Channel Post spoke to Sanjay Bansal, the Managing Director of Intex Technologies to find out about his company’s plans for GITEX this year.
What sort technology trends have you seen in the Middle East and Africa market over the past few months?
There has been significant changes in the IT industry recently driven by increasingly demanding and tech savy end users. There is huge increase in the number of users wanting to stay connected always.
Led by UAE where almost 60 percent mobile users are using smartphones the trend is escalating to other middle east countries such as Egypt. Secondly, I can see the advent of cloud computing, because lots of organisations have started deploying cloud architecture.
How has the regional ICT market grown over the past few years?
Despite the political disturbance in some of the Middle Eastern countries, ICT has been resilient and market has been buoyant. Besides regional investments, GCC countries have been hub for transport, business and services due to its geographical closeness to Eurasia, Africa, and Indian subcontinent. Market research reports show that the growth has been between 8-1 percent.
What sort of ICT products are in demand in the MEA region? Has there been a major shift in what the consumers want in ICT products?
Smartphones, tablets or for that matter mobility products have great demand. As mentioned earlier, people want to stay connected and carry information in their hand all the time and so major shift is happening towards smartphones. Enterprises and SMEs on the other hand, are looking towards cloud computing in order to cut down costs and also increase data security.
What do you plan to achieve through GITEX Technology Week and GITEX Shopper this year? Can you please share your plans?
Intex has been consistently part of Gitex Technology Week since 2002 and the aim has always remained to showcase our latest product range to the world and our growth in terms of product innovation year on year. We also aim to meet most of our clients based in different parts of the world and look for new partnerships.
Do you plan to launch any new products or technologies at GITEX Technology Week and GITEX Shopper this year?
Yes, after our recent successful launch in India for high-end smartphones such as Aqua i5 and Aqua i7 with features such as 13mp camera, 32GB memory and so on, we are launching them in the GCC region through GITEX this year. These products are fitted with best specifications one would aspire and compare with any top brand, yet we have maintained the prices that would tempt the masses to buy such products.
What’s going to be your theme at GITEX Technology Week this year?
We at Intex have always been working to introduce new products in our portfolio. So, this year we want to showcase our premium range of smartphones which has been marketed by Indian Bollywood star Farhan Akhtar. Introduction of new products which uplift our brand to a new height is one of our motto at GITEX this year.
Do you have plans to conduct raffle draws, give away gifts and so on for end consumers this year?
Surely we have great plans to conduct such activities with different giveaways in addition to inviting the visitors to bid on some of our prime products. So, a product worth AED 700 could go for as low as AED 1, if there as no second bidder.
What sort of channel strategies are you going to follow this year?
We are dealing with more than 60 countries and carrying wide range of product categories. We have different strategies for different markets and categories, but the foremost idea is to let our channel partners make profit.
GITEX is a great platform that can be used to further build the existing relations and create new channels. We understand the importance of channel engagement and maintaining their bottom line. So we have ongoing channel programmes where we offer fully paid international trips, cars, gold and so on.
