidly evolving IT landscape will support GBM’s vision for the future.”

Officially taking over the role from this month, Jarre will be based at GBM’s Dubai office, working closely with the company’s offices throughout the Gulf.

Vibhu Kapoor joins Infor as ME director

Vibhu Kapoor, Director , Partner Recruitment and Enablement, Middle East., Infor Infor has appointed Vibhu Kapoor as director for partner recruitment and enablement for the Middle East. He will be responsible for the growth and expansion of the partner ecosystem across all the company’s products spanning all industries in the region. His appointment is the latest stage of Infor’s execution on a plan to invest significantly to grow, expand and support the Infor Partner Network (IPN).

With over 13 years of experience, Kapoor’s previous stints included managing enterprise software from partner management and channel sales roles at Microsoft and SAP. Based in Infor’s Dubai office in Media City, Kapoor will be responsible for recruiting

and onboarding new partners and further ‘enabling’ existing partners. The company plans to expand its partner network throughout the Middle East region in the key industries of manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, public sector, healthcare and hospitality.

“Our partner sales growth in the Middle East is based on Infor providing industryspecific software applications that require minimal modifications and help easily meet the needs of our customers in their specific industries,” said Jeff Abbott, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Channels, Telesales, Business Development and Field Marketing, Infor. “Our competitors have created an environment of shipping software that requires extensive, expensive customisation and systems integration work to make the software meet their needs. We understand that customers operate with limited IT budgets, so the Infor approach is to deliver software that works better for our customers right out-of-the-box.”

“Kapoor will help Infor to work closely with our Middle East channel partners to drive and our industry focus and align selling efforts.

With an industry leading channel program, and disruptive, game changing technology that offers more flexibility at a lower cost of ownership, it’s an exciting time for Kapoor to join our IPN team,” he added.

Polycom names Mark Arman as VP of Worldwide Channel Sales

Mark Arman, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Sales, Polycom Mark Arman has joined Polycom as Vice President of Worldwide Channel Sales. In this role, Arman will be responsible for the company’s global channel strategy with the goal of increasing customer success through partner loyalty and profitability. He will build on the vendor’s partner programme by developing, overseeing and executing initiatives that focus on partnering for customer success and driving revenue for both Polycom and its partners around the world.

“Polycom is a partner-centric company, and our legacy is built on the powerful combination of our solutions and the best partner ecosystem in the industry,” said Damian Artt, President of Americas Sales, Polycom. “Mark brings to Polycom the experience, results and leadership we need to drive our partner programme to the next level and provide the best service to our customers.”

“I look forward to leading Polycom’s channels organisation and building even stronger relationships with our partners,” said Arman. “Polycom’s leadership position in video, voice and content collaboration solutions is unparalleled, and I am committed to making Polycom, our partners, and our joint customers extremely successful.”

Prior to his most recent role as a leader in L.E.K. Consulting’s Technology and Sales Force Optimisation practices, he held various sales and channel-focused leadership positions at ShoreTel.

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opinion

Interactive Intelligence

Excelling at mobile customer service Shaheen Haque, Territory Manager, Middle East & Turkey at Interactive Intelligence, explains how companies need to create a seamless mobile and social experience to form winning customer relationships.

The rapid advance of smartphones and the development of mobile apps have given consumers newfound freedom and convenience.

The Middle East region is expected to account for the second-largest mobile phone population of any region in the world, according to eMarketer’s Global Media Intelligence Report.

For businesses, this new mobile approach has provided a way to serve customers better and faster and form stronger and more lasting relationships — if done correctly. But that’s the problem. Many organisations in the Middle East have struggled to determine how best to use these new tools to their

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Shaheen Haque, Territory Manager, Middle East & Turkey at Interactive Intelligence

advantage, and provide their customers with a capability that works well and adds value. Gaining that advantage requires delivering the type of mobile experience users have come to expect, an experience that can take place from anywhere, and with less effort.

The challenges are many. Developing custom mobile applications can be costly, and typically a different app is needed for each of the popular smartphone platforms. Compelling mobile apps also need an ongoing string of enhancements and new features to keep the user engaged.

However, the most challenging aspect is deciding exactly what the app must do and how it can add value to the customer relationship. That functionality can be different for manufacturers, retailers, financial services firms, and virtually every other type of business.

Yet no matter the business sector, the one function common to all organisations is the need to service and support their customers. In most cases, mobile services come down to an automated process devoid of human contact. But what if the customer has an issue, and must speak to a service representative to help resolve the problem? The typical scenario is that the app serves up an 800 number so the customer can call the contact centre. When, and if, the customer does call, they often sit in queue (burning cell minutes) until they reach an agent, where they will have to describe the issue from the start. All told, the process can diminish the customer’s experience and do nothing to cultivate their loyalty.

In the contact centre, the key to excelling at customer service is to integrate all customer touch points.

When the customer calls, agents have access to all information regarding that customer and what they’ve been through, allowing the agent to help resolve the issue quickly, and the customer is spared from having to repeat the same information over and over again. The contact centre industry has been perfecting those techniques for decades; however, the mobile revolution has thrown a new wrinkle into the mix. However, as people become more attached to the mobile lifestyle, it will be critically important to integrate the mobile experience successfully with the rest of the customer support plan.

Mobility is changing how people live, and excellence in the customer service provided to those mobile users will be an all-important factor to business success. But customers also bristle at mobile apps that perform poorly, that take time out of a busy schedule, and that prove to be more trouble than they’re worth. In that context, companies that can create a seamless mobile and social experience — that gets the job done in a fast and efficient fashion — can form winning customer relationships.

The key is recognising that customer service is at the core of those relationships. As the number and types of customer touch points continue to increase, companies must integrate the full arsenal of tools they have across multiple mobile channels to serve those customers. Whether a customer reaches out by phone, social network, email message, Twitter, or text on a wired or wireless device, they will get the same level of efficient service.

Companies need to deploy a complete mobile platform that allows them to build constant improvement into customer service capabilities, to differentiate their offerings and result in stronger customer bonds. Customers are going mobile and they’re going social, but they still expect an exemplary service experience. //

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Partner Excellence Conference

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VAD Panel: (L-R) Ajay Chauhan, Comguard; Adel Qahwash, Al Jammaz Distribution; Anand Choudha, Spectrami; Cem Ocal, Alcatel-Lucent; Mario M. Veljovic, Global Distribution and Renton Dsouza, WestconGroupME

Talking shop

Reseller Middle East’s fifth annual Partner Excellence Conference rallied together the channel community to discuss emerging market trends and evolving business operations.

The conference in its fifth year, saw a large number of attendees all throughout the day and provided an ideal platform for industry stakeholders to talk shop and also share insights with the reseller partners.

To see the day on Twitter, simply search #RME and #partnerconference

Through a series of panel discussions and presentations, the participants were able to network with the who’s who of the regional IT channel. Taj El Khayat, MD, METNA, Riverbed set the stage for the day with an industry keynote, and urged channel partners to ramp up their skills and streamline efficiencies to respond to changing market dynamics. “Vendors are looking to go deeper with fewer partners. I want to make sure we are managing partners together in an efficient manner. We need to do it properly with the right planning,” he said.

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Partner Excellence Conference

SI Panel: (L-R) Boby Joseph, DST; Jude Pereira, Nanjgel; Miguel Angel Villalonga, Emitac Enterprise Solutions; Mohammed Zameer, Al Rostamani Communications and Stephan Berner, Help AG

He added that channel partners need to be profitable in order to keep investing in the business.

“Resellers and systems integrators have to profit so that they continue to invest with us. In order to ensure the business is profitable for all stakeholders of the business, the services components must be partner-led.”

El Khayat discussed about how human capital is the most important asset of any business and that they must be cherished. “Partners are king. The only way a partnership will work is when both parties add value to what is there on the table.”

Next up was Ahmad Diab, Solutions Sales Executive, Dell – UAE, who outlined the cloud services opportunities for the channel and discussed some of the powerful disrupters in the marketplace. “By 2017, 900 million tablets will be in use for work and home. And CIO adoption of ‘cloud first’ strategies will double to 70 percent by 2016. And in another six years, the annual data generation will by 35 trillion terabytes.” In this kind of a scenario, Diab said, security and risk are the number one concern in the adoption of cloud.

The first panel discussion of the day saw industry experts sharing their views on ‘Achieving and sustaining profitable growth’. The channel players have come a long way from the downturn experienced a few years ago. The focus is now not only on the top-line growth but also striking a balance and maintaining profitability.

Although it is easier said than done, maintaining profitability in day-to-day business is not easy, especially when we are talking about partner profitability.

Agreeing, Shailendra Rughwani, President, DCG, said, “What is going to happen if there is no drastic change in the channel? We will see drastic shrinkages in resellers from mergers and closures. This will happen soon, so something needs to be done now. Everyone must come together.”

StorIT Distribution’s Group MD, Suren Vedantham, urged the reseller community to monitor its strategies

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Shailendra Rughwani, President, DCG and Suren Vedantham, Group MD, StorIT Distribution on a regular basis. “If people really want to invest in business for the future they have to educate themselves with the available reports and identify areas of opportunities. Private cloud computing can be an opportunity for profit.”

But when it comes to partner profitability, whose responsibility is it? Are the vendors conscious of the impact the products and services have on the partner’s business? According to Zaeem Ahmed, Group Marketing Manager, Metra, the pressure is equally on vendors and resellers. “When it comes to educating the resellers, vendors must take an active participation. And it is a continuous process.”

Vedantham added that survival is only possible if there are sustainable business models and he says change is an integral part of it. However, he says, “People are not ready for change, if they understood the change, they can have the vision. We must upgrade constantly.”

Mohammad Mobasseri, CEO, emt Distribution

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Ahmad Diab, Solutions Sales Executive, Dell - UAE

Taj El Khayat, MD, METNA, Riverbed

Zaeem Ahmed, Group Marketing Manager, Metra

Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director, MENA & Turkey, Dell, SonicWALL

added, “The industry is moving ahead, if you look at success stories in the past two years, you can see a number of startups that have been successful.”

The panel concluded that embracing change, focusing on partner profitability and leading with services are some of the ways to achieve and sustain profitable growth.

Post the panel discussion, Haitham Alkhazaleh, Information and Claims Manager, Coface Emirates Services gave a presentation on ‘Managing credit risk’, another burning issue in the Middle East IT channel.

Alkhazaleh said, “Extending credit to customers creates cash flow and payment risks for the seller. There is less cash available and lower access to financing.

Companies extend credit, they are not paid back and then they risk bankruptcy.”

He explained when credit risk is identified, companies have to eliminate or transfer this risk by monitoring, collecting information, maintaining trade reference check-up, sensing market trends and industry

performance, doing proper financial and non-financial analysis for debtors.

The second panel discussion focused on the future of systems integrators in a SaaS world. Will the ongoing shift from on-premise to off-premise IT make systems integration redundant? This question is particularly relevant as some of the SaaS vendors have started packaging integration as a value-add.

Boby Joseph, CEO, DST, who was one of the panelists said, “I don’t think things are going to be black and white in the future, and customers are going to need help. IT is increasingly becoming a driving force. There is a huge opportunity for systems integrators and resellers in the future.”

Agreeing with Joseph, Jude Pereira, Managing Director, Nanjgel spoke about the opportunities present in the space with emerging technologies such as cloud and Internet of Things. “The biggest risk we have is to demonstrate the value of the service.”

Saying information security is the reason why

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Partner Excellence Conference

Haitham Alkhazaleh, Information and Claims Manager, Coface Emirates Services organisations aren’t adapting to cloud today, Stephan Berner, Managing Director, Help AG brought in a new angle to the discussion.

Mohammed Zameer, General Manager, Al Rostamani said, “I have never found any vendor that went out and preached the cloud for security. The question I ask myself is what can I do, and do now? If you ask 40 people, you will get 40 different definitions of the cloud. To me, cloud is going to be one of those valueadded technologies. With the cloud, we will have some challenges and some benefits as well. The question is how much of your applications or data do you want to switch to the cloud?”

Miguel Angel Villalonga, CEO, Emitac Enterprise Solutions, added another perspective: “The data centre is now more automated, now measurement is possible.

At the end of the day, we are using technology in a traditional sense, with cloud as well.”

The panel further discussed that the region still demanded a face-to-face relationship but that might not be the case few years down the line. Berner added, “I think slowly but surely this attitude is going away and I think it needs to go away.”

Just before the final panel discussion for the day, Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director, MENA & Turkey, Dell, SonicWALL presented on ‘Securing your businesses with Next Generation Firewall’. “Firewall solution extensions are very important to ensure better security,” he said.

Value-added distribution (VAD) is the name of the game, which was evident from the strength of the panel.

The final and the largest panel for the day discussed on ‘what it means to be a true VAD?’ We have seen that the term VAD means different things to different channel players. For some, it simply means adding pre or postsales or technical support. However, according to Ajay Chauhan, CEO, Comguard, VAD clearly means you need

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Mohammad Mobasseri, CEO, emt Distribution to understand the network and the security paradigm.

“We should have the right skill sets required to support the industry,” he said. Agreeing with Chauhan, Adel Qahwash, GM, Al Jammaz Distribution said a VAD must understand all perspectives of the business.

Anand Choudha, Managing Director, Spectrami said, “We go and talk to the customers and make them understand about the technology. The channel needs to be convinced that there is a market for this product. At the same time we need to ensure that we have all the skill sets necessary to support the channel.”

For Renton Dsouza, Divisional Director – Comstor, WestconGroupME, valuation can take any shape. It can be anything that helps brings the vendors to market.

While Mario M. Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA, Global Distribution said, “The culture of the team needs to be geared to discovering new ways to make value for the company and the customers. Value needs to be something that the partner is willing to pay for.”

From a vendor’s perspective, Cem Ocal, Sales Director Distribution, Middle-East, Alcatel-Lucent recommends strategising and focusing on the best solutions available, in order to offer true value-add.

These few pages alone will not do justice to the VAD topic, considering how it induces lengthy discussions. But it will suffice to mention that one of the major points the panel discussed about was if a pure play VAD will survive over a volume distributor with a VAD division and the unanimous answer was it will, although there will be few challenges. With that, the conference came to an end but not before the audience won exciting prizes for being the most interactive on twitter and from raffle draws.

Considering the large number of attendees this year, it is fair to say that platforms like these only enable and further educate the channel players with current market trends and device a way together to face the future. //

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Partner Excellence Awards

Crowning channel royals Amid much fanfare, Reseller Middle East celebrated its fifth annual Partner Excellence Awards last month, at an all-out spectacular awards ceremony held at Emirates Towers, Dubai.

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The Middle East ICT sector is witnessing a major transformation when it comes to business operations thanks to the evolving technology trends. In such an environment, partners and other channel players across verticals must be on their toes to keep up with the changing market dynamics and emerge as a profitable player. Differentiation through innovation will be key here.

From over 250 shortlisted entries, the winners spread across 29 categories were chosen by a four-member judging panel

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Panel of judges Amer Khreino Founder and Managing Director, Avenues

“In an era of technology transformation, competency and perseverance precede others, as differentiators to success. This was showcased during RME Award Ceremony by participants who took the challenge and reinvented themselves successfully.”

Khaled Kamel Partner, MAHAM Consulting

“The fifth annual Reseller Middle East Partner Excellence Awards was a well put together celebration.

MAHAM Consulting was really proud to be a part of such a fantastic event.”

Philip Hughes Middle East Business Start Up Consultant, Pumpkin

“Hardest work I’ve had in judging any awards. The quality was so good this year that so many deserved to win.

Thanks to CPI for asking me to judge, no idea how I will choose next time if they continue to get better.” for their integrity, commitment and success in the channel business. The judging was based on various criteria such as channel support initiatives and services, market development activities and transforming business operations. This year new categories such as Mobility Distributor and KSA Distributor of the year were introduced keeping in line with the market trends. And as is custom now, Reseller Middle East’s 5000 plus readers were also given an opportunity to declare their preferences for vendors and distributors through an online

voting process, where we received an overwhelming response.

The fifth annual Partner Excellence Awards were sponsored by Dell (Platinum Sponsor), Arrow (Strategic Partner); and Prestigio, GBM, Mindware, ComGuard, Cyberoam, Al Jammaz Distribution, EMT Distribution and Metra (Gold Sponsors). The Silver Sponsors comprised of Exclusive Networks, TP-LINK, Nanjgel, D-Link, E-Max, Aruba Networks and Aptec, an Ingram Micro company. StorIT was the Table Partner and Touchmate was the Raffle Sponsor while Maham Consultants was the Knowledge Partner.

Vasudevan K S Director, Navo Informatica

“Being a part of the jury panel, I can see the quality of participation rising by the year. Also a significant rise in the number of participants shows the growing value the industry attaches to performance and awards.”

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Partner Excellence Awards

Mobility Distributor of the year Metra

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etra has been in the distribution business in the region for more than 30 years, over which it has developed 5000 plus channel partners, enabling it to introduce a strong partner ecosystem to new vendors and generate new revenue pools.

The company has worked together with vendors in enabling them to transition from a direct only model to also include a distribution model. According to Metra this was done by adopting best practices, programmes, tools and channel engagement models. Moreover, the distributor has successfully operated as vendors extended arm in developing markets where it may not have a full-fledged business such as Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan.

Over the years, the distributor has been able to adapt to the evolving market dynamics to keep itself relevant and successful. One of its biggest achievements from last year includes launching and signing up Aruba Networks in the region.

And a $15 million revenue from Ubiquity for developing a robust channel recruitment has been another highlight for the company

in 2013. Apart from that it was also able to sign up HP ESSN business last year and has invested in CIS solution centre.

The company believes demand generation support for channel partners to drive incremental business has been one of its reasons for success, besides continuous channel engagement and enablement programmes.

to educate customers on warranty and technical support which the grey imports don’t do.

Some of its other highlights include being the only distributor that is named as an authorised training centre for Kaspersky and also for other vendors such as Netsweeper, Acunetix, GFI, EC Council and WatchGuard. One of its significant

highlight includes the launch of the Strategic Alliance and Quality Assurance (SAQA) team whose sole focus is to take care of the strategic relationship with the technology and channel partners.

The organisation’s distribution reach coves around 14 countries across the Middle East and APAC region with more than 1000 partners.

Security Distributor of the year ComGuard

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omGuard, a part of the Spectrum Group, has recently moved to a new holding property of 12500sq. ft., which houses lab facilities for testing and training.

Training and people have been the prime focus for the IT security distributor, which is why it has leveraged its in-house technical strength and developed a pool of 60 engineers to provide technical support to resellers and customers.

With a reach across MENA, the valueadded distributor believes this helps it to handle complex project scenarios for its partners and achieve a faster sales turnaround. And with over ten years of experience in the Middle East region, the distributor says it is important for them

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Specialised Distributor of the year StorIT Distribution

E

stablished in Dubai over a decade ago, StorIT has been a specialist value distributor right from the beginning in focused areas such as data storage, data protection, data management, high performance computing and Big Data analytics solutions and services.

The company distributes a host of products from various global IT vendors such as EMC, Quantum, SAS, Qlogic, Mellanox, Silver Peak and Huawei.

The distributor’s partner programme called Taalim is a channel education and training initiative for its value-added resellers and systems integration partners.

The programme has successfully organised more than 48 training workshops that have included over 200 reseller partners all

throughout 2013.

As a part of their channel enablement initiatives, the distributor provides professional services that include presales consultancy, solutions architecture and design, project implementation, systems integration and proof of concept to name a few. It also offers a wide range of channel development and enablement

services such as education and training, channel incentive and partner enrolment programmes.

According to the company, a constant strife to build and sustain a knowledge based vibrant reseller partner network has motivated it to develop initiatives in developing its channel and raising the bar in value distribution in the region.

packaged and priced to allow partners to maximise margins on new sales, add-ons and recurring revenue. Also, the company’s channel programme benefits are structured in such a way that it balances its partners’ business models and is designed to empower partners to sell profitably. The programme allows channel partners to successfully sell as it is designed to offer discounts that commensurate

with technical certification and deal registration along with recurring revenue streams, sales and technical training and sales leads and support.

The distributor claims key vendors have signed up with it primarily due to its quality of services, values and resources. And added to that, its bandwidth to organise certificate training and workshops and run quarterly promotions enables its channel partners further.

Emerging Distributor of the year EMT Distribution

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MT Distribution, an European channel focused company with more than 15 years of experience in IT product distribution, is a recent entrant in the Middle East region.

With offices in Adelaide, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Austria, UK and the Philippines, the distributor believes it is imperative to stand out from competition by offering the right solutions to the right target audience through the right distribution channel.

The company’s support teams have the ability to offer support outside the standard business hours, and this is one of the strengths the distributor attributes to its success. As customers and channel partners can depend on the company for quality and on-demand technical support. According to the security distributor, its products and solutions are

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Partner Excellence Awards

KSA Distributor of the year Al Jammaz Distribution

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ith Saudi Arabia increasingly becoming a key market within the Middle East operations, this new category is aimed at honouring a consistently successful company in the channel space in the Saudi market.

Al Jammaz Distribution, one of the leading Saudi-based IT company, distributes advanced technology products, solutions and services in the areas of networking, data and voice communications, computers, servers, storage, wireless mobility and broadband access.

Serving across sectors such as financial, industrial, education, hospitality, healthcare, government, SMB and consumer sectors, the distributor has a number of key vendors under its belt such as Cisco Systems, EMC, Linksys, VCE, Symantec, Thomson, Lenovo, Panduit,

Iomega, APC and Fluke Networks. Operating through a two-tier model, the company has been able to establish a strong business coverage and reach about 85 percent of the KSA territory over the last eight years. The distributor believes it is important to serve its partners as a trusted ally by providing them with the loyalty of a business partner and the economics of an outside vendor,

as its business happens through systems integrators, value-added resellers, retail and network and service solution providers.

The company aims to choose the right mix of sales channels and work towards optimising their performance; this includes developing the channel and putting programmes in place in order to support it, and also measure its performance on a regular basis.

from this, the company also trains resellers on sales and technical information to enable them to sell better and support the product. It also provides marketing, finance and credit facilities along with qualified personnel support.

Believing partners are the backbone of any distribution business, the company has also invested in training centres across its offices in the region in an attempt to increase

partners’ technical competencies. Additionally, the company is an authorised training partner for VMware’s VATC and also for Cisco Entrepreneur Institute across the region.

Aptec launched one of its channel enablement and training programmes for its Cisco partners called Ingram Micro FlyHigher programme in November last year, which has won it a lot of appreciation from the market.

Networking Distributor of the year Aptec, an Ingram Micro company

O

ne of the leading distributors of enterprise networking products and networking solutions in the Middle East and Africa region, Aptec has added new vendors to its portfolio in the last year, including signing up with Juniper Networks towards the end of 2013. With a varied product line, the distributor currently boasts distribution agreements with vendors such as Cisco, HP networking, Allied Telesis, APC

by Schneider Electric, Avaya, D-Link, Linksys and NET, the company has also continued to work closely with its value-added resellers.

This means the distributor offers a complete range of support to the resellers, right from pre-sales consulting, helping in designing and configuration of solutions to using its demo centres for proof of concept and testing. Apart

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Value-Added Distributor of the year Westcon Group

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estcon Group’s continued focus on its product breadth, channel development, marketing initiatives and channel support and services to the partners has helped it to be a key player in the value-added distribution market of the Middle East IT channel landscape.

Identifying immense opportunities in security, convergence, infrastructure and mobility space, the distributor undertakes activities that ensures their partners have access to best-in-breed vendors. Currently, it boasts names such as Flexpod, ForeScout, Kaspersky Lab, F5 Networks, Palo Alto Networks and Panduit in its portfolio.

The specialty networking distributor has developed channel initiatives across the region centering around its six-

step selling cycle, which it claims aims to enable partners at each step of the end user selling cycle. The company does this through a number of activities such as training through WebTracks and Fast tracks, educating partners through MailVision mailers, helping partners analyse its performance through a competitive positioning reporting tool called Current

Analysis, which is licensed to partners free of charge, to name a few. Added to this, the company also invests into marketing initiatives which revolve around recruiting, enabling and growing.

The WestconGroup has played a key role in enabling the IT channel in the Middle East through its various channel development initiatives.

its in-house quarterly magazine called ‘The Shelf’ in an attempt to drive information-based engagement with the channel. Through this magazine, the company offers current views on channel dynamics and shares perspectives from participating vendors on business strategies. Partner training and channel engagement continues to be an important component for the company and

helps drive its commitment deliverance to the channel. This is done through measures such as database marketing by analysing data and targeting customers by segmentation, sending newsletter fortnightly to track and close leads, weekly webinars, tele-calling to generate leads and events for partners and end customers to understand market trends and strategies.

Broadline Distributor of the year Redington Gulf

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ne of the largest broadline distributors in the Middle East, Redington Gulf’s key strengths lie not only in its credit management but also with its systems and processes.

Having performed consistently on stock management, the distributor has had a good year in terms of turnover and channel and product breadth. Having over 56 product categories from over 24 global IT vendors under its volume distribution belt, Redington has transacted with over 1865 active partners across the Middle East in the last year alone.

Out of this, 24 percent of partners have been able to increase their transaction value yearon-year, which is an important factor in the channel business. The numbers alone indicate the distributor’s success. It has also launched

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Systems Integrator of the year EMW

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MW ME began operations in the UAE, 11 years ago, as part of its global expansion strategy. The systems integrator has had a robust growth of CAGR of 44 percent from 2004 to 2013.

Specialising in end-to-end infrastructure and business enablers, the company’s core strength includes delivering solutions and expertise with 7x24 365 days a year support. With a host of vendor partnerships such as Brocade, Blackberry RIM, Cisco Systems, Dell and HP to name a few, the company is recognised in the region as the Smart Convergence and Applications Expert.

Recently it has added three new vendors to the portfolio, which are AirWatch, Cloudpath. VMware and Zscaler. According

to the company, it is constantly introducing proof of concept technologies that differentiates the leaders from the followers.

In 2013, EMW has been able to maintain a steady growth and has added significant customer wins in the region such as Abu Dhabi University, Ministry of Interior, Radisson BLU and ADNIP. Identifying itself as a company with local presence but

global reach, it has completed projects in most market segments such as hospitality, media and communication, government, education, banking and finance, multinational corporations and retail.

According to the systems integrator, its customer-first attitude is its primary differentiator that has enabled it to grow significantly over the years.

process of moving its operations to the new 85,000 square feet headquarters in DIP, Dubai, set up this year. The new headquarters will also have a showroom to display its complete product range and also has a factory set-up. Subsequent to this move, the company also plans to go on a hiring mode to have enough personnel to handle the mobile and

solutions business. Already a player in the smartphone category, the company aims at being an even more serious contender in this space.

Instrumental in the region’s IT development, the company has been partnering with global names such as Intel and Microsoft to bring about innovative offerings, since the last two decades.

SMB Reseller of the year Quality Computers

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hat has helped Quality Computers to grow the business in the Middle East is having the ready availability of products at a reasonable price. Attributing this as their core strength, the company says offering technical solutions and regular product additions have also propelled its expansion in the region.

The company also focuses on prompt customer service and works to build a high level of customer satisfaction, enabling its growth. According to the company, qualified professionals and a modern service centre are some of the factors that help it to strengthen its business relationships over the years.

The 25-year old company is in the

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Super Retailer of the year Emax

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art of the Landmark Group, Emax has around 55 stores in the GCC with 12 of them in the UAE. Aiming to reach 100 stores by 2017, the retailer has grown from AED 25 million in 2006-2007 to AED 1.5 billion in 2012-2013. The company is expecting to exceed AED 2.1 billion in 2013-2014.

With Saudi Arabia being an important market for the Middle East players, the retailer’s KSA operations is projected to record a growth rate of 40 percent. With eight new stores this year, Emax Saudi is set to launch four more by the end of this year. The retailer has set a sustainable growth model, and is poised for further expansion to other MENA markets, mainly Iraq, Egypt and North Africa, to cater to the

needs of the local customers.

Emax had a successful GITEX Shopper in 2013 with sales increasing by 25 percent as compared to the previous year. The company recorded 22 percent increase over last year at GITEX Shopper 2014.

During Dubai Shopping Festival 2014, the retailer recorded a 35 percent surge in sales compared to the previous year.

With customer service being its strength, Emax has introduced consumer Buying Guides for a range of categories across several products to make customers’ purchasing easier. In order to serve its end users better, Emax has integrated its customer service facility with the social networking channels including Facebook and Twitter.

The company launched the region’s first 24/7 on demand cloud-based website protection service called website security G2 (WSG2), which can monitor the hacker’s activity, detect malware and vulnerabilities and keep the websites secure. It has also launched PKit, a solution built for Government entities to comply with the Dubai Government’s Information Security

Regulation (ISR).

Another highlight for the company this year is the implementation of one of the largest enterprise wide McAfee DLP for Ahli United Bank in Bahrain. And also setting up of entire Security Operations Centre (SOC) for Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank which involved reselling and implementation of various solutions.

Enterprise Reseller of the year Paladion Networks

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global service IT security provider with over 700 customers across Asia, US and Europe, Paladion offers unique technology platform and integrated services framework for its customers to actively monitor, reduce and prevent risks.

As an enterprise reseller, Paladion provides comprehensive information security solutions tailored for large enterprise.

The company’s range of solutions offers protection against latest and evolving threats by partnering with leading global vendors.

Apart from being a privileged partner for companies such as IBM, HP, McAfee, Tripwire, Fidelis, Lancope and AccessData, it is also IBM’s only security focussed Software Value Partner (SVP) in most of the GCC countries and HP’s gold certified partner.

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Networking Vendor of the year Huawei Middle East

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uawei Middle East is an increasingly expanding ICT company driven by emerging trends in the market place. With around 4000 employees across 10 countries in the Middle East, the company also has three dedicated regional innovations centres. Added to that, it has developed 28 innovation centres globally.

One of its strengths include housing a wide breadth portfolio of products and solutions suitable for the enterprise market from companies in oil and gas, utilities, transportation, education, healthcare, retail, banking and finance and more. The company offers agile networks, enabling end customers greater flexibility to move with the business needs.

In 2013, keeping up with the evolving market trends, the networking vendor has added new

solutions to its portfolio such as BYOD, SDN, TE30 video conferencing, outdoor and indoor data centre container solution, cloud data centre DC² and anti-DDoS security network. According to the company, its partner incentive programme, one of its initiatives with the channel partners, is structured with transparent agreements so that the partner understands the benefits gained from the company.

The programme also offers rebates to partners for attaining key milestones, which are balanced between sales and partner performance including marketing activities and leads generated. In the coming months, we will see the company focusing on those partners who is ready to invest with them and can align themselves to its strategy.

projects, the company works with its storage specialised preferred partners and has made its storage portfolio available through its regional distributors. Having grown its channel year-on-year, the company’s solution centre is another part of its expansion, following its relocation to new offices late last year. The new facilities have allowed the company to consolidate most of its current Middle East

operations and create an innovation hub for its business in the region.

Also over the past 12 months, the vendor has also developed an end-to-end portfolio of enterprise storage solutions built on the Fluid Data architecture. This allows the company to provide regional businesses with an IT infrastructure that can move their businesses forward.

Storage Vendor of the year Dell

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o ensure companies of any size can avail the enterprise features of storage solutions and also to make advanced storage functionality affordable to own and operate has been Dell’s strategy for the region.

The vendor is further empowering its channel partner community through its Network Certification programme within the Partner Direct programme in the UAE. The move means that partners can now achieve Dell Preferred or Dell Premier Partner certification in data centre and campus networking technologies.

With the help of a variety of channel partners in the Middle East, the company offers its growing portfolio of storage solutions in the region. For mission-critical storage

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Software Vendor of the year Microsoft Gulf

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ith cloud being an opportunity as well as a challenge, Microsoft Gulf has launched several channel-focused initiatives such as product offerings, pricing levels, marketing and readiness programmes, in an attempt to enable the channel to transition successfully to the cloud business.

Microsoft Gulf also has a dedicated SMB partner group which focuses on supporting and growing the SMB business by helping partners become the trusted advisor for SMB customers. This is done by counselling on topics such as cloud migration and recommending the best solutions across a field of competitive offerings. The company said its most valuable asset is its partner ecosystem, which is globally the largest

third-party sales force.

As the vendor’s cloud revenues globally doubled to $4 billion, it launched three separate cloud products – Office 365, Windows Azure and Intune – to the local channel so that it was able to gain from the growing business. According to the company, the incentives it offers for cloud are the highest across the Microsoft

portfolio, which is up to 23 percent. Partners get incentives for transacting, for advising customers and for deployment. They also launched a special certification programme called Cloud Accelerate as well as a deal registration programme. This was supported by various industry-specific marketing activities across SME and enterprises under the ‘jumpstart’ umbrella.

with regular training workshops conducted on the ground across different markets in the region. It also shares the latest in technology updates, product and technology information training and support through the use of its partner portal. Partners are also given marketing support through advertising and public relations and other visibility campaigns. The company has regular

product launches and on-site customer demo support. Xerox also offers all of the necessary incentives such as rebates and sales operational excellence awareness.

The company has expanded its focus to the SMB segment in 2014. According to the vendor, its strength is providing value and ensuring relevant offerings are provided to the company’s partners and end customers.

Printing Vendor of the year Xerox Corporation

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erox Corporation has evolved into a partner-centric company with an elaborate incentive programme in place and offers necessary support for the channel. In 2013, Xerox Emirates appointed 10 key partners for the UAE market.

The company’s growth in the region has allowed Xerox Emirates to establish a clear channel strategy and programme. Its promotion incentive and marketing co-op funds aims to bring resellers and partners into the vendor’s network to sell a wide range of products, software and services.

The company said it is a simple programme based around a series of incentives for those partners used to reward performance and drive behaviour that is mutually beneficial.

The printing vendor supports the channel

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Mobility Vendor of the Year Prestigio

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he mobility sector has been a dynamic space in the last few years, however Prestigio, a young mobile devices lifestyle brand has been able to keep pace with the evolving market conditions. Offering a varied range of products, right from Android powered smartphones and tablets to Windows-based mobile devices, the company believes in offering practical mobile devices that are part of daily business and lifestyle activities of ITusers globally. With sales offices in 30 plus countries and manufacturing centres in China, Finland, Czech Republic and Poland, Prestigio is a part of Asbis Enterprises, a global IT components and mobile solutions distributor.

Having partnered with Intel to work with service providers in African countries such as Safaricom in Kenya, Zamtel in Zambia, MTN in Uganda and South Africa through which its mobile devices are exclusively sold has been one of the key highlights for the company.

The vendor works with resellers, dealers, IT channel and power retailers, retailers, hyper

market stores in the retail channel to sell its mobile solutions. It is also a rising player in the education sector with its education tailored offerings. The company attributes its strength to comprehensive product range, partnership with Microsoft and Intel, competitive price on high quality products and a solid after-sales service throughout its service centres across the Middle East region.

the right time to partner with a regional VAD that has an extensive reach into the enterprise, telco and government segments.

The vendor has always identified the need to empower, educate and reward the reseller market, with the company’s partner portal serving as a central resource for resellers to source marketing collateral and product information.

Dell SonicWALL conducts proof-ofconcepts with resellers in the Middle East, allowing them to directly benefit from its knowledge and win new businesses.

Through joint end-users seminars arranged by the company, the resellers can take advantage of the vendor’s representatives as speakers or to contribute knowledge and experience to the occasion.

Security Vendor of the year Dell SonicWALL

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ell SonicWALL, the security arm of Dell offers its partners a wide range of network security solutions. This includes next-generation firewalls, secure mobile access, next generation UTM, web and e-mail security, backup and recovery, WAN acceleration, wireless security and policy and management solutions.

Operating in a two-tier channel model in the Middle-East, its channel partners have directly benefitted and been involved in the growth that the business has seen. With this successful channel history in the region, the company had announced partnership with StarLink last year for distributing its products and solutions in Saudi Arabia.

The company said with the advent of a carrier-class product category, it felt it was

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Systems & Hardware Vendor of the year Brocade Communications

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pioneer in data centre Ethernet fabric technology, SDN and network functions virtualisation technologies, Brocade Communications’ go-to-market model is 100 percent indirect and partner focused.

Its Alliance Partner Network (APN) programme has four partnership levels that includes distributor, elite, premier and select. All levels have been designed with specific requirements and benefits to help partners leverage and be rewarded for their networking product knowledge and solution support expertise. The programme benefits include comprehensive sales programmes, deal registration programmes, marketing and sales support, pre-sales technical support, SE support, knowledgebase, sales and technical training discounts,

demonstration equipment discounts, access to sales and marketing tools on the MyBrocade partner portal and the company rewards eligibility for all reseller partners.

It also has an online partner portal to centralise management of all resources and assets, an online configuration tool, online pre-sales training and new marketing and sales asset development resources.

The vendor has streamlined the point-ofsale processes, and has increased rebate caps and incentives on IP networking sales focused on driving new customer growth.

In February 2014, the company updated its APN Programme to enable partners to deliver next-generation SDN and Ethernet Fabric solutions. The programme now enables partners to increase profitability and enhance skillsets.

Programme, training people for the ICT-driven economy and fostering the next-generation of entrepreneurs and visionary leaders.

In the Middle East its partner-led programme ‘Cisco’s Led by You, Supported

by Us: Partner Sales Force Program’ has seen strong success.

It has been offering its partners networking certifications and specialisation

programmes for nearly two decades.

Its partner training programmes offer training in the company’s latest solutions and architectures in addition to branding resources. Cisco Channel Partner Programme focuses on a partner’s ability to deliver intelligent networks and technology architectures built on integrated products, services, and software platforms.

Readers’ Choice Vendor of the year Cisco

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isco’s prime focus is to help its channel partners in the Middle East to evolve their business models to respond to market transitions and new consumption models.

With 28 years of industry experience and 80 percent of the business conducted through the partnering model, partnering is hard-wired into the networking vendor’s culture and business.

In order to capture huge opportunities, Cisco focuses on building and enabling robust partner ecosystems. The goal is to empower the ecosystem to enable partners to have more value and opportunity.

Over the last 12 months, Cisco has consolidated 47 local programmes into one globally-consistent Services Partner

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Readers’ Choice Distributor of the year Logicom

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eseller Middle East’s readers voted online for Logicom as their preferred choice of distributor. The company has seen some changes in the last year, beginning with the opening of their new super-distribution centre in Jebel Ali. Featuring 5,000sqm of warehouse space, it incorporates a state-of-the-art VMS system. This means the company is now capable to offer flexible logistics services and next-day deliveries. Over the last year, it has also moved towards a local stock model with the introduction of sales offices and warehousing in Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

The company’s new brand and website along with its enhanced social networking sites unveiled last year have

helped communications and visibility with its partners. With partners being the centre of its operations, the company has also set up a Contact Centre to enhance partner experience. Through this, it rolls out partner programmes and incentives, offers customer service support and conducts telesales for partners and their customers.

As part of improving partner experience,

the distributor introduced programmes for non-vendor managed partners – Partners First for Cisco and HP Heroes. Both programmes guide partners through a journey of recruitment, enablement and growth. It deploys a variety of activities such as workshops, sales trainings, certifications, webinars, lead generation campaigns to generate end user demand for partners,

Fund (MDF) programme. The various qualifying activities include seminars, workshops, telemarketing, email marketing, and search marketing for the purpose of lead generation. To support partners in creating more demands for its products and acquiring new customers, the company encourages enablement activities. Funds are also available for partner development

activities including sales kick-offs, executive quarterly briefings, and sales promotions.

The company’s partner centre gives partners access to useful information such as sales presentations and demonstrations.

Riverbed also invests in quarterly joint marketing activities in order to maintain a steady flow of opportunities and leads for the partner.

Best Growth Initiative by a Vendor Riverbed Technology

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ne of the biggest highlights for Riverbed technology has been the introduction of its enhanced partner programme earlier this year. The programme rewards partners for their investments with funds, free trainings and promotion across partnership levels. The new performance partner levels are divided between elite, premier, and authorised partners and is reflective of the reciprocal investment in the relationship between the vendor and the specific partner. The programme’s benefits are three-fold, enhancing benefits for the channel community, simplifying business processes and streamlining training and certification.

Eligible partners are given money to co-fund marketing initiatives under the framework of the Market Development

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Growth Initiative by a Distributor DESPEC MERA

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espec Mera, a supplies distributor in the region has been a leader in HP supplies since 2011. With a yearly turnover of $75 million, the company has expanded its HP supplies contract to Kuwait and Qatar recently.

It is also equipped with fully supported warehouse facilities in the regions which include UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tanzania, Uganda and Nairobi.

This regional storage assist the channel partners to rightly utilise their cash and make economical purchases and have a better cash rotation cycle, the company said.

Believing that product and sales are the two main backbones of any distribution company, it has focused on ensuring best

trained and experienced staff to cater to the channel partner requirements at all times. Apart from providing the prices, availability and credit facility, the distributor also enable planograms for its customers, in order to make their purchase worthwhile and with the right assortment.

Understanding that simply clearing dead inventory is not the key achievement for

any partner, the distributor says it has the minimum stock return rate when compared to other supplies distributor. With credit being a primary issue for channel partners, the company provides extended credit limit for its loyal channel partners. With regular training programmes for the channel partners, the distributor enables partners to evolve with the market changes.

region, Toshiba has a substantial market share of 17 percent.

Varghese has also been instrumental in restructuring and growing the Profit for Performance (P4P), its incentive programme that rewards the company’s channel partners and trains their staff.

Championing for the cause of partners, Varghese developed a quarterly channel

training programme with certification.

This ensures a quality sale to the end customer and an increase in volumes and values, directly benefitting Toshiba’s channel partners. Also spearheading team restructuring to focus on the different partner categories, Varghese has employed additional head counts to improve reach to its channel partners.

Partner Champion of the year Santosh Varghese

General Manager, Digital Products & Services, Toshiba Gulf

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nder the leadership of Santosh Varghese, General Manager, Digital Products & Services, Toshiba Gulf, the company has had many achievements.

Varghese is responsible for a number of roles, one of it is managing the mobile computing products of the company. Heading the innovation division, he also looks after the vendor’s storage products including External HDD, NAS, Flash and memory cards.

According to IDC, the Toshiba has maintained the number one position in KSA and Jordan for three consecutive years and two years respectively. With a market share of 23 percent in East Africa, the company enjoys the top position in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania. And within the GCC

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Partner Excellence Awards

Woman Executive of the year Reeman Ansari

Regional Manager Channel, MENA, VMware

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eeman Ansari has over 14 years of industry experience, making her a veteran in the Middle East IT space.

Having begun her career as an entrepreneur, Ansari is passionate about technology and innovation. Realising that entrepreneurship wasn’t her cup of tea, she joined as a sales representative for Compaq and never looked back ever since.

Between Compaq, HP and Cisco, she managed systems integrators, solution providers, technology partners, consulting and integration partners and distribution across the Middle East region. Finding joy in working in multinational environments, Ansari said, “My strongest assets include passion for the business and the positive

attitude that I bring to any situations. Also, my ability to focus and deliver collectively with the team adds to my strengths.”

She attributes VMware as one of the motivating factors that keep her going and this is primarily because it is a growing and innovative organisation. “I can connect with its vision, direction and values. You have to be part of a growing company that excites

you and one you can relate to and connect with and that will resonate within you,” she said. VMware’s core values bring Execution, Passion, Integrity, Customer and community (EPIC) into the employees’ daily engagements.

She added, “There is a huge opportunity for IT to deliver competitive advantage and for VMware eco system of partners to grow with us and add value to their customers.”

With plans to grow the business even further by focusing on mobility, the distributor has observed a consolidation in the components business. He said, “Our components business has been growing well, around 5 percent year-on-year, which is quite substantial.”

According to Tantawi, by focusing and developing on a regular basis, players can

achieve a balance between top-line and bottom line growth. Asbis has been able to grow its component business even when the market was not doing well.

Tantawi’s focus has been ensuring Asbis’ strategy is that of a trusted partner rather than just an IT distributor. And he has invested time in building mutually beneficial and honest customer relationships.

Outstanding Executive of the year – IT channel Hesham Tantawi

Vice President, META, Asbis Enterprises

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esham Tantawi, Vice President, META, Asbis Enterprises began his career in IT in 1986, almost three decades ago with an Egypt-based company. A veteran in the Middle East channel space, Tantawi believes teamwork is an integral element for a successful business. Tantawi has also played a significant role in supporting and developing Dubai Computer Group, a body that represents Dubai’s IT companies. His continued efforts and interest has helped the association achieve several goals such as the implementation of customs duty exemption on IT products. He believes working closely with the channel can lead to gaining the customer’s trust.

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Outstanding Executive of the year Noman Qadir

Director Channels - MEA at Citrix Systems International

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ith around 14 years of experience in the Middle East’s IT sector, Noman Qadir, Director Channels - MEA at Citrix Systems International, began his career with Microsoft way back in 2000 before moving to channel management roles with CA and now Citrix.

Instrumental in defining and executing business development initiatives for the channel, he has been actively involved in achieving overall success for the business and the partners.

Clearly understanding that an emerging market demands to be catered through the channel, Qadir said, “For the industry and the region, 2013 has been

the year of stability. For Citrix specifically, it has been a year of phenomenal growth. Our growth rate last year was the highest we have experienced so far.”

The company saw growth from largely two areas – cloud networking business and mobility. As the consumer device sector grew at a steady pace, Qadir says the company had a role to ensure these

devices were secure.

“In 2014, we will be investing heavily in the channel ecosystem and will have enablement programmes so that our channel partners can deliver to the customer successfully. Also, Citrix aims at working closing with its alliance partners in order to provide an end-to-end solution,” he adds.

To see a product demonstration and learn more about Fidelis XPS, please contact Spectrami

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Partner Excellence Awards

Best Partner Excellence Programme of the year Mindware

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ith 22 years of operations, Mindware has been committed to adding value to the channel.

As a market initiative, the distributor had introduced a channel loyalty programme structured with the intention to enhance and bring value to the current incentive programmes and to reward channel partners for selling products under the company’s portfolio.

The aim of the initiative is to improve performance for channel partners and motivate internal sales teams, which in turn will help improve business. The company has simplified and streamlined the processes in the programme, and is in the first stage of placing a solid integrated platform. The system is now better placed to

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profile partners, update details in its system and understand customer requirements.

Over the last year, the company has invested in several initiatives and has added quite a few features to its business model to improve performance and overcome market challenges. The company also enhanced its B2B platform that was focused on the reseller to provide a direct line of communication between the distributor’s own ERP system and those of the vendors it represents. Apart from upgrading its ERP system, the company improved other developments such as more automation and integration, enhanced data mining and BI and other improvements to its technological infrastructure. Last year also saw the distributor adding EMC to its existing vendor

portfolio that includes Microsoft, Citrix, Juniper, Symantec and Dell.

Mindware has been invested in creating demand generation and partner enablement.

By working along with vendors, it has been able to help partners identify opportunities and focus on real potentials. It ran over 100 channel events and training over the past year to increase channel recruitment and increase breadth across the region. And the company has invested in supporting its channel partners in running end user event to increase product awareness and opportunities. It also has been at the forefront by investing in a few lead generation campaigns across different products in order to generate new leads and transfer it as opportunistic leads for the channel partners.

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Best Partner Excellence Programme of the year EMC

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ne of the biggest highlights for EMC last year was the withdrawal of the ‘Velocity’ name that is connected with a number of its partner programmes and the introduction of ‘EMC Business Partner’, which is a single umbrella for all partners right from velocity solution provider, service provider, global alliances, services, IIG and technology partners, to use for going to market with their customers.

The new partner programme aligns with the vendor’s goal to help partners leverage the brand equity that it has created.

The Business Partner Programme (BPP) was unveiled at EMC World 2014. The aim of the new partner programme was to enable partners to play a leading role in

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both the second platform and emerging third platform of IT, which are categorised by trends such as social, mobile, cloud and Big Data. Under the BPP, channel partners have the freedom to choose the tracks that best suit their business objectives, which could be EMC resell, distribution, cloud service provider, systems integrator and outsourcer as well as the RSASecurWorld programme. Partners in multiple tracks can use dollars earned and training credits in one track across other tracks for maximum flexibility, to lower costs and to invest in new lines of business with the vendor.

With the new programme, the vendor has made it simpler, predictable and more profitable for its channel partners with better rebates.

The vendor says the achievements in its channel programme in 2013 were possible because it focused on what it considers most important for channel partners, this includes ease of doing business, opportunities for increased profitability, technology leadership, service delivery, training and support.

Through the BPP, solutions are integrated right into the framework, and according to the company these solutions draw from its complete range of businesses.

The programme empowers and supports business partners in their current market space while also providing the tools they need to succeed in the evolving world of technology.

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FEATURE

BYOD

Staying ahead of the game Channel players say a holistic perspective is lacking when it comes to deploying BYOD solutions in the region.

Reseller ME discusses how partners can make the most in this space.

BYOD has caught the fancy of most organisations. But according to reports, the percentage of organisations that have deployed a BYOD policy or related solutions disturbingly are far lower than it should be even today. As the lines between personal and professional lives blur by the day, enterprises believe beyond its advantages, there exists another side of BYOD. It might enable employees to evolve into a mobile workforce, but one of the concerns that arise is the security of corporate data. The debate about BYOD is not new but how channel partners can optimise this space innovatively could be.

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Partners’ role A recently released Gartner study ‘Bring Your Own Device: The Facts and the Future’ says that 50 percent of businesses will require employees to supply their own computing devices by 2017. That could extend beyond the smartphone and tablet arenas to include laptops and even desktop computers.

“This will clearly have a major impact on the environment that made the channel so important—delivering more value to corporate customers that otherwise wouldn’t find it elsewhere.

But VARs should realise that BYOD isn’t nearly the threat that it was once believed to be. Sure, it’ll be harder to sell hardware in the enterprise, but

BYOD is a shift in how the channel operates, not a decline in need for companies that can add value to corporate customer technology infrastructure. The hardest part about BYOD, in fact, is finding the value for the channel, but close inspection reveals all kinds of value,” says Khalid Laban, CEO, Oxygen.

In a relatively short time, BYOD is already impacting the regional channel business. According to Nasser El Abdouli, Channel Sales Manager, Middle East, F5, channel partners who are not stepping up to offer guidance and concrete solutions are already starting to miss out on both profit and innovation.

With the region emerging as one of the most tech-enabled markets, this is

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BYOD

particularly true in the Middle East. He says. “According to Cisco’s recent Middle East ICT Security Study, almost half of all employees in the Middle East and Africa region already bring at least one unsecured device to work. Worryingly, only 55 percent of companies claimed to have a BYOD plan in place.”

There is no doubt that much work remains to be done. “While there are big challenges ahead, there are also tremendous opportunities to make game-changing differences. The channel will, and indeed has to, play a big role in driving education and best practice here,” he says.

The channel’s role is clear – offer consultancy services and educate customers on the demand for BYOD solutions. But while this might be a known factor, how do channel players go about implementing this accurately?

First point to consider and understand is that there is no universal approach.

The responsibility lies with the channel partners to understand the unique demands and needs of a particular customer and accordingly present an appropriate solution.

El Abdouli says partners need to evaluate what types of device are being using? How is the information being accessed and from where? What type of data are the customers accessing remotely? “Once partners understand the scale of the problem, they can map out a solution ensuring the right levels of authentication to protect the network and unlock the best possible end-user experience,” he adds.

“The channel will, and indeed has to, play a big role in driving education and best practice here.”

Nasser El Abdouli, Channel Sales Manager, Middle East, F5

Fadi Moubarak, Channel and Midmarket Director, MEA and Turkey, Avaya, says, there is a lot of education to be done. “We are bringing the world of the uncontrollable that is the personal world into a very controlled environment, which is the enterprise environment. Vendors will provide technologies but there is also the operational aspect, which presents immense opportunities for the channel.”

“Partners can differentiate themselves by either taking existing business applications to push them to BYOD or adding complimentary applications as is in the case of retail or healthcare,” he adds.

According to Laban, the BYOD trend is not only unstoppable but is set to transform the hardware landscape in the enterprise world permanently. He explains, “On the face of it, the BYOD pain points for customers such as hardware choices, security and management, are in fact a list of opportunities for resellers, as BYOD should be treated as a subset

“The successful partner will leverage BYOD to provide their clients with the right technology and the right access to get the job done in a productive and efficient manner.”

Ralf Jordan, Executive Director, Client Solutions Emerging EMEA, Dell

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of a broader mobility strategy in an organisation. Any VAR working within the network space, particularly, needs to seriously look at it as an opportunity that must be supported.

What is key for channel partners is to help their customers look at BYOD from the outlook of the entire technology ecosystem.”

This means looking at it from the Mobile Device Management (MDM) point of view as well. Helping customers see the larger picture will make it easier in the long run.

But at the end of the day, channel players acknowledge that the biggest challenge that exists with BYOD is the security aspect.

Overcoming obstacles Most channel players agree that the only way to circumvent the threat of security is by presenting the impacts of a holistic BYOD strategy.

Agreeing that security is certainly a big issue with enterprise BYOD, however it’s not the only challenge, points out Ahmad Elkhatib, Managing Partner, Shifra. “Managing workers’ mobile devices is a complex problem to tackle as well. The partners are fully aware that there is no one point solution that can be provisioned to address the issue. The challenges of BYOD reflect the need for partners to view the mobility challenges of the organisation.”

Apart from this, Moubarak from Avaya also adds that building the technical know-how is also a challenge that the partners need to overcome.

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FEATURE

BYOD

Some other challenges that organisations face are theft of mobile devices and loss of data caused due to it. From a partner perspective, Niraj Mathur, Security Practice Manager, GBM, says, the company has solutions to deal with these issues.

“We have solutions that have helped the organisation develop mobile applications a lot quicker, faster and securely. We have a testing team that tests the mobile applications. We also have solutions that can identify which solutions are connecting to the network and whether it is patched or not or running a software that is not permitted. We have the entire stack of solutions which can help an organisation right from the first step to the last one in the entire cycle,” he says. He also adds that understanding the problem completely first is an integral step for partners.

At the moment, Ralf Jordan, Executive Director, Client Solutions Emerging EMEA, Dell, says, companies rely on separate and often disjointed products which pose a number of challenges. “We have identified this gap and distinguishes itself from other players in the market by providing end-to-end solutions. Dell’s Enterprise Mobility Management solution offering IT a comprehensive management experience to configure and define security and compliance policies for iOS and Android smartphones; Windows, Android and iOS tablets; Linux, Mac and Windows laptops and

desktops; as well as thin and zero cloud clients,” explains Jordan.

Also, Thomas Thoelke, Sales Director NEEMEA, Sophos, says, another big challenge for a partner is to make a customer see the value of a solution.

“I believe this is the main challenge for a partner, and they will only be able to overcome it by showing the impacts of the BYOD strategy on customer’s security. There are some different routes to this depending on how big a picture a partner is able to draw. This can go from setting overall security strategies, policies on BYOD down to showing specific solutions or features of a product to the customer,” he says.

“The partners are fully aware that there is no one point solution that can be provisioned to address the issue. The challenges of BYOD reflect the need for partners to view the mobility challenges of the organisation.”

Ahmad Elkhatib, Managing Partner, Shifra

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Going forward The future of channel partners in this space is bright, provided they work closely with their customers and gain an understanding of their present situation and where they are heading.

“The successful partner will leverage BYOD to provide their clients with the right technology and the right access to get the job done in a productive and efficient manner.

If their customers identify any issues, such as security, then partners need to immediately address this concern and customise solutions for their BYOD business needs,” says Jordan.

Customisation is a key word here. A one-size-fit-all approach is not going to work simply because each customer has his unique requirements.

Only those partners who grasp this understanding can successfully reach out to customers, going forward.

“Each partner has to differentiate himself by a unique approach by developing a sustainable enterprise strategy tailored specially to each organisation. Partners has to provide solutions tailored to each business needs,” sums up Shifra’s Elkhatib. //

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vendor focus

Symantec

Partner first Fady Iskander, Channel and Commercial Regional Manager, MENA, Symantec, explains the revamped partner programme that promises more benefits for the channel partners.

Symantec had recently announced plans to revamp its existing partner programme, in an attempt to be in sync with market demands and changes. Giving the partners till the end of the year in order to prepare themselves to comply with the new programme, the security vendor says it is a global programme that has been tweaked according to local requirements. This is important as markets within the region alone can differ in terms of size and expectations.

Fady Iskander, Channel and Commercial Regional Manager, MENA, Symantec, explains how partners can benefit from the new programme.

What are some of the changes made to the programme?

We wanted to design a programme that is a single unit in terms of framework but has various different divisions encapsulated into it when we deliver the product to the customer. This means we have various bifurcations for different things like managed service providers, systems integration, hardware and software partners, but at the end of the day it is one global programme that is unifying the global strategy of Symantec on how we would like to deliver the product today.

How is the new programme based on a win-win model?

As a company, we are in the centre of all the mega trends that are happening in the market. But in order to build a programme, we need to consider three things, what does the customer need? How partners can win and how does Symantec win?

From the research we did, customers said they want expert partners in order to

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deliver according to their expectations.

Customers want to achieve a return on their investments. We are creating a programme where the customer will win.

This is the first angle, the customer will win if partners fulfil on their expectations.

And this brings us to partners. Our partners said the border we were setting for the programme entry was too low.

Taking this into consideration, we created a programme where we allowed the resellers to act with us. But the serious partners would like to add value to have a higher bar of standards. They wanted us to see those standards that apply there and also hold them accountable for them.

Our revamped programme works in a twotier model, where we have a competent partner and an expert competent partner.

An expert competent partner is a big differentiator in terms of ability to deliver to the market. And in return we are compensating this partner in a great deal of benefits. This way, the partner wins as we are offering good benefits and the bar is raised for programme entry.

If the customer wins and the partner wins then Symantec also wins because we are growing the market place. We

Fady Iskander, Channel and Commercial Regional Manager, MENA, Symantec

are transitioning into the competencybased model, which we have done by surveying the market. We have looked at our portfolio offering and divided the jobs that the customer wants us to solve into 12 different competencies. While some of these competencies are traditional solutions from the company such as end point security and data protection, others are new such as mobility competency.

You mentioned about benefits for the partners, can you elaborate on this?

With the redesigned partner programme, partners can potentially earn as high as 20 percent through our Opportunity Registration Programme. This benefit is available to partners who achieve principal or expert level competency and who first identify, develop and close incremental sales opportunities on qualifying products and services. Those partners who invest in achieving expert competencies can earn up to an 8 percent rebate by reaching and exceeding new business revenue targets under the new Growth Accelerator Rebate programme.

The Renewals Performance Incentive offers partners who have earned one or more expert competencies and who meet or exceed defined renewal opportunity targets, up to a two percent rebate on applicable total renewal business. These partners will also be eligible to apply to receive Development Funds, as much as five percent for qualified Platinum tier programme members, which is our highest level. Apart from monetary benefits, all partners will now have access to a more comprehensive enablement portfolio and a host of other benefits such as in sales and marketing.

What are some of the criteria for selecting your partners?

We choose the partners on three main elements. First we look at the capability of the partner. Commitment is the second element. Finally, we want to ensure that the partner is performing for Symantec.

Our partnership works on a win-win model, where eventually the end user will also win because we will have partners capable of delivering our products to the expectations of the customers. //

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vendor focus

Dell

Removing barriers Florian Malecki, EMEA Product & Solutions Director, Dell, discusses how partners can take advantage of the opportunities present across business units, thanks to the integration of the SonicWall programme.

As the market evolves, so do the potential threats.

Security is the top concern for organisations in the regional IT sector. And not without reasons, with emerging trends, the security risks have also increased.

While organisations strive to implement the right solutions, hackers are already one step ahead. In this dynamic scenario, vendors play an important role in developing relevant and current solutions to today’s security issues. But more than them, the channel partners play a significant role as at the end of the day they are the ones who face the customer.

Understanding the dynamic environment only too well, Dell SonicWall, the security arm of Dell, ensures its channel partners are trained on the latest products and solutions and also offers support to enable them in their business. Last month, the company held the annual EMEA partner conference that took place in Budapest, where it shared its complete range of security solutions and market trends. And before that, it had its annual channel partner event held earlier in the year for its Middle East and Africa channel partners.

Through these events, the company ensures the partners are up to date with the current technology and also recognises their effort.

Florian Malecki, EMEA Product & Solutions Director, Dell, said, “It is very important for our resellers to understand the overall Dell security strategy. And then up to them to decide if they want to position themselves with Dell network security solutions or expand their portfolio to other Dell Security products.”

Florian Malecki, EMEA Product & Solutions Director, Dell

“It is very important for our resellers to understand the overall Dell security strategy.”

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Beginning of 2014 also saw the company integrating the Dell SonicWall partner programme into the Dell Middle East Partner Programme.

Through this, partners who were traditionally associated with Dell SonicWall can now also look at selling storage or server products.

“But the level of revenue that is asked from a legacy SonicWall reseller will be different to what we would ask if they sell storage or servers because in security the average sales value is a bit lower than a storage or a server deal. It is kind of a matrix approach,” explains Malecki.

Following a two-tier channel model regionally, the company believes continuous training programmes help solve the lack of skill set issue most channel players have in the region.

Identifying employee retention as a serious issue in the channel early on, Malecki says the company does regular hands-on training while a third party vendor organises the official certification programmes. “We also do a lot of end user events in collaboration with our resellers. The reseller can demonstrate the good relationship they have with the vendor in these events.

This validates the resellers further in the eyes of the customer.”

Security is the cornerstone of every single business decision that is taken today. Dell believes through its recent acquisitions in the market, such as Quest and SecureWorks, it is in a better position to help fill in the security gaps that exist. Having recently partnered with StarLink for its distribution in the Middle East region, Dell SonicWall is offering partners opportunities to grow with the brand.

Partners need to keep an eye on the evolving security trends and adapt themselves to the transformations in the market. Malecki says, “Malware hopping, state-driven and hacktivism related activities are on the rise. We will also see an increase of threats targeting mobile operating systems.

Dell combats threats to make sure data is protected, which is critical.”. //

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vendor focus

Eye-Fi

Sharing memories Eye-Fi has recently entered the region with its wireless SD memory card, which will be distributed by StreamPort Media.

Reseller ME finds out the company’s channel plans.

Eye-Fi launched a wireless, class 10 SD memory card called Mobi, its first product in the region, couple of months ago. The nine-yearold global company is rather well established in markets such as the US, Japan and Australia and is building a market in Asia. However, when it comes to the EMEA market, it still has quite a hill to climb.

When Niels van der Valk, VP Americas & EMEA Sales, Eye-Fi, joined the company almost 10 months ago, his mandate was clear – expand the brand across territories such as Europe, Middle East and Africa and also within the individual countries in these markets. And in just 6 months, Valk was able to add in 25 more countries, making its total geographical presence to 50 countries.

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Valk says, “Eye-Fi is a small company in size but is rather large in visibility. And the product that we have is well received in the market. Having identified the gap in the market, we believe it is a solution the customers are looking out for.”

Identifying trends such as explosion of social media in the region, which in turn leads to a bigger need to share media content, the company believes the Middle East has vast opportunities.

Mobi is a memory card that has Wi-Fi built-in to transform standard cameras into connected devices. This makes it convenient for customers to transfer high resolution pictures or videos to their mobile devices just as soon as they click on the camera, enabling sharing on the go.

Having partnered with StreamPort Media, a local distributor to deliver

Niels van der Valk, VP Americas & EMEA Sales, Eye-Fi

Mobi to markets such as Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan, Valk adds, “Last year we saw about 63 million cameras sold worldwide, off that not even 20 percent were connected or had Wi-Fi built in.

Imagine the scale of opportunity present in the market. Also a massive opportunity lies in all the existing digital cameras that are not connected, currently being used by customers. These are the larger segments of market that we are going into with Mobi.”

According to Reza Mehdizadeh, Managing Director, StreamPort Media, the distributor’s background lies in the camera side of things. “We started out on the professional side, where we supplied TV stations with compact units that can stream video over 3G broadcast. We are always looking for products that will enable end users the simplicity of sharing and Mobi is one of those products.”

The company’s direct competitors include Toshiba’s Flash Air and Transcend, who have been in the region for a while now. However, the company is confident that it will garner a wide market share in the region, thanks to its strong legacy in this space.

Mehdizadeh says, “There are competitors out in the market but I’m yet to come across anyone who is as quick in terms of technology as Eye Fi has been. And it works on the push technology rather than the pull one, which is a huge differentiator.”

He also adds that the distribution strategy is to partner with significant players in the regional retail segment.

And to enable these partners, the distributor plans to have dedicated staff.

Currently, the product is available with at Jumbo, Sharaf DG, Abu Dhabi Duty Free and Souq.com. Admitting that the technology is self-explanatory, he says, “We want to project it as a solution and not just as a product. We want to emphasise on the technology behind it and the fact that it solves a problem.”

The company also recently announced the availability of Windows and Mac desktop transfer for the Eye-Fi Mobi WiFI SD card in the region. //

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Innovation Leaders in Privilege Management

Lieberman Software is the pioneer of automated Privileged Identity Management solutions with comprehensive expertise in operational systems management. This is why Lieberman is fundamentally different from other vendors in this space who offer security appliances – we appeal to IT operations because of the inherent efficiencies in our architecture. This approach is reflected in our long-time motto: “Weeks of work cut down to seconds.”

Enterprise Random Password Manager (ERPM) is a strategic Privileged Identity Management software solution that leads the market in automating security for the complex “Shared-Account” problem every enterprise has, and is under pressure to fix.

Lieberman ERPM Unique Operational Efficiency Benefits Automated Accuracy Continuous Availability

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Review

Samsung gear fit Online editor James Dartnell takes Samsung’s lightweight Gear Fit exercise smartwatch for a spin, and decides if it is worth the $199 price tag.

Last year Samsung released the underwhelming Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and on the face of it, the Gear Fit is a decent endeavour as a fitness alternative.

The water and dustproof Gear Fit has a 1.84in curved touchscreen colour display, and has a subtle, slim design. Packing a 128 x 432 resolution, the screen is sharp and satisfying for a small device.

It’s got all the necessary accelerometers to detect movement during exercise, and features a heart rate censor and pedometer which runs concurrently throughout the day.

I haven’t had the chance yet, but I’m keen to test out the Gear Fit on the football pitch, not least so I can prove that I actually warrant any sort of selection by running hard yards, but also because the device is wristbandlike at 27g. This means it is barely noticeable, and is in keeping with its sleek image.

Like other Samsung wearable tech, the Gear Fit passes alerts and notifications from your Samsung smartphone to its screen.

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Given that it only has Bluetooth connectivity, this would lead you to assume that Samsung believes this device is not purely an exercise-centric one. After all, most joggers will not have their smartphone within connecting distance when on the move.

Anyway, the convenient ‘Find my Device’ feature is great, not least because it allows the user to remotely activate their smartphone’s ringtone (provided it is within Bluetooth range), but also because this could serve as a timely diversion in awkward social situations.

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I for one can imagine myself making an opportune fake phone call to my smartphone in order to swerve certain acquaintances.

Add in a 3-4 day battery life and the Gear Fit ticks the boxes for a smart exercise device.

All in all, it’s a sharp piece of kit. There’s something undeniably satisfying about a compact, wearable smart technology, but the sad reality is, for me anyway, that I wouldn’t spend $199 on a smart fitness watch.

Although it has some pleasing features and a smooth design, it’s telling that I’d rather take it off so as not to be seen with it on in Media City.

Call me picky, but until wearable technology really offers something different than what is currently on the table, then I’ll give it a miss. Having said that, the Gear Fit isn’t bad, just pricey for what it is. 6/10 //

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Hot products

BenQ launches RTS gaming monitors Ruckus Wireless introduces ZoneFlex T300 Series Ruckus Wireless has launched the first two models in a line of new ZoneFlexT300 Series outdoor 802.11ac access points (APs), the ZoneFlex T300 omnidirectional and ZoneFlex T301n narrow band models.

These are dual-band APs featuring the industry’s smallest and lightest form factors. Both are designed specifically for high density user environments.

The ZoneFlex T300 Series access points integrate patented Ruckus BeamFlex+ technology for optimal performance and interference mitigation in challenging RF environments as well as ChannelFly for predictive channel selection based on realtime capacity analysis of all RF channels, said the company.

Both ZoneFlex T300 and ZoneFlex T301n, weigh at just 2 and 2.1 pounds (0.9 kg and 1 kg) respectively, this includes built-in BeamFlex antennas, the ZoneFlex T300 and T301n. Form factor is a critical requirement for many outdoor Wi-Fi applications where aesthetic considerations or minimal visual impact is required. The light-weight feature of the ZoneFlex T300 and T301n dramatically eases installation and reduces deployment time and labor costs.

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BenQ’s new RL2455HM gaming monitor is developed in collaboration with pro-gamers.

This 24-inch W LED monitor is equipped with features such as Black eQualizer, RTS Mode, Display Mode, Smart Scaling, 1ms GTG, HDMI and 12M:1 dynamic contrast ratio.

The RL2455HM has been upgraded to eliminate flickering at all brightness levels.

This effectively reduces eye fatigue and elevates gaming performance through better visual comfort.

The Black eQualizer is a new feature which brightens dark scenes without overexposing white levels to retain high-quality

image details through colour technology.

The display mode and smart scaling features allow gamers to change the monitor view. Fast-moving action and dramatic transitions will be rendered smoothly without the annoying effects of smearing or ghosting, said the company. The RL2455HM is available for AED 999/- in the UAE.

D-Link unveils DIR-880LW D-Link’s DIR-880LW Wireless AC 1900 DualBand Gigabit cloud router allows the user to connect, control and monitor a network using a fast wireless technology.

It allows the user to stream HD video, make Internet calls and surf the net from any part of the house without interruption, thanks to its high-gain external antennas.

The Gigabit Ethernet ports provide high speed wired connections for up to four personal computers or other devices.

Enabled with mydlink cloud, the customer can easily access, view and monitor his network. The mydlink SharePort app allows the user to connect a USB storage device to the device enabling instant sharing of documents and other heavy media content.

The Quick Router Setup (QRS) mobile app on iOS or Android device enables easy installation of the device. Users also have an option to secure the network through a Wi-Fi protected set-up. Also the WPA and WPA2 wireless encryption protects the network from intruders.

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Sony’s unveils HD business projectors

TDK Life on Record launches TREK wireless speaker RANGE TDK Life on Record, a global headphones and audio products brand, recently introduced its Trek Wireless Weatherproof Speakers in the UAE region.

The new Trek Micro Wireless Speaker is designed to deliver exceptionally clear sound while on the go. Yet, measuring in at only three and a quarter inches square and less than half a pound, the speaker could go virtually unnoticed when attached to your backpack, belt loop or purse, said the company.

Additional product features and benefits include Bluetooth v2.1 for high-quality wireless audio and Near Field Communication (NFC) for simple Bluetooth pairing with an NFC-enabled device. The TrueWireless Stereo allows pairing of two Trek Micro speakers for stereo audio. It comes with rechargeable battery that lasts up to six hours and can be charged on the go. The 3.5mm auxiliary input plays music from any device with a headphone jack and the 3.5mm auxiliary output makes a standard speaker Bluetooth technology-enabled The Trek speaker and the Trek Micro Wireless Speaker is now available at all leading U.A.E music and electronic specialty stores at a retail price of AED 499 and AED 299 respectively.

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Sony’s new data projectors include the VPL-CH375, VPL-CH355 and VPLCH350 models. Each has WUXGA (1920×1200) resolution and uses a new 0.64-inch size 3LCD BrightEra panel to produce high brightness of 5,000 lumens colour light output (4,000 lm for the VPL-CH355, CH350) and sharp image reproduction. The WUXGA resolution makes the projector ideal for displaying full HD videos and high resolution computer signal formats.

The new projectors are the company’s first light-weight WUXGA projectors weighing less than 6 kgs. This weight, combined with convenient installation support features, make the new models ideal for spaces where conventional high end installation projectors are not the right choice. Installation support features include: fine lens shift,

HDBaseT input (for VPL-CH375 and CH355), corner keystone adjustment, H/V keystone adjustment and 2 HDMI inputs to enable a wide range of installation options.

Two of the new models, VPL-CH375 and VPL-CH355 have a built-in HDBaseT interface for easier connectivity and reduced total system costs.

HDBaseT capabilities allow installers and integrators to reduce their number of cable runs by transmitting video, audio, control and IP over a single 100m Cat5e/6 cable. The new models are designed to reduce total cost of operations, delivering optimum energy efficiency, with low power consumption.

AOC enhances gaming AOC has introduced a new premium gaming monitor, the g2460Pg, embedded with many features.

Through the integrated NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, the g2460Pg prevents lag, as control inputs are reflected on-screen instantly. An ultra-smooth refresh rate of 144 Hz, an outstanding response time of only 1 ms and super-fast DisplayPort input enhance the experience even further, effectively eliminating motion blur and screen tearing.

In order to create a perfect environment for gamers, the g2460Pg boasts a Full HD widescreen TN panel with the ideal gaming size of 24-inch. The nifty cable guide on the stand avoids cable clutter on the desktop. A wide array of ergonomic options such as tilt, swivel, height-adjustment and pivot enable gamers to adapt the monitor to their individual needs. In addition, the integrated USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports allow for fast data transfer, charging mobile devices or other tasks.

It also comes with the intelligent software solutions Eco Mode and e-Saver to drive down energy consumption. The display also fulfils strict regulations such as EnergyStar 6.0 and TCO 6.0, according to the company.

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Canon updates scanning portfolio

Lenovo displays S860 Smartphone Lenovo has announced the availability of the dual-sim Lenovo S860 smartphone at all major retailers in the UAE recently.

Sporting a brushed metal exterior with a large 5.3-inch HD screen, the S860 features standby time of up to 40 days and talk time of up to 24 hours on 3G connections, quad-core computing and 2GB of RAM for responsive multitasking among applications. Its high-capacity battery even allows users to charge their other devices on-the go by using the included micro USB cable.

The S860 comes with Lenovo’s range of DOit apps; with the SHAREit app, users can instantly share pictures, videos, music files, documents, contacts and even apps with up to five devices without an Internet connection. It wirelessly transfers information or even the app itself between devices at up to 40x faster than Bluetooth. SECUREit optimises and protects users’ mobile data with its menu of data-protection tools. With a single touch, it protects against viruses, spam and malware, and if the tablet gets lost or stolen, anti-theft protection locks it down.

The S860 comes installed with Android KitKat and available in the UAE for AED1199.

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Canon Middle East has enhanced its scanning portfolio with user-focused updates to four of its mobile and desktop devices. The new imageFORMULA P-215II, DR-C225, DR-C225W and DR-M160II enable organisations to digitise their documents with enhanced paper handling, image processing, cloud connectivity and a more simplified scanning experience.

Replacing the P-215, the P-215II mobile scanner offers travelling executives, small offices and home users increased scanning productivity. With fast USB-powered speeds of up to 30ipm and a 20-page ADF, users can scan efficiently, in the office, at home or on the move.

The new P-215II includes the new versions of CaptureOnTouch and CaptureOnTouch Lite, and updated versions of BizCard (Windows & Mac), PaperPort (Windows) and PageManager (Mac).

New and enhanced image processing features such as shadow cropping, photo mode and angle/content deskew help users to achieve better scan results.

Replacing the DR-C125 and DR-C125W, the imageFORMULA DR-C225 and DR-C225W desktop workgroup scanners help organisations save valuable desktop space thanks to their

vertical J-path feeding design, allowing them to position the scanners on even the smallest desks. This is especially useful for industries with direct customer interaction such as retail and banking, or in reception areas. The DRC225 and DR-C225W support both Windows and Mac and come with the latest versions of CaptureOnTouch, BizCard, OmniPage, PaperPort and PageManager eCopyPDF Pro. Replacing the DR-M160, the DR-M160II departmental scanner offers increased productivity thanks to its improved 300dpi colour scan speeds of up to 100ipm. It allows organisations to scan up to 7,000 documents per day. The DR-M160II comes with a range of new image processing features improving the scan experience.

Microsoft introduces Surface Pro 3 to the region

Microsoft’s latest launch, the Surface Pro 3 is encased in magnesium and equipped with a 12-inch ClearType Full HD display, Windows 8.1 Pro, 4th-generation Intel Core processor and up to 8 GB of RAM in a sleek frame with up to nine hours of Web-browsing battery life.

Surface Pro 3 features a large 2160x1440 2K colour-calibrated screen and 3:2 aspect ratio with multi-touch input, so that the user can easily swipe, pinch and drag whenever required. The improved optional Surface

Pro Type Cover and more adjustable, continuous kickstand will transform the device experience from a tablet to a laptop in no time.

Surface Pro Type Cover features a doublefold hinge enabling the user to magnetically lock it to the display’s lower bezel, keeping the frame steady. With a full-size USB 3.0 port, microSD card reader and Mini DisplayPort, users can quickly transfer files and easily connect peripherals. The optional Surface Ethernet Adapter allows you to instantly connect the device to a wired Ethernet network with transfer rates of up to 1 Gbps.

The Surface Pen helps to mark presentations, sign documents or create art in apps like Fresh Paint. It also features two 5MP cameras capable of capturing 1080p HD video.

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B2B customer service

Reseller Middle East’s assistant editor offers her thoughts on the Middle Eastern technology channel.

Channel surfing

column

For a stronger bond In one of my previous columns, I had spoken about customer service on the retail front. This time I want to focus on customer service on the B2B end. One of the major differences between the two is that B2B customer service is a lot more than an individual transaction. It is about developing lasting relationships.

And the Middle East market is all about relationships, as we know. And the first element to any relationship is building trust. Because, even though it is between two organisations, at the end of the day it’s the people who carry out the business. This can be done in some basic ways, no doubt known to you all but perhaps not emphasised enough in day-to-day business. First ensuring that the best interests of the customer are always considered and all your commitments are kept. In case you cannot, then be honest about it. Being clear about objectives can also help and when there is a problem, explore all the possibilities to solve it. This way the customer will appreciate your efforts and perhaps even overlook minor issues. No business relationship should be taken for granted and a regular review will help in strengthening it.

In our unique blog

initiative started last month, Manish Punjabi, Channel Marketing Manager, MEA, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, suggests the use of social media in B2B customer service. Although this is quite common today in the B2C sector, I believe it is definitely an area the regional IT channel players can look into. Also, this is something that I have noticed is lacking in the region. Not too many resellers are comfortable using social media and many are not even present on these platforms.

And I understand the fears – the platforms are too open, how to tackle unfavourable comments from customers and lack of knowledge to effectively use them.

But social media can be an added factor to my initial point of developing and maintaining lasting B2B relationships.

Prompt responses are highly appreciated in business, imagine the potential social media could have in getting that order signed. I believe vendors should encourage their partners to build a strong presence on these platforms and impart education and training.

Talking about relationships, last month we also concluded our fifth annual Partner Excellence Awards, which was a huge success. Have a look at our awards coverage in this issue for those who missed it.

And until next time, here’s wishing you all a holy month of Ramadan.

Janees Reghelini, Assistant Editor, Reseller ME

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Reseller Middle East

july 2014

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