2011-15- 15 | 6In Focus

How has the year been so far in

terms of sales and growth?

It has been a fantastic year so far, in

which we are growing much faster

than the market growth and

inventory is under control. This was

possible only by growing in each and

every product category that we deal

with. We are currently the only

broadline distributer that sells

Systems, Peripherals, Components

and Value added products in KSA.

Discuss some of the major initiatives

from your team in the current year?

Our focus during this year was to

rationalize the business while

growing sales, in which we have

added new products, increased our

market share in some products, and

also we reduced our share and even stopped dealing in

some products where it was not making sense for us. This

house keeping exercise has helped us to grow sales,

control inventory and strengthened our differentiating

factor of being a broad line distributer as we were able to

build a portfolio of products within each product

category.

Which have been the product lines that have given the

stronger performances this year?

In Systems it is Toshiba and HP PSG, in Peripherals its HP

IPG (Hardware and Supplies) and in Components it is

WD.

Discuss your plans to increase or enhance your reach into

the smaller markets beyond the big cities?

For 2011 we don’t have such plans, we are depending on

strong partners to cover the remote areas. Our focus this

year is to cover the main cities fully and we are executing

according to plan.

What are the challenges that you foresee in the market

still?

The expectations from this market is too high, where

some vendors are still forecasting more than the market

capacity and that’s putting a lot of pressure on the whole

supply chain. Moreover, the inefficiency in the rotating the

working capital was and still a challenge in this market.

How strong is the retail spend in the market on IT? Do

you see consumer segment continue to show a steady

growth?

The high individual purchasing power, the captive

consumption, the youth population and the technology

savvy lifestyle of the Saudis are all positive factors that

make the positive growth certain. The demand may shift

between products or brands, and here is the role of a

distributer to be able to read the market trends to be able

to supply the right products at the right price and right

time.

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2011

Interactive Intelligence, a global provider of

unified IP business communications

solutions, and Malaz Technology, a provider

of converged information and communica-

tions technology solutions in KSA have

signed a reseller agreement.

Malaz Technology will offer customers in the

Kingdom the Interactive Intelligence

solutions for contact center automation,

enterprise IP telephony, and business process

automation. Malaz Technology will provide

consulting, implementation, support, and

custom development for the Interactive

Intelligence solutions.

“Malaz Technology is a leading systems

integrator and has been at the forefront of

implementing these technologies within

government and private sector enterprises.

We intend to penetrate the Saudi market by

leveraging Malaz Technology’s knowledge of

the local market, technical expertise and

strong customer base”, said Abdul Nasser

Bangcola, country manager for Interactive

Intelligence.

Interactive Intelligence has developed an

open, single-platform, all-in-one IP commu-

nications software suite designed to deliver

comprehensive multichannel applications

minus the cost and complexity introduced by

multipoint products. Its products can be

delivered on-premise or via a hosted model.

“We are excited to be partnering with Interac-

tive Intelligence. The global evolution of

technology is moving towards software

solutions and Interactive’s technology is

perfectly in line with this. The technology is

a simplified, cost-effective, software based,

fully integrated platform with a single point

of administration”, said Mr. Mohammad

Munir Almulki, MD, Malaz Technology.

Robust growth Redington Arabia

Redington Arabia has created the reputation of

being one of the leading distributors in the

Kingdom and has built its success on staying

focused. Rawad Ayash, GM at Redington Arabia

speaks exclusively to VAR Magazine.

Interactive Intelligenceand Malaz Technologypartner forSaudi Arabia

News

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Rawad AyashGM, Redington Arabia