IFS announced plans to strengthen its Middle East operations by opening its new office in Dubai and expanding its channel partner network to reinforce regional business. The company will also host its first partner conference in Dubai on November 25, 2019, which aims to educate channel partners about the opportunities with IFS as well as advantages in specific aspects of ERP including Service Management, Enterprise Asset Management and Supply Chain.
Mehmood Khan, Managing Director and Vice-President for the Middle East and South Asia at IFS said, “IFS has been growing its business at more than double the industry average, with license revenue increases YoY over 20% for the past six quarters. We are expanding in the Middle East deliberately and with purpose. The region plays an important role in our overall revenue goals. We are embarking on a partner recruitment drive to help propel our business into newer areas of growth. We are looking for partners with local market knowledge and deep technical expertise in different aspects of ERP, who can become our extended arm in the market and act as trusted advisors to our customers.”
“IFS is looking for value-added resellers and systems integrators, whose appetite to invest, grow and succeed complements perfectly with our company’s vision and global initiatives. While we are not precluding working with a distributor, our focus is to recruit limited but relevant partners to help customers with their business outcomes,” Khan added.
Operating regionally through a channel-led sales model, IFS will further fortify its Middle East business by onboarding a select number of tested partners based on geographical presence and industry capabilities. Partners with expertise in verticals such as aerospace and defense, manufacturing, engineering, construction and infrastructure, energy, utilities and resources, and service will have a competitive advantage.
“Traditionally IFS has implemented most of its projects directly. However, we have a two-pronged strategy going forward: provide customers with choice and have reputed and well-established partners to be the prime act in IFS projects,” Rifai Wahid, Director of Channel Sales, Middle East & South Asia for IFS. “With IFS’s market-leading products and a tier-one enterprise customer base, partners have the opportunity to grow their IFS business at speed,” he added.
Established and new partners will have the opportunity to scale their operations with the IFS Partner Network Program, which defines partner relationships, provides a context for partner solutions and a framework for how IFS products and services combine with those of partners to extend the capabilities of IFS. The company is providing partner training via the IFS Academy with $0 tuition fees until mid-2020 and also partners can be a part of the partner network program without any joining fee.
“Partners will be able to leverage their own customer base to add value and help solve business challenges with greater agility and at a lower cost with IFS resources and programs. We are dedicated to our partners as they bring critical industry knowledge and capabilities for implementing solutions in the regional market. We look forward to developing our regional business with the help of our existing and potential partners while growing our customer base successfully,” Wahid concluded.
With a direct presence in focus markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, IFS is also looking to adopt a distribution model in other GCC countries such as Kuwait and Bahrain.
