By Editor
Senior Regional Manager at networking vendor DrayTek Joseph Tsai discusses the firm’s MEA vision
Please discuss your participation in the In Search of a Champion (ISoaC) training event in particular and your regular training programmes in general
Our participation in the ISoaC event was to update the market on the latest DrayTek technologies and products. We also wanted to see how sales staff could learn about our products. Our previous focus was on the SI segment and we are realizing that the resale market would be an important market for us. With this event we have found the staff, although in sales, possess the basic technology background and understand what we are talking about.
We carry out regular training events all over the world with our partners in their locales to introduce and provide market training for partners and customers. DrayTek also holds an annual distributor re-union event in Taiwan where we invite all the distributors to our headquarters to experience our products first hand while also getting product updates through training and meetings. In return, we get to receive feedback directly from the market so we can improve our new product plans.
Discuss your partnership with DVCOM
We have been working with DVCOM for the last six years. We began with basic partnership development-finding the right resale partners, the right target and the right channels. At that time, the market was very challenging for us due to price wars and having partners who were basically box movers without broadcasting the benefits of our products to users. But our recent experience with DVCOM has changed all that. We saw a change in our experience because the people at DVCOM want to learn about the benefits and the value and the services they can deliver to partners. We have thus seen things turn around for us. We believe in the partnership we have with DVCOM.
We undertake a lot of initiatives with them such as technical support and training, allowing our SI partners stay connected with the latest technology from DrayTek; after sales service, technical support product offering, as well as attend trade shows either by DVCOM or co-sponsored events. With business growing, we expect to see different channels coming up. This will lead to more focus on the product, strategy and product portfolio and especially in channel management.
How important is the Middle East market to DrayTek?
The Middle East market is contributing more and more to our bottom line. Our focus has been with the SI segment that in turn provides our solutions to SMBs. In the last two years especially, our business development in the Middle East has only gotten better. We expect to double what we had last year and rise even higher in coming years.
What are some of the key DrayTek products and features attracting the regional consumer?
Our most popular product in the Middle East market is the 2830 router model mainly focused on system integrators who have come to realize the value that comes with our products and technology. Before, many of them were only concerned with just getting the lowest-priced product out there. But they are now aware of the value and DrayTek’s reputation and that is why more and more customers are choosing the brand. In comparison with our competitors, we are adding premium features to our networking products without complicated license fees. An example is the free traffic analyser utility that comes with our routers. This is for customers who want to monitor their internet traffic without any extra charges or license fees. We also offer VPN, load balancing, content filtering, all for free. All this can be accessed and managed through an easy-to-use interface. We are an engineering-oriented company. We own the fundamental capabilities for engaging in product development with up to 40% of our staff members being engineers
Discuss how you are able to stay competitive in a fast-evolving Middle East market
For one, we try to localize our products and solutions because market conditions are different. For instance, provision of internet infrastructure varies widely across various countries in the region so we have to adopt different product strategy for different areas. With a more developed internet infrastructure in the UAE for example, there’s more demand for broadband routers. We also keep pace with all the technology advancements in the networking industry including the latest AC protocols. We then add more features to our devices such as management features for wireless and access points. Word of mouth has been also very crucial in the growth of our business in the region. People who have used DrayTek have found features that they find very useful and passed the information around.
The Taiwan Excellence label is very prominent in your marketing campaigns. Discuss the certification and what it entails for DrayTek
The Taiwan Excellence programme is run by the Government of Taiwan to encourage innovation among Taiwanese based firms. As part of the submission to get the award, we have had to prove our quality and the reliability of our products. 2013 is the 4th year we submitted for the Taiwan Excellence accreditation and most of our products have been awarded with the honour. During GITEX, Taiwan Excellence will have its own pavilion where they will showcase more brands that carry the tag, among them DrayTek products.