POST GITEX BLUES

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Updated : December 4, 2013 0:0  ,
By Editor

A look back at another successful GITEX season

GITEX has come and gone and from all indications, 2013 was another highly successful event. So this would make a good time to reflect on this showpiece.

What was obvious to all attendees is that 2013 was a re-grounding of sorts. 2012 had everyone buzzing about the then fairly new megatrends of cloud and big data. This year we saw the maturity of these technologies and a better understanding from the channel of what they mean for their businesses and how they can help their customers make sense of it all.

From the distributors and resellers we talked to, the message of this mega trends is getting to the market with the question from customers now not “what is cloud or big data?” but “how can we implement these technologies?” We even got to hear from some market players in the frontier markets like Africa and it’s the same story- the message is getting through.

There’s a bigger question whether this region has to keep playing technology catch up. We saw this during GITEX where tech on show has already had its run at CeBIT, COMPUTEX and COMDEX. Despite much development in the regional technological economy, the region is still at least one or two quarters behind technology in North America and Europe. In some respect, this is a good thing, as technology arrives in the region tried and tested and the teething problems have been dealt with. Not to underestimate the impact that GITEX has on technology in the region and the world and the sheer growth in profile year after year. So it’s probably a matter of time before GITEX becomes THE show for the global tech industry.

From a channel perspective, it’s always welcome to soak in the atmosphere of an event like GITEX while doing some serious partners engagement. And from the partners we’ve talked to, they were very profitable engagements indeed.

David Ndichu
Editor