Cerebra ME To Reinforce Vision Of Being A Solutions Selling Distributor

What have been few key milestones for the company in 2019?

For Cerebra Middle East, 2019 has been a year for gaining a foothold in the regional markets and we have been extremely successful in getting into the right partnerships with vendors and channel partners. We set up our first branch office in Saudi Arabia.

This year, we have signed distribution agreements with six leading technology vendors in the ICT & CCTV domains.

Cerebra ME has partnered with Quantum (Enterprise Storage & Backup), Perpetuuiti (Disaster Recovery & Digital Transformation), Fujitsu (Data Center Solutions), Nexsan (Unified Storage), Ruijie (Networking and Wireless Solutions), Digifort (Intelligent Video Management Software, Tecnoware (UPS Power Systems), Uniview (IP Video Surveillance), Vivotek (Security Surveillance), and Retrospect (Data Backup & Protection).

What are Cerebra’s competitive advantages as a Data Centre and IT Infrastructure management focused value-added distributor?

Cerebra’s differential advantage is the focused approach on both ICT and Security Surveillance sectors. We offer end-to-end Data Center & Infrastructure Solutions with a diversified technology portfolio.

Over the course of 2019, the firm has invested in surveillance, storage and networking solutions with a dedicated product and technical team to offer comprehensive range of products and solutions to our channel partners and systems integrators across the region.

We pride ourselves in being able to support our partners to grow their business by leveraging on our expertise in value-chain, product management, service and training, vendor support and consultative selling approach. We empower our partners with technical education through trainings, workshops and proof of concept.

How can channel partners excel their business by partnering with Cerebra? Can you share details of your partner enablement programmes in place?

The key value proposition for channel partners here is to achieve greater margins and save costs. At Cerebra, we run a lot of channel initiatives along with our vendors. In 2020, we are moving toward ‘vendor specific’ partner programmes. These will include customised rebate and loyalty incentive campaigns which will boost the partner’s bottom line.

Cerebra adds value to the channel community by providing (i) pre-sales support (ii) proof of concept (iii) technical support (iv) post sales services (v) product training/certification and channel enablement (vi) incentives (vii) lead generation and joint marketing campaigns (viii) credit and logistics support.

Can you elaborate on two key technology trends dominating the regional market?

Chatbots and deep learning to automation, technology will continue to impact every facet of life. Chatbots are poised to be at the forefront of consumer application for AI within the next five years. The rapid maturity of AI in the recent times will undoubtedly take centre stage in near future as the hottest trend in IT. The impetus for the change being driven by enhanced statistical and computational methods, however not in underlying systems or storage.

On the other hand, blockchain and distributed ledgers are also gaining a lot of momentum and acceptance in the financial domain. In near future, blockchain will surely gain popularity and acceptance in other domains as well. This is a just the beginning of a long transformation being built on the bulwark of cutting edge technology.

What can the market and your partner ecosystem expect from Cerebra in 2020?

Cerebra’s goal is to offer broad spectrum of solutions in various domains. Our strategy is to educate the partners to be able to go and understand the customer needs and we drive this successfully through our partner engagement and vendor support. We will continue to focus on aggressive partner recruitment exercise and reinforce our vision of being the leading ‘solution selling’ distribution partner.

In 2020, Cerebra will be diversify our channel activities more in KSA region. We are going to run various partner enablement and training sessions across Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam with a focus on infrastructure and surveillance projects.

What is your advice for partners to help them scale their business to the next level?

Businesses in the Middle East have been investing heavily in technology, supported by government that are early adopters. The shift is moving towards AI. The region has shown a strong commitment towards the development and implementation of AI technology, including security surveillance. With emerging technologies like AI and blockchain, channel partners should make rapid learning curve to stay ahead of their competition.

There are various projects in the pipeline in the Gulf region (including EXPO 2020). The partners should play a key role in these huge projects to take their share of the pie.  There are enormous business opportunities for the partners, however they should be prepared across all domains; technical capabilities, market reach, right partnership and alliances.