Excellence at its best
Saluting success A detailed report featuring the winners of Reseller Hot 50 Awards 2014, those companies that stood out from the crowd.
R
eseller Middle East (RME) held its third edition of Hot 50 awards in December 2014 at a glamourous
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HOT 50 2015
ceremony at the open air venue of Rivington Bar and Grill, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. During the course of the evening, 50
companies were honoured and recognised for their excellence throughout the year across various categories. These 50
‘hot brands’ ranged from various stakeholders of the channel ecosystem, right from distributors, resellers and systems integrators to
vendors. Handpicked by RME’s editorial team, these 50 companies have gone over and above the norm to bring excellence in their business
by ensuring they have content partners and customers. We turn the spotlight to these stellar performer in the following pages.
HOT 50 2015
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ing vendor rk o tw e n e tr n Best data ce munications Brocade Com
Brocade has had a number of achievements last year,
networking solutions to deliver a pragmatic migration
which have enabled it to grow considerably in 2014. Its
path to IPv6.
innovative network infrastructure solutions have helped the company to achieve a significant growth last year. With the
advantage of being one of the only two companies
help of these solutions, organisations have been able to
globally with technologies across all four areas -
transition smoothly into a virtualised world.
application networking, virtualisation, infrastructure and
These solutions are designed to provide a flexible
storage. Brocade has established itself as a pioneer and
IT infrastructure with unmatched simplicity, non-stop
leader in data centre ethernet fabric technology. The
networking, application optimisation, and investment
company has leveraged its 15-year heritage in data centre
protection, according to the company.
fabrics to transform Ethernet networks in virtualised and
With a market share of over 70 percent in the Storage Area Networking, the company has dominated the category, adding to its growth story. Brocade has spent the last decade deriving and sharing best practices by rolling out IPv6-ready cloud-optimised
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In the data centre business, the vendor has a strong
HOT 50 2015
cloud data centres. During the past year, Brocade has introduced several networking innovations across the globe and the Middle East, which are shaping the future of the networking industry.
Best strategic
2014 has been an outstanding year for ComGuard for a number of reasons. The first being that the company launched its independent team, SAQA to handle quality assurance and strategic alliances. The company has also focused on constructive restructuring within the organisation to enable it to move ahead with a common objective of going public in the next few years. It was also the year where the distributor on-boarded niche technology vendors and won several large deals. GFI Software extended the distribution partnership with the company to cover India as a region in 2014. Many vendors signed up the distributor as their VAD for the MENA region including Sophos, Nexthink, Niksun, Nextier Networks, Lumeta, NNT, Countertack, Iviz and Kaspersky. The company
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HOT 50 2015
partner enga g
ements Comguard
won a multi-million dollar deal with one of the major banks in UAE for log management and event correlation. It was also selected by a KSAbased Government organisation to deploy security information and event management solutions. Continuing the successful run, the company also won a deal to roll out privilege access and vulnerability management to over 10,000 users of a major telecom provider in the region. Apart from these highlights, the company made its mark at industry trade shows such as GISEC, GITEX, Gartner and banking summits. The distributor also conducted its third annual regional partner conference – Tech Convergence 2014, where it hosted over 300 channel partner attendees across the region.
CO
MG
UA R D
nce vendor a li p p a ty ri u c Best se Cyberoam
With a presence in more than 125 countries,
account manager was hired to address end customer
with a substantial addition to the company’s partner
requirements in the region.
ecosystem. The security vendor added a new distributor
Therefore, drawing together a dedicated team, and its
and has signed up with 14 gold and four platinum partners
network of partners that includes value-added resellers
across UAE and GCC. Having acquired leading customers
and systems integrators, the vendor has had a substanial
such as Kanoo group, IKEA group, International academy,
year of growth.
Gulf college, Qatar steel, Emirates hospital, Petra university, the vendor has had a fairly successful year. According to the company, the two Cyberoam academy
Cyberoam’s partner community stands on a solid foundation of strong product technology and range that enables them to serve and secure customers across
sign-up in the region have begun to offer network security
various market segments such as government, defense,
course effectively matching up industry needs and is
BFSI, retail and healthcare. The recent addition of CR
another addition to the vendor’s milestones for 2014.
10iNG – an appliance that extends enterprise level
Cyberoam’s marketing activities comprised of various road shows and participation in high profile events such
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as E-crime conference and GITEX. A dedicated enterprise
Cyberoam’s Middle East business grew at 25 percent
HOT 50 2015
network security to small and branch offices – has stretched the range even further.
Best partner lo yalty programm e EMT Distributi on
Owned by EMT Holding, a European channel focussed
Mobasseri, CEO of the company, says, “Our regional
company with over 15 years of experience in IT product
network of distributors, resellers and service providers
distribution, EMT Distribution is fairly a young player in
are the cornerstone of our business and critical to our
the market. The company has offices in Adelaide, Hong
success. Our products and solutions are packaged and
Kong, Singapore, UAE, Austria, UK and the Philippines to
priced to allow partners to maximise margins on new
cater to its channel community. The company believes
sales, add-ons and recurring revenue.�
it is imperative to stand out from the competition by
The company has added several new brands to its
offering the right solutions to the right target audience
portfolio such as Avira, Whatsup gold, GWAVA, DenyAll
through the right distribution channel. And that is the
and Kaspersky Fraud Prevention Solutions in the past
kind of pre- and post-sales support it strives to offer
year.
through its team of experienced product specialists. The
The year also saw the distributor launching series of
distributor has a strong and dedicated technical support
MMTS (Market Magnitude Technology Seminar) event for
team that is located within the countries it is present in.
channel partners, which was held in UAE and Qatar and
These support teams have the ability to offer support
intends to take the series to locations in other countries
outside the standard business hours. Mohammad
across the region.
HOT 50 2015
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Best SMB prin
ting vendor Oki Europe
Keeping in line with its distribution partners’
ES9541 colour printer with spot colour clear and white
challenges and requirements and also according to
is another highlight the company has had in 2014. The
market demands, Oki Europe has launched several
ES9541 is the first digital LED A3 printer in the industry
exciting products in the past year. The company has
to offer colour printing with the unique option of printing
been catering to a wide range of verticals and size
with a fifth colour, according to the vendor.
of businesses while simultaneously maintaining a competitive edge for its partners. One of its highlights include the launch of the A3
The company’s smart managed document solutions, which creates new opportunities for SMBs to cut costs through enhanced print and document
colour multifunction printers- ES9455/9465/9475. The
management, is another milestone. Oki’s new
product line meets the needs of more demanding users
services and solutions portfolio are specifically aimed
who want A3 colour printing, copying and scanning
at SMBs to help cut wasted end-user time while
in one cost-effective device that can handle heavy
improving document management processes. The
workloads. They are designed to manage document
company has also won several international awards
workflows across all organisation types including small
for its enterprise class A4 colour and mono (black and
and medium businesses. The continuing success of A3+
white) multifunction products.
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HOT 50 2015
rity vendor u c e s rk o tw e Best n tworks Palo Alto Ne
Palo Alto Networks redefined the network security market
by its ability to turn the tides and rebuild lost confidence,
when it introduced the first next-generation firewall
and a market grounded on the principle that attacks can
back in 2007. And now more than 19,000 organisations
be prevented.
depend on the company to protect their networks against
The enterprise security vendor has also extended
sophisticated, targeted attacks. The vendor has also made
its expertise in security services for private, hybrid and
significant progress in advanced endpoint protection in
public cloud with the latest release of its virtual firewall
the recent past. According to the company, endpoints
series (VM-Series). It has also announced updates to
remain highly vulnerable to attacks. Legacy endpoint
PAN-OS, the operating system of its enterprise security
security approaches that rely on prior knowledge of
platform. Â
the threat, or active scanning, are simply ill equipped to
The vendor has also announced discovery of a
protect organisations from this new era of attacks.
new family of Apple OS X and iOS malware exhibiting
The vendor introduced an advanced endpoint
characteristics unseen in any previously documented
protection solutions, Traps, which according to the
threats targeting Apple platforms. This new family,
company, tears the covers off traditional approaches and
dubbed WireLurker, marks a new era in malware across
exposes them for what they are – misguided attempts
Apple’s desktop and mobile platforms, representing a
at addressing a very real problem. The vendor believes
potential threat to businesses, governments and Apple
this is the beginning of a new market, one that is defined
customers worldwide, said the company.
HOT 50 2015
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anagement m t c je ro p t s Be Smartworld
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Understanding that customers are mobile
on their particular operational and business
and expect seamless services, Smartworld,
needs. The company’s value-added services are
offers technically advanced next-generation
modular and scalable to suit the clients’ particular
infrastructure to deliver best-in-class customer-
requirements, which change dynamically over
aware and lifestyle-enhancing products and
the lifecycle of their business, enabling them to
services that anticipate customers’ needs. The
meet present and future business challenges.
company delivers the right products and services
All of the company’s products and services are
at the right time – helping customers simplify their
backed up by a rigorous customer satisfaction
lives, enabling them to transact their businesses
and feedback programme, that are governed
easily. There are various elements that have
by quality accreditations and proven customer
helped Smartworld to be successful in the past
care methodologies, this, according to the
year. A few of them include next-generation world
vendor, ensures that customer’s interaction and
class infrastructure, experienced team, efficient
experience with Smartworld is of the highest
processes and customer centric services. Every
standards and its service meets customer’s
organisation has unique requirements based
expectation every time.
HOT 50 2015
Best partner re
cruitment initia tives SNB IT Distrib ution
2014 has been a successful year for the value-
partnerships with IT brands such as Nexsan,
added distributor, SNB IT Distribution, which is
Extreme Networks, Cyberoam, Seclore, Evault by
focused on data storage, security surveillance,
Seagate, Pelco, GTB, Infosec and Fluke Networks.
networking and backup solutions. Besides growing
The distributor also held a number of roadshows
by almost 100 percent, the distributor was able
in Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and KSA. It believes
to grow its market reach and product portfolio
these roadshows have contributed to its success
significantly. In order to cater to the KSA market
as they have given the company exposure and
with local sales and technical resources, the
helped increase its channel base.
company has opened an office in Riyadh. SNB IT
SNB IT makes it a point to exhibit at industry trade
believes what sets it apart from other IT distribution
shows such as Intersec, GITEX and GISEC, to stay updated
companies is its focus on security surveillance,
on the latest market developments.
data storage, networking and IT security solutions
The distributor’s success also stems from the fact that
along with value addition such as pre and post-
it empowers its partners’ technical knowledge through
sales support.
trainings, seminars and proof of concept and also support
In 2014, the distributor had also signed up new
them by getting involved in end-user interactions.
HOT 50 2015
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Best brand pro
motion initia tives Touchmate
Over the last 25 years, Touchmate has grown to be a
The company believes in offering value bundles of
popular brand in the Middle East region. A manufacturer
great quality. Available in all stores, the brand believes
of tablet, PCs, HR and accounting software and PC
it is a reflection of the country’s success in the field of
peripherals, the company has had a great run in 2014.
ICT. With a well-developed soft infrastructure in the form
The company has successfully brought down the
of e-governance, online service, e-commerce, not many
price barrier of tablet PCs and helped widen its
local ICT brands have been able to make a dent in the
user base. For years, global ICT brands have priced
market dominated by international brands.
out the middle class. However, according to the
In 2014, the company has opened a new 85,000
company, one of its main achievements has been
square feet headquarters in DIP, Dubai and is in the
reversing this by pricing out those brands from the
process of moving operations to the new location.
market and has made technology accessible to the
The new headquarters will also have a showroom
common man.
to display its complete product range and also has
This is the biggest contribution that the brand has made to the regional market.
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HOT 50 2015
a factory set-up to produce mass PCs locally and professionally.
distributor ls ra e h p ri e p t Bes Trigon
Trigon has been a distributor in the region for close to
resources to enhance the value-add business segment
two decades now. As a distribution company, it caters
and has appointed account managers to engage directly
to channel, retail, corporate and exports. The company
with end-users, which in turn resulted in business demand
believes having this diversity within its portfolio has
for its resellers.
enabled it to grow its revenues and headcounts. The
With support from its key vendors such as D-Link,
distributor focuses on gross profit and bottom line
Samsung and Creative, it has successfully executed
basics. Although today distribution has become mere
loyalty programmes for its channel partners. The
fulfillment where support and service factors are often
company has expanded its product portfolio by entering
overlooked, Trigon ensures it incorporates these
into distribution agreements with prominent technology
differentiating elements to its operations to stand
brands such as Acer, Optoma and Dell.
out from the competitive marketplace. The company
The distributor repeated the success formula of UAE
believes the success of a business model and health of
in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and as a result the revenue
an organisation depends on the bottom line. Keeping
growth in Bahrain was 30 percent whereas in Saudi
this in mind, in 2013, the distributor has placed different
Arabia, it was 40 percent compared to the previous year.
HOT 50 2015
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on provider ti lu o s e c n e Best converg omputer Al Shahba C
Al Shahba Computer is the regional partner of
managed to score two partners in the region
Jedox AG Germany. During the past year, the
mainly by providing them with necessary tools
company has won the rising star award from
and exchanging resources and empowering them
Jedox for enabling fast growth in the region.
to achieve their goals.
The solution provider has managed to win large
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Catering to the whole MENA region today,
accounts such as Mohebi group, Al Otaiba group
the company plans to expand into different
and VFS- TasHeel. What has helped the company
regions with Jedox in 2015. It also aims to
to be successful is that it has largely concentrated
educate the markets more on BI and how it can
on self-service where it encouraged and helped
improve businesses in this region. According to
the customer to be independent from the vendor
the company, it is looking to expand by taking
and turned BI into a commodity. The company
advantage of the vast technical expertise in the
believes everyone can benefit from the amount
region and by building new partnerships with
of available data. Furthermore, it also has already
technology firms and consultancies.
HOT 50 2015
Best consultin g services Gerab System Solutions
Gerab System Solutions (GSS) is a next-generation
industry experience. It also boasts one of the highest
information technology (IT) services and solutions
levels of vendor certifications and more than two
company from Gerab Group, which was established
decades of hands-on integration experience. It
in 1977. The systems integrator’s mission is to enable
includes services such as technology, consulting and
superior returns on clients’ technology investments
outsourcing within its portfolio.
through best-in-class industry solutions, domain
Its solutions portfolio includes infrastructure, mobility,
expertise. The company specialises in solving
cloud and business application solutions. It caters
big challenges that are technically complex and
to a broad spectrum of industry verticals including
mission critical. It is UAE’s growing information and
education, financial services, retail, hospitality, oil
communication technology solutions provider. Its
and gas. Being a multi-vendor service provider for
primary focus is on aligning business goals and
IT infrastructures, the company advises customers
technology for customers. The company follows a
on their IT strategy, implementing the leading
full lifecycle, which enables it to build long-lasting
manufacturers’ technologies best suited to their needs
relationships with its clients. It has multiple cross
or managed technology infrastructures according to
vendor accreditations with more 10 plus years of
their specifications.
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HOT 50 2015
ndor Best VOIP ve Yealink
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With a 100 percent focus on VOIP, Yealink is
DVCOM is the regional distributor for Yealink,
a player to be reckoned with in the regional
based out of Dubai. With a wide range of global
market. The company has achieved a two-digit
brands in its portfolio, coupled with a trained,
increase rate in sales revenue for the last five
experienced and widespread network of
consecutive years. The company’s strength
channel partners, DVCOM caters to the MENA
lies in its core team members who have more
region and India. To ensure the successful
than 20 years of telecom industry experience,
and efficient execution of the projects, the
and beyond 200 employers working in the
distributor conducts regular in-house trainings
research and development department. It has
and programmes for its partners to educate
more than 70 technology partners and over 60
them with the changes in technology and in the
distributors around the world, and diversified
industry, making the partner network one of its
customers beyond 140 countries.
key strengths.
HOT 50 2015
Best collabora tion vendor Lifesize Comm unications
In the last one year, Lifesize Communications has
From a partner perspective, with Lifesize Cloud,
been successful in the video conferencing space.
resellers can now offer a fully-integrated end-
The company believes in quality and ROI. What
to-end solution, which allows both SMBs and
has helped it to have a successful run is because
enterprises, regardless of vertical, to overcome the
it ensures that a client irrespective of the size or
barriers typically associated with deploying an on
the value of the requirement receives adequate
premise solution. In the last year, the company has
attention. The company ensures that a proof of
worked with large clients such as Tatweer, Ministry
concept is delivered to the client to experience
of Justice-UAE, King Saud University-Saudi Arabia,
the quality and the solution in their own network.
Alsa Engineering, Logistics International and
According to the company, this approach instills
American University of Cairo. The company will
confidence in the customer as he is assured of the
continue to focus on delivering innovative solutions
quality and service.
in the coming year.
HOT 50 2015
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In 2013, Aptec had completed the integration process into Ingram Micro group, the global IT distributor. The company expanded its coverage to more than 70 countries in the region and has opened up offices in eight countries such as UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Turkey, Lebanon, Pakistan, Egypt and South Africa. In mid-2013, as a part of its global focus on value-add services, the distributor established training centres, known as Ingram Micro Training Middle East and Africa, across its major offices in the region, with the aim to skill up and train its partners and increase their technical competencies. In September 2014, Ingram Micro Training MEA unveiled its new training lab located in a new in-house data centre, based in Dubai, UAE. The lab is a strategic investment by the company to meet the growing demand
Best partner trainin g initiatives Aptec - an Ingram Micro company
for its vendor authorised training, to improve the speed and accessibility of course material, and to strengthen and extend the company’s training deliveries across MEA.
Aruba Networks claims to be the fastest, most secure and most conveniently managed networking solution in the world today. It is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The current market trends such as BYOD and secure WiFi, along with the company’s technological innovations such as open, converged, high-IQ enterprise network, the all-wireless workplace designed for #GenMobile and nextgeneration cloud Wi-Fi solution have helped the vendor to grow significantly in the past year. Aruba Networks has completed successful technology implementations in a number of high profile regional enterprises across a wide range of industry verticals. Some of these projects include Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, Dusit Thani Hotel in Dubai, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), Mobily KSA and Aramex.
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HOT 50 2015
Best enterpri
se WLAN ven dor Aruba Netwo rks
Cisco’s Middle East channel partners have seen strong success in evolving their business models to respond to market transitions and new consumption models. As the era of Internet of Everything (IoE) takes over, with 500 billion connections predicted by 2030, the vendor’s customers and partner networks unite to help capture value. According to the company, working alongside with its partners, creates an opportunity to solve customers’ most complex business challenges – driven by connectivity, employee mobility, and Big Data – in a manner only it can jointly deliver. Cisco’s Middle East partner-led programme ‘Cisco’s Led by You, Supported by Us: Partner Sales Force Programme’ has
Best partner
sales support Cisco
led to strong success in government services, healthcare, and education. It has enjoyed several highlights in the past year such as large customer wins and key reports.
A leader in mobile workspaces, networking and cloud services to enable new ways to work better, Citrix has announced its new and expanded global channel programme that help partners keep pace with the rapid technological expansion in cloud computing and mobile workstyles. It has launched two growth-oriented programmes, an enhanced Citrix Solution Advisor (CSA) programme and a new Citrix SaaS Advisor (CSSA) programme. Both programmes are designed to make it easier for partners to do business with the vendor. The company’s focus in 2014 has been on rolling out these new programmes and bringing partners up to speed on its recently launched portfolio of Citrix Workplace Suite solutions. According to the company, the next generation offering delivers secure access to apps, desktops, data and services from any device, over any network to empower mobile workers with the freedom and flexibility to choose how they work.
r
do tworking ven Best cloud ne s Citrix System
HOT 50 2015
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A leader in the development of singular information management solutions for high-performance data protection, universal availability and simplified management of data on complex storage networks, CommVault’s flagship single-platform architecture solution, Simpana 10, gives companies unprecedented control over data growth, costs and risk. The past year has been successful for the company with several technology innovations and related initiatives. The vendor has also strengthened its channel and support network in the region in 2014. As a part of these plans, the company has partnered with Logicom as its value-added distributor for the region. The CommVault PartnerAdvantage programme provides partners with sales, technical and marketing
Best storage management vendor CommVault Systems
resources and the opportunity to work closely with the vendor to deliver differentiated data and information management solutions to their customers.
Dell Middle East has worked towards enabling and certifying its channel partners on every aspect of its product implementations and solutions design in the past year. The company delivered series of sales trainings to the channel partners’ sales force, subsequently several technical trainings and tech road-shows were conducted to educate and bring most of these partners across the region to the same knowledge level. The partners in UAE, Saudi, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Turkey and Bahrain enjoyed the sales trainings with face-to-face interactions that helped them ask questions and clarify doubts. There were several partners who completed the online trainings as this was mandatory for all to complete with the set timelines defined. The company also ensured that its distribution partners were completely enabled and were in-line
th initiatives Best channel grow Dell Middle East
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HOT 50 2015
with its expectations on enabling and supporting its channel partners.
According to Dell, it went private so that it could focus on the customer and the channel. The company’s engagement style is one of working side-by-side with customers, to show them the right technology solutions to enable them to grow and thrive and the relationship is based on trust, expertise and ROI. Dell remains committed to enhancing customers and channel partners experience, and the integration of recent acquisitions into the channel ecosystem continues to provide opportunities for partners to expand portfolios and increase revenue lines. It values channel partners and understands the huge advantage they bring in their regional markets as well as their domains. This year, with the significant developments at Dell, the company is investing in developing channel programmes for the
Best partner enablement initiatives Dell Softwar e
Middle East to help partners accelerate their business and improve their capabilities and expertise around Dell Enterprise and software.
Established since 1986, D-Link has been a prominent player in the networking industry. The networking vendor has recently launched the ‘Home connect’ series, which will see more products using 802.11ah, Z-Wave and Zigbee-based technologies to have a complete smart home solution. This will feature remote connectivity and management using the company’s cloud services. During 2014, the company has added several new products based on the latest networking technologies to their portfolio such as the 802.11AC routers, the 10G web smart series, hybrid IP telephony PBX solutions, unified wireless controllers, PLC IP cameras and baby camera. The vendor has a record of clocking in two-digit growth since it began operations in the region, 14 years ago.
Best SMB netw orking vendor D-Link
With the aim to introduce one centric EMC brand to align all partners spread across various divisions, the company had introduced EMC Business Partner Programme (BPP) in early 2014. As an EMC Business Partner, customers recognise that the partner has all of the vision and strength of the vendor backing it up. The new BPP brings together all previous EMC partner programmes to create a simple, predictable and profitable experience for each resell partner. The company aligned the programme for all partner types and used the same design criteria (revenue, solutions, services, marketing, technical). However, it maintained the flexibility to fine tune the
Best partner
associated benefits and requirements for each track to match
rebate progra
mme EMC
each business partner’s business model and sales motion. The programme features predictable and richer rebates for partners.
HOT 50 2015
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ESET has had a successful 2014 with several noteworthy achievements. Earlier in the year, the company launched the ESET partner programme, which enabled it to extend benefits that include free sales and technical trainings, discounts, demo license keys as well as pre-sales and post-sales support to all partners registered in the programme. ESET Technology Alliance Programme was established to protect businesses with a range of complimentary IT security solutions that seamlessly integrate with the vendor’s products. The move to a bigger office allowed the vendor to establish a dedicated partner training facility. The company also launched an online store that caters to both business and home customers in the region. Earlier in the year, the company signed an agreement with Gateworx for the distribution of its entire security solutions portfolio in the Egyptian IT market.
curity vendor
Best mobile se ESET
The EMEA based value-added distributor, Exclusive Networks is constantly on the lookout to build its relationship with its channel through market development initiatives and commitment to its partners. In sync with this, the distributor held a SMB partner dinner where it had over 100 attendees from the SMB industry in Dubai. The dinner was in recognition to the partnership between the company and Fortinet. The company continued the momentum by hosting partner kickoffs for SMB potential partners in Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. To ensure, the distributor’s enterprise partners are updated on the latest technology, it executed over 15 free workshops for both Fortinet and F5 across the regions. These focussed on educating the sales and pre-sales partners with new technologies. In 2014, the distributor had added more vendors to the portfolio such as FireEye, LogRhythm, Leiberman Software and WhiteHat Security.
Best partner empowerment initiatives Exclusive Networks ME
FDC ProValue has been able to continue to provide relevance to the vendors and its channel partners in the past year. From a channel perspective, ProValue has now transformed to being relevant to trends, demands, knowledge share and thus giving the partner society a unique market share. The distributor has partnered with vendors with whom its value propositions match well. The company chooses partners who are willing to adapt towards the newer trends, attain knowledge to grow and are breaking barriers traditionally set and can go beyond. In 2014, the company signed up new vendor partnerships with brands such as TP Link, ZTE, Overland Storage, Synology, QNAP, Netgear, Array Networks. The distributor successfully ran promotions
Best solutions
distributor FDC ProValu e
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HOT 50 2015
for ESET ‘Gold Coin Promotion’ and ‘Decorate Your Shop’ and also successfully launched TP Link in Kuwait power retail segment. It also launched partner rebate programme for ZTE channel.
Fluke Networks, a global provider of network test and monitoring solutions, enables the deployment and enhances the performance of networks and applications. It goes the extra mile to resolve challenges in WLAN security, mobility, unified communications and data centres. With an extensive portfolio of sophisticated yet simple to use solutions, the vendor continues to grow globally in both mature and emerging markets. The Middle East market continues to be a strategic one for the company as immense opportunities exist in the region. The company continues to focus on innovation in its offerings towards end users. The vendor has had a successful 2014 and has signed up with new partners, including SNB IT in the past year.
ndor easurement ve
Best test & m ks Fluke Networ
Since its inception in 2004, Help AG has achieved an 80 percent year-on-year growth rate on an average, including in the last year. The systems integrator exceeded its growth target in 2013 and is now a USD 26 plus million company. The company increased its staff count from 32 to 76 over the last two years. It has successfully completed over 20 high-profile projects and now serves 97 customers in the region. Over the last 18 months, it has also tripled its office space in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar. The systems integrator has also established the Help AG Security Analysis Division offering five critical services such a security review, penetration testing, configuration architecture review, vulnerability assessment (including mobile platforms) and social engineering and exploitation.
Best security
integrator Help AG
After a detailed market analysis to better understand the customer dynamics in each of the ten countries HP Software caters to, within the Middle East region, a master channel plan was designed, which included different channel go-to-market strategies. The company executed several initiatives based on this, for example, establishing ‘HP Software Inside Sales Organisation’ by HP SW Middle East Channel Team. It also introduced Managed Services Partners (MSP) to HP Software Channel Ecosystem, where new MSP business partners were recruited based on the unique needs of a customer segment, which was identified after the detailed market analysis. It also launched a value-added distribution business initiative, which resulted in leveraging the power of distribution partners in reaching out new business partners, onboarding and enabling them faster, Best channel marketing init iatives HP Software Middle East
providing them sales/pre-sales/business development and marketing support productively while driving the sales governance more efficiently.
HOT 50 2015
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2014 has seen the regional systems integrator, Intertec Systems growing ahead of market average. And keeping in line with this growth, the company has also moved its head office to a 19,000 square feet space in Business Bay, Dubai to support the regional development in IT investment. The SI has also extended its partnership with HP to Oman and signed up with Infor as a master distributor for the Middle East region. Recently, the company was also signed as the only MSP partner for HP Software in UAE, Oman and Bahrain. According to the SI, this is a strategic partnership to allow customers to plan investments at their pace, experience proof of
Best infrastru
cture integrat or Intertec Syst ems
concepts and address situation-specific or time-specific technology needs. The company has achieved a 30 percent growth in the past year and is working towards a 50 percent year-on-year growth.
2014 has been a stellar year for Lenovo. The company has dominated the market with its PC portfolio and has also been an aggressive player in the mobile and tablet domain, leading them to record USD 3 billion in revenues in MEA, which has also contributed to its EMEA revenue. The organisation’s strong financial performance has been driven by a robust product line-up with Lenovo introducing a range of smartphones, tablets and other devices throughout the year. In the smartphone segment, Lenovo has had a year-on-year growth of 241.5 percent and 733.7 percent in UAE and KSA respectively, making it the third smartphone vendor in both countries according to IDC’s latest report. It also introduced its smartphone portfolio for the first time in six new markets across the region – Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Pakistan.
Best mobility
vendor Lenovo
Lexmark MEA has been operational in the region for the last 15 years and over the years has established a firm base of customers in all industries and verticals. In 2014, the company has experienced a 30 percent increase in the number of channel partners. This included the company’s BSD launch along with the partnership with Juma Al Majid and New Smart Office Automation. ‘Lexmark at work’, which is a 2-3 days extensive demo on the solution capabilities offered for a customer in a particular vertical, was showcased at various locations globally. The company held several training sessions at customer site or at Lexmark Demo Centre. Lexmark was recognised as a leader in 2014 and 2011 Gartner Magic
Best managed print services Lexmark Inte rnational Mid dle East
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HOT 50 2015
Quadrant for MPS. It has also been positioned a leader, according to IT research firm IDC’s recent MPS MarketScape report, which analyses the competitive fitness of companies providing managed print services.
A regional distributor of ICT solutions and services, catering to Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Logicom’s mission is to market high quality products in an efficient and effective manner while providing exceptional customer service and support. In the past year, the distributor has witnessed a double digit year-on-year growth. The company has expanded its reach, both geographically and in terms of its portfolio. In 2014, it enhanced its coverage in Iraq, making it the only authorised Cisco distributor to cover the whole Middle East region, both locally and remotely through its regional partners. 2014 also saw the distributor expanding its local operations in Kuwait and Qatar while also enhancing its investments and partnerships in the Middle East and
Best post-sal
es support Logicom
Gulf regions with the addition of new lines of business with HP Supplies in the Gulf.
MDS ap Tech has opened up new market sector for vendor, SAP EPM solution in the last year. It has successfully completed high profile project at Emirates NBD and has conducted regional industry research on close cycle ranking studies for the Middle East region. The company’s proactive demand generation marketing campaign resulted in solid pipeline across the region. Over the last two years, it has integrated with international EPM network and built regional EPM professional communities. It continues to be the only SAP EPM partner in the MENA region capable of effectively marketing, selling and implementing SAP EPM solutions.
generation Best demand MDS ap Tech
initiatives
Over the past year, regional distributor Mindware has announced its rebranding, new vendor partnerships and the launch of the company’s mobile app to its partners and customers in the region. The distributor has had a 25 percent year-on-year growth in 2014. It has signed up new vendor partnerships in the past year including Riverbed, Atlantis and Vasco. The company has extended its office presence to Qatar and Kuwait and has increased its partner count to a total of 3500. With a brand new and fresh logo, the company’s GM, Mario Gay says, “After 23 years of doing business in the region, I believe it was time to change to stay with the colours of the times and create a symbol that showcases the company with modern reality. In the rebranding, we have introduced a new logo and new colours for our brand while simultaneously staying Best pre-sales support Mindware
true to our roots.” It has also launched its loyalty programme, which caters to the channel partners.
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Nexans, a global player in the cable industry, offers an extensive range of cables and cabling systems. The group is a global player in the infrastructure industry, largely building and Local Area Network markets. The company caters to a number of market segments, ranging from energy, transport and telecom networks to shipbuilding, oil and gas, nuclear power, automotive, electronics, aeronautics, handling and automation. In 2013, the company experienced significant growth in its Middle East LAN infrastructure business, thanks to large infrastructure project wins in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan. The
Best physical
infrastructure
vendor Nexans
company saw a huge demand for structured cabling solutions in line with ongoing infrastructure projects in the region. The company has doubled its team in the region over the past year.
A secure mobility value-added distributor, Oxygen has built up its physical offices to six locations over the last 10 years. According to the company, it has been recognised as a regional reference based on best secured mobility products in the market. Catering to verticals such as governments, banking and finance, telco, oil and gas, education, healthcare, hospitality and retail sectors, the distributor shares a long standing partnership with wireless and security vendors such as Aruba Networks, Fortinet, MobileIron, Vidyo, RedSeal Networks, Ascom, Fluke Networks, A10 Networks, Samgsung Knox, box, Certes, RaGaPa, Ekahua, Vocera. Oxygen as a company has grown rapidly over the last year in terms of revenue, resources, partner landscape as well as portfolio.
distributor Best mobility e East dl Oxygen Mid
Prestigio, part of Asbisc Enterprises, is a fairly young brand in the mobile devices lifestyle space in the region. According to the company what sets it apart is that it thrives to make life more comfortable by offering a wide range of practical, easy-to-use and affordable mobile solutions in the consumer electronics market. From a product breadth perspective, the brand offers everything from Android-powered smartphones and tablets to having recently launched Windows-based devices. To guarantee an efficient supply of products and channel development, the vendor has an established network of sales offices in over 30 countries and strategically located manufacturing centres in China, Finland, Czech Republic and Poland. Best product innovation Prestigio
30
HOT 50 2015
The company has integrated its tablets offering with an electronic white board that is ideal for the education sector.
Quantum, although a recent entrant in the mobility space, has managed to garner a wide market share within the region. According to the company, what has worked in its favour is its focus on technology, quality, price and best after-sales warranty and other services. The company has invested in quality assurance programme to lessen RMA returns. It also offers three year warranty, three month swap and three year pick-up and drop service, applicable all over the Gulf region including Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, differentiating it from the crowded marketplace. The company also offers Android and Windows OS dual bootable tablet, with Intel Celeron microprocessor. In the past year, it unveiled ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ at DISTREE Middle East, Abu Dhabi. The company aims to take Quantum range of
or mobility vend Best emerging Quantum
products across the globe in the coming years.
One of the oldest serving and largest distributor in the region in terms of turnover, number of units sold, channel breadth and product breadth and depth, Redington Gulf’s strength lies across various areas. One of its fortes being channel enablement and support. The company gives database marketing prime importance. It analyses the data quarterly in terms of partners billing trend, segment the partner on basis of value, volume and product breadth. It also targets segmented customers by cross selling and offers to generate leads via e-mailer. It sends out newsletters fortnightly to partners listing down the products and its features. It reaches to the database of 9k partners covering product features and offers from respective vendors. The distributor tracks leads generated and ensure closure with defined follow up mechanism. The distributor’s other key strength is in credit management, managing its systems and processes.
Best partner collaboration initiatives Redington G ulf
Riverbed has grown from strength to strength in 2014 and its success is closely tied to the company’s go-to-market strategy for the region. Outlined in this plan are goals that include growing Riverbed’s customer base in the key markets of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt; engaging more deeply with a select group of ‘focused’ channel partners; and strengthening local ties with Riverbed Technology Alliance (RTA) partners such as EMC, VMware and Microsoft with the intention of creating joint opportunities. Towards the latter half of 2013, the company enhanced its partner programme that have simplifed processes, training and competency certifications to help partners capitalise on new market prospects and
Best channel
managemen t initiatives Riverbed Tech nology
accelerate their growth. These changes included enhanced partner benefits, simplified business processes, streamlined training and certification, move to a new competency model and simplification of its partner levels.
HOT 50 2015
31
RSA has been at the forefront of intelligence driven security solutions, which enable customers to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals. The company helps customers to deploy intelligent tools, improve collaboration and sharing of vital information, improve visibility across the length and breadth of the enterprise to win. It is looking to help customers in four specific areas including advanced security operations, identity and trust management, fraud and risk intelligence and governance risk and compliance. In order to accomplish this, RSASecurWorld, the partner programme from the vendor, reinforces the strength and reach of its channel partners through leading-edge technology, helps in implementing successful
curity vendor Best cyber se RSA
initiatives, offers extensive enablement and support and strategic flexibility in terms of financial benefits and resources.
In SAP’s worldwide channel partner programme, MENA is one of the fastest-growing region, with the market having a 152 percent year-onyear growth. In the past year, SAP MENA has appointed Patrick Hayati as Head of General Business and Partner Ecosystem (GB&E), to develop the channel development programme and presence in emerging markets worldwide. In 2013, the vendor’s GB&E business was the fastest growing market unit in EMEA for general business. Mobility has been a key area of focus for the company in 2014, with SAP Fiori. SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA has seen 25 percent year-on-year growth in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region from 2013 to 2014. Over the past year, SAP has simplified its MENA channel partner ecosystem, with a strong partner enablement programme in place today. As a result, partners have deeper technical
Best channel development programme SAP
skills, knowledge, and expertise in deploying the vendor’s solutions.
In the past year, Secunia has made substantial improvements to both its service delivery and after-sales service. By establishing a close working relationship with highly skilled partners in the Middle East, the vendor ensures high quality service to its customers, both in the process of determining which solution is best suited to individual requirements, and in the implementation and customisation of those services and solutions. In the past year, Secunia has expanded services with a team of experienced sales engineers who work on-site with customers and partners to increase customer satisfaction by optimising solution set-up, thereby maximising the return on investment. Partners, support teams and sales engineers undergo continuous product training to ensure an
Best after-sale
s service Secunia
32
HOT 50 2015
optimal service to customers.
Spectrami is committed to create a 100 percent channel-driven business model and believes it can achieve this through channel enablement. The distributor looks at partner enablement not only in terms of just ‘enabling’ but also in terms of getting the sales person to talk about it or the technical team to deploy the solution. With regular tech workshops, the distributor gets partners’ sales and presales to work on customer use case scenarios and champion them. It recognises partners’ excellence in sales and technical delivery by awards and several activities. The company is expecting to close 2014 revenues with 30 percent growth. The distributor has increased channel presence across the region through sign ups with major
Best security
systems integrators such as Magnus, Paramount, Paladion, GBM,
solutions prov ider Spectrami
Ejada, PCS and Help AG. The company also shifted to a new 500 square feet office, keeping in line with its increasing growth.
The regional distributor of information security solutions and services, Spire Solutions helps consumers and organisations secure and manage their information-driven world. The company works with a select range of technology partners, while leveraging its channel partnerships to help organisations build a secure operation. The distributor provides an array of services that include governance, risk and compliance, vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, security design and architecture review, security operational support, training and education on the hardware and software solutions it provides. At every step in its growth, the company has expanded both its technological expertise and overall understanding of customer needs, while adhering to its core founding principle of injecting confidence into information.
er
id services prov Best security s Spire Solution
2014 has been a flagship year for Symantec. In the early part of last year, the vendor opened a new office in Dubai as well as new legal entities in Qatar and Kuwait. Throughout the year, it has looked to advance its strong record and supply further investment in the region by building strategic collaborations with customers across a number of sectors. It continues to play a key role in safeguarding critical and sensitive information through supplying the public, partners, and governments with the necessary assurances to secure and manage their assets in an information-driven world. Throughout the course of 2014, Symantec has released new solutions and product updates to benefit customers in the Middle East. The company unveiled its redesigned partner programme globally with 12 new Symantec Solution Competencies in May 2014. These new competencies give partners rity vendor Symantec
Best endpoint secu
the choice to deepen their expertise in a particular solution area, or to extend their capabilities across multiple solutions for broader market traction.
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TP-LINK Technologies is a provider of SOHO and SMB networking products and wireless solutions. This year, the company has been able to increase its sales revenue by 30 percent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from January to September 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. The company has continued to cement its position in the wireless and networking space, where it provides a range of products in MENA. With plans to open an office in KSA and later in South Africa, the company remains on track to achieve
Best product leadership TP-Link Mid dle East
double digit growth year-on-year for the next three years.
Since it began operations in the Middle East three years ago, Veeam focuses on adding value to its partners by updating its products and channel programme. The company has increased its booking revenue by 158 percent for the third quarter of 2014, when compared to the same period in the previous year. According to the company, it saw its Middle East customers grow between Q3 2013 and Q3 2014 by 112 percent. In 2014, Veeam Cloud Connect, part of the new Veeam Availability Suite v8, gave customers a fully integrated and efficient means to move backups to an offsite backup repository.
mme editation progra Best partner accr are ftw So Veeam
2014 has been a significant year for storage vendor, WD. From a channel perspective, it has been focused on educating its partners by conducting face-to-face trainings sessions, and by engaging its partners across the region through its online training tool - WD University (www.wduniversity.com). The company has also been expanding its market presence across the region with enhanced and consistent channel
Best consumer
storage vendor WD Middle Ea st
34
HOT 50 2015
activity in the African markets. In 2014, WD launched a variety of products targeted at consumers, SMBs and enterprises.
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