Reseller Middle East

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ISSUE 188 // AUGUST 2012 // WWW.RESELLERME.COM

UNVEILING VALUE THE DIFFERENT FACETS OF SERVICE DELIVERY

ANALYSIS

INTERVIEW

REVIEW

FDC International is working towards creating a symbiotic ecosystem

iSTYLE is cashing in on the explosive demand for Apple products in the region

HP Omni 27, the latest contender in the Allin-One desktop space

FEATURE

G R E E N E R PA S T U R E S

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CONTENTS ISSUE 188 // AUGUST 2012

HIGHLIGHTS 7

COVER FEATURE

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

PARTNER WATCH 18

Piece by piece FDC International is working towards building an ecosystem that encourages mutual growth for partners and vendors alike. The company’s senior executives give us an in-depth look at its business strategy and plans for the future.

22

Apple a day iSTYLE, a premium reseller of Apple products in the EMEA has capitalised on the burgeoning demand for Apple creations in the region. We speak to the company’s GM, Hani Nehme to learn more.

24

Steady as it goes DataCare, a Dubai based IT wholesaler, is cashing in on the burgeoning demand for storage media while staying true to its business principles to continue on its journey for growth.

FEATURE 36

Greener pastures

28

Green IT investments go deeper than energy efficiencies; they root down to investments in training and education to gain mindshare to reap any significant benefits. Industry experts tell us exactly how these investments are shaping up in the region.

HOT PRODUCTS 42

HP Omni 27 The latest contender in the AIO desktop space is impressive but leaves room for improvement

UNVEILING VALUE ‘Value’ remains a hotly debated topic across the regional channel community.

We speak to the experts to go down to the root of the concept, and understand exactly what ‘value’ they bring to the table.

PEOPLE

45

46

Leading with ambition

Rooted in sales

Deepak Babani, CEO, Eros Group

Shaheen Haque, territory manager, Middle East and Africa at Interactive Intelligence

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EDITORIAL Publisher Dominic De Sousa Group COO Nadeem Hood Managing Director Richard Judd richard@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9126

EDITORIAL Senior Editor Sathya Mithra Ashok sathya@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9111

‘Value’ your time

Assistant Editor Pallavi Sharma pallavi@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9103

ADVERTISING Commercial Director Rajashree R Kumar raj@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9131 Key Account Manager Merle Carrasco merle@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9134

CIRCULATION Database and Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9147 PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Production Manager James P Tharian james@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9146 Design Director Ruth Sheehy ruth@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9132 Designer Analou Balbero analou@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9104

DIGITAL www.rwme.net DIGITAL SERVICES Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy P Maagma Web Developers Erik Briones Jefferson de Joya Photographer and Social Media Co-ordinator Jay Colina online@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

1013 Centre Road, New Castle County, Wilmington, Delaware, USA Branch Office PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409

Pallavi Sharma Assistant Editor Talk to us: E-mail: pallavi@cpidubai.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ ResellerME Twitter: @ResellerME

In a heavily competitive market where margins are shrinking, and products and solutions are getting increasingly standardised, channel organisations continue to differentiate themselves based on their concepts of value.

Over the last few years, the term value addition has become an oft-repeated term in the region’s IT channel. Distributors of every hue and colour speak of value and the transition away from ‘box selling’; yet a standard definition of value remains hazy. Is value just a marketing jargon? The industry’s standard definition of value is often centred around a company’s in-house technical resources and its ability to extend pre- and post-sales support. Some other organisations take this definition further to include activities pertaining to channel enablement, technical and sales training in addition to co-funded marketing initiatives, lead generation and sales incentives. Add to this the extension of logistics support and credit availability and an organisation can define itself as a true partner to vendors, acting as an extended arm and a trusted consultant to the channel.

What makes the subject of value perhaps more confusing is the fact that most organisations base their value propositions on these elements. And that brings us back to the original premise-- what makes them different from one another?

What we found was that while these organisations are all armed with more or less the same resources, their approach to delivering value is radically different. While some are taking channel enablement further by incentivising partners for their own investments in specialisation, others are customising products and solutions for every country of operation and still there is change to come. What remains to be seen is how soon this change will come and how many organisations in the region are ready for it?

At a time like this, the holy month of Ramadan is a time of reckoning for many. When peace and calm engulfs the region, people find themselves with time to reflect on the months past and plan for the for the months to come.

This is a good time to go back to the drawing board, which is already full with new and revised strategies. This is the time to sit down, take stock and figure out the extent of change to come.

We at ResellerME are doing just that not just by working on our full calendar of events for the next six months but also by leveraging this time to meet with the industry’s various stakeholders to understand exactly what technology and business subjects you would like us to address. So tell us what topics are the most relevant to you and your business, and we will do our best to address these through our features and interviews.

Write in to me at pallavi@cpidubai.com or Tweet out to us @ResellerME, and until next time, Ramadan Kareem.

Printed by Printwell Printing Press © Copyright 2012 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

Optimus and Bitdefender organise ‘Readiness Program’ for resellers

Optimus Technology and Telecommunications, a regional value added distributor (VAD) of IT and telecommunications products and its vendor partner, Bitdefender recently held a ‘Channel Readiness’ program for its partners.

The program included presentations, demonstrations and training on Bitdefender’s

range of security solutions. Through this program, Optimus was able to expand Bitdefender’s channel network by signing on new partners, while simultaneously training and empowering them to successfully become authorised Bitdefender resellers in the region.

“Bitdefender’s products, including their new virtual and cloud products, are unique

Huawei launches Ascend P1 in the UAE Huawei, a global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, recently announced the official release of its much anticipated Huawei Ascend P1 smartphone now available at retailers across the country.

The launch marks the first Huawei smartphone to be introduced regionally under the company’s new Ascend Platinum series (denoted by the “P1”) which comes fullyloaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS and features a powerful dual-core 1.5GHz processor with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass.

“By solidifying strong ties within the industry to create an open and cooperative value chain process for our products, we believe that Huawei’s long-standing strengths in research and development are now being showcased more distinctly and competitively through the launch of our Ascend Platinum series,” said Jiao Jian, Middle East president

of Huawei Device. “Furthermore, UAE is a vibrant market for consumer electronics, one in which we feel that Huawei can succeed in offering the latest technology innovations coupled with robust media applications and a particular emphasis on chic model designs.”

The Ascend P1 is being released in a single ceramic white model retailing for AED 1,899 at major retail outlets including Sharaf DG, Jacky’s, Jumbo Electronics, Emax and more.

and are ranked amongst the leading security solutions globally. We wanted to ensure that our channel partners fully understood the features and benefits of these solutions, which would help them sell better,” said Nehul Goradia, VP – channel and alliances, Optimus Technology and Telecommunications.”

“By being present at our training, the partners benefited from an exclusive description of Bitdefender`s Business Solutions. Not only did they receive added value through precious information about our products, but they are also going to be able to sell better, increase their revenue, and be able to pass on the knowledge”, said Khalid Muasher, business development manager, Middle East, Bitdefender.

For the full story, please visit http://bit.ly/PiCMj7

Comguard expands portfolio to include wireless networking products Comguard, a Dubai based value added distributor for IT security products in the MENA region and part of the Spectrum group recently announced that it has carved out a brand new division called ‘Comguard Wireless’ to extend its focus on wireless networking products and solutions in the Middle East region.

Ajay Singh Chauhan, CEO, Comguard, said, We intend to create a healthy channel for our wireless networking products in the MENA region, and provide our constant support to the channel with design, presales and implementation support. We will initiate extensive partner training programme, conduct webinars, lend continuous technical and marketing support to facilitate the growth of businesses for all our channel partners.”

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HIGHLIGHTS News

Barraduca Networks Spectrami offers cash rewards for rewards top partners channel partners in the region

Barracuda Networks recently awarded its top performing partners from the EMEA region with a trip to Paris, France, where partners enjoyed VIP tickets to Tour de France.

The event that celebrates the highest levels of sporting excellence and physical endurance presented a perfect environment for the company to acknowledge the winners of its EMEA-wide quarterly sales incentive, as it continues to enjoy strong growth across the Middle East region.

Barracuda Networks, who are also the sponsors of the Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda cycle team, were joined at the finish line by its best performing partners over the past three months, including Middle East partner New Heights International, representatives said.

Attendees were given VIP seats on the Champs-Elysees in Paris to witness the finale of the world-renowned cycling event. This rounded off a full day’s hospitality in the French capital, which also included lunch at the US Embassy.

Michael Hughes, VP worldwide sales at Barracuda Networks, said, “The demand for IT security has never been higher across Europe. We are committed to a 100% channel model as the best way to meet this demand.

We wanted to take this opportunity to thank our partners for their continued success. We hope events such as today will provide the incentive for them to achieve further growth through the rest of the year.”

For the full story, please visit http://bit.ly/PP1bdH

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Spectrami, a value added distributor in the MENA region in association with vendor Actifio, has announced cash rewards to generate qualified leads for channel partners spread across the selected countries in the Middle East region including, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, UAE among others.

The program has been categorised into two segments of lead generation – Qualified Sales Lead and Qualified Pre-Sales Lead, representatives said. Any channel partner, who is able to generate a Qualified Sales Lead, stands to gain US$ 100 of cash reward for every single lead, while Qualified Pre-Sales Lead will enrich the partner by US$ 50 of cash reward for every single lead.

The criteria for qualified lead are also extremely simple with just four parameters to qualify for the cash rewards, the company said.

According to the company, the lead generation program is valid till 25th September 2012 and channel partners are required to first register with Spectrami to avail cash rewards.

Anand Choudha, MD, Spectrami, said, “We are excited about our lead generation program as cash rewards will compensate the efforts of channel partners in the initial stage. On other hand, the next generation storage solutions from Actifio are need of the hour for enterprises in the region as it can resolve the issue of data management, and opens up huge opportunities for our channel partners that further enhance the potential of their businesses.”

For the full story, please visit http://bit.ly/Q14DlA

Lenovo honours FDC with channel award Lenovo held an event in Germany last month where it brought together channel partners from across the EMEA region.

FDC, a prominent value added distributors (VADs) of IT products in the Middle East was recognised as “Lenovo Distributor of the Year” award at the annual Lenovo EMEA Channel Forum.

Gianfranco Lanci, president EMEA and SVP Lenovo Group said, “EMEA is a strategically critical market for us. We must maintain our commercial leadership – we are number one in the world in commercial – while dramatically expanding SMB and consumer presence across the region, and we will achieve this goal to grow in each market segment together with our partners”.

FDC was honoured for its dedication and successful strategy to invest in resources that would boost the company’s brand

image throughout the Middle East region over the last five years. This investment and drive has resulted in over 30% growth rate year-on-year, representatives said.

“FDC is very deserving and proud of this award as it reflects years of building our partnership with Lenovo and becoming an integral component to our success. We have continually demonstrated our acumen in the commercial space with expertise in terms of price, product positioning and our invaluable local knowledge allowing award winning success within FDC’s markets,” said Alan Pourmirza, infrastructure manager at FDC. “This commercial success is directly in line with Lenovo’s strategy to maintain its commercial leadership while dramatically expanding SMB and consumer presence across the region and FDC will be a significant player in that strategy”.

HIGHLIGHTS News

SBM achieves Cisco Cloud Builder designation Saudi Business Machines (SBM) has announced that it has achieved the Cisco Cloud Builder designation within the Cisco Cloud Partner Program, to support the expanding role of the network in deploying cloud services.

This designation recognises SBM’s competencies to sell and implement Cisco end-to-end cloud solutions for SBM’s private or public cloud customers in addition to cloud providers, it was reported. As a Cisco designated Cloud Builder Partner, SBM has met the required competencies across all cloud infrastructure components (security, networking, compute, storage and virtualisation solutions), cloud management applications and a formal cloud professional services practice, the company said.

Hatem El-Kady, country sales manager – Network Solutions for SBM said, “Our commitment to excellence is constant, and in that regard, we are always aiming to be up to date with the latest developments and best practices in our field. At SBM, we believe in providing high end solutions to our clients, providing the technology to lead.”

Abdullah Al-Swaha, country channel manager for Cisco in Saudi Arabia added, “We value the commitment and expertise that SBM demonstrated and look forward to building on our successful strategic partnership. We highly commend the SBM for achieving our Cloud Builder certification which is a key milestone in our Cloud Partner Program.”

The Cisco Cloud Partner Program empowers channel partners to build endto-end cloud solutions and professional services practices based on Cisco cloud solutions. This program offers training to help channel partners as they enhance their competencies in selling and implementing end-to-end cloud solutions that include Cisco and approved thirdparty technology partners’ solutions in an integrated cloud solution.

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Almasa Value Distribution announces new lead for convergence business

Jeevan Bhingharkar, head of convergence business at Almasa Value Distribution Almasa Value Distribution has recently announced the appointment of Jeevan Bhingarkar as the new head of its convergence business.

Having built his experience working for prestigious brands such as Imtac Technologies, Visionaire and Jumbo Electronics, Bhingarkar

brings over 25 years of knowledge in enterprise technology solutions distribution within the GCC and Indian markets. With a solid understanding of strategic marketing, business alliance management, convergence solutions, his primary responsibilities for Almasa Value Distribution will include augmenting the products and solutions offering and create new channels for reaching out to end users in Industry Verticals and new geographies, the company said.

“We believe Jeevan’s extensive sales, service and marketing experience, in addition to his proven ability to deliver business results targeting revenue growth, will add significant value to Almasa Value Distribution, as well as our partners and resellers,” said Roger El-Tawil, executive director for Almasa Value Distribution. “As we continue to build a dynamic, knowledgeable team which can leverage the entrepreneurial spirit of our parent company to deliver real value and focus to the Middle East’s channel community, Jeevan is a welcome addition to the team”.

Comguard achieves security certification from Kaspersky Lab Comguard, a Dubai based value added distributor for IT security products and the authorised training partner for Kaspersky Lab in the Middle East and North Africa region has announced that two of the company’s senior instructors have achieved the highest level of certification, Endpoint Security 8 for Windows from Kaspersky Lab. With this distinction, Comguard has now become the key authorised training partner for Kaspersky Lab in the region to have certified security instructors offering training on Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows, the company said.

Kaspersky Endpoint Security 8 for Windows is a cornerstone of Kaspersky Lab’s solutions, providing centralised protection of Windows workstations and

Windows servers from malware, potentially dangerous programs and network attacks.

Expressing his happiness Mohammad Mobasseri, senior VP at Comguard, said, “This is a phenomenal achievement by Hafeez ur Rehman and Vaseem Hameed which exhibits the hard work and superior quality of training executed at Comguard. It has always been our endeavour to introduce best of the breed technology to the region. We are extremely proud of this achievement and will start immediately training our partners and customers on this unique platform. ” Comguard will offer training on Endpoint Security 8 for Windows from Kaspersky Lab to its channel partners and end users across the Middle East including United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman among others, it was reported.

HIGHLIGHTS News

Barracuda Networks and Redington Value organise first partner orientation

Following the recent appointment of Redington Value as a value added distributor for Barracuda Network’s solutions across the Middle East region, the two companies held their first partner orientation to introduce partners to the opportunities open to them as a result of this partnership.

The event, held at the Radisson Royal Hotel in Dubai, brought together more than 25 of the company’s resellers specialising in the area of IT security.

The focus at the event was to introduce partners to the vendor’s channel strategy,

product and solution roadmaps, representatives said.

“We offer the widest range of security solutions available in the market today so as to offer customer end to end comprehensive security. It would be unrealistic to expect any one reseller to be able to extend all of our solutions and services to their customers and therefore the idea behind the orientation was to garner feedback from resellers to identify which of our solutions are most suited to their existing customer base and company capabilities,” said Sherif AbdElGawad, GM, Middle East and Africa at Barracuda Networks.

According to the AbdElGawad, Barracuda Networks has maintained operations in the Middle East through the channel for over five years but having witnessed over 30%

consistent growth year on year, the company is now investing even further in establishing a robust local presence in the region.

“This partnership with Redington Value is an extension of our efforts to up our commitment to the region. We were on the lookout for a value added distributor who not only had a significant reach but one that was willing to go the extra mile offering us scalable operations and access to expert resellers in the field of IT security,” he added.

As a result of the feedback from partners at the event, the companies have now decided to conduct two technical trainings, one focused on Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Barracuda NG Firewall, it was reported.

AbdElGawad concluded, “The partnership with Redington Value has been revised to include distribution of our solutions across markets in Africa. The company’s broad presence in the region helps us tap the increasing investments in security across Africa. Through this partnership resellers will gain access to our expert pool of pre-sales and sales resources in addition to our support with lead generation and training so as to enable them stay competitive in the long run.”

SecureLink and Qualys partner to offer vulnerability management services in the region SecureLink, a security services provider in the Middle East, recently announced that it has partnered with Qualys, a provider of cloud security and compliance solutions, to provide the QualysGuard Cloud Suite of IT security and compliance solutions in the region.

As part of the agreement, SecureLink will provide Qualys’ cloud solutions integrated with their GRC and SIEM services to help customers secure their IT environments and maintain compliance, it was reported.

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“We are extremely pleased to be working with Qualys to provide our customers in the Middle East region with leading vulnerability management services to help them protect against the latest cyber threats,” said Kuber Saraswat, director – strategic security consulting at SecureLink.

“In addition to security Intelligence reported to our customers through our GRC and SIEM services, we will now have up-to-date vulnerability data to provide situational awareness and to validate the success of our clients’ data Protection capabilities using

a more holistic and actionable business-risk approach.”

“We are pleased to partner with SecureLink to deliver best-of-breed security and compliance services to customers in the Middle East,” said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO of Qualys. “Our QualysGuard cloud solutions integrated with SecureLink services provide organisations with an up-to-date view of security and compliance postures for their IT assets, helping them to protect IT environments against cyber attacks and achieve compliance.”

HIGHLIGHTS News

Cisco recognises channel partners Despec Africa EPZ participates at Partner Summit UAE 2012 in the Dares-Salaam International Trade Fair Despec Africa recently announced its participation at the Saba-Saba Fair in DarEs-Salaam, Tanzania. The Dar-es-Salaam International Trade Fair is an annual government event and is the key exhibition for the region.

The fair has established its strategic importance as a gateway for the latest products in Tanzania as well as in the East, Central and the Southern African Region.

Supported by the services of the Dar es Salaam harbour, the fair acts as one stop centre for reaching countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

In addition, the event leverages the patronage of the Tanzania business community who both exhibit and use it as a forum for business exchange and is therefore supported by the government through the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It is also backed by the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (TCCIA) and the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) as well as other institutions in the country.

Despec Africa EPZ participated in the 11 day event with a focus on promoting its brands and product assortment in addition to addressing customer queries associated with in-country availability.

As an authorised distributor for some global brands like HP, Wacom, Imation, Norton, TrippLite among others, Despec is one of the first distributor’s to have setup the export regional hub (a free zone entity) in Tanzania to serve the wider East Africa community. The initiative allows Despec to stock goods locally saving them huge costs associated with VAT and import duty.

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At its recent Partner Summit UAE 2012, Cisco demonstrated its ongoing focus and commitment to its channel partners by recognising the achievements of its top performing partners in the UAE for 2012.

The IT giant used the event to launch its FY13 Partner Program titled ‘Partner Plus’.

According to representatives, the new global channel program targets SMB customers, in addition partners who participate in the program will receive increased preference, investment and support in the form of business accelerators such as incremental incentives, engineering support, marketing and demand generation, sales enablement, and customer intelligence.

Themed ‘Partnering for Growth’ this year, the annual Cisco Partner forum serves as a platform for partners to interact and build relationships

with company executives and learn about Cisco’s strategic direction, business priorities, products and products for channel partners. The event also highlights emerging market trends and Cisco’s plans to capitalise on these opportunities together with its partners via successful innovation and collaboration. At this year’s event the three key topics of focus were cloud, smart services and partner led initiatives.

“In the UAE and on a regional level, our partners are core to our business and a key driver for future growth,” said Claire Jones, regional manager, Cisco UAE. “We are using the opportunity through Partner Summit to acknowledge that our channel partners who are critical to the company’s success. The forum gives us an opportunity to recognise our partners’ achievements and reinforce our commitment to working with them to ensure that Cisco retains its leadership position in the industry.”

For more on the winners, please visit http://bit.ly/NpJKSL

Sanovi Technologies and GBM partner to bring DR management solutions to the region Sanovi Technologies, a provider of disaster recovery management (DRM) software and Gulf Business Machines (GBM) today announced a partnership to resell Sanovi DR Management Suite to organisations across the GCC (except Saudi Arabia) and Pakistan.

This partnership agreement establishes a long-term strategic relationship between both companies allowing GBM to remarket, distribute, resell and support Sanovi Technologies’ products, including Sanovi DR Management Suite.

“In today’s volatile business environment, Disaster Recovery Management solutions are imperative for the smooth functioning of

business. Sanovi solutions help customers reduce business exposure to IT outages, and increase confidence in their DR plans, while lowering total cost of ownership for DR solutions with its DR automation platform,” said Cesare Cardone, CEO, GBM. “Demand for DR Automation Solutions is growing as customers are looking for ways to reduce production downtimes, and perform successful DR drills. GBM has significant market reach in the region and provides Sanovi an excellent opportunity to offer its intelligent DRM automation solutions and provide measurable ROI to customers,” said Chandra Pulamarasetti, cofounder and CEO at Sanovi Technologies.

HIGHLIGHTS News

Canon honours Jordan’s top performing IT dealers

Canon Middle East awarded Jordan’s top performing channel partners in the Office Personal Products (OPP) and Office Imaging Products (OIP) categories at the recently held Canon IT Dealer seminar.

Top performing dealers honoured at the event include Computer Field, Alpha for Computer, Computer Express Services, Ink

World, Smart Systems and IT Market for their significant contributions towards the growth of various Canon OPP and OIP Products in Jordan, the company said.

Designed to drive growth and enhance product knowledge of Canon’s latest line up of products, the company also hosted an in-depth seminar on Canon’s latest range of

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Canon also announced the launch of its market leading three year warranty campaign on its laser printer range.

Commenting on the introduction of the extended warranty programme, Adukia said, “Canon is committed to providing the highest standards of support in the industry, with a customer focused approach to both sales and service. The increase in warranty from one year to three reflects our total confidence in the robust nature of Canon’s i-Sensys laser products, which are manufactured to the highest possible standards. Canon’s printing solutions have long been regarded as market leaders in terms of product quality, a position which we have now reinforced with this unique commitment to our customers based in Jordan.”

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PARTNER WATCH FDC International

Piece by piece FDC International is working towards building an ecosystem that encourages mutual growth for partners and vendors alike. The company’s senior executives give us an in-depth look at its business strategy and plans for the future.

“Perceptions change with experience, so if you meet your commitments, deliver what you promise and guarantee customer satisfaction you can build a successful working relationship,”

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says Marissa Safe, COO and senior VP at FDC International.

An engineer by qualification, upon embarking on her professional career in the United States with companies such as LG and Everest Computers, Safe found

that she actually enjoyed the idea of selling technology more than the idea of solution design or engineering per se. Upon returning to the Middle East, Safe then set up FDC International that focused on reselling LG memory products and CPUs. 15 years later, FDC International has grown to be one of the largest IT distributors in the region generating over $ 425 million in revenues in 2011. Today, the company boasts of an impressive portfolio of vendors such as Lenovo, Acer and Asus, among many others and has maintained its leadership in the components space while simultaneously venturing into other areas like software, security, peripherals and storage among others.

The company shares Safe’s passion for selling technology. “At FDC, we work

towards being a trusted consultant that bridges the gap between vendors and the channel community. We focus on learning and encourage delegation. We consider ourselves value added distributors because we are not just box movers; we actively invest in many training initiatives, marketing activities, and road shows across the region.

In addition to that we maintain logistics, service support and warehousing facilities to maintain a steady flow of supply across our countries for operations, of which there are over 15,” says Girish K, director, Components at FDC International.

Over the years, the company has built rock solid, trust- based relationships with its many vendor partners as well as resellers.

“A work ethic is essential, the commitment to deliver is imperative for success. In business, situations aren’t always easy nor are they predictable, yet there is no room for excuses. Our strategies are built on this concept, so we are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and emerging markets to ensure the business continues to grow despite regional economic or political events. So if business in one country isn’t meeting the forecasted targets, we don’t waste time waiting for the situation to turn; instead we focus on tapping emerging markets and opportunities. Although luck can contribute to ones success, there is no substitute for hard work and dedication.” says Safe.

She describes finding people with the right work ethic as a considerable challenge.

“The region lacks a strong work ethic; the definition of work is different- people lack passion and are not willing to go above and beyond their job roles and excuses are abundant. The expectations for pay are very high, yet the quality of work is very low. It is very difficult to judge a person’s commitment and dedication to the job when we interview them. This is why we give our employees the room to grow and prove themselves to ensure we retain the people with the right attitude and right skill sets,” Safe states.

Marissa Safe, COO and senior VP at FDC International

actively collect feedback from our regional channels and share this information with our vendors to help them devise effective strategies to boost their business, these strategies even help our competitors. We advise and consult our vendor partners and don’t just add products in our basket, we ensure we are competent and understand the technology well enough. We respect the competition and don’t practice unhealthy business or engage in price wars; we understand customers need to have a fair share of choice in the market in terms of price and availability,” she says.

Safe adds that the company maintains its product portfolio and brand image based on the very same ideas, through active knowledge sharing with all its stakeholders FDC works towards mutual growth. “Our massive geographic reach is perhaps our key strength and gives vendors access to valuable information

“The region lacks a strong work ethic; the definition of work is different- people lack passion and are not willing to go above and beyond their job roles and excuses are abundant. The expectations for pay are very high, yet the quality of work is very low. It is very difficult to judge a person’s commitment and dedication to the job when we interview them.”

The concept applies not just to FDC’s employees but also its vendors and channel partners. “People’s personalities are different, whether they are partners, customers or vendors; we know that their needs and perceptions may not necessarily be the same as ours. Each and every person’s capabilities and capacities are different. So like we do for our employees, we take the time to understand the needs and goals of our vendors and partners. We

that helps them devise effective regional strategies,” she says.

“While success stories across different countries may be the same, there are peculiarities. Everybody wants a good product and justify ROI but partners in Saudi Arabia want longer payment terms, while those in Jordan want exclusive partnerships.

Similarly, product demand across every market is different, for instance while Saudi Arabia shows significant interest in the

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PARTNER WATCH FDC International

mobility space Egypt still shows strength in the components segment,” Safe explains.

Safe adds that selecting the right partners is a challenge. “We have seven business managers or area managers who are responsible for reaching out to the resellers. These managers then study a resellers’ references and business plan, collect their feedback on what they need from us and understand their goals and objectives. We look out for partners with a long term vision and the financial capability to follow through their commitments. We don’t want partners with focus on trading; we want partners who want to add value, who can provision services. We want value added resellers (VAR). Partners who want profitability to reinvest in expansion and growth,” she says.

Despite its explosive success in the Middle East, Girish points to credit limitations and lacking forecast reports on the part of resellers as being key business challenges. “Resellers tend to ignore the need for forecasting in the distribution line, where the margins are very slim and operations are spread out across many countries. We need a tentative forecast so we can manage stocking and supply so as to maintain a healthy inventory. Based on these forecasts we then supply goods to our primary partners and share the rest amongst the smaller and often new partners.

Girish K, director, Components at FDC International

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This helps keep room open for us to sign on new partners or venture into the untapped markets,” he says.

The company offers a range of technical and sales training programmes in addition to incentivising partners for their successes.

FDC has recently completed a successful run of training sessions in Algeria, Jordan and Qatar. The company also recently held a three- day channel event in Dubai, UAE that brought together 120 channel partners from across the MENA and CIS region together with 14 prominent vendor partners. Over the course of the event, FDC and its vendors took partners through a series of vendors focused product trainings and registered partners for limited availability incentive programmes.

“This was an opportunity for the channel and the vendors to connect.

Under the umbrella of this event, vendors get to meet their channel partners from different countries and regions which helps them better understand the dynamics and peculiarities in demand and business opportunities. We also conducted an award ceremony recognising the efforts of the top three channel partners across each brand and the top three performing partners for FDC overall. This event was a draft event and based on the feedback from our vendors and partners we now have better idea of the logistics involved and the need for such platforms,” says Alan Pourmiza, infrastructure manager at FDC International.

According to Girish, the company is now working on venturing into the mobility space with the distribution of tablets and smartphones while maintaining its strong hold in components distribution.

“Being a well known components distributor, very happy knowing that many others think that the components business is dying. The vaccum that is created by their slimming investments is filled by FDC and that is the primary reason for the growth in our components distribution revenues. Our growth has been significant enough for us to justify and maintain our own investments in this line of business.

Alan Pourmiza, infrastructure manager at FDC International

People have understood the need for upgradability and have started showing interest in high end components. So yes, the components business isn’t dying, there is room for innovation and upgrades particularly across the high end motherboards and over clocking graphic cards segment,” he says Safe adds that the company will continue to focus on sustainable and healthy growth. “We want to expand operations with existing vendors. For instance, if we are doing business with a vendor in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, we want to extend this partnership to include distribution in Saudi Arabia as well. We want to deepen and strengthen our relationships with our vendor partners,” Safe concludes. //

Number of Employees: 180 Number of Certified engineers: 12 Number of brands represented: 21 Offices in: Egypt, KSA, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Iraq Warehouses in: Egypt, KSA, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq Service centres or collection points in: Egypt, KSA, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq Operations in: 15 countries Number of resellers: 680

PARTNER WATCH iSTYLE

Apple a day iSTYLE, a premium reseller of Apple products in Europe, Middle East and Africa has capitalised on the burgeoning demand for the Apple creations in the region. We speak to the company’s GM, Hani Nehme to learn more.

What is iSTYLE all about?

Established in 2005, iSTYLE was quick to lead the march in the Apple retail segment by setting up stores at high traffic locations.

We started our operations with a retail store at the Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai shortly after which we began to witness a huge demand for Apple premium products in the region. With the 2006 launch of the popular iPod line in addition to the MacBook Pro, the demand for the latest products grew even further and we soon began revising our strategy to reach out to a larger customer base across the region.

Our aim was to reach out to different cities, offering a one stop shop for everything Apple, run by Apple experts catering to both consumers and professionals alike. We aim to reduce the hesitancy of switching to Mac and break long grown stereotypes and customer sentiments towards Apple products.

Today, we operate one of the largest chains of Apple reseller stores across the Europe, Middle East and Africa, running more than 40 stores across the region. iSTYLE operations in the Middle East are head quartered in Dubai with retail locations across Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Khobar, and Riyadh employing more than a 100 employees.

So who is the typical iSTLYE customer?

Consumers and professionals alike, or more simply the ‘prosumer’ segment of the market are key customers to iSTYLE. Most recently, faculty and students have become an extensive customer base due to the launch of our Educational Program that offers discounted prices to students and faculty

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and therefore we now offer year-round educational discounts.

We have also seen quite a bit of interest from small and medium business (SMB) segment who prefer to buy and set up their own simple infrastructure, as opposed to investing in the standard non-retail reseller options. However, with the exciting Apple lineup of products, our target market continues to grow and widen, and we expect this to continue as we set up stores at convenient and popular locations across the region.

What would you say is the key industry challenge?

The grey market still poses considerable nuisance to our concept. Many electronics retailers sell grey market Apple products. Their proposition is solely based on price with no Apple expertise, end user guarantees, service nor support.

This said, I see this segment of the market diminishing as more people understand the benefits of buying at authorised points of sales such as iSTYLE, as we continue to extend our reach, offer competitive prices and quicker delivery options to customers across the region.

What are your plans for the near future?

At the moment we are concentrating on giving our customers and Apple enthusiasts extra support and added value. Later this month, we intend to launch the iSTYLE Loyalty card that will be available to all our customers from any of our outlets. The card will allow consumers to collect reward points to save on future purchases in addition to offering retroactive points on previous purchases for our existing customers as a token of loyalty and appreciation.

Hani Nehme, GM at iSTYLE We are also working on offering the iSTYLE complimentary training sessions that will be open to the public. The classes will accommodate all categories of users right from beginners to more advanced Apple users to help them get more out of their purchases and guarantee them the best user experience.

Attending these training sessions is as easy as registering to a course at one of our stores; our friendly staff will detail users through running courses and respective venues.

Finally, we are most excited about launching the all new iSTYLE Gift Card. With a plethora of attractive Apple and third party products in-store, choosing the ultimate gift may be a challenge.The card allows customers to preload their denomination of choice in-store and present the ultimate gift, customers can then redeem this value through any purchase at any iSTYLE store.

In the coming year, we will also be focusing on expansion throughout the Middle East with an emphasis on Abu Dhabi, where we are due to launch four new stores in addition to a brand new store at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

PARTNER WATCH DataCare

Steady as it goes DataCare, a Dubai based IT wholesaler, is cashing in on the burgeoning demand for storage media while staying true to its business principles to continue on its journey for growth.

The fifth annual IDC survey on the State of the Digital Data Universe found that the amount of data being stored is more than doubling every two years and could grow by 50 times by 2020. The results of the report were announced in June 2011 and IDC analysts said that today, 75% of the information comes from people using multiple mobile devices, to write text, share multimedia content such as music, photos and videos.

These people are generating huge amounts of unstructured data in addition to the existing mounds of traditional structured data that is driving the need for products and solutions that can store, manage and derive value from abounding mountains of data. The scenario, according to analysts, has serious implications for the channel, vendors and end users alike. “The growth of digital data is faster than the growth in storage capacity to store that data,� IDC said.

Contrary to the conclusion drawn by IDC, Dubai based IT wholesaler DataCare says the explosion in demand for secure and effective storage media has proved to be a lucrative opportunity.

According to Suresh Shetty, MD at DataCare the company was established in 2003 having identified the latent potential of the then nascent storage media market.

The company initially focused on core data storage products and solutions, partnering with prominent vendors such as HP, IBM, Dell and Imation among others. A few years since its inception, DataCare then went on to deal in printer supplies, dealing in the latest products from vendors such as HP, Samsung, Epson, Canon, Lexmark and many more.

Suresh Shetty, MD, at DataCare

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PARTNER WATCH DataCare

“It’s been a wonderful nine years, seeing DataCare grow to take the lead position in the data storage media distribution space.

Today, we are one of the leading distributors of best- in-class data media, printer supplies, consumer IT products and hardware. Early this year, we achieved the HP Preferred Partner status in addition to being an active member of the Dubai Computer Group (DCG). We also offer an extensive portfolio of integrated data protection and offsite backup services in addition to data destruction and secure disposal,” he says.

Shetty adds, “Over the past year, we have seen a shift in focus from aggressive cost cutting to emphasis on innovation.

This naturally means greater funds being invested in IT to enhance productivity and efficiency in addition to enabling competitiveness. In the Middle East IT

and ensure we stock only the most popular, fast- moving products and solutions to keep the turnover healthy. In addition, as a brand we have focused on offering our customers the quickest quote and delivery in keeping with industry standards. Our keen understanding of market demand and ability to predict business dynamics helps us keep the overheads low to as to ensure our customers receive the best at the most competitive prices,” Shetty states.

“We have been able to maintain steady growth marked by lean inventories, safe receivables and healthy profitability despite having walked away from deals that involved compromising on the credit terms. In 2011, we tied up with other service providers for offsite data storage and data destruction to further extend our services portfolio and gain a competitive edge,” he adds.

“We have had very low HR turnaround. Empowering and appreciation is the key to employee satisfaction and makes a good work environment. If the employees see value in their functions and are appreciated, they stay.” budgets are on the rise, with businesses ready to invest in newer technologies to support their business activities.

Enterprises across the region are showing marked interest in enabling flexibility and scalability through investments in virtualised and cloud environment in addition to the use of smartphones and tablets.”

In a vastly competitive market, Shetty says that there are three elements that IT resellers or distributors are rated on- credit terms, net price and logistics.

“As a company, we are very prudent when it comes to offering credit terms and never compromise on this aspect of business even if it means losing a deal.

Having said that, our ability to manage logistics in a manner that keeps costs low and supply moving has been key to our success so far. We always purchase in bulk

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In an industry marked by high attrition, DataCare’s ability to attract and retain employees is perhaps another point to its credit.

“We have had very low HR turnaround.

Empowering and appreciation is the key to employee satisfaction and makes a good work environment. If the employees see value in their functions and are appreciated, they stay. We encourage career growth and entrepreneurship, and this why we believe that our employees stay with us. For instance, one of our oldest employees only just left us last month after nine successful years of service for no other reason but to start his own business,” he says.

Be that as it may, Shetty doesn’t deny that doing business in the UAE has its share of challenges.

“Being an export oriented market the UAE is marked by variability in revenues

month after month. It limits one’s ability to plan and forecast because a lot depends on economic and market conditions in the surrounding markets of the Middle East and Africa. Another challenge is the ability to judge the accuracy of credit ratings of organisations in the market. For instance, sometimes even the large corporate whom one would expect to follow contractual terms and conditions, tend to unrealistically delay payments. A regular credit check on these accounts is almost always inaccurate and you have no option but to go with your gut feeling,” he says.

He believes that it is these challenges to business that make surviving in the market so much more interesting. “Exports to neighbouring countries and the investments in developing in country and regional infrastructure give it immense potential,” Shetty says.

According to Shetty, the future will be brighter with more and more organisations beginning to reap the benefits of investing in innovation underpinned by significant investments in technology. “Across the data storage industry particularity, the demand is only going to continue to surge as both businesses and individual users generate data at a tremendous rate.

On the consumer side, NAS boxes will become even more popular with limited storage on mobile and tablet devices while corporates will drive the demand for purpose built storage solutions and products,” he says.

Shetty says data media and printer supplies will remain the company’s core focus and it intend to further strengthen its position across both these product lines by adding new brands and products. “We believe that it is important to stay focused and not try and do everything. This is why we continue to do business across the GCC, North Africa and South East Asia through our channel partners instead of investing directly.

We believe being logical and conservative in our investments has been the root to our success over the last few years and so we plan to continue on with this simple yet effective strategy,” Shetty concludes. //

About Mahindra Satyam Mahindra Satyam is a global business consulting and information technology services company leveraging deep industry and functional expertise, leading technology practices and a global delivery model to help businesses transform their processes and improve performance. The company's professionals excel in enterprise solutions, supply chain management, client relationship management, business intelligence, business processes, engineering and product lifecycle management, infrastructure services, among other services.

The company has development and delivery centres in the United States of America, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Hungary, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia and serves numerous clients, including many Fortune 500 organizations.

Mahindra Satyam is part of the USD 15.4 billion Mahindra Group. The Mahindra Group employs more than 144,000 people in over 100 countries and operates in key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, information technology and vacation ownership. In 2011, Mahindra featured on the Forbes Global 2000 list, a listing of the biggest and most powerful listed companies in the world. Dun & Bradstreet also ranked Mahindra at No. 1 in the automobile sector in its list of India’s Top 500 Companies. In 2010, Mahindra featured in the Credit Suisse Great Brands of Tomorrow. In 2011, Mahindra acquired a majority stake in Korea’s SsangYong Motor Company.

COVER FEATURE Value Addition

Unveiling value ‘Value’ remains a hotly debated topic across the regional channel community. We speak to the experts to go down to the root of the concept, and understand exactly what ‘value’ they bring to the table.

IT today, has no doubt transitioned from its perception of a support function to a business enabler, and the commercial prospects for many organisations actually come from their ability to add value. This is why the term value addition has gained significant traction across the world, with more and more organisations going beyond the basic delivery of a vendor’s products to actually investing in the creation their internal or ‘very own’ services arm.

With value addition meaning different things to different people, it is imperative for the industry to define what value is and how it

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serves to differentiate the operations and capabilities of the many organisations that are part of the regional IT channel.

Based on responses gathered from 14 prominent channel organisations in the region we discovered that while the definition of value may differ from organisation to organisation, the purpose these services aim to serve remain pretty much the same. For customers value remains their ability to justify ROI, for partners it is their ability to go beyond representing their vendors and for vendor, value essentially means a successful and happy customer.

Following are excerpts from our interviews with the ‘Champions of Value Addition’.

ALMASA VALUE DISTRIBUTION

Roger El Tawil, executive director

True value comes from a holistic approach of people, products, coverage and operational excellence. It’s about bridging the gap between vendors and the channel, expanding the vendors coverage area, providing financial support, as well as having a consultative solution approach to sales -- this is at the heart of Almasa Value Distribution

Vendors and partners need to be on the same page in order to offer their customers the best possible solutions in this competitive market.

Almasa Value Distribution focuses on delivering leading edge solutions and services to resellers who are keen to address regional collaboration, productivity, networking, communications and security challenges

We believe that providing vertical expertise and know-how on specific verticals will helps our partners maximise their profit. By expanding product portfolios to cater to specific verticals, resellers are finding it easier to provide their customers with products that are in line with their needs

To create a successful channel ecosystem vendors have the responsibility to continuously generate demand programmes and activities to potential customers. They also have to provide successful and continuous partners programs to capture and convert the demand created

Value will continuously evolve into what the market demands, both partners and vendor will demand more in terms of expanding their reach and the financing options that might be available

Primary vendor partnerships: Avaya, HP and gateProtect, etc.

Offices in: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq Employees: 30

ALMOAYYED COMPUTERS

S.M Hussaini, GM

Channel activity in the region was largely transactional in nature. Over the years as competition across the distribution space continued to increase partners realised that customers now have access to multiple options and began to focus on differentiators in their offerings. These differentiators were offered in the form of services or support functions, adding ‘value’ to the end customer. It is this value that underpins our ability to attract and retain customers and dictates success

We operate on a business model that focuses on three main lines of business – systems integration, business applications sales, and delivery of professional services. As a systems integrator we represent leading ICT infrastructure vendors and specialise in their key competencies, as a business applications vendor we maintain a strong ecosystem of partners mapped with the market verticals. Our professional services arm is geared up to extend technical services covering multiple technologies and multiple functional areas.

Value addition can happen at every phase of a transaction with the customer. This is why partners must maintain the right credentials right from the very beginning and continue to support customer’s post sale and delivery

Value has to be communicated clearly, positioned as a differentiator and delivered without any compromise.

In most of the cases, the behaviour of the channel is a reflection of their relationship and strategies with their principles. Vendors need to realise this and should have a value inclusive strategy that ceases to consider the channel as just a fulfilment arm.

Primary vendor partnerships: Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Cisco, Citrix, Symantec, VMWare, EMC, Avaya etc.

Offices in: Kingdom of Bahrain Employees: 125

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COVER FEATURE Value Addition

BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES

Jose Thomas, MD

The channel plays a key role in connecting the vendors to their end users. In such a scenario, value addition means filling the gap between the vendor and end users with services beyond product or solution deliverables.

The distributor plays a major role in bringing the vendor’s products to the region. It is these distributors who then focus on creating good brand awareness, generating enough leads from the region, appointing the right partners with proper product knowledge and establishing customer relationships. Simultaneously, distributors must manage stock availability, credit availability and after-sales support to successfully retain customers.

Competition in the market raises the bar for every vendor.

The only way one can differentiate between the best and a mediocre vendor is by the value that the vendor adds to the existing line of business.

The customer and partner base have only increased which is purely to the credit of the reputation that we carry in the market. There is always scope for improvement though competition gets tougher by the day.

We function as an extended arm of the vendor, working with channel partners to effectively deliver the right solutions tot he right customer. This often means understanding the unique needs of the vertical segmet and customising solutions to meet these needs

We will continue to study the requirements of the market and introduce the latest solutions to both our channel partners and customers.

Primary vendor partnerships: Cyberoam, ESET, Tripwire, NetSupport, Comendo, Accellion, etc.

Offices in: UAE Employees: 25

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COMGUARD

Mohammad Mobasseri, Senior VP

It is becoming increasingly important to provide value added services in IT security sector and customers expect to receive support services even for consumer products. Support has become the key differentiator for customers to make a choice in the market place.

Vendors lay more emphasis on retaining customer loyalty and even evaluate partners based on referrals from satisfied customers.

Customers are keen to ensure that there are no obstacles to their business continuity. As partners this can only be achieved by extending support services across every point of need to ensure operational efficiency and high availability of their networks.

In order to deliver an appreciable value, we need to have dedicated professionals who aren’t just easy to find but are also quite expensive to sustain in the long term.

Despite the efforts of vendors and partners to extend true value, customers in the region are yet to comprehend the fact that ‘value comes at a price’. Customers continue to demand best in class services at lower costs and partners have the additional challenge of balancing these customer expectations with the ability to innovate and enhance their service offerings

There is a strong wave that is leaning on service orientation because as customers’ expectations continue to grow so does their knowledge of their rights and the service levels that are available in the market. Within the next two years, distributors that don’t focus on establishing a strong services arm will face the threat of going out of business

Primary vendor partnerships: HP ArcSight, Kaspersky Lab, GFI, Safe Net, Cyberoam, WatchGuard and BeyoundTrust etc.

Offices in: UAE, Saudi Arabia and India Employees: 150

COVER FEATURE Value Addition

EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS

FVC

Miguel Angel Villalonga, CEO

K.S. Parag, MD

Value is a clear and well defined set of service components that we offer our customers. These components begin well before we sign a contract with the customer and continue throughout the duration of our relationship with the customer. This includes services such as financing, logistics, project management, technical implementation and training among others.

Channel organisations operate under tremendous pressure because as vendors continue to demand higher margins, customers are trying to reduce costs. So, we have to demonstrate and convince the customers that there is a benefit to be had from the price that they pay for the value.

Our USP is that our solution portfolio isn’t static; we continue to invest in R&D to ensure that the solutions we offer today and tomorrow are the best ones. The days of the vendor supremacy are more or less gone.

The pain points for every business differ across every vertical segment and business strategy. We need to work hand in hand with our partners and their customers to identify their unique challenges and find the solutions that works best.

FVC has seen a year-on-year revenue growth of 50%. We pride ourselves on our ability to introduce and accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies, in addition to providing the technical expertise and support structure that channel partners need. We help them develop their own competencies in-house, and help them educate their own partners and customers on the business benefits of various solutions.

Customers need to understand that back in the day; the margins were large enough to accommodate the cost of services in the price they initially paid. Today, even these basic services are considered add-ons as they represent a significant opportunity cost or cost in training and attracting the right expertise. While some partners and vendors continue to follow that business model, it won’t be sustainable in the long run.

While most of our vendors support us, we would like to see more support from our vendors through more technical training and certification courses in the region, conducted in Arabic to help our partners and their customers, get the full value of solution implementations across the region, across all sectors.

Value will be evaluated based on the flexibility that delivery models provision, the focus will be on automation and minimising room for human error. The ones that can provide that added value with a clear brand of resiliency, security and trust under an automated environment will win.

We see more customers focusing on their core business and outsourcing IT functions to specialist. This means the channel partners need to gear up i therms of resources and capabilities to be ready to manage the delivery of outsourced professional technology services.

Primary vendor partnerships: HP, Microsoft, Symantec, EMC, Cisco, Orsyp, Nexthink, etc.

Offices in: UAE and Qatar Employees: 200

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“Value” means going beyond moving products and services to being about solutions that address specific needs – whether that is sector specific, geography specific or specific to individual customers

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Primary vendor partnerships: Polycom, Google Enterprise, Riverbed, Sourcefire, Barracuda Networks, etc.

Offices in: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria and UK (management office) Employees: 140

HELP AG

GOLDEN SYSTEMS MIDDLE EAST

Stephan Berner, MD

Ehsan Hashemi, COO

Margins are only shrinking if the resellers have the wrong business model. The thing is that no matter where you go and what industry you operate in, you are always going to find somebody who is cheaper than you. If you cannot provide something extra you shouldn’t blame the end customer or the market for lower revenues

We follow the ‘keep it smart and simple’ or KISS concept. People and organisations have a habit of making the simplest things seem complicated; it is the same with the definition of value.

Value is nothing but the ability to address a customer’s significant need. It is the ability to understand the peculiarities of each market and notice the gaps in service delivery so as to offer the customer a competitive edge.

Value can only be generated if you give your customers the ability to fulfil an addressable requirement. At help AG, we help organisations by giving them access to a pool of skilled international resources that aren’t just familiar with the technology but also possess the expertise to customise solutions to suit vertical specifications.

We are focused on quality and customer satisfaction and are firm believers in the idea that one must only ‘eat as much as they can digest’. We spend a considerable amount of time evaluating various products and solutions, studying the needs of the market while constantly scoping the horizon for emerging challenges and opportunities.

Primary vendor partnerships: Palo Alto Networks, Juniper Networks, F5 Networks, etc.

Offices in: UAE and Qatar Employees: 40

Selling the product is just one aspect of the customer relationship. To rise to the challenge, resellers need to do work more closely with the vendors and distributors on training, knowledge, pre-sales and after-sales support and strong RMA programmes

Being a VAD is very labour and time intensive and often we find that the amount of time spent in sales training for the sales and actually making the sale is the most expensive yet fruitful part of bring VAD. The most important aspect is perhaps opportunity cost of time.

The most critical aspect of a successful VAD model is the ability to maintain quality. That is, distributors should provide superior quality and continuity when providing VAD offerings to their clients. The business plan should be to provide longer term reliable services.

Although many distributors are not able to add full implementation functions to their business models, they must always provide reliable service and support to their customers.

The “new age” distributor must combine customer service with their sales functions and also focus on training.

Our product and sales teams go through extensive training on our vendors’ products before selling to the channel to ensure our partners have thorough knowledge on our products, which is something that is still lacking in the IT components and peripherals market.

Primary vendor partnerships: Gigabyte, Intel, Nvidia, CoolerMaster, etc.

Offices in: UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egyp , Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and CIS countries.

Employees: 380

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COVER FEATURE Value Addition

OPTIMUS TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Meera Kaul, MD

A year ago, most channel value programmes focused on market enablement by introducing training and customer support programmes. Today, value is a much more complex definition due to the changing nature of our channel ecosystem and new methods of technology propagation and sales.

The market conditions, technology innovations and the changing expectation of our end customer today drives the dynamics of the channel ecosystem rather than just product innovation

The VAD organisation is at the fulcrum of an equation where it represents the technology that it resells and carries the onus for partner enablement, induction, training and support.

Vendors need to focus on making training efficient and certification rigorous. They need to give partners access to a wide breadth and depth of expertise; in addition to providing co-branding based on the training achieved; and encouraging them to develop their own solutions that can complement the vendor’s products and services

IT distribution is coming in for a big change. It might be a little too early to predict the details of these changes nevertheless, there will be a correction in the model to benefit product distributors that seek value support. The Channel will recognise the value of its distributor by measuring their effectiveness on the basis of factors such as the extent of investment in vendor technologies, end customer satisfaction and partner profitability.

Primary vendor partnerships: Avaya, Molex, Opti-UPS, Jabra, Novell, NetIQ, Swivel, Acer, Bitdefender etc.

Offices in: UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Employees: 70

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REDINGTON GULF-VALUE DIVISION

Ramkumar B, VP

The concept of ‘value’ is subjective within our industry. What may be considered as value addition for a partner or a vendor in a specific market may not be the same for the other. For example, in certain markets services associated with credit and logistics are considered value addition whereas these services may just be considered basic in others.

Our IT environment is undergoing change at a fast pace both in terms of technology innovation and changing end customer expectations. To be successful the entire channel needs to be prepared to fill this expectation gap through value addition.

Redington Value since inception in 2006 has focused on recruiting skilled sales and pre-sales resources. We have also invested in skilled marketing resources to achieve objectives of awareness, recruitment, enablement and revenue in the channel.

The concept of adding ‘value’ exists beyond pre-sales, post-sales and marketing services and is open for innovation by different players in the market. Any service which would help the partners meet end customer requirements better could be leveraged by the channel.

Vendors can leverage distribution effectively for the mid market and SMB segments. They need to work very closely with distributors to execute channel development activities. Vendors need to have a long term approach to channel building and need to invest in demo equipment and channel training activities

Primary vendor partnerships: Avaya, Barracuda Networks, Cisco, EMC, HP, LifeSize, Imation, Mobotix, Red Hat,etc.

Offices in: UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Ghana, Ugana, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria Employees: 100

SPECTRAMI

COMSTOR (WESTCONME GROUP)

Anand Choudha, MD

Renton D’Souza, divisional director

Conventionally the distributors’ role was limited to order fulfillment, stocking and supply chain. However with the transition away from hardware channels distributors realised that their role was in fact much larger. Distributors realised that they need to assist partners and customers in the lifecycle of solution sales, be it architecting the solution, assisting in proofof-concept, or deployment.

We have adopted a vendor extension model, wherein we replicate the same model a vendor would have. We focus on delivering services that are on par the highest SLAs to augment our vendor offerings.

Often vendor strategies lack the local touch for most vendors are headquartered outside of the region. Vendors need to stay up to date as well as familiarise themselves with the intricacies of the local market. They need to be able to trust their distributors as their “feet on the street” and actively incorporate the feedback they receive from us into their wider market strategies.

The challenge with value addition is in realising the monetary value these services and conveying the same to the partner and customer ecosystem. We address this challenge by providing definitive measurable deliverables which the partner or customer can use to evaluate our services as opposed to their expectations.

The channel will play a key role in the extension of services to the enterprise by way of both supplying them the technology as well as managing their infrastructures as solution providers or managed service providers.

Primary vendor partnerships: Verdasys, Logrhythm, Actifio, Tenable, Fidelis Security, etc.

Offices in: UAE Employees: 8

“Value” in distribution is very simply the ability to cater to a need in the channel while ensuring that there is no conflict in terms of eating into their revenue streams. This term has been often abused in the last few years primarily because it’s perceived that the higher the value provided, the higher the margins earned.

Our value addition is encompassed within our award winning ‘Westcon Way’ six-step selling cycle. This is a unique go-tomarket where we aim to add value to each step of the selling cycle with tools that enable our resellers to better touch their end users.

Our constant endeavour is to recruit, enable and grow our partners both within and across technologies through qualified staff delivering support which includes technical expertise, sales consultancy, logistics services and integrated marketing.

They key challenge that is faced in value addition is the ability to balance value provided (along with the associated costs) with the ability to justify the same through higher margins earned. As with any product or service, as commoditization of “value provided” happens, it’s critical that distribution recognizes this and moves further up the value chain.

In an ever commoditising world, there will be a need to keep moving up the food-chain. It’s conceivable that in the coming future, cloud services like Infrastructure as a Service, or payas-you-go services could be the “value adds” of the future.

The channel could evolve dramatically in this new scenario as well.

Primary vendor partnerships: Avaya, Cisco, Motorola, Juniper Networks, Bluecoat Systems, etc.

Offices in: UAE and Saudi Arabia Employees: 130

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FEATURE Green IT

GREENER PASTURES Green IT investments go deeper than energy efficiencies; they root down to investments in training and education to gain mindshare to reap any significant benefits. Industry experts tell us exactly how these investments are shaping up in the region.

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“2012 will see the emergence of efficient IT, not only as a bona fide market segment but also as an emerging trend. The trillions of dollars that are spent on IT each year are a millstone around the neck of every IT department in the world. CIOs realise that they need to reduce the amount of IT dollars spent on maintenance in addition to hardware and software energy consumption,” says Craig Symons, the principal analyst at Forrester Research.

In the 2012 IT Budget Planning Guide for CIOs, Symons believes that the focus has shifted from green IT to efficient IT, with investments in solutions that actually measure, report and save energy, CO2 consumption and associated costs.

“The IT market has reached a level of maturity that means it is no longer possible to market a solution as a green IT solution when it isn’t really a green IT solution without being pretty quickly found out. There is a distinct difference between solutions that actually save energy and those that say they do, thanks to the accuracy of the reporting tools available today,” he wrote.

Organisations today have realised not just the extent of their reliance on energy and critical natural resources but also the build up of costs associated with the deployment and maintenance of IT infrastructures. At the same time, consumers, government bodies and large media agencies are together steering organisations towards the ‘greener’ side of the spectrum.

“In the west it has been the widespread introduction of legislation and the understanding that business must have a corporate social responsibility. More recently vendors have understood that many of the critical rare earth materials that they require for products have a limited supply stream and that they must become more efficient in managing the use of these resources.

The work of organisations such as CNN in addition to internationally recognised environmental agencies like Greenpeace to draw the world’s attention to the the serious consequences of increasing carbon

emissions and lack of e-waste management practices has played a major role in increasing the pressure on organisations to follow sustainable practices. As a result, both individuals and enterprises today understand that their choices really could be hampering the future of the planet,” says Philip Hughes, CEO at Akhdar FZCO, a green integrated solutions provider that is spearheading the adoption of global environmental solutions and initiatives across the Middle East.

John Ross, GM at Oki Middle East, India and Africa agrees: “People all over the world are becoming increasingly conscious of our responsibility as human beings towards the environment. This “green movement” may have started small, but it’s grown to become an inherent part of the way we live our everyday lives. More and more organisations are adopting green practices because they realise that they too, as influencers, should make a conscious effort to incorporate green ethics into corporate culture and inevitably reduce their carbon footprint. Moreover, Organisations are realising that investing in green IT yields benefits not only for the environment, but also in terms of energy saving and cost cutting.”

A few years ago, Oki issued a report which showed how UAE businesses are spending millions of dirhams per year on avoidable energy costs, and that is just in terms of unnecessary printing costs. “If these organisations were to consider using energy compliant office products, they would not only be reducing their carbon footprint, they’d also be saving a significant amount of money.

It’s a win-win situation,” Ross says.

Talk or walk?

While the importance and impact of ‘green’ IT cannot be denied, the question arises, how many organisations really believe in ‘sustainable’ IT and how many treat it as mere marketing ‘jargon’?

Experts believe that increasing pressures from legislative bodies and the need to achieve compliance certifications are driving organisations towards taking these initiatives seriously.

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FEATURE Green IT

“Perhaps in the past buzz-phrases like sustainable business practices were thrown around a bit too casually, but I do sincerely believe that there is now an incredible determination from companies here in the Middle East to be part of positive change for the global environment. It’s no longer just talking about green programs, but committing to long term plans and making adjustments, even if they are small, to benefit the environment,” says Ernest Azzam, Laser and Enterprise Solutions business manager for HP Middle East.

Hughes believes otherwise. “Most of it is propaganda. The issue is that to be TRULY green, you have to view your entire IT “holistically”. A vendor will only be pushing one part of the solution, the IT department will then fight with accounts department for the funding and often the capital cost of a green solution will be ignored to “save”. The issue for an organisation is that they must be green at every level and must get full executive sponsorship to include facilities management, HR, marketing and of course finance,” he states.

Dan Smith, head of integrated marketing for the Middle East and Africa region of Xerox’s Developing Markets Operations (DMO), says that in the current environment any marketing message needs to be valid and backed up by evidence due to increasing consumer awareness. “Organisations have wider responsibilities to their communities and this is both as consumers and producers.

Sustainability is something that is recognised and understood and increasingly will affect buying behaviour – especially in younger generations,” says Smith.

Industry stakeholders believe that the Middle East much like the rest of the world is beginning to witness a significant increase in sustainable practices driven by the direction of governments.

Hughes says, “Green IT messaging has been a major part of vendor’s marketing briefs in the Middle East region for more than 10 years now. Much of that has focused on efficiency – of usage, or of energy. This trend then met the change in the economic situation so users began to pay much more attention to issues such as their costs of ownership.

The change here has been led by regional offices of multi-national corporations requiring compliant and green solutions. The past year or so has seen that being taken on board by the local corporations who operate globally such as the telecommunication providers. We are also seeing specific green clauses appearing in tenders for government departments. The IT industry now must take this issue seriously, demand is changing and legislation is coming.”

“There is an increasing need to successfully and easily lower the carbon footprint in the IT world, and the Middle East is becoming more aware of this with each passing day. In most cases reducing costs that affect a company’s

more aware and serious as compared to others. Green IT is on some of the lists we do receive in terms of needs; however it is generally not in the top five or six needs that are documented or expressed to us. The top needs are typically focused on delivering what their business needs as the primary requirement to be addressed,” he says.

The value chain So where does the adoption of green IT truly begin?

“Sustainable ICT is a complete ecosystem that requires each and every element to be on board with the movement towards

Green IT messaging has been a major part of vendor’s marketing briefs in the Middle East region for more than 10 years now. Much of that has focused on efficiency – of usage, or of energy. This trend then met the change in the economic situation so users began to pay much more attention to issues such as their costs of ownership. The change here has been led by regional offices of multi-national corporations requiring compliant and green solutions. bottom line is what is driving organisations towards going green. The UAE is particularly backing new initiatives to minimise negative environmental impacts; the country plans to be the first in the Middle East, and one of the first in the world to implement and enforce green codes of practice and regulation. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City is perhaps the brightest example of this. The city is essentially a long term investment by the authorities into a more sustainable future, which align with Abu Dhabi’s leadership plans in its 2030 Vision,” says Khwaja Saifuddin, senior director of sales, MEA at Western Digital (WD).

George DeBono, GM, MEA at Red Hat, believes that there is still some way to go.

“The trend in the Middle East is still lagging a bit. In reality, some organisations are

sustainability or Green IT. This means that every single employee, every piece of hardware and software must be in-tune with the sustainable ICT objective or its effectiveness will be reduced, or will fail complete,” says Saifuddin.

Xerox’ Smith adds, “Sustainability begins even further back along the value chain with the recognition that this is an imperative, not a luxury. Organisations reactions to the science and discussion in communities will lead them to recognise their stakeholders and employees as individuals and corporate citizens, which in turn will affect their strategies.”

“We, together with our partners, take sustainability and green ICT solutions very seriously. It’s definitely not just a marketing propaganda, but also has to be fulfilled in

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our daily life and business operation,” says Green Lin, NB channel marketing, Micro- Star International (MSI).

According to Lin, in keeping with its objective the company continuously monitors business activities to ensure they meet environment, safety and health regulations, in addition to using products and packaging materials based on green concepts. MSI stresses the need to reduce the emission of pollutants, the consumption of natural and energy resources, and to minimise the safety and health risk by continual improvement of manufacturing process, working environment and equipment used. Most importantly, it empowers operational management and invests in personnel training to achieve these ends.

“We share ‘Green Policy’ with partners and clearly communicate the details of product design and packaging and finally build a consensus with channel partners that by using green IT and sustainable products, consumers can not only help save the environment, but also save their money,” says Lin. RedHat’s DeBono says, “Our channel partners receive intensive technical training which covers the ‘green’ aspects of our technology. They understand that our operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), is the most energy efficient one currently available in the market and use its credentials as tested by independent bodies in their sales pitch to impress customers.”

Value added distributor, Spectrami, has adopted cloud based solutions, thus reducing dedicated infrastructure requirement. “We use energy efficient endpoints and in our own way are making a conscious effort to promote the same amongst our partners through constant interaction and education,” says Anand Choudha, MD, Spectrami.

HP has established and promoted a number of leading initiatives such as the HP Planet Partners Program, “a social responsibility programme where owners of HP toner cartridges can send their used products to official HP recycling facilities, where spent cartridges are recycled and repurposed, saving plastic from junk yards and in the process lessening the impact on

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the environment. The programme has been very successful here in the UAE, having been implemented into local companies as well as educational institutions throughout the country, the feedback we have received from people involved are strong shows of support for the program” says Azzam.

In addition, the company has continued to create solutions such as their Auto-on/Autooff technology that switches off the printer or multi-function device completely instead of putting it in stand-by mode to reduce energy consumption by up to 63%. “We have also created the Secure print solution that allows the printing of the job only when the user is at the

and development of its products. The design solution focused on flexible scalability, energy efficiency, and sustainability. The results were nothing short of extraordinary with the 562,000 square foot San Jose Headquarters campus being awarded the LEED Commercial Interiors Gold Certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. In addition, through virtualisation, decommissioning and re-racking, the campus consolidated three data centres into one and five R&D engineering labs into one. As a result of which, the data centre is projected to achieve a power usage effectiveness (PUE)

In March of 2008 Brocade had a vision to build a world class campus. The goal of the project was to provide the business with flexibility in order to satisfy growth for both its employee population and the labs used for research and development of its products.

The design solution focused on flexible scalability, energy efficiency, and sustainability. printer to cut back on wastage as a lot of users don’t pick up their printed documents from the printer which then goes to waste” he says.

“We also provide our partners the tools to educate their customers on the workflows and available technologies to help maintain sustainable ICT. These recommendations can be as simple as setting double-sided printing as default on the printer, that cuts immediately paper consumption by up to 50% and as advanced as detailed workflow management and energy consumption tools to monitor their fleet of devices,” Azzam adds.

Some vendors do walk the talk and case in point is Brocade. Khaled Kamel, territory channel manager, MEA at Brocade, says, “In March of 2008 Brocade had a vision to build a world class campus. The goal of the project was to provide the business with flexibility in order to satisfy growth for both its employee population and the labs used for research

of less than 1.2, saving more than 14 million kilowatt-hours each year. The data centre project is the single largest “Data Centre Project” incentive ever awarded by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) which was evidenced by a rebate of $2.5 Million under PG&E’s NonResidential New Construction Program.”

According to Kamel, Brocade is taking steps to help improve energy efficiencies by focusing on products and programs that support the development of green data centres. “We are committed to doing our part to provide our customers with high performance, low energy, data management solutions, and we are joining with industry partners like SNIA to drive standards for green data centres,” he adds.

Akhdar FZCO is launching the first fully compliant industry approved facility in the Middle East for the recycling of electrical and electronic appliances. “We have a wide

range of processes and solutions that we are bringing into this region as fast as we can, whilst working with the local authorities.

Everything we are doing in this field is “new”.

It has taken us four years to reach this point and from early August, this year you will witness dramatic change in the “Green IT” landscape in the region,” says Hughes.

“We have been training our partners and building our channel. We will be implementing a reverse logistics channel to extend regional coverage and will work with master outsource partners in different locations and market verticals to take this vision further. It takes time and vision to have got to this point, the last pieces of the jigsaw puzzle will fall in place when we fully launch the project next month,” he states.

Sustainable future Azzam believes that the Middle East and the UAE in particularly are making remarkable strides in their effort to promote the adoption of green practices with initiatives such as Masdar City. “If anything could be improved in order to improve environmental conditions at a faster rate, it would be to create more awareness of eco-friendliness at lower levels, targeting employees at every company and showing them how their actions would help everyone. I believe it’s not a matter of willpower, but awareness, people want to get involved, some just don’t know how; and that’s what we’re all working to solve,” he says.

Jai Shankar, marketing manager at Brother Gulf believes that there needs to be more alignment between manufacturers and government bodies to encourage the use of bio degradable materials in product design and packaging. “Most importantly, governments need to create and enforce stricter legislations surrounding the subject of sustainable practices by enforcing penalties to ensure people take the subject seriously.

This alone can contribute significantly and lead to an instrumental shift from green ‘concepts’ to green ‘reality’” he says.

Kamel believes that education at a school and university level is essential to develop a ‘sustainable mindset’ and private organisations

and government must work with these institutions to develop ‘green’ curriculum to promote a better understanding of how these concepts can be applied in real life.

MSI’s Lin says, “Governments should support companies who provide sustainable and green IT solutions while the media should continue their efforts in bringing to light global environmental issues and how to tackle them. Suppliers should then be working towards emphasising the importance of investing in eco-design during the R&D and design phases of a product.”

“The will always be naysayers who dismiss going green as an option rather than a necessity. The arguments made against green technology and products will range from green products being more expensive than standard products to a perceived lack of payback, where decision makers will overlook the fact that the technology generally shows returns only in the long term, rather than immediately.

Organisations must remember that it isn’t just about purchasing green solutions but more about integrating these solutions into the environment. The staff of an organisation should have to embark on a thorough training programme to make sure they are using the new products or technology effectively.

There should also be audits down the line to study the effect of the new technology on the organisation and, if the results are disappointing, the process should be reviewed to see how the organisation can actually benefit from its new investments,” says Saifuddin.

With so much done and much more to look forward to, we believe the world is only at the beginning of its green journey. With more consensus on the subject between governments and end users, organisations will no doubt be driven into exploring the best ways to implement and integrate green technologies within their existing environments. A situation that will only get better as these organisations with active green IT environments begin witnessing significant cost and energy efficiencies in their operations.

The story for green IT is as exciting as it is challenging, how far we are from witnessing true success stories only time will tell. //

Khaled Kamel, regional channel manager, MEA at Brocade

Philip Hughes, CEO at Akhdar FZCO

Ernest Azzam, Laser and Enterprise Solutions business manager for HP Middle East

Dan Smith, head of integrated marketing for the Middle East and Africa region of Xerox’s Developing Markets Operations (DMO)

Khwaja Saifuddin, senior director of sales, MEA at Western Digital (WD)

George DeBono, GM, MEA at Red Hat

Green Lin, NB channel marketing, Micro- Star International (MSI).

Jai Shankar, marketing manager at Brother Gulf

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HOT PRODUCTS Review

HP OMNI 27 All-in-one (AIO) computers are becoming more popular everyday they’ll probably become the standard of desktop computing soon if they’re not already. While one of the main problems that PC users have with the AIO devices was the screen size, HP decided to address this issue by releasing the largest AIO PC on the market today, the HP Omni 27. what you’d get on an iMac, or even the iPad for that matter which supports 2048x1536 pixels, but it does the job perfectly when it comes to HD video playback of video games with good brightness and colour saturations levels. You probably won’t be happy with the screen if you’re using it with design software or text editing as it doesn’t exactly have the highest pixel density.

Speaking of video games, the Intel graphics chip on the Omni does quite an impressive job, we’ve managed to run some of the latest games in the market and they performed really well, maybe not on the highest settings but still pretty good.

Design and specifications As the name suggests, the Omni features a massive 27” edge-to-edge glass screen encased in a beautiful aluminum body, and is ready out-of-the-box with a few accessories including a very stylish wireless keyboard and mouse.

The hefty body (14.5 kg) is supported on a slab of aluminum at the bottom to maintain balance, and is mounted to two hinges that allow a slight back and forth screen movement. Not the most adjustable setting but quite decent.

The standard version ships with a Core i5 processor from Intel, and you have the option to upgrade to a Core i7 if you need the extra processing power. Both processors perform reasonably well for both the standard and the more advanced user.

The Omni 27 comes with up to 8 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SATA hard drive, a Blu-ray player (optional in some models, built-in full HD webcam, and your standard connectivity options, 4 USB2 ports, 2 USB3 ports, Ethernet, digital audio, wifi and a 6 slot card reader.

The 27” screen supports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (aspect ratio 16:9). lower than

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Software and performance The Omni ships with Windows 7 Home Premium 64, and HP – as always – ships it with loads of their own software utilities including HP TouchSmart, a visual interface that replaces the Windows desktop with what HP considers a better version. Now we have to say that we were confused by the name TouchSmart, as we spent a good amount of time smudging the screen with our fingerprints until we realised the word “Touch” has absolutely no context with this device, which makes the otherwise-quite-useful interface upgrade a bit pointless.

We’ve pushed the Omni to the limit of high end performance by running multiple applications from the Adobe Creative Suite, heavy graphics 3D games and HD media, all of which performed smoothly without a hiccup. The HP Omni proved to be a powerful device indeed; however, we have to mention again that you might not be happy with the screen resolution as a designer.

Some versions of the Omni come with an HDMI input port (yes Input) which allows you to

connect other HDMI devices to view them on the Omni screen, so you can pretty much have your PC, Gaming console and cable TV in one – Omni – station.

Most models also come with Beats Audio built in, which gives you a spectacular listening experience, and the built-in speakers offer great quality audio playback with a really immersive 3D surround depth.

RATINGS: HARDWARE

7/10

PERFORMANCE

9/10

VALUE FOR MONEY

6/10

As far as AlO PCs go, the Omni is probably your best option on the market today, it is definitely a great home computer, and can even be a great workstation depending on your line of work, we hope the next one comes with a better screen resolution, but till then, and for once as a PC user, you don’t have to feel jealous of all the iMac users out there.

This review was done by Fahed Sabbagh – proud geek and passionate blogger. You can catch him wax poetic on all things geeky at www.nerdyface.com.

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PEOPLE Deepak Babani

Deepak Babani, CEO, Eros Group

Leading with ambition

In an industry marked by unrealistic attrition rates, Deepak J Babani has been with Eros Group for 30 years spearheading the growth of Eros Group from a turnover of AED 6 million in 1981 to AED 2.2 Billion in 2010.

Under his leadership, the company has aligned itself to a strategy that emphasises importance on each and every one of the company’s stakeholders, customer satisfaction and most importantly elaborated the path for personal growth and learning.

“I am a very positive, straight forward person, who believes that success is possible if you take your team along with you. I believe that knowledge is to be shared, and no idea is too small or too petty. I hate bureaucracy and believe in catching the bull by its horns,” he says.

“Early on in my early childhood, I dreamt about being a doctor, suffice to say the dream changed when I was about 10 years old when I decided I’d grow up to work in technology. Now 37 years later, the electronics industry continues to be my bread and butter,” he adds.

Babani graduated from the Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India, with a degree in electronics and communications, following which he worked across prominent organisations such as Murphy India Limited and the Jumbo Group before joining the Eros Group as marketing manager. In 1988, he was promoted to general manager overlooking the company’s burgeoning operations across the region.

“In consumer electronics, we are used to working on small margins, coupled with eroding product prices and product obsolescence.

The challenge is to be innovative in the way you work with the channel. In any business scenario you have to strike a balance between the company’s interest and the interest of its channel partners. Finding this balances, dictates a company’s success in effectively marketing and selling its products and is something I enjoy the most,” he says.

With the rapid pace of change in technology and business dynamics, he feels that there are times a person finds himself short of answers and must resort to his business instinct and gut feeling to make the right call. “Working with the channel has always kept me attentive to the needs of the the market. I keep a keen track on the changes our competition makes to stay on top of things and devise strategies to ensure we keep going,” Babani states.

A disciplined person by nature, he is careful to switch off from professional pressures when not at work. “I think about work only when I’m on my way to the office and never when I’m home unless the matter is of urgency. Work pressures are always going to be around, especially when the organisation is still growing, but it is important to draw the line. We all feel that the organisation runs because of us, but surprisingly a good management team, is at times more capable of taking the important decisions. It’s all a matter of delegating and allowing room for growth,” Babani elaborates.

Babani is careful to start his day with yoga, to relieve him of professional stress and ready him for the beginning of a brand new day.

With no intention of stopping, he finds that his true ambitions and goals have only just begun to see the light of day. “Money is not my only goal in life, a sense of self actualisation, accomplishment, knowledge and experience are,” he says.

Babani adds, “I believe that I have still a lot of to look forward to and I would like to continue to explore and experience the opportunities that lie ahead of me. I am an entrepreneur and venturing into an all new line of business and making it a success is perhaps my one true ambition.”

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PEOPLE Shaheen Haque

Shaheen Haque, territory manager, Middle East and Africa at Interactive Intelligence

Rooted in sales A techie by education, with a degree in Computer Science and masters in Business Systems Design, Shaheen Haque began his career on the sales side of the spectrum and hasn’t looked back ever since.

“After completing my post-graduation, I realised that what we define as ‘techie’ positions required prior experience and I found myself wondering how I would ever gain the necessary experience if no one was willing to give a fresher that initial chance. So, to break out of this chicken-and-egg situation, I decided to opt for a sales position instead.

This was back in 1993. Now, many positions, many solutions and many organisations later, I still find myself in this field. It has all been a wonderful experience and I have never looked back or even considered pursuing my initial calling,” he says.

Never shy of a challenge, Haque believes that his enthusiasm and passion for his profession makes him a pleasant personality to work with. He adds, “I take pride in my accomplishments and am driven by what is yet to be done. There is always scope for growth in all aspects of life and I approach this challenge with great positivity. This is evident in my face and I can’t hold it back.”

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Haque is a firm believer in self-learning and self-motivation and says that he never hesitates to take up a new opportunity, start from scratch or even take on a task from where someone else has left off.

He describes himself as “a straight forward person who approaches situations in a very level headed manner. I find that life is quite exciting in that it constantly presents me with huge opportunities and experiences to encounter. I take things in my stride because of course you always have to be able to handle the good with the bad.”

In his capacity as territory manager, Middle East and Africa at Interactive Intelligence, Haque says he enjoys interacting with the company’s many customers and partners. “They both need different things from us but as a vendor, essentially we have the same goal- we all are looking at innovation to differentiate our services from the competition,” he states.

A job that comes with a jet setting lifestyle, he finds the time spent away from home and his three children is perhaps the most challenging part of his role.

“People say that they live for their children and I guess I believe that. All our successes and gains are for our children to have the best start possible in life. And

when you realise this, you automatically make sure that you are dedicating enough time to both work and family. However, it isn’t always easy drawing the line between personal and professional life. We in the field of IT are known for working late into the night, early morning and are in fact tagged as workaholics. I think children put your life into perspective and that has happened to me. You looking into their faces and realize that spending time with them should be one of your main priorities in life. They grow up too quickly and you want to make sure you are there should they ever need you,” Haque says.

A difficult task no doubt, but he says it is in no way impossible. He explains: “The key is planning, scheduling and adhering to the plan. It is a bit like workforce management, which incidentally is a solution we sell, but for your own life. You need to determine when to work, when to stop and take some time out for the family.”

One look into the future and Haque is convinced that his career will be deeply embedded in the roots of technology where he will continue to assume a role in sales, believing it to be in his blood. “Of course one hopes for the greatest successes and best promotions and while I share these ambitions, I also like to imagine that I would have managed all of that while still maintaining the balance between my professional and personal lives,” he says.

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