Noman Qadir, the Director for Channel, Middle East & Africa, at Citrix, speaks to Channel Post about the regional ICT strategies and trends.
Tell us about the technology trends in the Middle East and Africa region.
With the rapid emergence of new devices and app platforms, combined with the explosion in consumerization, mobility and BYOD initiatives, organizations in the Middle East must find a way to manage and secure the diversity of today’s IT environments.
This means that today, organisations are looking for technology solutions that address all of their enterprise mobility needs, ranging from device management to native mobile apps for e-mail, web access, collaboration and data sharing, as well as desktop virtualization for seamless access to Windows apps and desktops.
How has the regional ICT market grown over the past few years?
The growth of the ICT market in the Middle East is a key driving factor in accelerating the region’s development agenda. With Expo 2020 on the horizon and increased government spending, IT spend in the UAE is expected to increase 8.3% year on year in 2014 to total $4.63 billion according to IDC.
In this environment, IT has become the catalyst for the next phase of innovation in personal and competitive business ecosystems. With advances in cloud, mobile, social and big data all happening at once and at incredible speed, it’s undeniable that the disruptive effect of technology has shifted both the way businesses are run and the way individuals operate.
Which technologies are proving to be the most-wanted technologies in the MEA region?
Workplace transformation remains a critically important phenomenon across all industries in the Middle East. This has led to many industry decision-makers focusing on adopting new technologies to improve business operations by addressing developments such as the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and big data.
Accelerated globalization and the rapid proliferation of devices and app platforms has made mobility in the workplace both an expectation and a necessity, driving dramatic changes in how IT organizations respond.
What do you plan to achieve through GITEX Technology Week this year?
Gitex provides us with a platform to not only gain great visibility and brand awareness but to also connect with our regional customers and partners. It also gives us the opportunity to introduce businesses to our market-leading virtualization, mobility, networking and cloud services technologies that make it easier for people to work anywhere.
Do you plan to launch any new products or technologies at GITEX Technology Week
Today’s employees are working from a variety of locations, using a mix of personal and corporate devices. Therefore, organizations must rethink how they securely deliver content to employees that are not in standard locations, on standard devices or in standard systems.
As part of our offering, we will be showcasing the Citrix Workspace Suite, the industry’s most complete solution for the secure delivery and management of apps, data and services from any device over any network, enabling new ways for people to work better. With the Citrix Workspace Suite, customers can now leverage a single, flexible solution for securely delivering apps, desktops, files and services to any user, on any device over any network with a high performance user experience.
What’s going to be your theme at GITEX Technology Week this year?
Following our successful participation in 2013, Citrix is returning to this year’s event under the umbrella theme of ‘Mobile WorkStyles’. We will showcase the Citrix Workspace Suite that will enable the delivery of comprehensive and personalized mobile workspaces.
What sort of channel strategies are you going to follow this year?
In the Middle East and Africa region, we have been heavily expanding our channel base and aim to have a wider partner network that will deliver value and partner differentiation to improve market reach, revenue and scale. We are also making significant investments in partner training programs to ensure that our partners have the right skills, knowledge and tools they need to educate businesses on the importance of adopting mobile workplace solutions.
Do you have any specific engagement for your channel community this year at GITEX?
A number of our partners will be engaging with us at Gitex this year, some of which include Cisco, HP, Nutanix and Samsung. The Citrix stand will be located at Hall 6, stand number MAC6-6.
