< Previous(10) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com HID Global has announced its new fingerprint reader that merges credential excellence with HID’s globally-patented multispectral imaging technology. HID’s multispectral imaging technology captures images from both the surface and sub-surface of the skin so that all types of fingerprints, from people of any age, can be read quickly and reliably in cold, dry, dirty, wet and other challenging environmental conditions. This, coupled with trusted liveness detection for spoof prevention, enables the iCLASS SE RB25F reader to provide real-time validation that fingerprints are genuine and belong ESET PARTNERS WITH ALPHABET’S CHRONICLE Reader to provide real-time validation of fingerprints 100+ number of countries HID Global supports worldwide Partnership to offer customers better protection from advanced persistent threats ESET has joined hands with Chronicle, an Alphabet company, to provide essential validation on security incidents and alerts within Backstory, Chronicle’s global cloud service where companies can privately upload, store, and analyse their internal security telemetry to detect and investigate potential attacks. ESET’s partnership with Backstory will provide customers enhanced insight enabling better protection from advanced persistent threats. Tony Anscombe, global security evangelist and industry ambassador, ESET said: “Our partnership with Chronicle will lead to simpler, faster and more streamlined remediation of advanced persistent cyber threats. Together, customers will be able to quickly understand incidents in more detail, take the appropriate actions and stay one step ahead of bad actors. This truly will make the world a safer place.” According to the chief product officer at Chronicle Ansh Patnaik, “We are thrilled to bring onboard ESET as an Insight Partner,” said. “As a global platform designed to analyse enterprise security telemetry, ORACLE OPENS TECH HUB IN SAUDI ARABIA Backstory provides more value to customers when it’s integrated with other key technologies within the customers’ networks. We believe our collaboration with ESET gives customers a broader, more accurate view of threats within their networks.” to a living person who is physically present at the authentication point. To maximise security, the reader includes built-in optical tamper protection, and it supports the Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP), as well as HID’s Seos technology for multi-layered authentication between the reader and credentials. Our partnership with Chronicle will lead to simpler, faster and more streamlined remediation of advanced persistent cyber threats, says Anscombe. Riyadh-based facility to demonstrate latest Oracle products in AI, blockchain and IoT Oracle has opened its first ‘innovation hub’ in Saudi Arabia, dedicated to showcasing its latest digital technologies including artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning and IoT across the country’s public sector, corporate entities and academia. The facility will also act as a platform for Oracle customers, partners and other stakeholders to understand the potential of emerging technologies. His Excellency Eng. Haitham Abdulrahman Al-Ohali, Vice Minister of Communications and Information Technology said, “We live in an age where data is the ‘new oil’ and given the rapid global economic changes that are unfolding around us, we are constantly moving ahead to keep Saudi Arabia up to pace with the fourth industrial revolution”. “A digital Saudi Arabia can only be created through seamless collaboration amongst all stakeholders. We welcome Oracle’s initiative to establish an innovation hub in Riyadh to support our vision and enable the country’s tech entrepreneurs to enter the digital economy,” HE Al-Ohali added. “This hub will serve as a platform for experimentation and implementation of digital technologies”, said Fahad Al Turief, country leader, Oracle Saudi Arabia. “This launch, announcement of a new data centre and training programs with Saudi universities and start up hubs are evidence of Oracle’s commitment to invest in enhancing our local capabilities in Saudi Arabia”. HID GLOBAL LAUNCHES FINGERPRINT READER FRONT LINE(11) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 Synology has launched its RackStation RS819, the first RackStation in the Value Series with snapshot technology in the Middle East. The RS819, is a compact and scalable 4-bay rackmount NAS with snapshot technology support. It has been designed ground up for business workgroups to effectively manage, share, synchronise, and back up data. Nick Jheng, regional manager - Middle East at Synology, said: “Rapid adoption of digital transformation technologies including cloud, analytics, big data, machine learning, amongst others, is drawing attention to the need to have cost effective, scalable, efficient storage solutions with inbuilt backup and replication technologies. Synology’s latest NAS solution is built with a compact footprint and uses a state-of-the-art 64-bit quad-core CPU with expandable storage capacity up to 112 Terabyte. Medium sized enterprises can benefit significantly with the range of compute and storage capabilities Fortinet announced its annual Partner Sync conference for its partner community that took place in the UAE and brought together more than one hundred Fortinet partners to learn from and collaborate with Fortinet’s top regional leaders and technical experts. “Partner Sync brings together our regional partner community and provides them a platform to network and learn about Fortinet’s solutions and channel strategy,” said Alain Penel, regional vice president – Middle East, Fortinet. “This year, partners can look forward to gaining insights into the rapidly changing threat landscape and the crucial role that we play in helping our customers SYNOLOGY LAUNCHES RACKSTATION WITH SNAPSHOT TECHNOLOGY FORTINET HOSTS PARTNER SYNC IN UAE Plans for region-wide Partner Sync conferences throughout the year 2 Fortinet’s revenue market share ranking by IDC inbuilt into the RackStation RS819. “For growing businesses on limited budgets, setting up an effective data protection and backup plan is sometimes not their first priority, leading to catastrophic losses in case of server failure. RS819 is our first RackStation in the Value Series, using the new 64-bit quad-core CPU, to support snapshot technology, bringing easy data protection solutions,” said Michael Wang, product manager at Synology. secure their most critical assets.” Fortinet executive team members Alain Penel, Joe Sarno - sales vice president, international emerging and Anne Bourgeois - senior director, EMEA channel guided partners through the modern threat environment and offered practical and timely insights that can enable partners help customers improve their security strategies. The RS819 is a compact and scalable rackmount NAS designed for business workgroups Emirates NBD to offer real time credits on AED cash deposited across its network of more than 240 Smart Cash Deposit Machines (SCDMs). According to company statement, Emirates NBD is the first bank in the UAE to offer this facility. The new service is the latest in a series of market-leading offerings launched by Emirates NBD Transaction Banking Services, such as online VAT and Excise payments on smartBUSINESS, noqodi eWallet top up and eVoucher payments and cash deposits at partner locations. “This service will help clients mitigate operational risks and costs while optimizing their receivables management. We remain committed to investing in technology and offering cutting edge solutions that directly add value to our clients’ businesses,” said Abdulla Qassem, group chief operating officer, Emirates NBD. The initiative, which was rolled out in partnership with Transguard, will provide Emirates NBD’s corporate clients 24/7 instant access to credit against funds deposited in SCDMs installed in their own offices. The machines accept cash in any currency along with cheques and coins, and are able to detect counterfeit notes. This helps in mitigating the risk of theft or fraud associated with cash handling. Also, by removing the need to sort and count cash, SCDMs make the reconciling process faster. The other benefits include bulk cash deposits, easy tracking of transactions and credit notification via email. EMIRATES NBD OFFERS REAL-TIME CASH DEPOSIT CREDIT TO BUSINESSES The new service to be first of its kind in the UAE across a network of smart cash deposit machines Synology’s latest NAS solution is built with a compact footprint and uses a state-of-the-art 64-bit quad-core CPU with expandable storage capacity up to 112 Terabyte, said Jheng. FRONT LINE(12) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com An unidentified criminal group was able to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows to gain full control over targeted devices. The attack, uncovered by Kaspersky Lab, was aimed at the core of the system – its kernel – through a backdoor constructed from an essential element of Windows OS. The vulnerability was reported to Microsoft and patched on April 10th. Backdoors are an extremely dangerous type of malware, as they allow threat actors to control infected machines discreetly for malicious purposes. Such escalation of privileges from a third party is usually hard to hide from TENABLE INTEGRATES WITH GOOGLE CLOUD SECURITY COMMAND CENTER A group of exploit weakness to target the core of computer systems Tenable.io to offer enhanced visibility into public and private cloud assets Tenable has announced the integration of Tenable.io for vulnerability management in the cloud with Google Cloud Security Command Center (Cloud SCC). This will provide organisations with enhanced visibility into their cloud assets, both public and private, delivered via a single dashboard. With this integration, cloud-focussed organisations will manage cyber exposure across the entire modern attack surface and reduce cyber risk in their environments. Cloud SCC is a security management and data risk platform for Google Cloud Platform (GCP), that helps security professionals gain visibility and control over their cloud resources and detect and respond to threats. Data collected by Tenable.io is fed into Cloud SCC via Tenable’s GCP asset connector, giving security teams a unified view of all cloud- based assets in their environments. Security teams can mitigate threats to cloud resources by identifying ephemeral assets with the connector and feeding that information into the platform to assess vulnerabilities. AWS EXTENDS SUPPORT FOR MIDDLE EAST BUSINESSES Ray Komar, vice president of technical alliances, Tenable said: “Tenable is committed to helping organisations embrace the benefits of the cloud in a secure fashion. Our expanded partnership with Google Cloud will provide security teams with holistic visibility that reflects live changes in digital workloads. This is a critical first step in practicing cyber exposure.” Tenable.io uniquely provides visibility into cyber risk across IT, cloud, IoT and OT environments and analytics to measure and communicate cyber risk in business terms to make better strategic decisions. security solutions. However, a backdoor that exploits a previously unknown bug in the system – a zero-day vulnerability – has significantly more chances to fly under the radar. Ordinary security solutions can’t recognise the system infection nor can they protect users from the yet-to-be-identified threat. The partnership with Google Cloud is a critical first step in practicing cyber exposure, says Komar. AWS regional customers Anghami, Careem, Sarwa, and StarzPlay share stage with Werner Vogels, CTO Amazon.com Amazon Web Services (AWS) had added Arabic language support to Amazon Polly. The service turns Arabic text into lifelike speech using a female voice named Zeina. This was one of the key announcements as the cloud services giant held its AWS Summit in Dubai. Amazon Polly is a cloud service that uses deep learning technologies to offer a range of 59 voices in 29 languages to convert written content into human-like speech. The service supports companies in developing digital products that use speech synthesis for a variety of use cases, including publishing and telephony, automated contact centres, language learning platforms, translation apps, and reading of articles. AWS had previously announced that it will launch the first Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure Region in the Middle East (data centres) in 2019, located in Bahrain. This will bring its cloud computing technologies close to end users across the Middle East and help organisations in the region speed up their digital initiatives. The summit keynote featured Dr. Werner Vogels, CTO Amazon.com, one of the forces behind Amazon’s approach to cloud computing. The keynote also featured AWS regional customers Anghami, Careem, Sarwa, and StarzPlay, who shared their experiences using the AWS Cloud to innovate and grow. KASPERSKY FINDS WINDOWS VULNERABILITY 10.4.19 date the vulnerability was patched by Microsoft FRONT LINE(13) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 VMware and Egypt’s Information Technology Institute (ITI), an affiliate of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), are collaborating to provide knowledge through an empirical learning approach to the aspiring Egyptian Youth in the ICT workplace, the two organisations have announced. H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, presided over the meeting between VMware and Egypt’s ITI. The collaboration between ITI and VMware aims to support Egyptian ICT students with professional training to bridge the gap between academic studies and the skills needed in today’s competitive job market and to empower local ICT talent and expertise. Such initiatives are an important part of MCIT’s strategy to develop and broaden ICT skills in Egypt. By providing ITI with a broad range of VMware solutions and tools, SAS is teaming up with NVIDIA to advance artificial intelligence (AI) application in data analytics. The companies are collaborating across machine learning, computer vision and natural language processing, with NVIDIA GPUs and CUDA-X AI acceleration libraries, to support the core elements of SAS’ AI offerings. SAS recently announced it would invest $1 billion over the next three years on AI software innovation, education programs and other resources. “AI is transforming business across industries,” said Gavin Day, SAS senior vice president of technology. “At the heart of AI-based transformation is advanced analytics. Powerful GPUs VMWARE AND ITI COLLABORATE FOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT SAS PARTNERS WITH NVIDIA ON AI, ML Collaboration to speed up critical functions such as image recognition and inferencing at the edge $1BN SAS investment in AI over next three years the next generation of ICT students can develop skills that are relevant, current and comprehensive, and will support the Egypt Vision 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy. The news follows other significant technology initiatives from VMware in Egypt. Cairo is home to the Dell Technologies Centre of Excellence, an initiative between VMware and Dell Technologies that supports digital transformation in North Africa and beyond. This initiative is also a key driver for employment opportunities in Egypt, emphasizing software-defined computing, cloud, networking and security solutions. help speed the analysis and impact of AI by processing millions of mathematical operations very quickly. By partnering with NVIDIA, we combine our strengths to augment human intelligence and realise the true potential of AI.” The companies are also pushing deep learning and decision-making capabilities to edge devices, which will drive greater Collaboration to support Egyptian ICT students with professional training Xerox hosted an interactive workshop in Saudi Arabia to educate its customers on how the company’s latest production technology and personalization solutions can meet current experiential demands. The event featured a live demo of the world’s first, six-color digital press that delivers ultra HD image quality and spot embellishments with Pantone metallic gold & and silver inks in a single pass. The seminar was conducted at the new PSG Showroom in the Eastern Province of KSA. Xerox also showcased their latest Augmented Reality (AR) powered solutions and how they can offer a more competitive advantage to their users. Through activities involving demonstrations of Xerox’s latest personalized solutions, including Iridesse Production Press, customers learnt how to grow their businesses and unleash new potential. XEROX SHOWCASES LATEST TECH AT RIYADH WORKSHOP Solutions designed to meet specific demands of the Saudi market IoT opportunities. For example, equipping an edge device like a commercial drone with AI technology will give it the ability to handle everything from infrastructure monitoring to predictive maintenance for industrial plants. With the GPU and analytics built into the drone, analysis can be performed where the data resides. Analysing data in real-time results in faster and more accurate decisions. Ian Buck, VP and GM of accelerated computing at NVIDIA said: “With NVIDIA technology, businesses will be able to accelerate their data science workflow to add new services and increase profitability.” Such initiatives are an important part of MCIT’s strategy to develop and broaden ICT skills in Egypt. FRONT LINEOKI Europe has announced the appointment of Neil Rom as the new sales director for Africa and Turkey with immediate effect. After 24 years’ of experience as OKI’s distributor in South Africa, Rom achieved several milestones in the territory growing OKI presence and market share throughout Southern Africa and focusing on key industry verticals such as retail back-office, banking, graphics solutions, etc. Along with his expertise in sales, Neil has full insights and cumulated knowledge of Africa’s market, allowing him to oversee the appropriate strategies to lead the OKI brand across Africa and Turkey. “We are thrilled to have Neil part of our team.” said Mathias Militzer, Vice President (MEITA). “With his long years of experience in printing industry and a wide knowledge of OKI’s printers, we are well assured Neil will be able to harness his extensive knowledge to contribute significantly to growing our business within Africa and Turkey.” Veritas Technologies has announced the appointment of Todd Forsythe as chief marketing officer. “Todd’s experience across cloud, software, hardware and services will help us accelerate our growth, and reach new customers and partners,” said Greg Hughes, chief executive officer, Veritas. Forsythe is an accomplished marketing executive with over 25 years of experience. He joins Veritas from Pure Storage, where he served as chief marketing officer. Prior to that, he was responsible for Worldwide Digital Marketing at Dell Technologies. Forsythe was previously SVP of Corporate Marketing at Dell EMC and has held marketing leadership roles at Salesforce, Oracle and Cisco. “I could not be more excited to join the Veritas team,” said Todd Forsythe, chief marketing officer, Veritas. “As the market leader in enterprise data management, Veritas has an amazing brand and an immense opportunity to engage customers in creative ways.” SAP has appointed Zakaria Haltout as its new managing director for UAE. He replaces Julien Bertin, the former MD for SAP UAE and Oman, who now moves on to vice president of channels for Emerging Markets. Zakaria Haltout and Julien Bertin will continue to be based in Dubai. In his new role, Haltout will spearhead SAP’s 5-year USD 200 million UAE investment plan, attract customers to SAP’s local cloud data centre, and support Expo 2020 Dubai as its Premier Partner. Until his appointment, Haltout was the vice president of global channels and general business, SAP MENA. “Our regional leadership advancement optimises our talent to continue to grow our UAE ecosystem and channel business. I am confident that the leadership skills of Zakaria Haltout and Julien Bertin will support our strategy with a customer-first approach,” said Gergi Abboud, senior vice president and general manager, SAP Middle East South. s ncOKI Europe has ann or for Africa and Turkeys f es ect. effeceffe PEOPLE Channel Middle East brings you a roundup of comings and goings in the regional IT channel Neil Rom will lead OKI Europe’s sales across Africa and Turkey to reinforce its business value Zakaria Haltout replaces Julien Bertin who will now head regional channel sales VERITAS APPOINTS NEW CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER OKI EUROPE APPOINTS NEW SALES DIRECTOR SAP APPOINTS MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR UAE Dell EMC and Pure Storage veteran strengthens Veritas’ leadership team Zakaria Haltout as its new managing director for UAENeil Rom, sales director for Africa and Turkey, OKI To contribute or feature a new appointment, please contact sarah.rizvi@itp.com (14) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com Todd Forsythe joins as chief marketing officer(15) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, has announced the appointment of Youssef Senhaji Rhazi as regional hospitality business development manager for META. In this new role, Youssef is responsible for developing and executing strategies to expand Aruba’s customer base in the hospitality sector, a key vertical in which the company has been experiencing a great deal of success with a number of high profile wireless network project implementations across the region. Jose Vasco, Regional Director, Aruba CEEMA says, “Aruba provides hospitality venues with a smarter, adaptive infrastructure that delivers, stable, simple, smart, secure Wi-Fi access to thousands of devices at a time, supports mobile collaboration for staff, and enables personalized and location-based mobile engagement for guests. We are witnessing rapid uptake of Aruba’s solutions in this sector as high speed and reliable wireless connectivity provided to hotel guests in this mobile age has become a key competitive advantage. We believe that under Youssef’s leadership, we will be able to capitalize on market opportunities and enjoy even greater success.” Youssef has over 18 years of experience in the ICT Industry, specializing in telecommunications & networking. He brings strong technical knowledge in the hospitality space, commercial acumen and analytical ability, excellent communication skills and the ability to build trusted relationships at all levels. A10 Networks has appointed Ehab Halablab as the company’s new regional channel manager for MENA region. Halablab will be responsible for developing and executing a regional channel strategy focused on partner certification, premier security partner recruitment, and direct and indirect channel enablement programmes. Halablab will head the regional launch of the company’s Affinity Partner Programme, which leverages incentive programmes, co-partner end user events and vertical focused events to drive partner engagement and opportunities. He will also focus on enabling strategic partners within the high-growth security, cloud and infrastructure domains. “The network application, cloud and security business in the MENA region is growing at an exponential rate as organizations are looking to embark on the road to digital transformation. I’m delighted to be joining A10 Networks at this very exciting time since the company’s technologies are at the core of several of today’s key IT business drivers like 5G, multi-cloud and security,” said Halablab. Halablab has more than 12 years’ experience in the IT industry. Prior to A10 Networks he worked at security firm Symantec as territory manager for enterprise. He held regional channel leadership position at Blue Coat Systems and regional sales manager position at Sophos. The early part of his career was spent at Naizak Distribution Services as account manager for several key security vendors. A10 NETWORKS APPOINTS REGIONAL CHANNEL HEAD Halablab to lead channel-driven business, partner enablement, identifying new partners ARUBA APPOINTS YOUSSEF RHAZI Rhazi joins as regional hospitality business development manager SAP GETS MANAGING DIRECTOR SAUDI ARABIA SAP has appointed Mohammed Al Khotani as the new managing director of SAP Saudi Arabia, in order to enable Saudi Vision 2030’s cloud-based economic growth, smart cities and intelligent enterprises. Saudi Arabia’s organisations are digitally transforming into intelligent enterprises that can store, manage and analyse data on the cloud from mobile devices, sensors and social media. With real-time business insights, intelligent enterprises can proactively transform their digital business and customer experiences. “Having a digital core is vital for Saudi Vision 2030’s digital transformation, facilitating real-time smart cities, and meeting economic diversification targets across industry verticals,” said Mohammed Al Khotani, managing director, SAP Saudi Arabia. “Our public cloud data center can enable organisations to scale up their digital transformation and integrate big data with AI, machine learning, IoT and blockchain.” Al Khotani’s appointment follows a 6-year stint at SAP MENA, where he most recently was head of SAP business networks. Al Khotani also led the industry verticals of Energy and Natural Resources, Travel and Transportation, and Retail and Services. Mohammed Al Khotani appointed new managing director of SAP Saudi Arabia Ehab Halablab as the company’s new regional channel manager for MENA Youssef Rhazi to develop and execute strategies to expand Aruba’s customer base Al Khotani’s appointment follows a 6-year stint at SAP MENA as head of SAP business networks While saving costs for your customers is great, the channel needs to build relationships and deliver value beyond this aspect alone. K.S. PARAG, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT FVC K.S. Parag, managing director at FVC, voices the channel’s need to specialise and do more than just resell someone else’s solutions and services. K.S. PARAG The way channel functions today has evolved over the years. In the 90s, the channel was all about selling equipment. That didn’t change until the early 2000s when the market saw an influx of software solutions. Then cloud burst into the scene in the mid-2000s. Now, we see that it is all about value, no matter what solutions channel partners offer. Customers today expect channel partners to support them as they navigate these changes - they want more, they want it now and they want it anywhere. In response to changing customer behaviour, companies have started aligning their channel strategies with the customers’ expectations. While saving costs for your customers is great, the channel needs to build relationships and deliver value beyond the cost savings. In today’s marketplace, where so many products and services are viewed as a commodity, the ability to add value to your product or service is an absolute necessity. Thus, in order to stand out of the crowd, what the channel really needs to do is to specialise, focus and do more than just resell someone else’s solutions and services. Here’s how you can put “value” back into services: LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMER Channel needs to listen to its customers in order to define the problems your products or services solve. The definition should always take into account the customers’ perspective and their terms. Always consider the desires and outcomes you’d expect them to have, then tweak the message to reflect the desires and outcomes customers will actually experience. PUTTING VALUE BACK INTO SERVICES >> The views expressed in this article are K.S. Parag’s own opinions and not necessarily those of Channel Middle East magazine. QUANTIFY THE BENEFITS Do not use words such as fast, efficient and so on, instead, try and quantify the results and benefits. Rather than saying that your solution is faster than the competition, quantify how much faster your customers will be if they deploy your solution. Give them hard core numbers explaining whether ‘fast’ is in terms of days, hours, minutes, seconds, and so on. DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF FROM COMPETITION You know your competitors better than anyone else. You now need to decide which particular point of differentiation speaks the most to your customers’ desired outcomes and set up a clear contrast between you and the others. MAKE THE END RESULTS KNOWN TO CUSTOMERS Always mention the end results of implementing your solutions to your customers. Let them know how your solutions and services will ease the frustration your customers have been going through. By doing this, you are effectively establishing that the deployment of your product or service is how your customers will be able to escape that frustration. PROVIDE TOP NOTCH SERVICE By providing the highest level of service, you can differentiate yourself from your competition. You can also add different levels of service based upon your customers’ size, frequency or amount of purchase. For instance, you may want to have gold, platinum or silver levels of service that companies qualify for, are willing to pay for, and receive when they do business with you. (16) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com INDUSTRY VIEW // TOP TIPS FROM MASTERS OF THE CHANNELThat’s the visibility gap – the space between what your tools are telling you and what your users are actually experiencing. To fight the visibility gap, organisations need digital experience management. MENA MIGALLY, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – CHANNEL, TERRITORY AND TELCO FOR METNA, RIVERBED Mena Migally, regional director – channel, territory and telco for METNA at Riverbed discusses how channel partners can go about building a comprehensive portfolio of solutions and services to address end-user experiences and thus become enablers of true digital transformation for their customers MENA MIGALLY to run and transport applications, then it’s vital to understand, how we measure and ensure the performance of the IT infrastructure and network is at its optimal? Channel partners that are reluctant to build out this aspect of their portfolio will be missing out on a great opportunity. Without the ability to prove the value of digital experiences and new technology deployed within the business, it becomes difficult to build relationships outside of IT operations. With digital experience management solutions, resellers will excel and be able to develop their business and create new revenue streams outside of their core offering. DELIVERING A SEAMLESS CONSUMER EXPERIENCE To explore the importance of looking after user experience as a priority, let’s examine two very different types of business. Private and public sector organisations have different goals and purposes. Whilst in the private sector generating profit for shareholders is a core board-level priority. On the other hand, the aim of the public sector is to provide a good service and seamless consumer experience which is vital to secure the publics’ trust. Also. both these sectors act on the quality of their customer interactions. Worryingly, we are still seeing customers and employees experience difficulties with technology on a daily basis. Whilst it’s important for organisations to get these right, failure to properly service employee digital experience can have an equally damaging effect. Ultimately, this can mean performance issues fly under the radar, and employees begin to accept that slow technology is “just the way things are”. So, how can organisations put an end to this cycle? UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL >> The views expressed in this article are Mena Migally’s own opinions and not necessarily those of Channel Middle East magazine. THE VISIBILITY GAP IT teams will be all too familiar with the scene: all the lights on the dashboard are green, but there is still dissatisfaction towards the technology they work with. That’s the visibility gap – the space between what your tools are telling you and what your users are actually experiencing. Left unresolved, this can damage revenue, impact customer satisfaction and decrease organisational productivity. To fight the visibility gap, organisations need digital experience management. The latest technology in this field is able to deliver the optimum user experience, providing visibility into applications from any perspective, and even predictively. This can provide businesses with a service that unifies device-based user experience giving a holistic view of a user’s digital experience. SUPPORTING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION As companies go through the process of digital transformation, Digital Experience Management provides clear insights into how customers are consuming applications, what their digital experience is like, and how that experience directly impacts key business KPIs. Not only does it help IT teams do their job, but it also gives them the ability to prove the value of their investments. With the majority of organisations revamping their approach to technology, IT requires visibility into end-user experience to ensure that cloud, mobile and virtualisation initiatives deliver the expected gains in productivity. If you can’t see or measure it, how can you effectively manage it? Without Digital Experience Management, you can’t. If channel resellers decide not to build their portfolios to adjust to this trend, then they will ultimately find it difficult to align to the requirements of their customers. Implementing new, shiny and expensive technology into a business is a challenge. Add to that an unpredictable user behaviour, and it can be an absolute minefield. Therefore, in order to provide their clients with proper consultancy, resellers need to be at the forefront when addressing this issue. Furthermore, given the huge investment organisations make in their IT infrastructure and network and their prime function is // TOP TIPS FROM MASTERS OF THE CHANNEL (17) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 INDUSTRY VIEW Global sales of smartphones to end users declined 2.7% in the first quarter of 2019, totalling 373 million units, according to Gartner, Inc. Despite its absence from the U.S., Huawei maintained its ranking as the No. 2 smartphone vendor worldwide and continued to reduce the gap with Samsung. “Demand for premium smartphones remained lower than for basic smartphones,* which affected brands such as Samsung and Apple that have significant stakes in high-end smartphones,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner. “In addition, demand for utility smartphones declined as the rate of upgrading from feature phones to smartphones has slowed, given that 4G feature phones give users great advantages at a lower cost.” Slowing innovation in flagship smartphones and rising prices continued to extend replacement cycles. The two countries that sell the most smartphones, namely the U.S. and China, saw sales decline by 15.8% and 3.2%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2019. In the first quarter of 2019, Samsung retained the top spot in worldwide smartphone sales achieving 19.2% market share. Huawei achieved the highest year-over-year growth among the world’s top five, growing 44.5% and smartphone sales totalling 58.4 million units. Sales of Huawei smartphones grew in all regions. “Huawei did particularly well in two of its biggest regions, Europe and Greater China, where its smartphone sales grew by 69% and 33%, respectively,” said Gupta. Huawei’s continued dominance in Greater China, where it commanded a 29.5% market share, helped it secure the No. 2 global smartphone vendor ranking in the first quarter of 2019. Despite a decline in its smartphone sales of 8.8% in the first quarter of 2019, Samsung remained the No. 1 smartphone vendor worldwide. Sales of Apple iPhones totalled 44.6 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a decline of 17.6% year over year. Vivo beat Xiaomi to claim the No. 5 spot in the first quarter of 2019. Vivo sold 27.4 million smartphones during the quarter. Xiaomi sold 27.2 million. The latest features, such as in-display fingerprint scanner, slider camera, fast charging and almost bezel-less display, helped Vivo achieve double-digit smartphone sales growth in the first quarter of 2019. .... ..... GLOBAL SMARTPHONE SALES DECLINE Gartner Says Global Smartphone Sales Declined 2.7% in Q1 2019 SMARTPHONE SALES TO END USERS BY VENDOR IN 1Q19 SAMSUNG AND APPLE RECORDED YEAR-OVER-YEAR DECLINES Samsung - 19.2 Vivo - 7.3 Others - 37.9 Huawei - 15.7 Apple - 11.9 OPPO - 7.9 Source: Gartner (May 2019) WORLDWIDE SMARTPHONE SALES TO END USERS BY VENDOR IN 1Q19 (THOUSANDS OF UNITS) Source: Gartner (May 2019) Due to rounding, numbers may not add up precisely to the totals shown VENDOR1Q19 UNITS 1Q18 UNITS Samsung71,621.178,564.8 Huawei58,436.240,426.7 Apple44,568.654,058.9 OPPO29,602.128,173.1 Vivo27,368.223,243.2 Others141,405.2159,037.1 TOTAL373,001.4383,503.9 FACT FILE // THE MARKET BY NUMBERS (18) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com(19) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 THE SPEED OF TRANSFORMATION Faisal Ameer Malik, chief technology officer – enterprise business group at Huawei Middle East talks about how Wi-Fi 6 will power businesses in the IoT era Wi-Fi as we know it is about to undergo a major revamp. With the imminent arrival of 5G and the ongoing transformation of urban environments into smart cities through IoT applications, the Wi-Fi that we currently use is simply not going to provide the experiences we expect. However, Wi-Fi 6, the next generation of wireless internet connectivity, will deliver seamlessly in tomorrow’s hyper- connected world and can support the region’s IT channel to further innovation across the IoT value chain. The world was first introduced to Wi-Fi some 22 years ago. Since then, it’s been upgraded and enhanced to accommodate changing technology and consumer needs, aligned with an increasingly digital world. Yet with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) in particular, there is increasing pressure on Wi-Fi networks to keep up with the demands of user traffic. The maturity of IoT brings more mobile terminals to the wireless network. Even the home Wi-Fi network that has few access terminals has become crowded with the access of more and more smart home devices. As service applications such as fully immersive video conferencing, wireless interactive VR, Artificial Intelligence uses cases, and mobile teaching are spreading, more and more Wi-Fi access terminals are being deployed. Therefore, the Wi-Fi network needs to continuously improve its speed. It is also necessary to consider whether to increase the access capacity to adapt to the increasing number of STAs and user experience requirements of different with excellent results. It does so by using available spectrum more efficiently, packing more data into the same air space to provide an enhanced experience for every user. Today’s Wi-Fi 6 products and solutions power an enterprise forward by dramatically boosting capacity and slashing delay. It offers four times the system capacity of Wi-Fi 5, four times the concurrent access, and 60 percent lower transmission latency. It is intended for many users who need lots of bandwidth and a great user experience. Moreover, the IT channel will play an indispensable role in championing Wi-Fi 6 to local enterprises. The channel will help to link the values of a superior user experience with new technological systems such as 4K/8K Ultra HD Video, safe city surveillance systems, and automatic guided vehicles. To reap the benefits of Wi-Fi 6, end users need both a Wi-Fi 6 router and Wi-Fi 6 devices, which again opens up new potential for the IT channel. The next generation of Wi-Fi connectivity is something that no business can be without in the IoT era. Our customers today not only expect— but demand—a seamless IoT experience as new smart city systems come to life across the Middle East. Wi-Fi 6 will enable these experiences and help enterprises of all sizes and from all sectors to benefit from a connected world. The views expressed in this article are Faisal Ameer Malik’s own opinions and not necessarily those of Channel Middle East magazine. applications. In its next evolution, Wi-Fi 6 will see increased speed and more reliability in wireless connectivity. That power will be essential to delivering the digital society outlined in the national vision of countries across the Middle East. Osama Aboul Magd, a network innovator at Huawei, actually led the standard task group that created Wi-Fi 6. That work has helped in developing a solution that would rise above the needs of tomorrow to provide an uninterrupted, superior user experience just as IoT is beginning to thrive. The channel community already knows that user experience is going to be the top priority in a new technology era. From financial institutions to hospitals, schools to hotels, a superior user experience is a crucial consideration for any organisation in the Middle East that is building a competitive edge through digital transformation. Wi-Fi 6 is even capable of operating in dense urban environments, such as at concerts or sporting events, The channel community already knows that user experience is going to be the top priority in a new technology era. From financial institutions to hospitals, schools to hotels, a superior user experience is a crucial consideration for any organisation in the Middle East that is building a competitive edge through digital transformation. Wi-Fi 6 is capable of operating in dense urban environments with excellent results.Next >