Channel Post speaks with Amanulla Khan, Managing Director, Linksys – Middle East, Turkey & Africa about the company’s expansion plans in the region and role that channel plays in its success.
Between the highs and lows of market in past few years, how has been your journey?
Our journey has been amazing so far from every perspective and I am really excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. From a regional perspective, we have delivered a lot of ‘firsts’ to the market which enabled us to position Linksys as a leader in Wi-Fi solutions space.
Which are your key markets, where you see maximum revenue coming from? Are there any new markets that are opening up for Linksys?
Without doubt, UAE is one of our biggest markets in the region especially considering the kind of advancements the country has seen in terms of IoT, connectivity, smart homes etc. Saudi Arabia is another market where we have grown faster than the market growth itself and have claimed the big chunk of market. Besides UAE and KSA, rest of the gulf countries are also faring quite well and contributing well to our revenue stream. We are investing heavily in Turkey as well and expect the market to shape up well for us.
In terms of new markets, Egypt is one country that we are aggressively following up and intend to increase our exposure by investing in resources. We also are keen to expand our footprint across Africa, but we are cautious in our approach as the market is quite fragmented and difficult as compared to mature markets. We have started the ball rolling and are actively looking for right partners that can help us penetrate deeper into East, West and Central Africa.
In such a competitive market, how do you differentiate yourself from the competition?
I agree that this is a very competitive market and we welcome healthy competition. From the consumer’s perspective, we differentiate ourselves by creating the best user-experience. Now, this strategy has become a huge challenge for us, as it is very difficult to create and sell an ‘experience’. To deliver this, we not only invest in manufacturing the hardware but also in software development, to which we hold the intellectual property rights.
How important is the channel to your scheme of things?
We are a 100% channel driven company and the channel plays an extremely important part in our market strategy. In fact, I would not be wrong in saying that we owe our success to the channel. At our end, we are loyal to our partners and have long standing relationships with them. We make it a point to listen to them, and take their views and feedback very seriously. In fact a lot of channel strategies that we implement stem from our partners’ feedback. Some of the channels have even benefited us in developing our solutions.
What message would you like to give it to your partners and what can they look forward to?
The router market has already started experiencing growth spurts despite last year’s lean growth period and is projected to reach $23B by 2020. The increasing adoption of IoT and connectivity has given rise to a number of opportunities for partners in this space. Channel partners must look forward to new and revolutionary solutions (like our mesh technology) being introduced to the market as that is where growth opportunities lie. Retailer partners, at their end, need to constantly update the skill-set of their workforce as well.
At our end, we are always investing in educating our partners to ensure that they are up-to-date with the new solutions we roll out, creating user-demand and bringing newer products to market.
