< Previous(20) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com Rohit Khubchandani, regional sales director – MEA and India, BCDVideo discusses the company’s plans for expansion in the Middle East surveillance market, and the launch of BCDVideo’s partner program and innovation centre By SARAH RIZVI NICHE FOCUS T he video surveillance market in the Middle East is projected to reach US $1.8 billion by 2021, according to market research and consulting firm 6Wresearch, with global estimates reaching US $77.21 billion by 2023. Analysts believe that the IP video surveillance segment in the Middle East, is experiencing aggressive growth over analog video surveillance. With ongoing technological advancements in IP camer- as leading to superior image quality, scal- ability, flexibility and reliability, this seg- ment is expected to continue growing in the future as well. The growing interest in this market can be attributed to increasing concerns for public safety and security, as well as rising adoption of IP cameras in both public and private sectors. In addition to this, continued installations of surveil- lance systems are increasing the volume of data generated and driving the growth of video surveillance storage systems. Established in 1999, BCDVideo is an American company based in Chicago that initially started by delivering IT infra- structure systems to Fortune 500 compa- nies. In 2008, the company shifted its focus completely to offer video surveil- lance products and related technologies such as video analytics, IoT, building management systems and access control systems with video surveillance infra- structure at its core. BCDVideo offers purpose-built IP video storage solutions to a number of security integrators around the globe. The compa- ny has also been conducting indirect busi- ness in the Middle East with a number of projects to its credit. A big portion of this business comes from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, in addition to few projects in Morocco, Kuwait and Qatar. “In particular, in the Middle East region BCDVideo has worked with several large customers to shape their security infra- structure solutions,” says Rohit Khubchandani, regional sales director – MEA and India, BCDVideo. These include UAEs first International Airport, UAE’s police general headquarter build- ing, a leading hotel chain in Dubai, opera- tor surveillance monitoring workstations in Oman’s regional airport, city wide sur- veillance project for a leading police department in UAE encompassing servers for video management system, ANPR – automatic number plate recognition sys- tem, facial recognition system and opera- tor workstations, three of the largest uni- versities in Saudi Arabia and the world’s largest national petroleum and natural gas company based in Saudi Arabia. Their product portfolio includes video surveillance storage servers, access con- trol servers, environmentally hardened servers and switches, client viewing sta- tions, networking, and professional on- site services. According to Khubchandani, the vendor has successfully implemented security solutions certified by the top video man- agement software (VMS) and digital cam- era manufacturers. “We have delivered a number of high performance, scalable solu- tions, while expanding our global footprint to include over 70,000 installations, span- ning 74 countries and many verticals.” The company has identified the Middle East as one with the largest growth poten- tial. The plan is to aggressively recruit channel partners, educate and train them, and support them through incentive plans and a well-defined partner program. “Business has been quite favourable for the company globally, with around 27% growth year on year for the past five years. In comparison, the Middle East region is fairly new for us, but we consid- er it our largest potential growth region. This stems from the convergence of fac- tors including strong demand for opera- tional efficiency and lower ongoing costs, as well as the need for compliance with more rigorous standards in jurisdictions (20)(21) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019(22) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com BCDVideo believes in building a strong ecosystem for its channel partners, and will continue doing that as it lays down the foundation of its business in the region. In line with this philosophy BCDVideo will offer regional partners a number of train- ing options including initial induction, product orientation and sales training. A dedicated circular with certification will be launched by the end of the year or early next year on various specialised areas which are yet to be finalised. Extending its 20-year long relation- ship with Ingram Micro, BCDVideo appointed NIT as its distributor for the Middle East in November last year. Going forward, BCDVideo will launch its training programs jointly with NIT. The curriculum will include training on new products like BVA Accelerator, and on the importance of basic value-adds, like proper R AID controllers and R AID stripping, that the company offers as standard along with its products. As part of the program, partners will be able to take advantage of additional expertise and resources from BCDVideo. “We have also started hiring and build- ing our team. We are ramping up our activities in terms of educating and guid- ing the channel on working with a manu- facturer that specialises in surveillance.” One of the most important aspects of any physical security installation, is fol- lowing reference architectures, or vali- dated and tested solutions. Without such a solution, channel partners often find themselves with no baseline, or reference for anticipated performance. BCDVideo has an innovation centre in the US, to test reference architectures, and ensure that all products meet the highest standards. The innovation centre team is comprised of certified engineers and technicians that purpose-build solu- tions for surveillance applications. This innovation centre can also be used to simulate customer environments, and expedite resolution of common issues. The vendor will set up a similar innovation centre in the Middle East within the next one year. “Part of our mission is to educate the systems inte- grator that we can be their project con- sultant and help design the network, for instance. There is no charge for that, of time offers it the unique advantage to offer a customised program tailored to regional partner requirements. It is designed to help the partner com- munity drive sales, increase revenue for the partners, reduce time to market and foster mutual success by rewarding part- ners’ investment in selling BCDVideo products. Partners will be incentivised based on achievement of goals through an Annual Achievers Club program for top performing partners. “This partner program aims to recog- nise partners for their excellence. Based on their status in the program, partners will benefit from additional sales support, business enablement tools, marketing support as well as par- ticipation in local and regional partner events,” explains Khubchandani. across the region,” adds Khubchandani. In order to establish a strong footprint in the region, the company has partnered with OEM firms and two regional distrib- utors – NIT, and ZMR in Saudi Arabia. Having established a robust distribution base, the company is directing its efforts towards increasing brand awareness in the region, recruiting channel partners and launching its regional partner pro- gram for in August this year. The BCDVideo Channel Partner Program for the META region will be launched by Q3 this year. The new pro- gram will be a multitier program and is designed for the firm’s partner ecosystem including distributors, global installers, system integrators and resellers. Khubchandani adds that launching the program in META region for the very first The biggest challenge facing resellers in the region is competing against systems that have been compromised to offer lower prices. Since the customer usually decides on the basis of the final cost quoted, resellers need to educate end users to understand total cost of ownership. (22)(23) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 course. As an example, the network is more critical to project success than the recording server, as it controls the flow of video data. With our BCDVideo server guarantee, we offer support on anything that we design throughout the lifetime of the project.” The region is however faced with a paradox in some ways, adds Khubchandani. “There are a lot of large storage opportunities in the Middle East. However, a lot of system integra- tors in the region are compromising on critical features to lower the price.” The biggest challenge facing resellers in the region is competing against sys- tems that have been compromised to offer lower prices. Since the customer usually decides on the basis of the final cost quot- ed, resellers need to educate end users about the total cost of ownership, more capital investment but lower opeating costs. For instance, buying the right com- ponents that can last in the long run. He emphasises that any budgeted sav- ings from purchase of less expensive sys- tems are usually gone within the first year, and BCDVideo products actually cost less over the three to five years that the integrator owns support on the proj- ect. “Anyone can win a deal by lowering the price and offering fewer features that the end user may not realise are critical for optimum performance. Our focus is on total cost of ownership, which is how we evaluate the actual cost of a solution.” Hyperconverged systems in relation with video surveillance is not the same as using virtualisation software. While such systems have been prevalent for quite some time, IT optimised hyperconverged hardware is not compatible with videos. Such systems require special handling, and security integrators may not be aware that hyperconverged software from the IT market will not work seamlessly with video data. It is critical that security inte- grators and end users have their needs met with a solution that is purpose-built. To address this, BCDVideo recently launched its offerings in hyperconverged infrastructure which is specifically designed for surveillance. Talking about vendor alignment, Khubchandani says that BCDVideo is already working with technology partners Dell EMC, Scale Computing and Intel. “In a market that is flooded with HCI solutions, performance and high availabili- ty are critical in the video surveillance market. However, not all HCI solutions will adapt to video data. With Scale Computing’s HC3 platform and BCDVideo’s purpose built approach, cus- tomers benefit from a solution that is adapted to meet industry wide require- ments, while simplifying the management and maintenance of their infrastructure.” For video surveillance ecosystem, the preferred partners are primarily video management software and video analytic companies. He adds that the highlight of the relationship with Dell EMC is that BCDVideo has already risen to be their third largest surveillance, IoT and OEM partners globally within the past year, with the goal to be number one partner by the end of the year. The BVA Accelerator and HCI solu- tion (announced after a year of develop- ment), are the firm’s bestselling prod- ucts globally. “While we have more products on the whiteboard right now, I feel that those two deserve our full attention for the remainder of 2019. We have received positive response in the US for our BVA Accelerator Series and hope it is well received in the META region as well.” “Most end users today are third or fourth generation users of video surveil- lance or access control systems. It is like- ly that they had an analog CCTV about ten years ago which then changed to IP surveillance until camera prices dropped and customers started using high resolu- tion cameras. Such systems were built to meet certain specifications and not for throughput capabilities, and today cus- tomers expect the same enterprise quali- ty they have in their data centre to be in their video surveillance setup,” he adds. The company expects this region to experience an ‘end user realisation’ simi- lar to what they have seen in US. This transformation has continued as the video surveillance market has evolved, with the rising popularity of IP cameras versus analog cameras. “We understand that we need to earn our reputation in the region and are excited to bring our largely accepted offerings to this region. However, we have the right products and will continue to raise the bar for our competitors in the region,” concludes Khubchandani. BCDVideo Innovation Centre BCDVIDEO CHANNEL PARTNER PROGRAM • Launches late July – August 2019 • Multi-tier • Annual Achievers Club program for top performers • Includes initial induction, product orientation, sales training • Certification in specialised areas • Tailored to regional needs • Benefits include sales support, business enablement tools and marketing support • Participation in local and regional partner eventsNUMBERS DON’T LIE As digital transformation becomes an increasingly familiar word, organisations – big and small alike are turning to big data and analytics (BDA) to navigate the change to a digital world. Analyst firm IDC fore- casts global revenues for big data and business analytics solutions to reach US $189.1 billion this year, an increase of 12.0% over 2018. While this can be attributed to digital trans- formation initiatives that are being widely undertaken by businesses across the region, it is clear that investments are certainly picking up. Forecasts from Forrester say that 70 per cent of large enterprises in the UAE are set to implement AI over the next couple of years in order to develop actionable insights from it. The UAE government is extreme- ly keen on harnessing the potential of emerging technologies to improve its public services. Spurred by Middle East’s investment in smart cities to improve government efficien- cy and citizen services, the region is set to contribute significantly to the growth of the global big data market that will touch a record high of USD 7 trillion by 2021. As reflected by digital transforma- tion initiatives such as Dubai Smart City and UAE Vision 2021, Saudi Vision 2030, and New Kuwait Vision 2035 or leading players in the tele- com and banking sector announcing big data projects, there are certain advantages that are fuelling big data adoption. All these efforts point to one thing - the UAE will soon become one of the global big data hubs. With companies now tapping into the possibilities of big data, massive opportunities await solution providers in the region. Wherever the push may come from, the reliance on BDA by both public and private sector companies is constantly rising. In addition to this, increased application centricity within business processes, growing reliance of IoT solutions on data communication and processing abili- ties, and increase in the number of network-connected devices will also account for the majority of market growth. Drop in implementation costs owing to incessant technologi- cal advancements in the field of big data and business analytics is now encouraging even SMEs to leverage data analytics tools. Both numbers and ongoing initia- tives point at an expanding big data analytics market. Dolly Lakhani, senior marketing specialist (MEA, networking) at TP-Link MEA explains that there are certain deter- minants that are driving this growth. “These factors include change in the deployment mode to cloud and IoT, evolution of domain-specific solu- tions and mobile business intelli- gence, and increase in the competi- tion that calls for better tools for data visualisation. The interpretation of these sets of essential data has turned out to be necessary for enter- prises to stay ambitious, achieve growth, invest in innovation, and obtain user insights.” Fadi Kanafani, senior director – MEA, NetApp adds that certain sec- tors are leading big data and analyt- Organisations – big and small alike are turning to big data and analytics to navigate the change to a digital world. With investments picking up, is the channel prepared to leverage the opportunities this market has opened up By SARAH RIZVI (24) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com(25) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019integral to boosting market position. Since artificial intelligence and machine learning have now become main- stream, solution providers must ensure their offerings’ compatibility with these technologies to stay ahead of the compe- tition. Various other business benefits to consider are new revenue opportunities, more effective marketing, improved cus- tomer service and operational efficiency. After discovering the advantages that analytics can offer, service providers are continually looking out for growing market forces and the latest market trends that can offer them unprecedented opportunities. The answer for solution providers is to stay up-to-date with predictive forecasting to reamain ahead in the game. However, solution providers would not have the potential to accomplish this unless they possess a strong team of data scientists and forecasters. Predictive fore- casting can provide them with the intelli- gence to observe variations in advance, offering them more time to take suitable solution, service providers need to understand and cater to business specif- ic needs by designing solutions that overcome these challenges. The world of modelling and data has altered tremendously in the last few years, and data accuracy is of absolute importance. The amount of data is over- growing, and so are the possibilities to extend insights by blending informa- tion. Better data presents companies with a better look at the more granular aspects concerning the business envi- ronment of their enterprise. Among challenges faced by these businesses are data backup and security concerns, as the unstructured nature of big data makes it more susceptible to security breaches. Lakhani adds that some of the other issues that service pro- viders face include dealing with data growth, recruiting and retaining skilled- talent, generating insights on time, inte- grating disparate data sources, validating data, and securing big data. Then how can solution providers stand out in the big data crowd? According to Subrat Panada, head - AI technologies, Capillary Technologies, the most important thing to consider is the presence and constant flow of data. “If the data is not huge enough to be used by big data platforms then one should not invest in it. This includes investment in terms of hardware and software resourc- es. Depending on the use versus cost, the solution provider should leverage tech- nology if it fits the bill, and gradually build their capability around it.” To stand out in the big data crowd, solution providers must ensure integra- tion with legacy technology capabilities, high speed and performance, scalability and tools with easy deployment, configu- ration and intuitive interfaces. They must invest in tools that can serve a variety of goals rather than focusing on those per- forming a single function, as flexibility is another important requirement. Tools that have security features such as built in encryption and strong authentication are also a necessity. It goes without saying that a big data platform that integrates with a lot of other popular tools and a vendor with strong tie ups with other providers are ics adoption in the region, namely, healthcare, oil and gas, and finance. “Going beyond basic wearables, new medical innovations such as blood pres- sure, pulse, and glucose level monitors highlight the potential of big data in the healthcare field. Meanwhile, oil and gas producers are collecting more detailed data in real time at reduced costs with seismic software, data visualisation and a new batch of pervasive computing devic- es. By facilitating delivery of better ser- vices to customers and ensuring secure transactions, BDA has significantly improved performances of businesses in the finance sector,” adds Kanafani. Needless to say that solution provid- ers and vendors continually invest sig- nificant efforts to tap into the preferenc- es of their customers, and understand their expectations and choices. With the changing and increasing requirements of big data consulting solutions, provid- ers need to be prepared for a number of challenges while creating a perfectly fit- ted big data consulting service. For cre- ating a highly stable and future-ready Some of the issues that service providers face include dealing with data growth, recruiting and retaining skilled- talent, generating insights on time, integrating disparate data sources, validating data, and securing big data. DOLLY LAKHANI, SENIOR MARKETING SPECIALIST (MEA, NETWORKING) AT TP-LINK MEA Now that both public and private sectors have realised the importance of data analytics and have started investing in them, the opportunities are endless. FADI KANAFANI, SENIOR DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, NETAPP (26) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.comactions to steer clear of or prepare for the upcoming situation. This will enable them to unlock bigger opportunities in the Middle East market. This is the era of big data where vari- ous solutions assemble external macro- financial data and make it available to organisations to introduce into their data warehousing planning. This empowers them to draw into that exter- nal data to extract insightful macro- financial pointers to help identify and fill up the breaches in their business. “I would say, you should start by gaining a good understanding of mar- ket requirements. This can be achieved through communicating with custom- ers and by observing the challenges and opportunities they have in terms of data growth, AI/ML and data security. Now that both public and private sec- tors have realised the importance of data analytics and have started invest- ing in them, the opportunities are end- less,” says Kanafani. While big data offers numerous benefits, it is not without its own set of issues. Some of the commonly faced issues include inad- equate knowledge about the technologies involved, data privacy, and inadequate ana- lytical capabilities of organisations. A lot of enterprises also face the issue of a lack of skills for dealing with big data technologies with limited number of people actually trained to work with big data. Many businesses are relying on new technologies and tools that need niche pro- fessionalism. In order to favourably process and manipulate big data, one can’t possibly deny the importance of properly trained professionals and appropriate certifica- tions. The world and scope of big data is growing exponentially, and a rapidly grow- ing number of companies are investing considerable resources in search of the appropriate talent to interpret massive vol- umes of data for them. This is purely derived from the fact that big data, if prop- erly analysed, has the potential to trans- form business for organisations. Regular training programs that equip resellers with a range of sales, market- ing, enablement, and training tools bol- ster their solutions offerings. This makes it imperative for resellers to be adequate- ly trained and certified in areas of big data and analytics relevant to their pro- fession otherwise they will not be able to make any significant advances in the big data space in the long run. Kanafani reiterates the role of train- ing programs in enhancing knowledge and skills and adds, “Our training pro- grams are tailor-made to address market requirements and customer demands. Training programs offer partners access to new products, product updates, latest technologies and various use cases where these technologies and solutions can be implemented.” IT distributors can also assist solution providers in getting accurate, relevant, and up-to-date data insights; thus playing a fundamental role in the productive deci- sion making process. Sustainable data is usually collected for high-level external reporting, sepa- rated from business accomplishment, and is not very actionable. So, the busi- ness critical data ultimately used to interpret and enhance organisational performance ends up limiting the abili- ties of the operator to recognise the business case for sustainability. “However, IT distributors can help solution providers realise that the growth of the entire big data ecosystem is directly associated with variations in the manner that they share data. IT dis- tributors can help transform how enter- prises utilise data, no matter how advanced or quick they are. The can also provide solution providers with the support to help them understand and measure social impact, set technology- based objectives, and execute adminis- tration systems for non-sustainable data,” states Lakhani. The future of big data looks enter- prising and geared up to grow. With the Middle East region gaining popu- larity among people and businesses alike, the potential for big data and ana- lytics to grow here is unlimited. As this market expands, advancements in machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing will drive its growth. With technological advancements and higher reliability on cloud, data privacy is a challenge that can be seen looming over this space in the foreseeable future. The demand for data scientists is already on the rise and will grow mani- fold as technology giants innovate to integrate big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Channel partners need to work with organisations in integrating big data into digital transformation agendas, identify the solutions that meet business needs, and train staff on data science. Middle East channel partners that take the time, investment, and alignment with big data vendors will become specialised and see the strongest return on investments. Depending on the use versus cost, solution providers should leverage technology if it fits the bill, and gradually build their capability around it. SUBRAT PANADA, HEAD - AI TECHNOLOGIES, CAPILLARY TECHNOLOGIES Big data analytics is the use of advanced analytic techniques against very large, diverse data sets that include structured, semi-structured and unstructured data, from different sources, and in different sizes from terabytes to zettabytes. (27) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019(28) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 www.channelmiddleeast.com Enterprise apps software vendors are increasing their focus in the enterprise apps market. While the market has a lot of potential, why do channel partners still face challenges? By SARAH RIZVI TOWARDS AN APP-T FUTURE(29) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_JUNE 2019 T he enterprise applications market is a highly competitive onle with a number of software vendors increasing focus in this segment and pushing their product offerings. Adoption of enterprise application allows the companies to integrate their opera- tions with suppliers, channel partners and customers. However, selection of appropri- ate enterprise application differs in accor- dance to business outfits, process, needs, size of the entity and priorities. It is, there- fore, necessary for companies to integrate their business functions, resources and critical business processes to increase effi- ciency and productivity. For all practical purposes, enterprise applications are designed to meet specific needs of the clients, like back office transactional activities such as accounting, production, and inventory control and order management among others. However, the role of enterprise applications is gradually shifting from back-office activities to business process enhancement, by increasing profitability, enhance productivity, and expanding sales. Organisations need to adopt relevant enterprise applications to ensure higher profitability, better productivity and to increase their working capital. By focusing on enhancing their internal processes and systems to address varied challenges, companies are contributing to the increase in demand for enterprise applications, especially among small and mid-sized enterprises. Clearly, the market is getting into consolidation state, where the apps are chosen as a mandatory and primary requirement of the main application and are not longer optional. This market has been rapidly evolving with the Middle East actively adopting enterprise apps across all sectors and industries. Organisations are actively striving to provide that extra mile of enhanced service, improved efficiencies, and employment satisfaction and as such have taken to the world of enterprise apps to achieve these goals. There are about 26.4 million software developers globally (as of 2019), a 45% increase in the last 5 years. Channel partners have the choice of either getting specific software developed by developers or adopt few of the software developed in the market, not necessarily from the large providers like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and Infor. “Governments and large businesses are continuing to invest in enterprise application industry will be CRM, ERP, supply chain management, business intelligence, BPM, content management system, EAM and web conferencing. According to Sakkeer Hussain, director – sales and marketing, D-Link Middle East, the enterprise apps marketing is maturing in the region and more native apps are being developed to solve some of the region’s business challenges. “What this progression is also doing is having a positive impact on enterprise organisations that are eager to adopt bespoke apps that address specific business goals in their organisations.” Chatterji says: “Cloud enabled enterprise application (SaaS model) is gaining high acceptance over the conventional on-premise enterprise application. Additionally, enterprise application market includes a major delivery model i.e. on-premise and cloud model. Emergence of cloud-based technology helps the companies to reduce their overall IT expenditure. Revenue generated by selling enterprise application and related services are factors considered for enterprise application market size during the analysis period.” The market is buoyant in the Middle East largely because the adoption is growing and the availability of locally or home grown enterprise applications has Governments and large businesses are continuing to invest in enterprise applications for IT modernisation and verticals such as healthcare and education will continue to grow significantly faster than other verticals. A significant number of enterprises are looking at lowering total cost of ownership by availing shared cost model in the adoption of business applications. ALI HYDER, GROUP CEO, FOCUS SOFTNET Clearly, the market is getting into consolidation state, where the apps are chosen as a mandator y and primar y requirement of the main application and are not longer optional. applications for IT modernisation and verticals such as healthcare and education will continue to grow significantly faster than other verticals. A significant number of enterprises are looking at lowering total cost of ownership by availing shared cost model in the adoption of business applications,” says Ali Hyder, Group CEO, Focus Softnet. Prasun Chatterji, manager-solutions at EMITAC says: “Today, organisations are gradually moving towards cloud since they understand the power of multi cloud environments. Growth is however steady, though mindshare is towards cloud. Organisations are still spending on software licenses and maintenance to expand their IT usage to be ahead of the competition. If we segment the enterprise application market, the most commonly used enterprise applications available in the Middle East enterprise Next >