Reseller Middle East August 2018

ISSUE 259 | JULY-AUGUST 2018 www.tahawultech.com

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 259 // JULY/AUGUST 2018

COVER FEATURE

18

BRAND BUILDERS

Brand Builders 2018 spotlights marketing professionals who have led initiatives to build and accelerate their organisations’ growth vision.

HIGHLIGHTS

04

PARTNER WATCH

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

FEATURES

32 BEYOND CONNECTIVITY

Reseller ME examines how SDWAN solutions can help boost partners’ revenues and why the channel should develop expertise in this area.

REVIEW

44

36 DISRUPTING THE STATUS QUO

Geoff Greenlaw from Veritas urges partners to leverage new opportunities in the data and information management space.

Ranjit Pillai from Precise Technologies elaborates on upcoming plans.

VENDOR FOCUS

37 DYNAMIC SOLUTIONS

39 SCALE UP

Avaya’s Khalid Khan shares insights on the firm’s release 11 updates to its flagship IP Office solution.

41 OPTIMISTIC FUTURE

HOT PRODUCTS

D-Link Middle East and Africa’s director for sales and marketing Sakkeer Hussain shares GITEX plans and market developments.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS

46

EPSON’S LATEST BUSINESS INKJETS USES UP TO 90% LESS POWER

42 BUILDING PARTNER COMMUNITIES

Data management firm Rubrik’s Bipul Sinha along with Mohammed Al Tamimi discuss about the company’s plans and partner strategies.

OPTOMA BOASTS NEW BATTERY-POWERED PORTABLE PROJECTOR

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

1

EDITORIAL The future is now

I

Janees Reghelini Editor

E-mail: janees.reghelini@ cpimediagroup.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ TahawulTech Twitter: @TahawulTech

FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139 Published by

Registered at Dubai Production City, DCCA PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 © Copyright 2018 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.

ncreasing number of organisations are investing in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technologies to deal with large volume and repeatable tasks. Configured with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities, the software assists customers to streamline operations cost-effectively.

Research firm IDC defines RPA as a software code that “automates and assigns standardised, rules-based, repetitive, and high-volume processes involving several interoperable systems — which were traditionally executed by humans — to a robot.”

However, experts say that RPA has the potential to go beyond repeating tasks.

With its market expected to reach $2,467.0 million by 2022, it won’t be long before Intelligent Process

EDITORIAL Managing Editor Michael Jabri-Pickett mjp@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9158 Editor Janees Reghelini janees.reghelini@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9167 Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 DESIGN Head of Design Froilan Cosgafa IV froilan.cosgafa@cpimediagroup.com Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com

Automation (IPA) suites and other technologies with cognitive abilities become more mainstream.

Channel partners have the opportunity to become an authority on RPA technology – advising customers on how and where it would be useful. They should develop their expertise to be able to offer continuous solutions matching each stage of an organisation’s progress. Partners should also consider the huge services opportunity that this technology presents. But that being said, investment in training and skills is crucial to be successful.

While channel partners should prepare and work towards a future dictated by advanced robotics and mature AI solutions, they must not shy away from embracing what is available today. This could then be a stepping stone to the technology’s evolution.

Designer Marlou Delaben marlou.delaben@cpimediagroup.com ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 Business Development Manager Youssef Hariz youssef.hariz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9111 Senior Sales Manager Sabita Miranda sabita.miranda@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9128 Sales Manager Nasir Bazaz nasir.bazaz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147

CIRCULATION Operations Manager Shweta Santosh shweta.santosh@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developers Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographers Max Poriechkin Charls Thomas webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 DIGITAL www.resellerme.com Printed by Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing LLC

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

3

HIGHLIGHTS

Pure Storage signs up Exclusive Networks for Europe and Middle East

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xclusive Networks, a group specialising in value-added services and technologies (VAST), has announced a distribution agreement covering Europe and Middle East with Pure Storage, the all-flash storage platform. The vendor’s products will be added to Exclusive Networks’ security networking and infrastructure solutions portfolio and will enable companies to optimise the performance and availability of their applications, while retaining economic control over their infrastructure, said the firm.

Pure’s FlashBlade solution, which is dedicated to fast-growing unstructured data (files, objects, containers), covers most new and emerging workloads related to machine learning, analytics,

IoT and Big Data. With the essential today and we inclusion of this technology firmly believe that Pure in its portfolio, Exclusive Storage is an ideal and Networks believes it can complementary partner provide a highly innovative for our BigTec data centre and differentiated storage solutions,” said Julien solution.

Antoine, VP, EMEA, “We are proud to Exclusive Networks. distribute Pure Storage, Matthieu Brignone, which meets the head of EMEA demand of our partners channel and alliances, and enables Exclusive Julien Antoine, Exclusive Networks Pure Storage, says, Networks to effectively “Exclusive Networks assist them with their and Pure Storage share growth and the transformation of their a continuous requirement for quality clients’ data centres, while meeting and value creation for their customers. the essential criteria for solutions in Exclusive Networks will now be able to offer our portfolio: simplicity, upgradeability, innovative and scalable solutions from Pure performance and efficiency. The Storage that allow its customers to put data offering covers a market segment that is at the center of the infrastructure.”

Raqmiyat now authorised GCC reseller for OutSystems

I

T systems integrator Raqmiyat is now a regional strategic services partner and authorised reseller of OutSystems products and services for the GCC Region.

OutSystems is the global provider of low-code platform to develop, maintain, and operate custom enterprise-class solutions and is a recognised as a leader by Forrester and Gartner in the areas of general purpose lowcode platforms, mobile low-code platforms, highproductivity app PaaS and mobile app development platforms.

By leveraging this partnership, Raqmiyat said it Amer Khreino, Raqmiyat will address the need of digital

4

transformation for enterprises by enabling its customers with the lowcode platform for rapid application development and accelerate their digital transformation plans.

Amer Khreino, chief executive officer, Raqmiyat, said, “Our association with OutSystems will provide our customers with the latest low-code web and mobile app development platform, to accelerate their digital transformation plans. OutSystems offers our customers the chance to develop state-ofthe-art mobile apps, at an unbeatable speed, taking advantage of its drag-and-drop development environment for UI, business processes, logic and data models. Customers

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

OutSystems offers our customers the chance to develop state-of-the-art mobile apps, at an unbeatable speed, taking advantage of its dragand-drop development environment for UI, business processes, logic and data models.”

will appreciate the ease of managing their mobile applications, create new functionalities promptly and maximise their returns on investment.”

“As our ecosystem grows, OutSystems is always looking for the best software development firms to build an OutSystems practice. We’re delighted to welcome Raqmiyat to the OutSystems partner network as they deliver low-code solutions in the UAE and KSA markets,” said Bob Wilson, vice president, Global Alliances and Channels, OutSystems.

HIGHLIGHTS

Philips and AOC sign up New StarLink to enable Solutions to boost Saudi channel base SOC efficiencies

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better. Solutions Trading have MD, the brand the right experience, expertise, license partner infrastructure, and technical for Philips capabilities that are crucial for displays and our business,” said Girish Pillai, AOC monitors, sales manager, Philips and has partnered together with AOC monitors.

Riyadh-based distributor, New New Solutions Trading Solutions Trading to deliver Pillai, Philips GM, Ali Al Abbad, said, “We both Philips and AOC brand of Girish and AOC monitors are confident that with this monitors across the Kingdom. partnership, we will not only According to the statement strengthen our product portfolio but will released, New Solutions Trading is also open up new business avenues one of the fastest growing distribution for our channel partners. The Saudi companies in KSA with nationwide market has big potential and with such network of strong channel partners. wide array of products between the two The distributor works with several global brands, Philips and AOC, we are sure to vendors and distributes wide variety corner a big market share for us in no of brands including Kaspersky, ESET, time.”

D-Link and Datazone among others.

“We will be engaging in different kind “Saudi Arabia is a key market for us of activities to support both of these and in the past few years we have been brands in the local market,” Pillai added. getting a lot of positive traction from the “We look forward to working closely market. Therefore, it was important for with our channel partners and share the us to align with a local partner that can opportunities with them.” give us boost in covering the market

FVC to distribute SMART education and enterprise solutions in MENA

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programme will enhance FVC MART programmes, expanding Technologies has the channel’s capabilities announced an to fully sell and support agreement with SMART solutions by creating FVC to distribute differentiation and driving its collaboration solutions across channel profitability. The the Middle East, North Africa, as channel programme aims well as the East and West African to provide customers markets. anywhere in the world, with Under the agreement, the KS Parag, FVC important vendor-led quality VAD aims to utilise the growing assurance which certifies opportunity in the education skills, expertise, product knowledge and enterprise market across the region and installation capabilities of any by offering a complete classroom channel partner to be able to deploy, technology solution and SMART’s confidently, SMART solutions around meeting room technologies. the world.

KS Parag, managing director, FVC, “As a leading value-added distributor said, “We are focused on giving our partners access to advanced technology in the business transformation space, FVC is an important business partner solutions such as SMART’s user-friendly in the region and our solutions interactive displays and software to help compliment their UC and AV portfolio,” cater to our customer’s demands from said Jenna Pipchuk, SMART a variety of education spaces, meeting Technologies director of sales, EMEA. rooms and collaboration spaces. The “Our decision to join forces with FVC addition of SMART will strengthen and aims to expand our geographical complement our AV solutions portfolio reach and leadership in the market and and provide partners with a one-stop inspire greatness for the education and solution for all AV needs.” enterprise customers we serve.”

The SMART EDGE channel partner

with new deal

Nidal Othman, StarLink

StarLink has announced the signing of the distribution partnership with ATAR Labs for the Middle East and North Africa.

Aiming to be a leader in the global markets, ATAR Labs brings ATAR, a SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response) platform that offers SOC orchestration, automation and response. ATAR features a programmable robot, analyst augmentation and a SOC analytics engine.

ATAR’s vendor agnostic architecture allows the platform to run on top of existing security tools and technologies; thus helping organisations better utilise their existing technology investments.

Under this alliance StarLink’s will sell and support ATAR Labs products and services as a Value-Added Distributor through its global expertise, wide channel community network and wellestablished customer base.

“We are extremely pleased to sign up with ATAR Labs and to bring to this region a cutting-edge technology that will enable our customers to keep up with the unprecedented speed and volume of cyber-attacks,” said Nidal Othman, managing director, StarLink.

“This technology will enable the SOC teams to act faster thus improving the response times and making the organisation more agile with enhanced incident investigation and response capabilities.”

Burak Dayioglu, CEO, ATAR Labs, said “We are passionately looking forward to working with StarLink team in bringing ATAR to the MENA region.

StarLink’s proven trusted advisor relationship, combined with our ATAR platform’s proven value in automating and orchestrating existing security technologies will take organisations to the next FVC level in their cyber defences.”

KS Parag,

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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HIGHLIGHTS

SNB strengthens Middle East presence with new HQ

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alue-added distributor for IT security solutions SNB Middle East as part of its move to set stronger roots in the region has move to a new headquarters to its own building in Dubai, Bay Square.

The new location is strategically situated in the business hub of Dubai that will allow the team to better serve new and existing clientele.

The office is located in Burj Khalifa District Bay Square, BB03 Office # 204 Business Bay. SNB has aligned the structure around its strategic priorities effectively, aiming to revitalize and enable long- term success.

Deepesh Pillai, MD, SNB ME, said, “SNB has a tremendous opportunity to shape our future and drive the growth through our well-focussed vision. We started small but with a great sales team and quality service support we have achieved another milestone.”

Pillai noted that the move is part of the SNB’s long-term strategy of building assets and establishing a greater reach and commitment in the region. “It has

been an exciting eight years for SNB, and as we move to this new location as the start of another chapter in our history.

Thanks for everyone’s support for all these years and for many more to come.

SNB retained an office in DAFZA, which is converted into a training facility with a well-equipped demo lab for its partners. With the new HQ, the company plans to drive sustainable growth while continuing to keep a leverage over its competitors. SNB has regional presence across MENA regions, India, Pakistan, Qatar and KSA, and is geared to building closer relationship with regional organisations through its already established channel partners.

Exclusive Group gears up to be global cybersecurity and cloud specialists

V

alue-added services and technologies company Exclusive Group has renewed its declaration of independence by completing a major investment transaction with funds advised by private investment firm, Permira. Rather than consolidating with other major VAD players, this catalyst will enable Exclusive Group to extend its vision and create the world’s largest global specialist VAD in cyber and cloud transformation, with a target to reach $10bn annual revenue in the years ahead.

Olivier Breittmayer, CEO, Exclusive Group, said, “Cybersecurity and cloud are the leading business priorities in this age of digital transformation, both as separate disciplines but – even more so – joined together as a co-dependent whole.

Both sectors are becoming increasingly complex, and both suffer from a huge lack of skills and knowledge. The Industry needs a VAD that can fill this gap and we aim to do that. We believe we have the

6

right and relevant focus; vendors, services and skill sets to build a compelling offer for channel partners and vendors to realise significant profitable growth.”

By pursuing a specialist focus in cyber and cloud, Exclusive Group is addressing the widening global shortage in skills and knowledge among channel partners and end-user organisations to enable the desired pace and success of digital transformation.

Michail Zekkos, partner in the technology team, Permira, said, “Exclusive Group’s unrivalled focus and commitment to cyber and cloud is very exciting and we are delighted to partner with the company. We believe that enterprise cloud and cybersecurity will continue to rapidly converge, creating a tremendous market opportunity for the company to enable that transition while positioning its channel partners at its forefront. Preserving the entrepreneurial spirit and independence of the business while continuing to innovate with speed and at scale will be key to executing on its next phase of growth.”

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Tenable names Help AG as a Middle East Platinum partner

Stephan Berner, Help AG

Information security services, consultancy and solutions provider Help AG has become a Middle East Platinum partner for cyber exposure firm Tenable.

Over the last two years, as a Tenable reseller, Help AG has incorporated the vendor’s cyber exposure solutions into its security architecture, leveraging the technology within its Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) to enhance the capabilities of its Managed Vulnerability Scanning (MVS) service.

Stephan Berner, CEO, Help AG, said, “This achievement stands as an assurance to customers that when they select Help AG for their Tenable deployment, they will receive the most comprehensive and qualified support through every stage of the solution lifecycle.”

The elevated Platinum status, as part of the Tenable Assure partner programme, recognises Help AG’s value and pipeline contributions, and commitment to technical excellence through investments in Tenable’s training and certification programme.

According to the firm, having accomplished the Tenable Certified SCCV Sales Engineer (TCSSE) and Tenable Certified Security Engineer (TCSE) technical certifications as well as the Tenable Certified Security Analyst (TCSA) sales and presales certification, Help AG is capable of delivering “unmatched expertise in selecting and implementing the right solutions for customers.”

John Negron, chief revenue officer, Tenable, said, “It’s important that we select the most reputable partners to join our Cyber Exposure mission, helping us improve the security posture of customers around the world. We’re excited to add Help AG to our roster of elite Tenable Assure partners.”

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HIGHLIGHTS

Raqmiyat achieves CMMI Level 3 recertification

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aqmiyat, a regional systems integrator and a provider of IT solutions and services, has recently announced that it has been reappraised at level 3 of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).

CMMI is a capability improvement framework that provides organisations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. An appraisal at maturity level 3 indicates the organisation is performing at a “defined” level.

At this level, processes are well characterised and understood, and are described in standards, procedures, tools, and methods. The organisation’s set of standard processes, which is the basis for maturity level 3, is established and improved over time.

Amer Khreino, chief executive officer, Raqmiyat, said, “Raqmiyat is committed to deliver projects of the highest quality standards, CMMI Level 3 recertification

only proves our claim. Our vision and strategy revolve around customers success, hence, their profitability, time to market and satisfaction can’t be ever compromised. CMMI Level 3 moves our team from fire-fighting approach to fire prevention excellence, to protect our customers’ investments.”

Raqmiyat was initially appraised at CMMI-DEV level 3 Maturity in 2015, demonstrating a continued commitment to the quality and process improvements, which helped in obtaining a recertification – Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3 for Development CMMIDEV Version 1.3 SCAMPI Class A. According to the systems integrator, the recertification maintains its position among an elite group of business enterprises – it attests to the high standards and indicates that the organization uses industry defined processes that are managed proactively and establish consistency in execution across the firm.

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES CHANNEL UPDATES AT INSPIRE 2018

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t Microsoft Inspire 2018, the company has announced some of the biggest announcements relating to partners at the annual event

in Las Vegas.

Partners received updates on new programmes, tools, resources and how they can innovate, grow and differentiate their businesses.

Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner, said, “We have announced exciting new innovations in Microsoft 365, including a free version of Teams, new intelligent events capabilities, the Workplace Analytics teamwork solution and more.”

The company has also announced new cloud, apps and data technologies including Azure Data Box Disk, Azure Virtual WAN, Azure Firewall and more.

During Q3, driven largely by partners, Microsoft’s Azure revenues grew by 93 percent. To further build on this momentum, the company is banking on its marketplaces and enhancing AppSource as the entry point for selling with Microsoft. It is also developing its

Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft

go-to-market benefits for partners to help them grow their businesses.

“The new marketplace capabilities include integrated partner-to-partner solutions, private offers, and expanded consulting services. There is no greater priority for us than connecting partners with customers,” adds Schuster.

She also added that the company is providing “greater flexibility and more opportunities to unlock new benefits that help partners go to market.”

By the end of this year, partners with competencies will have a choice of benefits packages based on their business focus.

Dell to return to public markets in $22bn tracking stock buy out

Michael Dell

Dell has agreed to buy out its own tracking stock for nearly $22 billion in a move that will return the technology company back to public markets five years after its founder took it private.

The deal sees the firm swapping the “trading stock” it created when it bought EMC in 2016. This, in turn, will simplify Dell’s current structure, seen by many as overly complicated, and make use of the stock that tracks VMware Inc. The tracking stock was created to do two things: give EMC shareholders a way to reflect the 82 percent that the company held in VMware, and; reduce the amount of money Dell needed to borrow to acquire EMC by giving the latter company’s shareholders something else of value. Issuing the tracking stock meant Dell didn’t have to raise quite as much money to finance the deal.

Dell was able to acquire EMC and the stock has risen from $43.50 in August 2016 to $85.27 last week – almost doubling in value since it was first issued.

Under the terms of the deal, Dell will now exchange each share of its “Class V” tracking stock for 1.3665 shares of Dell Technologies Class C common stock, or at $109 in cash — up to and not exceeding $9 billion worth of cash.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.

This tracking stock effectively tracks the performance of Dell’s 82 percent stake in VMware, the fast-growing network software company that Dell inherited when it bought EMC. The other 18 percent of VMware is publicly traded as a different stock.

It is understood that the transaction will give Dell more control over VMware and opens the door to a potential merger down the road.

Dell went private in 2013 as part of a buyout agreed between founder Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

9

APPOINTMENTS

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

Mimecast names general manager for Middle East Email and data security company, Mimecast Limited, has appointed Jeff Ogden as general manager for the Middle East.

In his new role, Ogden will oversee the company’s UAE operations and growth in the region, and will be responsible for educating organisations about evolving cyberattacks and how to build a cyber resilience strategy for email.

Ogden has been working in technology for over 35 years, 17 of which have been in IT security.

Under Jeff’s leadership, Mimecast will continue to build a strong and loyal channel programme, ensuring all resellers share a deep knowledge of the company’s technology and services, alongside a commitment to customer experience.

“Mimecast has successfully been operating in Dubai for just over a year

and Jeff’s appointment is the next step to support an aggressive growth strategy in the Middle East,” said Brandon Bekker, managing director, Mimecast MEA. “This appointment will bolster our existing strong customer relations and help us establish new alliances and partnerships.”

Prior to joining Mimecast, previous senior executive roles Ogden has held include leading Symantec’s managed security services and consulting division in the Middle East. He also set up Netcure Middle East, a security consultancy and integrator, part of the UAE’s largest IT provider – Mideast Data Systems (MDS).

“Organisations throughout the region are increasingly adopting cloud-based services like Office 365, but concerns remain around the security and availability of email services,” said Jeff Ogden, GM, Mimecast ME. “The Middle

East represents a significant opportunity for Mimecast as we help organisations with comprehensive security controls before, continuity during, and automated recovery after an attack.”

Jeff Ogden, Mimecast

Epicor strengthens leadership team Epicor Software has announced two new appointments to its executive leadership team. Andy Coussins is appointed senior vice president and head of sales for the international region and Jason Taylor as senior vice president and head of global support. Coussins and Taylor assume their roles effective immediately and report directly to Epicor chief executive officer Steve Murphy.

Coussins joins Epicor from Hewlett Packard Enterprise where he was vice president for the Alliance Business in EMEA. He has extensive international sales experience and a strong reputation for building high performing teams that are instrumental in driving global growth.

Coussins will be based out of the Bracknell, UK office.

Taylor joins Epicor from Oracle where he was vice president of customer success management and support service sales, responsible for over $2B

in revenue for support renewal sales and services. He has deep experience building global support operations and driving business to create new service offerings to generate revenue growth and customer success. Taylor will be based in the Bensalem, PA office.

Andy Coussins, Epicor

“I’m committed to building a leadership team that fully represents our culture of growth, investment and customer centricity,” said Steve Murphy, chief executive officer, Epicor Software.

“The appointments of Coussins and Taylor bring substantial experience from industry leading, high-growth companies and demonstrate our commitment to supporting customers and partners worldwide.”

He explained, “With an enthusiastic and passionate leadership team in place we can continue our focus on making it easy for customers to stay current on modern technology, making it easy for them to move to the cloud when they decide the time is right, and making it easy for them to embrace all aspects of digital transformation. I’m excited about the team and what we will be able to accomplish together during the next phase in our growth strategy.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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EVENTS // IVANTI

EXCELLING WITH PARTNERSHIPS At its inaugural regional partner event, IT and asset management solutions provider Ivanti urged partners to embrace end-to-end solutions selling, reports deputy editor Glesni Holland.

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JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

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vanti hosted its first regional Partner Kick Off event in Dubai recently following the opening of the company’s office in the emirate in March.

The event brought together over 30 partners from across the region, enabling Ivanti to showcase their solutions in unifying IT and security operations.

Ivanti was created following the LANDESK and HEAT Software merger last January, so while Ivanti is a relatively new brand to the region, it has a long history of working with the Middle East through contractors and partners.

For nearly 30 years, LANDESK and HEAT offered user-centred IT solutions designed to increase user productivity while reducing IT security risk.

Gartner has predicted that “Middle East and North Africa IT spending is projected to reach $155 billion in 2018, a 3.4% increase over 2017.” So, Ivanti’s decision to have a permanent presence in the region reflects the company’s desire to provide partners with more support and knowledge as demand grows to better manage and secure their digital workplace.

“Following the various acquisitions over the years, Ivanti now covers all aspects of IT infrastructure and user environment management,” said Husni Hammoud, general manager, Ivanti Middle East. “We opted to have a dedicated presence here in the region to connect both our partners and customers, to enable technical and sales teams the skills to go to market and understand the business requirements, and to provide customers with the right solution at the right moment, in a cost-effective manner.”

Ivanti’s strategy now centres around bringing siloed areas of a

business together, enabling partners to be able to sell an end-to-end solution to their customers, as opposed to individual operations.

“We’re also very focused on enablement in 2018, giving partners the technical skills to not only sell, but deliver the solution,” said Andrew Brickell, sales director for the UK and Middle East, Ivanti.

“We can also offer them a technical rebate if they are successful in selling the solution. Our overall aim is to enhance IT service delivery, while reducing risk through insights and automation.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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OPINION // FORTINET

Becoming compliant Alain Penel, regional vice president, Middle East, Fortinet, advises partners to take advantage of the opportunities that help customers reassess their security postures.

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ustomers rely on stored data to provide customised offerings and real-time services based on user needs. While this personalisation is beneficial in many ways – and, in fact, is being demanded by consumers – it can put them at risk as cybercriminals target your customers’ networks, hoping to extract and exploit that data.

This cyber risk has led to new regulations mandating specific security requirements to protect consumer data, including GDPR and more. However, many organisations are doing only the bare minimum required to achieve compliance, with little consideration of the potential advantages that going above and beyond might provide. This opens the door for your expertise to help customers rethink their security postures.

The truth is, organisations that go beyond compliance to offer robust datasecurity controls provide greater value to consumers and build their level of trust, resulting in a distinct competitive edge.

High-profile and high-impact breaches

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“By offering your customers an integrated, architectural approach to cybersecurity, you take them beyond simply being compliant with various regulations.” have caught the attention of companies and consumers alike. As a result, users are looking at organisations that store and analyse their personal data with increased scrutiny — and holding them accountable for security slip-ups that result in breaches.

A recent survey by PwC revealed that 69 percent of consumers believe companies are susceptible to cyberattacks. Still, 60 percent say companies that collect data are responsible for keeping it secure.

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Additionally, 85 percent of respondents say they will not conduct business with an organisation about which they have security concerns.

As a result, your customers must clearly demonstrate the level of protection they are providing for consumer data if they hope to build and maintain consumer trust and, as a result, grow their businesses. However, this is becoming increasingly challenging for three key reasons.

1. Shadow IT: The popularity of the cloud and SaaS applications has made it simple for employees to run programmes within corporate networks without going through IT channels. This means that potentially vulnerable programmes are running with no checks by IT teams or MSPs, who are then unable to apply patches. There is also little to no visibility as to where critical data may be stored or used.

This lack of insight often leads to data leakage and increases the potential for a data breach using an unsanctioned device or application as an entryway.

2. Cybersecurity Skills Gap: Building a security programme that consumers can trust involves processing and analysing current threat intelligence and then fortifying defences based on that information. However, because of the cybersecurity skills gap, many IT teams are stretched thin and simply don’t have the resources needed to evaluate and respond to every incident within a reasonable amount of time. This leaves networks and consumer data susceptible to derivative malware, zero-day threats and more.

3. Siloed Solutions: While a constant stream of new regulations and standards keeps security and compliance top of mind across IT teams, it also often results in a patchwork of disparate solutions. As new vulnerabilities are discovered and regulations released, IT teams tend to simply select and deploy new solutions to solve that specific problem.

However, the lack of integration among these point solutions often means that visibility is decreased, putting consumers at risk.

Beyond compliance Your customers need to provide a seamless experience to their users

while meeting compliance standards and securing their network from data breaches. As you enable your customers to leverage new tools, such as connected devices and applications, they are collecting more consumer data than ever. As a result, a number of regulating bodies across the world, including GDPR, have begun imposing strict new standards for data storage and protection. To avoid the fines and penalties that accompany noncompliance, your customers need security controls that ensure they meet these standards.

However, by offering your customers an integrated, architectural approach to cybersecurity, you take them beyond simply being compliant with various regulations — that’s table stakes. By publicly going above and beyond, they can build a deeper level of trust with consumers. This not only ensures business will not be lost over security concerns, the approach can also be a competitive advantage in winning new business. When an organisation can show it’s built a proactive, architectural approach to cybersecurity, it establishes the trust that consumers require while mitigating the challenges presented above: shadow IT, the skills gap and siloed solutions.

An integrated cybersecurity approach gathers security controls across IoT

devices, local and branch networks, and even into multicloud environments.

Each layer of protection collects and communicates threat intelligence regarding global and local cyber events, enabling the entire security system to deliver an automated and coordinated response to every incident in real time.

Offering cybersecurity of this caliber moves you from a one-time sale relationship with your customers to subscription models that create long-term relationships as you offer your own value-added services — not just implementation services, but also managed services that you can wrap around the integrated cybersecurity solution. You have a unique opportunity to zero in on the specific needs and goals of your customers, both shortterm and long-term, providing them with the opportunity to securely and confidently grow and achieve their business goals.

Bottom line: Regulations are a step in the right direction; however, your customers must think beyond compliance by taking a proactive approach to security. Helping them do so will not only further ensure the protection of consumer data but also establish the long-term trust your customers require to be successful while helping you to grow your business at the same time.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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INTERVIEW

Nehul Goradia, co-founder, Enabler One, explains how the results of the inaugural vendor agnostic channel ecosystem survey in the Middle East and North Africa region, Channel Speak, have the power to boost partner business.

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nabler One supported by Reseller Middle East is conducting the first-ever vendor agnostic annual channel ecosystem survey in the Middle East and North Africa region called Channel Speak.

Employees across all departments of a partner organisation are invited to participate and take advantage of the opportunity to make themselves heard. It is a chance for the channel,

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from resellers, value-added resellers, systems integrators, solutions and service providers, to paint the true picture of the regional landscape.

We catch up with Nehul Goradia, co-founder, Enabler One, to understand how the survey has the potential to bring all channel stakeholders together.

Can you elaborate on the objective of Channel Speak?

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Over the years various studies have been conducted on ascertaining the Total Addressable Market (TAM) or overall market from a particular technology or revenue perspective.

However, very few surveys have gone in-depth to understand the demands on a partner by their customers or how effective is the collaboration within the ecosystem to enable business and generate profitability for all.

“Channel Speak is all about partners’ voice and their views. Its about them, by them, for them and from them. This medium gives them a chance to express their views on customer demands and ecosystem engagement.”

Nehul Goradia, Enabler One

Channel Speak is the MENA region’s first ever technology and vendor agnostic survey that hopes to bridge this gap. The final report would provide various insights on: 1. What technologies are demanded by a customer and how they are sold 2. How the entire ecosystem of partner, distributor and vendor are engaging with each other 3. What support is required from distributors and vendors by a partner to help them become more profitable The report will help any vendor or distributor to better plan their channel strategies and engagements for optimal market penetration and reach.

Do vendors’ objectives match with partners’ business goals?

The region constitutes approximately three to five percent to most major technology vendors’ global revenue. Considering the number of technologies and vendors available currently and entering on a daily basis into the region, there is a huge pressure to deliver numbers on the local vendor

teams and their channel networks.

This creates a slight disconnect between vendors’ objectives to achieve their numbers and the partners’/resellers’ goal to sustain and generate a profitable business model.

This doesn’t mean that vendors are not interested in a profitable channel.

In fact, many vendors look to ensure that their partner ecosystem is profitable to guarantee long-term retention of partners as well as an overall profitable output for everyone.

Yet, with the various issues that have impacted this region over the last few years, a gap has been created between desire for numbers and ability to retain profitability to earlier levels.

What are the issues impacting partner growth?

The regional channel has gone through a paradigm shift over the last few years.

Advent of new-age technologies such as cloud computing, Internet of Things and the like, to innovations in service delivery models to customer adoption methodologies to lack of credit and finance due to regional issues have all impacted the regional channel business.

Partners have had to modify and adapt

their procurement and sales models to meet these changes on a regular basis.

Yet, partner programmes haven’t evolved much to meet these constantly changing marketplace.

Partners are still being engaged and evaluated on basis of the old programmes and criteria; creating a clear gap in engagement to expectation ratios.

Also, partners themselves have struggled to adapt and modify their internal operational, finance and human resource processes to meet these changes and to ensure a highly motivated team enabling their business. This has resulted in the creation of many new players who often don’t have the operational experience to ensure a sustainable and profitable model or credibility to enable appropriate financial and credit support.

Why is it important for regional channel partners to participate in this survey?

Channel Speak is all about partners’ voice and their views. Its about them, by them, for them and from them. This medium gives them a chance to express their views on customer demands and ecosystem engagement. We believe it is critical for every member of a channel partner’s organisation to participate and share their views with their peers in the industry.

We will also be giving away AED 500 gift vouchers each for any two respondents, who will be chosen at random from those who have successfully completed the survey.

What should partners keep in mind when responding to the questions?

We would ask partners to be as candid as possible when responding to the questions. We expect this report to become the benchmark for any vendor or distributor to plan their channel strategies and engagements. Therefore, an insightful data will only help the ecosystem to function better together and enable the right and timely support for business and profit enablement.

Make your opinion count and take the Channel Speak survey at https://enabler. one/channelspeak2018/.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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COVER STORY // BRAND BUILDERS

BRAND BUILDERS

Innovative and intelligent marketing strategies have the power to boost a brand’s image to enhance market reputation and sales. Marketing managers are vital in sculpting these perceptions and ensuring the firm’s success.

Brand Builders 2018 spotlights marketing professionals who have led initiatives to build and accelerate their organisations’ growth vision.

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JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Years of marketing experience: Nine

Abhimanyu Gopalka

SENIOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONAL, INJAZAT DATA SYSTEMS

A mentor who has helped shape your career: Aysha Al Meheeri, the head of communications for Injazat Data Systems. Aysha’s drive and energy are very inspiring.

She’s able to quickly attain stakeholder buy-in to large, ambitious projects based on her people skills and her track record of success.

A marketing wisdom you live by: “The key is no matter what story you tell, make your buyer the hero.” - Chris Brogan Your biggest achievement

Years of marketing experience: Nine A mentor who has helped shape your career: Alessandra Curzi A marketing wisdom you live by: Lead by example.

By walking your talk, you become a person who others want to follow. When leaders say one thing, but do another, they erode trust – a critical element of productive leadership.

Your biggest achievement as a marketer: Digitalisation of marketing to achieve double digit growth for the company year on year in my previous role.

Your biggest challenge as a marketer: Fragmentation and diverse Middle East and African markets. The significance of cross-channel marketing strategies is clear.

Consumers are everywhere, and marketers have to be, as well. However, there are some decisions we have to make regarding the amount of Years of marketing experience: Four

Eleni Papapostolou

MARKETING MANAGER UAE AND GULF, LOGICOM

A mentor who has helped shape your career: My first manager and former professor, Dimitris Keridis; Harvard graduate with international career, he is a role model for me. He gave me exposure to business and inspired me to set high goals and achieve them with strategic and structured thinking.

as a marketeer: Last year I was fortunate to be on the first team to implement the new Injazat logo and brand at GITEX, one of the region’s largest exhibitions and on our digital platforms. Launching a new brand into market was an achievement that the whole company was proud of, and I was honoured to be part of making the organisation more visible in our first biggest event after the launch of our new brand Identity.

abreast of change and keep up-to-date on changes and developments from social media platforms to robotics to AI. At Injazat, we are heavily invested in our digital presence and plan to continue the trend.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Technology has made marketing evolve at a quicker pace than ever before.

I think every marketeer’s biggest challenge is to stay

Advice for marketing novices: Marketing requires a unique blend of skills and nobody is born with them all.

If you feel that you’re lacking skills in a particular area, seek help. There is a wealth of resources available from formal training, mentoring to tutoring and more. A good boss will appreciate the request. Don’t let pride inhibit your growth.

time and money we want to spend in different channels.

What creative works best for social? How much of the budget should go to paid search? Which channel will reach the right audience at the right time? Traditional versus digital approach and what will give highest amount of ROI especially in emerging markets which have low internet connectivity.

Ankush Mehra

Advice for marketing novices: Learn, improve, evolve

A marketing wisdom you live by: “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: What I currently see as my biggest achievement is to get in the IT industry while having fashion background. I always like getting out of my comfort zone and using my knowledge and creativity to succeed in different industries.

FIELD MARKETING ADVISOR, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: To be in the IT industry while having a fashion background. I always like getting out of my comfort zone and using my knowledge and creativity to succeed in different industries.

Advice for marketing novices: Marketing is about sharing your passion. Dare to be creative, find your spirit and no challenge will keep you from achieving your goals.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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Years of marketing experience: 13 A mentor who has helped shape your career: Christelle Toureille

Firas Ghaleb Altamimi

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Life is like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance you must keep moving.” Marcus Aurelius

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Keeping up with all the changes and innovations we are exposed to every day and make it relevant to our mission.

A marketing wisdom you live by: Kotler says, “Marketing is a race without a finishing line”, which reflects the agile nature of the job and ongoing commitment required in bringing success.

award across 62 branches at Exclusive for Fortinet.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: It is hard to choose one and with God’s grace, every year I have been winning many media awards as marketing catalyst.

However, one of the biggest so far has been something I won at Exclusive Group.

I received Best Marketing

Advice for marketing novices: From a marketing job perspective, I would say the 3P’s are Passion, Patience and Persistence. If you want to ensure success right from the start of a campaign till the end and leave a mark, these 3Ps are a must!

difficult to mention one single person as my best mentor. I have learnt much from various professionals.

However, the one thing that has helped shape my career consistently over the years is by being a life-long learner – knowledge and experiences are great teachers.

marketing professional within the IT industry is truly an achievement. My professional journey, especially in this region has taught me how passion for what you do can reap huge benefits and leave an indelible mark. Building a strong marketing team at StarLink and having StarLink as one of the most pro-marketing IT player in the region is indeed a matter of huge pride.

FIELD AND CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGER, ME, TURKEY AND EMERGING MARKETS, TENABLE

Years of marketing experience: Nine A mentor who has helped shape your career: Nikhil Kothari, Mohan Punjabi and Nathan Clements have been my mentors over the last few years. I believe with their support, I have been able to achieve a lot. They all have had extremely opposite ways of getting things done, but have been successful in their own style not just in bringing out the best in me but also from the overall organisational perspective.

Mary Aji

MARKETING DIRECTOR, STARLINK

Years of marketing experience: 13 plus A mentor who has helped shape your career: It is

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Making Tenable and our Cyber Exposure message the talk of the region.

A marketing wisdom you live by: “You can’t sell anything, if you can’t tell anything.” - Beth Comstock Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Starting as an ‘accidental marketer’ and having made a mark as a

Advice for marketing novices: Keep smiling and pay it forward, eventually things will go your way.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Managing people is an art because it requires immense patience.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: I believe marketing is everyone’s responsibility. Driving employee advocacy and bridging the gap between marketing and various other stakeholders to design

Mallika Sharma

HEAD OF MARKETING, EXCLUSIVE NETWORKS ME

a holistic marketing strategy is a challenge. Implementing strategic and tactical marketing plans in alignment with the business goals is key to the growth and success of any organisation.

Advice for marketing novices: New age media might be quite enticing; however, getting the fundamentals of marketing right is important before choosing your medium of expression. A strong foundation ensures that your work is always impeccable and strategy-driven. Be a lifelong learner.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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COVER STORY // BRAND BUILDERS

Years of marketing experience: Eight

A mentor who has helped shape your career: I have been blessed with some great mentors during the tenure of my career. They made me learn to be consistent in my actions and develop a never give up attitude, showed me importance of creativity, diligence, concern, consent, and respect in my profession. One who had greatest impact in my career is my current mentor Michelle

Jones, global head channel and field marketing, Unify, a true believer of empowering team members and elevating their skills.

A marketing wisdom you live by: Being proactive, adaptable and timely execution is the key to success.

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” - Andrew Davis

accolades for my companies, running strategic brand awareness, and growing market share in a record time.

I feel driving sales through strategic marketing initiatives has been one of my biggest achievements.

and have boundless imagination. Challenges will always be there, set your strategic goals and by knowing where you’re heading helps in overcoming it.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: I have been instrumental in winning

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: As a marketeer you should be visionary, creative, aggressive

Neethu Paul

Years of marketing experience: 16

A mentor who has helped shape your career: Craig Yeatman, chairman of South African Organisation Development Network

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy

Meenu Raje

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING MANAGER, META, UNIFY

Years of marketing experience: 15 plus

MARKETING MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, EPICOR

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JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Your biggest achievement as a marketer: Being innovative and creative with limited budgets and resources for

Advice for marketing novices: Having a vision, agility and adaptability to new market trends along with good sense of innovation are key to success.

is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Evolving into a strategic marketeer and getting recognised as it.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: How can I provide the most value to my target audience?

the establishment of profitable marketing engine in the region.

Your biggest challenge as a marketer: Spent versus Achievement always remains a challenge as each marketing activity cannot be quantified. I feel the best way to deal with this is combining sales strategy within your marketing engine.

Advice for marketing novices: Be consistent, approachable and drive realistic plan with extra focus on execution.

Nadia Jawad

MANAGER, ALLIANCES AND MARKETING AGC NETWORKS

A d v i c e fo r m a r ke t i n g n ov i c e s : Success belongs to the relentless learners.

Because as you know more, you can achieve more and the key to finding your remarkability is to think about what makes you surprising, interesting or novel.

COVER STORY // BRAND BUILDERS

Years of marketing experience: Eight

Rola Al Sharif

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION EXECUTIVE MEA, BARCO

Years of marketing experience: 24

Name a mentor who has helped shape your career: My first boss Carol Collins who I started working for in May 1994. She taught me to work hard and work smart. She said to always try and push yourself out of your comfort zone and be prepared to take on new challenges.

A marketing wisdom you live by: Hope is not a strategy

Sanchari Roy

MARKETING MANAGER, CENTRA HUB

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A mentor who has helped shape your career: I was fortunate to work with few good bosses who have supported me along my career. Both, my former boss Hitham Krimeed and my current boss Eric Brouwers, who is the vice president of Barco MEA, have played a significant role in my professional growth.

A marketing wisdom you live by: I have always believed that “great stories happen to those who can tell them.” And all marketers should be story tellers.

Your biggest achievement as a marketer: With Barco’s double digit growth numbers over the past few years, we are proud to be part of the MEA team.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: I would say moving my family half way across the world so I can look after the Middle East region at Infor has been a big achievement for me personally and career wise. I have looked after this region remotely for a number of years from the UK but it’s not until you are actually living in the region and understanding the culture, do you start to see what’s working and what’s not and can start to make a real impact to the business.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Time – there is always plenty to do in marketing so you need to prioritise what is important and will make the biggest impact.

Advice for marketing novices: The sky is the limit, and you should always be willing to learn and take on new challenges. If this is your first job, try and learn as much as you can about all areas of the business that you are working within and continue to do this in all new roles.

Years of marketing experience: Eight

A mentor who has helped shape your career: Jayyanto Bhattacharjee, head enterprise marketing, VMWare India. He was my mentor and professor during my post-graduation studies, who inspired me the most in my craft of marketing.

customer value.” – Philip Kotler

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Transforming a legacy company to a digitally run marketing operation.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Standing out in a crowded marketplace – different social media platforms are all competing to capture those few seconds of customers’ attention. My biggest challenge is to break through this noise every day

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Your biggest challenge as a marketer: To have more people believe in the ROI of the marketing activities and consider them as a major success factor to any company.

Advice for marketing novices: Listening to your sales team and your customers is a key factor to success, even in B2B business model.

Samantha Carter

MARKETING MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, INFOR

and delivering personalised content to reach out to the right audience.

Advice for marketing novices: Marketing strategies along with the market is constantly evolving.

This is why you should avoid repeating the same marketing strategy year after year. Evolve with new ideas, take risk, invest in marketing and learn from your failed strategies.

Santosh Pania

CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGER (MEMA), ARUBA A HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY

Years of marketing experience: Nine A mentor who has helped shape your career: There is not one but many.

I consider myself lucky in that aspect. Sophos being a channel driven company, I get many opportunities to work very closely with our partners for successful execution of our campaigns in the Middle East region. All these partners are entrepreneurs running their own show and

Years of marketing experience: 19

A mentor who has helped shape your career: Late Suresh Gajwani (CEO of Amtel Security Systems)

A marketing wisdom you live by: Good marketing pays for itself. Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.

Your biggest achievement as a marketer: Creating a marketing engine and grooming a young talented team for one of my previous employers. This marketing engine not only carried out events and workshops, but

also full-fledged integrated marketing campaigns for various technology brands across the MEA region. During the end of my tenure, the marketing engine had churned out more than 500 events per year, 7 plus major trade shows and vendor forums, monthly printed news journals, various long-term integrated campaigns and short-term digital campaigns. More importantly the engine was running at 1: 16 returns on marketing investment.

Your biggest challenge as a marketer: Break through the clutter and noise in the market. The biggest challenge as a marketer is the ability to listen and understand

many of them have played the role of a mentor at various stages in my career.

every year.

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Content is King but engagement is Queen, and the lady rules the house!”Mari Smith.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Being able to engage with over hundreds of partners, prospect customers and customers

Wael Andari

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, SAUDI BUSINESS MACHINES

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Measuring the impact of all marketing campaigns or engagements accurately.

Advice for marketing novices: Marketing and its matrix are different for all sectors and business models.

It is like swimming in different waters. You have to actually swim into it to be good at it.

Name a mentor who has helped shape your career: Abdulrahman Almohisen

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Establishing a marketing department that generated the most revenue among other partners in the Middle East within three years.

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.” - Beth Comstock

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: B2B digital marketing is challenging when you use social media or social selling to reach your target audience

Years of marketing experience: 10

what the customer’s real problem is. There is so much noise around and so much data available that the real issues are buried under it. Everybody is interested in selling what they have but nobody is bothering to understand what the customers need.

The customers themselves are confused on what the real issue is. They are being heavily influenced and misguided by companies as to what the real problem is.

Advice for marketing novices: Be customer focussed and be innovative.

Think from the customer perspective and try new things.

Urvendrasinh Gohil

MARKETING MANAGER, SOPHOS MIDDLE EAST

and generate revenue.

Advice for marketing novices: A year from now, you’ll wish you had started today. Don’t miss any opportunity where you can learn more and develop your skills.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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COVER STORY // BRAND BUILDERS

Years of marketing experience: Eight

A mentor who has helped shape your career: There are many people that have had an influence on my career, but just a handful have had a profound and consistent impact to shape career. One of them includes Husni Hammoud, our GM.

A marketing wisdom you live by: Do not sell products to your customers, instead sell experiences and solutions, because having a satisfied customer is the best strategy

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: My first goal as the head of Barracuda’s marketing department was to penetrate aggressively in the cloud business. Thanks to our right strategies and execution of all our initiatives, Reseller recognised Barracuda’s customer centric approach and awarded us ‘Best Cloud Security Vendor of Year 2017’.

A marketing wisdom you live by: “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” – Jack Welch`

to launch new operations and products in different markets where we operate.

It was a privilege to work on technology brand Toshiba.

Overseeing the whole initiative, we had successfully launched the brand in Ghana, WA and Rwanda, EA. A few years ago, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and Mitsumi jointly announced Mitsumi’s debut at GITEX as part of DWTC’s ‘Africa in Focus’ initiative. That was a very proud moment for me.

that every challenge is an opportunity for growth, both personally and professionally.

I have taken the initiative to learn everything I can about new emerging technologies and together with my team, we have been able to stay ahead of the changes in the industry.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: My biggest achievement is being trusted

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: The biggest challenge now is digital. My philosophy is

Yeshima Singh

MARKETING MANAGER MET AND CEE, BARRACUDA NETWORKS

Years of marketing experience: 14 A mentor who has helped shape your career: My mentor is Mitsumi Distribution chairman and CEO, Jagat Shah.

Years of marketing experience: Six A mentor who has helped shape your career: Asim Azmi, regional sales manager, Kaspersky Lab. A marketing wisdom you live by: Be more. Everyday.

Zahra Hanif

MARKETING MANAGER, ARROW ECS MIDDLE EAST

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Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: I have single-

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: After my successful 2017 with Barracuda in the ME/T region, I have to now handle

Central and Eastern Europe region, which is a completely new venture and a challenge to head for, but I am looking forward to the learnings.

Advice for marketing novices: Continuous improvement through PDCA, which stands for the following: Plan - Plan your marketing strategies based on your goal or target.

Do - Execute Check - Study results Act - Learn and improve

Advice for marketing novices: One should have a clear focus on ROI. With marketing today, there should be a focus on leadgeneration activities with clear measurable ROI, defining a scalable IT sales strategy.

Zahid Pervaiz

handedly managed all the marketing activities across the region for the full portfolio in every organisation where I have worked.

hard to say no to proposals that you know might have potential. However, I try my best to give them a chance when possible.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Saying ‘no’ to people has always been a challenge for me.

Considering that there are many talented and hardworking people in the marketing business, it is

Advice for marketing novices: Be creative.

Do not fear to fail, every attempt will carve your way to success.

MARKETING MANAGER, MITSUMI DISTRIBUTION

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COVER STORY // BRAND BUILDERS

Years of marketing experience: 14 A marketing wisdom you live by: “Marketing is a race without a finishing line.”- Philip Kotler

Ignatius Avinash Emanuel MARKETING MANAGER, RITTAL MIDDLE EAST

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Elevating brand recognition for international companies

Years of marketing experience: Three A marketing wisdom you live by: “Amazing things will happen when you listen to the consumer.” – Jonathan Midenhall, CMO, Airbnb

Karan Jiandani MARKETING MANAGER, ASBIS MIDDLE EAST

Years of marketing experience: Nine A marketing wisdom you live by: ‘A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them’ – Steve Jobs

Kiara Israni

MANAGER, MARKETING, FVC

Your biggest achievement as a marketer: I believe my biggest achievement is the knowledge I have gained over Years of marketing experience: 15 A marketing wisdom you live by: “Stopping marketing to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” Henry Ford

Mohammad Saad MARKETING MANAGER KSA AND GULF, INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

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Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Every successful marketing

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

that I have worked with and industry recognition from Middle East media houses.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Real and reliable analysis or data is very hard to find. Thankfully with the support of few media houses and international agencies you can get to reliable information.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: My biggest achievement to date is leading the marketing team with a multi-brand portfolio including top IT brands of the industry Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Understanding and keeping

the years and learning from the best in the industry. One’s relationships are the biggest achievement in this fast-paced industry.

Your biggest challenge as a marketer: While ROI seems to be a steady challenge, generating successful leads and innovative campaigns and content, and running activity I do with my team is an achievement that I feel proud of. The mission of achieving the best results never ends and working in a great team makes this journey easier and more fun.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: Content has become the most crucial element that reaps big rewards for companies.

Advice for marketing novices: As easy it may seem, marketing is one of the most exciting, yet toughest roles to execute. You take ownership and responsibility of the brand – to make it or break it.

up with all the various brands’ requirements and marketing needs can be a challenge at times.

Advice for marketing novices: Know your customer, maintain consistency in all your marketing activities

campaigns within limited budget are especially challenging.

Advice for marketing novices: Marketing is hard work. Identify and understand what you are marketing and who you are marketing to.

Observe your customer and leave room for adjustments.

Developing good content and distributing it properly using the right channels and to the right audience and achieving the desired impact is a daily challenge for a marketeer.

Advice for marketing novices: Innovate and never hesitate to try new ideas. A simple idea could generate outstanding results.

Years of marketing experience: Five plus

PRIYANKA SUCHAK GAIGOLE MARKETING MANAGER, TRANSSYS SOLUTIONS

A marketing wisdom you live by: “You haven’t failed until you quit trying.”

top salesperson status to leap into marketing. I’ve been able to utilise my sales knowledge to launch multiple highly successful, revenuegenerating campaigns.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: My greatest career achievement to date would be having launched a career in both sales and marketing, leveraging my

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: My biggest challenge was to deliver good work in a space dominated by marketers as I began my career in IT sales before

Years of marketing experience: 18

numbers of end customer face time to ensure those KPI’s keep the business profitable.

A marketing wisdom you live by: Fail to plan, Plan to fail.

RACHEL MEULEMAN

REGIONAL MARKETING HEAD, EMERGING MARKETS, QUEST SOFTWARE

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: Achieving the expectations of our internal sales team of bringing qualified leads to the business in a competitive market. I’ve been able to achieve record Years of marketing experience: Eight

SAMER MIHYAR

REGIONAL MARKETING MANAGER, METAR, ALARIS

A marketing wisdom you live by: You do not need to reinvent the wheel to satisfy your customers, sometimes the answer is a question away.

Stay close to your audience.

Your biggest achievement as a marketer: Successfully conducted a market research Years of marketing experience: 10 plus

Sonali Basu Roy

MARKETING MANAGER, BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES

A marketing wisdom you live by: One should be visionary and creative with a constant thirst for knowledge to adapt to the rapidly transforming IT industry.

Your biggest achievement as a marketeer: The

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: The vast number of suppliers in the market constantly offering their services to help market my brand. It becomes challenging to attempt to try something new without guaranteed results. It can also and created marketing campaigns in new growth markets that resulted in gaining 12 percent market share in the first year, and an increase of 20 percent in total revenues.

Your biggest challenge as a marketer: How to improve the return on investment

ability to successfully devise marketing strategies having measurable mix of direct, indirect and digital channels creating positive impact to the business objectives.

Your biggest challenge as a marketeer: How to develop accurate metrics to measure the outcome of the marketing activities in relation

getting into marketing. I soon discovered that this challenge was the biggest contributor to my success.

Advice for marketing novices: My advice would be to stay focused on goals and not be deterred if ‘the going gets tough’. Stay hungry to succeed.

be challenging to be the first to explore new options in the market.

Advice for marketing novices: Listen and learn through customer case studies. This is the best proof to consider when choosing how to spend your budget effectively and validate your value to any organisation.

Advice for marketing novices: Don’t give in to the pressure of using the same methods that deliver the same results, there is always a better way of doing things.

Listen well to your audience, improve on your offering and present it the way they want.

You may fail but you will never lose.

to the direct sales generated from such Marcom activities Advice for marketing novices: One should believe in self, should be quick learners, be creative and have thirst towards acquiring new skills. Being passionate and committed is the mantra for success.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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FEATURE // SD-WAN SOLUTIONS

Beyond connectivity

Reseller ME examines how SD-WAN solutions can help boost partners’ revenues and why the channel should develop expertise in this area.

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irtualisation technologies have been transforming data centres over the last couple of years. Networks, being an integral component of an organisation’s internal infrastructures, have witnessed a dramatic increase in workloads as digitalisation becomes a priority for customers.

Software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technology has come to enterprises’ rescue as they seek solutions to enhance network management and ensure better efficiencies.

An IDC forecast estimates that worldwide SD-WAN infrastructure and services revenues will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69.6

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percent and reach $8.05 billion in 2021.

According to the research firm, the biggest growth driver for this technology over the next five years will be digital transformation. This is because digital transformation is expected to increase network workloads and “elevates the network’s end-to-end importance to business operations”, according to IDC. Besides digital transformation, the continued rise of public cloudbased software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications is another driver for SDWAN’s growth.

A survey conducted by Riverbed revealed that the loss of critical services; user, network and application vulnerabilities; as well as increased and

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

costly IT complexity were currently the top three challenges that Middle East organisations face with their WANs. Elie Dib, regional vice president, METNA, Riverbed, says, “SD-WAN addresses these issues by providing an intelligent and intuitive approach to designing, deploying and managing distributed networks for today’s hybrid enterprise.”

The survey respondents believed the top benefits of the technology to be increased application and network visibility and security (56%); and reduction in complexity of network configuration and increased utilisation of resources (50%).

Agreeing, Pouya Parsafar, CEO,

Enterprise Systems, says, “Other factors that have been driving SD-WAN interest includes meeting IT demands on a global scale, performance, cost reduction and agility in deployments.

Additionally, customers rely on the technology to ease the networking challenges that IT teams face today and to also gain better network security and service level improvements.”

He explains that partners can maximise their opportunities in this

technology by performing traffic engineering with an end-to-end view of network and showing how to better utilise network resources with easily scalable network functionality, supporting dynamic movement, replication and allocation of virtual resources, and therefore ease the administrative burden of configuration and provisioning.

However, to maximise these opportunities, channel organisations

must play to their strengths, says Dib. “SD-WAN competency requires a keen understanding of application-defined networking concepts. Partners that have already been dealing with optimisation solutions have an advantage here as their understanding of application performance concepts across the WAN and Internet will be deeper.”

Cloud resellers and integrators especially have an advantage in this area, he adds.

“This is because they are able to offer a unique selling point as SD-WAN’s main functionality is to leverage low cost links for public or private cloud access.

Partners that are experienced in cloud implementation can enhance their value proposition by also positioning SD-WAN to their customers.”

Dib urges those channel organisations without these skill sets to not be discouraged.

“Ultimately, even channel partners that have know-how in legacy routing techniques and concepts will also be able to achieve success with SD-WAN as they will be capable of re-architecting their customers’ existing LAN/WAN to software-defined architectures,’ he says.

Not only is understanding the technology a challenge but partners also find it difficult when selecting the right SD-WAN provider.

According to Pouya, partners should look at criteria such as if the vendor offers fully-managed devices, is costeffective with flexibility, possesses a good service level agreement and provides managed tiered services.

“SD-WAN provides an intelligent and intuitive approach to designing, deploying and managing distributed networks for today’s hybrid enterprise.”

Elie Dib, Riverbed

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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FEATURE // SD-WAN SOLUTIONS

Pouya Parsafar, Enterprise Systems

Dib adds that SD-WAN is still an emerging technology with different vendors providing different capabilities and purchase options.

“Partners should be clear that capabilities and claims are genuine and that offerings are available to suit their go-to-market strategy,” he says.

“For example, capabilities such as embedded network optimisation can be the difference between success and failure. Being able to deliver SD-WAN ‘as-a-service’ can also be a preferred option for many customers

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“Over the next few years, we will see enterprises deploying third platform technologies, including cloud, big data and analytics, mobility, and social business, to unlock new bases of innovation and ingenuity that enhance customer experiences and improve financial performance.” and many SD-WAN vendors don’t offer this capability.”

Partners need to invest time and resources in researching the vendors they desire to partner with. They need to be also asking crucial questions around long-term support for the technology, especially if it is offered as-a-service; and if the provider’s business objectives match theirs.

With digital transformation becoming boardroom priority, we can expect to see the SD-WAN market growing even further.

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

Pouya says, “Over the next few years, we will see enterprises deploying third platform technologies, including cloud, big data and analytics, mobility, and social business, to unlock new bases of innovation and ingenuity that enhance customer experiences and improve financial performance. This will further accelerate the growth of SD-WAN.” Those partners who truly understand the potential of SD-WAN when it comes to their customers’ businesses, will be able to reap the benefits of the market opportunities.

PARTNER WATCH // PRECISE TECHNOLOGIES

Disrupting the status quo

Ranjit Pillai, director, alliances and partners, Precise Technologies, shares factors lacking in the value-added distribution space and elaborates on upcoming plans.

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stablished four years ago, Precise Technologies was born when co-founder and director for alliances and partners Ranjit Pillai felt genuine ‘value-add’ was lacking in the value-added distribution space. While there were many value-added distributors (VADs) operating in this market, Pillai observed a huge gap in representing disruptive and emerging vendors who had the best-of-breed technologies but didn’t have the marketing funds to compete with bigger players.

“This region needs disruptive and emerging technologies to be made available at the same time when it reaches the developed markets, as the problems and attacks are happening everywhere simultaneously.

“Cost-effective point solutions are always the best and most acceptable for this region, however, the go-tomarket strategy to develop such a product roadmap and ensure its success was missing,” he says.

Precise Technologies brands itself as a “specialised VAD for disruptive and emerging vendors”.

“We work on a vendor extension model, where we handle all activities of the vendor as their local team. We now have local presence around the region.

Our VAD region extends to Middle East, Turkey and Africa,” Pillai explains.

The objective is to become the leading VAD for “disruptive and emerging vendors”, he says. This includes developing expertise in a host of technologies such as cybersecurity, information security, enterprise networking, storage and mobility, digital and cloud transformation as well as AI-based analytics solutions.

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“We are scheduling sessions with our channel partners so that they can bring their customers to our technical excellence centre and see the live product demos and specific use-cases.”

Keeping in line with its business goal, the distributor boasts several niche vendors in its portfolio, including RiskIQ for external threat management solutions, Venafi for certificates and key management solutions, Bluecat for enterprise DNS/DHCP and IPAM solutions, BooleServer for secure file sharing and email encryption/ DRM / DLP solutions, Bluvector for nextgeneration AI-based network security solutions and Beta Systems – Auconet

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

for enterprise network access control system solutions.

Precise relies on its growing channel network to deliver these technologies across the region.

“We work with some of the biggest channel partners in the region. We have a mix of specialised partners who focus on specific solutions and we also have systems integrators who have a broad portfolio of products. Our team works closely with our channel partners as we have a hybrid model. We do account mapping with our partners along with our enterprise sales team to reach out directly to the top customers.”

According to Pillai, as a regional VAD, one of the biggest challenges the firm faces is that the big vendors with large marketing budgets dominate the market, making it difficult to capture the attention of the channel ecosystem.

“However,” he says, “with a hybrid model comprising channel and enterprise sales team working handin-hand, we are able to successfully overcome this challenge.”

Over the next few quarters, the market can look forward to the launch of a technical excellence centre that is being built by the distributor.

“We will showcase our complementing vendor solutions to our channel partners and customers and run live-demo sessions here. We are scheduling sessions with our channel partners so that they can bring their customers to our technical excellence centre and see the live product demos and specific use-cases.”

Additionally, the firm will be signing up more disruptive and specialist vendors in order to expand its portfolio and continue delivering profitable solutions.

VENDOR FOCUS // AVAYA

Dynamic solutions

Khalid Khan, Avaya’s director cloud and midmarket, Middle East, Africa, South Europe and APAC, shares insights on the firm’s release 11 updates to its flagship IP Office solution.

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ommunications continues to be a critical aspect for the success of any business. As the methods and ways evolve to a more multifaceted structure, organisations are seeking simplified communication systems to stay connected with internal and external stakeholders.

Avaya’s IP Office solutions have enabled customers to create seamless engagement experiences cutting through limitations created by geographies and types of devices.

With its latest release 11 updates to IP Office, customers now have access to more advanced features enhancing business efficiencies such as the new unified communications platform Equinox.

Khalid Khan, director cloud and midmarket, Middle East, Africa, South Europe and APAC, says, “Equinox has been available on our large enterprise platform on Aura for the last couple of years. It is now coming to IP Office, which is a major step forward for the solution.”

This means organisations of any size can leverage the advantages of Aura through Equinox.

“This is appealing not only for end customers but also partners who cater to small and mid-size firms. They require simple solutions that can be deployed within a few hours. This is what we’re offering in the new release of IP Office even though it is equipped with advanced features,” Khan explains.

Existing customers of Avaya’s UC bundle can take advantage of the new features simply by upgrading their solution without having the need to invest again.

Khan adds, “From partners’ point of view, this is also a way for them to upgrade their customers to the latest updates as well as leverage cross and up selling opportunities. We will have

“This also enables cost saving for our partners who are setting up in the SME segment. We are doing multi-tenancy in the new and modern way.” knowledge transfer sessions available for partners for the new updates although we have designed everything to be quite simple.”

Besides Equinox, Avaya has also announced Chronicall for IP Office, which is OEM’d from Xima.

Avaya Chronicall for Avaya IP Office provides over 50 standard reports that support visual call management, customisable displays and agent performance, and is available in both on-premises and Partner Powered by Avaya cloud deployments.

“This is for smaller organisations with simpler problems. Often, companies have sought a call center

like application without needing the full-fledged features. This could be because of their size or their needs are very simple. We are now offering a solution, which can be used not only for call centre-like environments but also for general users. We have seen a market demand where general users too want to know the telephonic activity of their employees,” he says.

Cloud has been an important part of Avaya’s growth story. Partners will soon be able to sell instances to customers as small as five to 10 users. Private cloud is a high-end solution usually bought by large enterprise customers.

“Our solution offers the opportunity to be sold in multi-instances and this proved to be affordable and competitive when organisation sizes were about 50 or above 100 users.

However, it became very expensive for those customers who had five to ten users as they had to buy it as a separate instance.”

In release 11, Avaya is now launching multi-tenancy version of IP Office.

Khan adds, “This way we can deliver to smaller customers and also our larger customers depending on their use cases. This also enables cost saving for our partners who are setting up in the SME segment. We are doing multi-tenancy in the new and modern way.”

IP Office 11 also supports the Avaya Vantage for voice and video and the company’s newest J Series desktop phones, in addition to the Avaya Equinox client.

Khan expects partners to be most excited about Equinox, IP Office cloud multi-tenancy feature and Avaya Xima updates.

“For partners, these updates are high-impacting and most interesting with tremendous channel opportunities,” he says.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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SPONSORED

VENDOR FOCUS // XXXX

Enterprise HUAWEI CHANNEL Systems PARTNER ENABLEMENT WITH ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

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nterprise Systems has been working with Huawei since 2012 and has been steadily growing.

The growth year-on-year has been phenomenal with the support of the Huawei service team. With focus on Enterprise ICT infrastructure, Enterprise Systems works with its channel partners to create tangible benefits for their end clients.

There are five pillars for successful partner enablement which is rapid growth, business driven ICT transformation, cultivate ICT talent, building partner service ecosystems and support the rapid partner services. With over 20% growth every year in diverse verticals, Huawei has been making significant improvements to achieve even more rapid growth. Its power products are not only changing the ICT market but is climbing the global ranks with strong partners ensuring there is continuous business growth.

In the framework of accelerating new ICT services and transformation driven by enterprise businesses, the global economy has seen increasing challenges. Enterprises need to adjust their infrastructures to adapt to innovative technologies such as cloud computing and big data. To improve the online production to real time collaboration operations and decision-making agility and automation to greater heights.

New ICT trends on services include IoT combined with cloud platform and hyperconverged infrastructures.

Enterprise Systems values knowledge as much as hands-on experience and continuously support ICT talent for partners, as well as encourage partners to get HCIE (Huawei Certified Internetwork Expert) certified which is Huawei’s benchmark in

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professional certification following from HCNA (Huawei Certified Network Associate) and HCNP (Huawei Certifies Network Professional) level certifications.

Huawei Channel Manager works closely with Enterprise Systems to ensure our engineers within Enterprise Systems have enhanced solution capabilities in IP, IT and UC&C technologies.

Enterprise Systems, as a Huawei CSP (Certified Service Partner) helps improve building of partner’s service capabilities and solution delivery. With continuous investment in service, Enterprise Systems gets viable returns for its partners and differentiates from its competition.

By build capabilities with joint development with Huawei, Enterprise Systems drives growth in sales, operations, project deliveries and project management. With higher CSP levels, partners will benefit from increased vendor benefits such as greater discounts and rebates as offered by Huawei. Enterprise Systems has

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

achieved CSP for the last four years; these value-added services help boost relationships with partners and end users who keep coming back for professional onsite and remote services.

Huawei’s online tools such as eDeal and eISDP helps in supporting rapid partner service growth. eDeal aids in expanding sales opportunities by lead collection and early deal registrations. Online demand, supply collaboration, and inquiries on quotations with configuration is made simple; all in real-time to enable partners to easily do business with Huawei. Partner service delivery is managed on eISDP portal which serves as a project management tool with one stop information request and delivery status management. Quality and customer satisfaction is managed, along with services lifecycle support.

Enterprise Systems is working harder than ever with Huawei to focus on partner enablement and aims to make a difference in this services industry.

VENDOR FOCUS // VERITAS

Scale up Geoff Greenlaw, emerging channel director, Veritas, urges partners to abandon traditional ways of doing business to leverage new opportunities in the data and information management space.

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nformation technology has revolutionised the way businesses function.

Understanding the importance of data, regional customers are looking to implement sleek technologies to manage and exploit information, to be in a better position when taking business decisions.

After more than two years since its separation from Symantec, Veritas continues to strengthen its offerings and aims to be a market leader for information and data management solutions.

Geoff Greenlaw, emerging channel director, Veritas, says, “As an information management solutions provider, we are in a constant endeavour to solve business problems that revolve around five key aspects – data growth, data availability, data fragmentation, compliance and visibility.”

He explains that customers need to have the right tools to fully take advantage of these five aspects.

“But most important of all, they should ensure complete visibility within their networks as this would enable them to make informed decisions linked to the other four aspects.”

As part of its continuous support to its channel network, Veritas has also recently updated its partner programme.

“As we sprint towards a multi and hybrid cloud environment, we need different types of partners who can help us reach diverse customer segments.”

According to Greenlaw, vendors are always looking for new customer wins, which is only possible through

“As we sprint towards a multi and hybrid cloud environment, we need different types of partners who can help us reach diverse customer segments.” new routes to market. For Veritas, this includes service providers, born-inthe-cloud resellers and other types of channel partners the company hasn’t traditionally dealt with.

He adds, “If we continue to do things in the same pace then we will achieve the same outcomes. Therefore, it is our

responsibility to change the way we operate to bring in better growths.”

Veritas’ updated Partner Force programme allows partners to stay in sync with market developments and enables faster progress.

“We have simplified the programme and it is now far easier for partners to become accredited with Veritas. It is much more predictable for our channel in terms of profitability and growth. As the programme is highly profitable, we are looking for partners to have a growth mindset.”

Having grown its revenues by over 40 percent in 2017, the company is keen to drive its partners’ businesses to similar levels.

“Over the course of this year, we want our partners to be far more engaged with Veritas than they have been in the past. There might be many vendors in the data management space but nobody has a comprehensive vision as Veritas has around managing information, driving insight and visibility and delivering information in order to make informed decisions,” says Greenlaw.

He emphasises that the firm’s primary focus is to provide insights and visibility into information to help customers take best possible business actions.

“This is also the mandate to our partners – to help our customers achieve complete visibility into their data.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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VENDOR FOCUS // D-LINK

Optimistic future D-Link Middle East and Africa’s director for sales and marketing Sakkeer Hussain, shares GITEX plans and market developments.

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he regional IT business environment continues to be challenging, although there have been slight improvements when compared to previous years.

According to D-Link Middle East and Africa’s director for sales and marketing Sakkeer Hussain, access to credit facilities by channel partners especially on big projects remains one of the factors affecting business in the SMB segment.

“Other issues include prolonged sales cycles and the lack of skilled IT resources in the market. While the skills challenge affects vendors, distributors, resellers and end customers, it also presents an opportunity for channel partners to guide their customer to embrace OPEX business models as opposed to continuing their focus on CAPEX.” For the company, Hussain says that business has been healthy largely because it has worked closely with channel partners and customers to ensure that they are updated on strategy and product roadmap for the year.

The networking company has recently launched 5000 series data centre switches, which offer up to 32 100GbE ports for top-of-rack or end-of-row applications. The firm has also introduced support for software defined networking (SDN) via a free upgrade for the DGS-3000 (access layer) and DGS-3630 (aggregation layer) switches.

He adds, “With the ‘Brite-box’ SDN approach for enterprises, we believe that using SDN to automate data centre operations and maximise

“We are optimistic that the second half of this year will bring normalcy to the regional channel landscape as businesses look forward to closing the year on high figures.” infrastructure flexibility is becoming essential to maintain competitiveness for data centre operators and service providers.”

D-Link also has introduced Nuclias, a cloud-based network management solution to the regional market.

According to Hussain, the new offering enables managed service providers and business owners to remotely configure and monitor their network infrastructures anywhere and at any time without the need for a local controller, reducing cost and

complexity while streamlining network infrastructure.

“We have also ramped up our training initiatives to ensure that partners are adequately enabled and equipped to sell and implement our solutions.”

Admitting that the year began on a sluggish note, following the implementation of VAT in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE, Hussain believes its short-term impact will not overshadow the anticipated growth in the regional channel, “especially in the next two quarters.”

He adds, “We are optimistic that the second half of this year will bring normalcy to the regional channel landscape as businesses look forward to closing the year on high figures.”

The next couple of months will be crucial for the firm as it looks at expanding its offerings. Channel partners and customers can look forward to new products within consumer, SMB and IP surveillance segments. D-Link will also be exhibiting at GITEX Technology Week this year and supporting its retail partners participating at GITEX Shopper Autumn edition from 2nd to 6th October.

“Aside from showcase a range of products and solutions during GITEX Technology Week, we are also helping our channel partners to develop a strong pipeline as the networking segment has remained resilient as investments in the telecoms sector, especially in broadband technology, increases,” he says. “We believe the outlook is positive and we should see our business and that of our channel partners grow in the next two quarters in the Middle East.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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VENDOR FOCUS // RUBRIK

Building partner communities Data management firm Rubrik’s CEO and co-founder Bipul Sinha along with regional director for the Middle East, Mohammed Al Tamimi discuss about the company’s plans and partner strategies for the region with their distributor StarLink.

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ata is being created at exponential rates accelerated by social media and mobile devices among other factors. Driven by increased use of social media platforms and mobile devices data is undeniably growing at exponential rates.

Organisations today view data as prized assets similar to gold or oil as they realise its growing business value.

However, with data overload, customers are now seeking efficient data management solutions.

Identifying this demand early on, Bipul Sinha along with three other co-founders established Rubrik, a global data management firm.

According to Sinha, as most of his competitors serving the marketplace were formed before virtualisation became mainstream, the architecture that they offered was not suitable for the digital era.

“We believed we can take cloud technologies and focus on this particular problem – an underserved market that has not seen any real innovation for more than a decade. We had a vision to transform the marketplace when it came to data management, especially for enterprises, for all kinds of demands such as backup, recovery, disaster recovery and so on.”

Today the company operates in 29 countries and is on an expansion spree.

“The focus is to build a global platform that will help businesses to manage their data, whether they run their applications on premises or in the

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Bipul Sinha, Rubrik

“We can only create valueadded partners if they have sales engineering capacity to truly be a consultant for the customer.” cloud. Whether it is fast access to data for recovery, compliance or governance as well as provisioning for other secondary and tertiary workloads, Rubrik’s aim is to be the data control plane for all applications.”

Rubrik’s offerings stand out in the market as it is all about delivering

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

a single software across a customer’s premises.

Sinha says that this has been the “revolutionary idea” from the inception of the firm.

“A single software delivers simplicity, ease of data access, scale, automation, orchestration, security and peace of mind for our customers. This underpins our global success. When we formed Rubrik, our decision to go world-wide from day one was a part of our strategy to transform the landscape and pave the foundation of the next few decades for the company.”

As a 100 percent partner-led firm, Rubrik entered the Middle East market a year and half ago and following a two-tier channel model, signed up with regional distributor StarLink.

He adds, “From day one, our strategy is to be an indirect company. Our technology along with our partners’ market reach and customer relationships create the magic.”

Mohammed Al Tamimi, regional director, Middle East, Rubrik, says, “Regional customers have been tackling their data management requirements in traditional ways for years. When Rubrik came into the picture, they couldn’t believe that there was a new technology that simplified different aspects of data management.”

According to Sinha, the goal is not only to succeed in the

marketplace on their own but “also create an ecosystem of partners who are creating significant business with Rubrik.”

Al Tamimi adds that the firm is being selective in choosing the partners they want to build a long-term strategic partnership with.

“Almost every single partner has a traditional backup solution that they use. There isn’t a single solution that offers everything. Different components are needed to do a backup infrastructure,” he adds.

“However, Rubrik is the only single solution that will offer everything around all components. We have focused partners who go and pitch around Rubrik and we support them extensively.”

Over the next few months, we will see Rubrik seeking partners who wish to drive their customer base into the future. According to the firm, its

Mohammed Al Tamimi, Rubrik

ideal partner should be thinking about bringing utility, new technologies and reducing cost, to give their customers

an edge in the market.

Sinha says, “The second quality we look for in partners is engineering depth within their infrastructures. We can only create value-added partners if they have sales engineering capacity to truly be a consultant for the customer.”

“Our regional value-added distributor StarLink offers us more scalability to reach out in the market. They bring their expertise to cater to our top customers.

Our mission is to simplify data management and reduce total cost of ownership while also making it much easier and scalable,” adds Al Tamimi.

Targeting UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of GCC countries, Sinha concludes, “We are taking a comprehensive, long-term look at the market and will continue to make an impact”.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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REVIEW

SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS

RATING

Not a whole lot has changed in Samsung’s newest flagship smartphone. The Galaxy S9 Plus builds off of the triumphs of its predecessor – maintaining the same look and feel. However, it did introduce some subtle yet noteworthy enhancements, says Adelle Geronimo.

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et’s start with the big one. The highlight feature of the Galaxy S9 is the “reimagined” camera. Both the S9 and the S9 Plus have a 12MP main camera with a variable aperture and has better image processing. The major change in the camera is found in the lens, which now allows users to physically switch between a bright f/1.5 aperture and a smaller f/2.4 aperture, similar to how larger cameras work. The S9 Plus also has a second, 12MP camera that offers 2x optical zoom and a Live Focus mode, which produces well-detailed zoomed-in photos without distortion.

In the front, the S9 Plus is equipped with an 8MP AF selfie camera, which can analyse a 2D image of the user and map more than 100 different facial features to a 3D avatar.

Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Animoji is integrated into the Galaxy S9 Plus with the debut of AR Emoji. It also has the new “Selfie Focus” feature, which tries to add a blur around the user’s face for the bokeh effect.

The Infinity Display hasn’t changed much from last year’s Galaxy S8 Plus. The latest Samsung smartphone has a 6.2-inch display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9 AMOLED screen and a qHD+ resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels, which deliver an incredibly sharp and vivid display.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus sports an elegantlooking glassand-met design, which combines futuristic-looking curved edges and vibrant colours. (The device is available in three stunning colours: Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple)

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JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

The dimensions have changed by a few millimetres to reduce the top and bottom bezels, making the phone slightly smaller than the S8 Plus but improved the screen-to-body ratio. The power button is perfectly positioned on the right edge of the phone, but the volume rocker is on the left edge above the Bixby button.

The fingerprint sensor is placed on the rear and is aligned in the centre, below the camera. For increased security, the S9 Plus has a face unlock and iris scanner biometrics. This is Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Face ID technology.

As for the performance, the smartphone is swift and powerful with Samsung’s own Exynos 9810 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM. Samsung-owned AKG Acoustics has finely tuned the device’s top earpiece speaker. It also supports Dolby Atmos, which brings simulated 360-degree sound to the new smartphone.

Finally, as far as battery life is concerned, the S9 Plus doesn’t disappoint. It has a 3,500mAh-capacity battery that translates into all-day battery life.

The device also supports fast wireless charging and fast wired charging, so it doesn’t take long to recharge.

The Galaxy S9 Plus’ elegance and sophistication make it, so far, the best of what Samsung has to offer at a big size.

While the new AR Emoji feature is not enough reason for you to spend your dirhams on, the enhanced features such as the cameras and swift performance make it an ideal purchase if you’re looking to upgrade.

HP ELITEBOOK 840 G5

RATING

Built with a plethora of productivity features, HP’s latest business notebook is an excellent choice for securityconscious modern professionals.

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he HP EliteBook 840 G5 marries sophisticated aesthetics with practical functionality.

The device sports a HP Sure View 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 FHD IPS LED-backlit touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The Sure View privacy screen protects the information on your display with a bright light that’s visible to anyone that isn’t directly in front of the laptop.

It rocks a silver aluminum unibody gives the device a sturdy and sleek feel. The top lid is metal skinned and is accompanied by HP’s stylish slash logo. Measuring at 302 x 199 x 15mm (WDH) and weighing at 1.59kg EliteBook 840 G5 makes it highly portable.

The notebook showcases narrow bezels on the sides, with wide top and bottom bezels around the display. HP has added an extra style element to the device with the grille above the keyboard. The top bezel makes room for a webcam and an IR camera for Windows Hello.

EliteBook 840 G5’s backlit keyboard is impressive, quieter than most and gives really tactile responses. The touchpad is of top quality. The trackpoint is spacious and smooth, with dedicated left- and right-mouse buttons above that are very clicky.

Above the keyboard you can find a sleek power button in the top left corner. You can also find an elegant, trianglepattern lid for the Bang & Olufsen speakers, which produces a crisp and well-defined audio. The left side features a secure

lock slot, one USB 3.0 with always-on charging and a Smart Card Reader. On the right, you’ll find one USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt, an HP UltraSlim dock connector, an RJ45 port, an HDMI port, one USB 3.0 port, a combo headphone/ microphone jack and a WWAN SIM card reader.

The device has a sliding shutter that uncovers the webcam, which captures well-lit, slightly soft-focus 720p shots and video. The HP Privacy Camera protect you against malicious surveillance.

With more collaboration in mind, another key feature of the notebook is the microphone that are also Bang & Olufsen branded and are designed to make meetings easier. HP has integrated a world-facing microphone that has noise canceling technology built directly into the mic.

This HP notebook comes with variants of 8th Gen quadcore Intel Core processors, which deliver agile performances.

The machine proved snappy and powerful enough to handle productivity work. It can easily handle multiple daily chores such as web browsing, Office and even Photoshop.

The EliteBook 840 boasts a battery life of up to 14 hours under normal use and comes with HP fast charge technology.

Overall, every aspect of this business laptop is high quality.

Designed with power, security, productivity and style in mind, this device makes an ideal tool for today’s tech-savvy professionals.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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PRODUCTS

OPTOMA BOASTS NEW BATTERYPOWERED PORTABLE PROJECTOR Optoma has launched a new battery-powered portable 1080p LED projector - the LH160.

Targeted for both business and personal use, the slim projector comes in a small and compact design.

Quick and easy to set up, its built-in rechargeable battery provides up to 2.5 hours of cable-free projection on a single charge, said the firm. It can also be used to charge a mobile device. The projector delivers 1500 LED brightness, optional wireless functionality and native Office Viewer for PC free viewing.

The LH160 features two HDMI inputs and a powered USB port. This means users can present wirelessly from a laptop, tablet or mobile device using Optoma’s own optional wireless dongle

and its free HDCast Pro mobile App or project content on the big screen using an HDMI dongle like the Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV to play games or stream videos.

The new model comes with the added benefit of vertical and horizontal keystone and four corner geometric adjustment. This gives quick and accurate set-up, ideal for uneven walls or where a projector placement is at an angle from the screen.

SONY MEA RELEASES NEW RX100 VI WITH LONG ZOOM LENS Sony has expanded its Cyber-shot RX100 series of premium compact cameras with the launch of the RX100 VI (model DSC-RX100M6) in the UAE. The firm has also announced the VCTSGR1, a versatile and compact new Shooting Grip best suited for its RX0 and RX100 series of cameras.

The RX100 VI is the first of all the RX100 models to include a high magnification zoom lens, as it packs in ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T24-200mm F2.8 – F4.5 lens. Priced at AED 4,899, the new RX100 VI camera is available at KANSAS – Sony Camera Store Partner at Mall of Emirates, Sony Centre in The Dubai Mall and across all key retail outlets in the UAE. This latest premium compact camera combines portability, flexibility, fast responsiveness and professional image quality making it an ideal choice for capturing daily life, cityscapes, portraiture, sports including wildlife, said the firm.

Inside the camera is a one-inch stacked 20.1 MP Exmor RS CMOS image sensor with DRAM chip and an

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upgraded BIONZ X image processor with a front-end LSI that maximises processing speed and optimises image quality in all shooting environments.

The new RX100 VI model features a Fast Hybrid AF system that ultimately allows the camera to lock focus in as little as 0.03 seconds.

The RX100 VI offers continuous highspeed shooting at up to 24 fps with full AF/AE tracking, with buffer limit of up to 233 images.

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

HP ANNOUNCES HP Z WORKSTATION LINEUP HP’s new HP Z Workstation lineup will enhance productivity of professional workflows and deliver cost-optimised performance with software-certified experiences, without sacrificing graphics power, expandability, seamless experience or security, according to the firm.

The new HP entry workstations, the HP Z2 Mini, HP Z2 Small Form Factor and HP Z2 Tower, as well as the HP EliteDesk 800 Workstation Edition are touted as the “world’s most secure and manageable workstations” by the firm. Built-in end-to-end HP security services provide powerful protection from evolving malware threats with the first and only self-healing BIOS and unique HP endpoint security controller. Customers get powerful protection from hardware-enforced security solutions including HP Sure Start Gen4 and HP Sure Run, which help keep critical processes running, even if malware tries to stop them. Additionally, HP’s Manageability Kit Gen 2 easily manages multiple devices.

All HP Z2 Workstations, which are designed to 24/7 workstation reliability standards, can now connect with Thunderbolt for fast device connections and offer an expansive array of certifications for the most popular applications. HP Performance Advisor is available to optimise software and drivers, and customers can deploy Intel Xeon processors and ECC memory for added reliability.

PRODUCTS

LG UNVEILS NEW AI-POWERED PREMIUM SMARTPHONE

The LG G7 ThinQ+ marks LG’s first G-series flagship phone with AI capabilities built-in.

Qualcomm’s fastest Snapdragon 845 mobile platform gives the new

device the computing power for its advanced AI functions, which starts with its AI CAM. The new LG G7 ThinQ+ features a redesigned wide-angle 16MP rear dual camera set-up, and an 8MP front camera, that harness the power of AI. The AI CAM allows users to automatically optimise shots based on subject matter.

The device features the firm’s Super Bright Display technology. With a brightness of 1000nits, the display can render vivid colours even under the brightest lighting conditions. The 6.1-inch QHD+ (3120 x 1440)

display with a 19.5:9 FullVision screen ratio is housed in a form factor that is perfectly designed for use with one hand, said the firm.

The smartphone offers a dedicated Google Assistant Key that provides quick and easy access to Google Assistant.

The onboard Hi-Fi Quad DAC, DTS:X and earphone jack make the device an ideal choice for audiophiles. The LG G7 ThinQ+ smartphone is now available across the GCC at all major stores, online retailers and the LG Brand Shops starting at AED 3,359, including VAT.

CANON LAUNCHES LX-MU500Z LASER INSTALLATION PROJECTOR Canon Middle East has launched the LX-MU500Z, a compact laser installation projector, ideal for academic institutions or corporate environments.

Featuring 5,000 lumens, native WUXGA resolution, Digital Light Processing (DLP) panel technology, vivid colour and 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, the LX-MU500Z is the perfect high-quality imaging partner to bring classroom lessons and boardroom presentations to life, said the firm.

With native WUXGA resolution (1920 x 1200), the LX-MU500Z delivers sharp image output with easy-toread text, and smooth graphics and video. This native resolution is highly advantageous for clear and impressive presentations, as well as digital signage and entertainment environments.

The LX-MU500Z is compact and lightweight, making it easy to install or move around, even in challenging installation spaces. With a laser light source, the LX-MU500Z does not need to be moved to replace consumables, ideal for a busy office or bustling

college. For ease in any 360-degree orientation, the LX-MU500Z has a large lens shift of +/-50%, portrait projection and four corner keystone correction.

This means that at whatever angle it is installed, even off axis, its images and geometry can be corrected. The LX-MU500Z comes with HDBaseT, a standard for transmitting HD images, audio and control signals over long distances and a CAT5e cable can be used, spanning up to 100m.

With no parts to replace, the LXMU500Z is easy to maintain and inexpensive to run. Costs for the LXMU500Z are further controlled by an instant on/off light source and reduced power consumption in both normal and standby mode.

EPSON’S LATEST BUSINESS INKJETS USES UP TO 90% LESS POWER Epson has launched its latest series of WorkForce Pro devices, led by the WF-C5790DWF, that are ideal for small workgroups. The energy used when printing is up to 90 percent less than comparable laser models. This is despite their fast print speeds, delivering the Fastest First Page Out Time (FPOT), for both colour and mono prints against comparable lasers, of just seven seconds from sleep mode. Not to mention they have the fastest colour scan speed in the segment at 24ipm, according to the firm.

Designed to save money and energy, all while boosting productivity, the four models in the series can help businesses save at least 50 percent on their colour CPP (cost per page) versus comparable laser models. Their new ink supply system is easier to change and allows for bigger page yields.

Built especially for business, they offer software and tools that meet the needs of different users.

Tools and software such as Email Print for Enterprise, Epson Print Admin, Document Capture Pro and Epson Device Admin, add additional functionality to the device.

The WF-C5000 series is available through an Epson Print365 managed print service package, which is fully inclusive of fast-response service and support.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // JULY/AUGUST 2018

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Tech talk Reseller Middle East's Online Editor Adelle Geronimo shares her views on the current tech scene.

Adelle Geronimo, Online Editor, Technology Division

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oday, we live in a world where we don’t have to leave the comforts of our home for days together if we wished, as most of our chores and life tasks can now be done online - from socialising to booking holidays to buying clothes to now even grocery shopping.

We’ve been hearing about e-commerce disrupting brick-andmortar retail for a few years now and rightly so. The most recent example of this development is the evolving grocery market.

Last year, in its biggest acquisition ever Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, giving the online retail titan a big foothold in the $600 billion US grocery industry. The massive acquisition has enabled the global e-commerce giant’s endeavours to disrupt in-store shopping experiences.

Regional e-commerce players like Noon.com are following suit. The

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Middle East home-grown online marketplace’s founder Mohammed Alabbar has launched a service to deliver groceries to customers in the region. From food to housecleaning products, toiletries and much more, Noon aims to be a one-stop destination for grocery needs.

A study by YouGov revealed that over 50 percent of consumers in Saudi Arabia and prefer to shop online because it makes it easier to find the items they are interested in.

However, a separate study by Nielsen said that consumers in the region still prefer the ‘touch and feel’ aspect of in-store shopping, especially in the case of luxury products and fresh perishables with 58 percent grocery shoppers within the Middle East still buying groceries in-store.

Shopping is no longer just about purchasing items, instead customers are seeking wholesome experiences.

JULY/AUGUST 2018 // Reseller Middle East // www.tahawultech.com

In retail, choosing between online versus offline is siloed thinking. To strive in the “Amazon era,” retailers across all segments today re-think strategies to integrate physical and digital formats by leveraging technology to deliver consumers the best shopping experience.

Online grocery shopping presents a huge opportunity for retail and e-commerce players. The convergence of various smart technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, facial recognition, and numerous other innovations are proving to be pivotal in driving experiences of Middle East consumers.

At the moment, online grocery shopping represents only a small portion of the overall digital business to consumer transactions in the region. However, with the booming online shopping industry, this retail segment is poised for significant growth. While the present may look challenging for retail, I believe the future looks radically brilliant.

ISSUE 259 | JULY-AUGUST 2018

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