Channel Post speaks to Wisam Yaghmour, the Regional Sales Director at HID Global, about how 2017 has been for his company and his company’s outlook for 2018
What were the major technology and market trends in 2017?
In general, the MEA market is very open to adapting new technologies smoothly and faster than other regions. Smart cites and office buildings, E-government applications are the main drivers and are influential in exporting latest innovative technologies and vendors to the market.
From my perspective, mobility was the key focus in 2017 for many verticals, applications, vendors and end users, turning to mobile solutions. This trend is proof that being connected will help improve organizational efficiency and customer satisfaction, and brings everything that customer needs to his hand held device, which is powering him to use the services more efficiently and securely.
Do you believe any technology buzzwords from 2017 will really kick-off in 2018?
RTLS is a very promising technology with high demand in many verticals due to the high accuracy, efficiency, and productivity that help organizations to utilize their premises space with on time reporting tools.
How has 2017 been for your company and business? What was the major achievements in the year 2017?
2017 has been very successful for HID Global; we have signed new customers across the region, that includes our successful partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment. We launched new solutions in the region such as the HID Location services that improves workforce optimization, as well as the HID Approve app which turn mobiles and smartphones into authentication devices.
Did you enter/expand your operations into new markets in 2017?
We have expanded our local presence geographically in 2017 to North Africa and Saudi Arabia by having HID operational entity’s. We have also increased our footprint and customer reach to East and West Africa through a very well established and committed channel community who represents and supports our expansion process professionally and proactively.
How do you foresee opportunities for 2018?
Mobility will continue to drive technology. We see opportunity for the HID Location Services technology to be widely adopted by large organization that are looking to optimize their workforce and operations. We are also expecting a widespread adoption of the HID Approve app especially in the Banking sector, that delivers a simple and secure way for users to authenticate and verify their transactions.
