Q & A
EDITOR ’ S
WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE IT DISTRIBUTION MARKET IN MEA ?
The channel in the Middle East has once again proven that it ’ s the key cornerstone for any technologies company to successfully promote and sell their products , solutions and services in the region . Though , like in every market disruption , it has produced winners and losers . For sure those focusing on a client-centric approach have shown the strongest resilience and in fact , grown their business during these challenging times . Our business is no exception and has shown strong growth despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic .
VAD Technologies together with the channel has been working on the “ cloudification ” of our product and solutions offerings , and the team has done a very good job over the years to understand this market well and establishing ourselves as a pioneer and leader in this space . This “ new ” got to market has helped us a lot during the pandemic to support our channel partners
A distribution channel is the network of individuals and organisations involved in getting a product or service from the producer ( vendor ) to the customer . Distribution channels are also known as marketing channels or marketing distribution channels . The two primary channels are direct and indirect , but there are different sub-channels within those categories . Pundits look at the state of IT distribution in the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) channel .
MARIO VELJOVIC , GENERAL MANAGER , VAD TECHNOLOGIES LLC
with easy to deploy solutions that were badly needed during this period of sudden and unexpected disruption . Our channel partners had the ability to gain access to highly discounted or sometimes even completely free solutions to ensure a smooth transition to adapt to working from home set ups . The same helped them to generate new revenue streams and accelerate the Digital Transformation ambitions their clients were looking for , for a very long time .
Something important to mention here is that we have taken a conscious decision to establish VAD Technologies as a pioneer in scouting and promoting disruptive and innovative technologies in the region . As such , we haven ’ t gone the easy way to building this business , but it ’ s understood that this is an important and strategic mission that comes with challenges . That all this hard work would have paid off so fast , was even a surprise to us . That said , we are working with a large number of channel partners in the region and offering a wide range of technologies , covering high performance data centre equipment , ITSM technologies , physical security solutions and all this blended with a cloud and AI touch . We do not try to promote all to everyone , rather than using our experience to position new technologies where it makes sense . We cover the wider Middle East , including Turkey and Egypt . All this region
is our focus , although not necessarily for all the products and solutions we offer . However , the fastest growing countries for us currently are Saudi Arabia , Qatar and Egypt , and I guess that ’ s not a big surprise for anyone . However , Qatar has been given special intention , with the blockage removed and a more direct touch has been easier .
Looking ahead , the IT distribution segment in MEA is in good stead . What we are focusing on now is bringing AIbased solutions to the market that will support human efficiency . Key trends we see here are AI powered computer vision and communication bots . Vendors have created fantastic value propositions to allow customers gain the agility and financial flexibility their business needs to accelerate their Digital Transformation journey .
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 46 51