Marwan Khoury, the Marketing Manager for Middle East and Africa at Axis Communications speaks to Channel Post in order to throw some light on the surveillance solutions market in the Middle East.
What sort of surveillance solutions market is present in the Middle East?
The surveillance market in the Middle East is amongst the fastest growing globally. We estimate the network video surveillance market to grow by 25% in the Middle East during 2014 which is significantly larger than the 19% average growth estimated for EMEA as a whole and up to 50% in the non GCC Middle East markets. The UAE market is viewed among the most mature markets globally in terms of the adoption of the latest IP solutions available.
What kind of solutions do companies go for usually when it comes to surveillance products and solutions?
The convergence rate from analog to IP solutions across the ME is expected to be around 67%. The solutions range in complexity based on the installation size and the industry type. A large percentage of the installations we cater to in the Middle East are still very much project driven with the cameras only representing 25% of the complete solution. Other components to the system include storage, enterprise level software and analytics solutions.
What is the USP of Axis Communications’ products and solutions?
Being the first company to launch an IP network video camera in the late 90’s we have positioned ourselves since as the global leader in the video surveillance market as we emphasis on leading the way in convergence by educating the market, by focusing on the customer needs across various market segments and by consistently basing our partner relationships on loyalty and long-term cooperation to provide the market with complete solutions.
Do you see home users adopting surveillance products?
We don’t see this segment growing much on the individual home owner level in the region but large housing project developers do adopt surveillance solutions to add an added sense of safety and security to the communities they serve.
How can surveillance solutions help small businesses conduct their business better?
The solutions we provide small business owners are tailored to provide them with scalable and future proof technology offering HDTV image quality, ease of installation and usage with the ability to access and retrieve video remotely across multiple sites very simply using apps on smart phones and tablets.
In addition to the safety and security benefits gained, surveillance solutions are becoming more attractive for other stakeholders such as merchandisers, operations and marketers as they can use technology to provide better customer service as part of their overall offerings.
The standard high resolution images are making it easier to adopt analytics such as such as queue management at point of sales, heat mapping to help in understanding customer behaviors and there are solutions to provide marketers with the ability to measure the effectiveness of sales promotions.
What sort of channel community does Axis Communications have in this region?
Axis has a global two tiered business model. We sell our offerings to distributors who in turn sell to system integrators and resellers. We do not make exceptions to this rule. Our partner network approach is an important pillar in our long-term strategy. We not only have long-term partner relationships with our suppliers, but our entire approach to the market is through this model with whom we work very closely with over 600 partners in the Middle East through various partner programs.
Do you plan to add more channel partners this year?
We are welcoming new partners every week from across the region and offer them training via our Axis Academy courses to best empower them in delivering high quality surveillance solutions.
What is your marketing and channel strategy for 2014?
Our strategy will continue to focus growing our channel and offering the broadest and most innovative product portfolio in the market. We will also be focused on communicating the benefits of image usability as it is all about achieving the best image quality which in turn offers our customers the opportunity to adopt the latest tools to enhance the opportunities gained from their surveillance solutions.
