Standardization and consolidation of IT infrastructure, free-flow of information access and enabling faster and redundant communication between employees are some of the priorities of today’s IT managers. Discussing these customer priorities, market trends and much more, Gautham Raj, Director of Server and Storage Business at HP shared an overview of his understanding on the evolving Middle East market. He also emphasized on the HP’s commitment towards the Middle East market.
The edited excerpts:
How is the market evolving? You have participated in region’s biggest IT Show, what are your observations from the market?
The overall computing market is growing in the Middle East and we are witnessing huge action in terms of ICT infrastructure development these days. This year’s Gitex have shown great enthusiasm from the customers. We have showcased great innovative technologies which have received amazing response from the market.
What are the key trends you are observing in today’s market?
Big data and virtualization are two major trends that are continuing to influence the customers. Over last few years industry have seen exponential growth of data and a dynamic growth of computing devices. This growth had happened in both areas enterprise and home segment. We have seen enterprises are delivering their corporate data on personal devices and consumers are accessing, personal as well as corporate data as per their own needs. All of this makes it more exciting for technology provider like HP, which facilitates all this information flow dynamic at the consumer level.
Another trend which has been getting great momentum is an offshoot of the huge data growth, that is business Intelligence (BI). Corporate organizations are spending their resources in analyzing the data, understanding the consumer behavior and overall market trend from their own perspective.
HP as an organization is keeping a close eye on such market trends and actively bringing cutting edge products which allow ICT customers to participate in the evolution of technology landscape.
How is the Cloud computing is growing?
Private cloud is catching up in a speedy manner. Organizations are adopting private cloud based applications as they consider it very user friendly. HP is the market leader in the private cloud space. We enjoy a great prominence in the market because of our existing customers’ experience with the HP’s cloud based solutions.
What is HP’s Channel strategy for the Middle East region?
HP is a channel driven organization. We have three tier channel structure. We work with distributors, VARs and SIs. Moreover, we also have specialized partners who enjoys specific capabilities for any specific industry segment.
What level of engagements does HP have with it’s partners?
We are committed towards partner’s growth. We invest in training and certifications for the partners in order to enable them in putting across right form of solution for the customers. We train partners and their teams so that they help the customers to remove the complexity of business environment. It is very important for the partners to become
Hyper convergence has also influenced the market in a major way. What are your views on this and how is HP looking at convergence as a trend?
Hyper convergence is a major driver for next level technology area. HP has a well defined approach towards this. We have robust products around this trend. For example, HP’s One View is an appealing product for software defined data centers. Similarly, there is a comprehensive product portfolio which goes in the hyper converged environment.