D-Link Corporation has announced a new channel strategy that will see the company aggressively reinforce its partner training and education schemes in the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

According to the vendor that manufactures solutions in the IP Surveillance, Wireless, Switching, Storage, Security, Cloud, VoIP, Print Servers, Structured Cabling, Digital Home, 3G/4G Routers, Power over Ethernet Kit, Powerline, KVM, Structured Cabling and Digital home offerings, the move to cement channel partner training and education initiatives comes as D-Link moves to help resellers partners to vigorously target SMBs in the region.

Founded in 1986 in Taiwan, D-Link has the top market share among SMB and small office/home office (SOHO) networking vendors in in the MEA. The company designs, manufactures and markets advanced networking, broadband, digital, voice and data communications solutions.

The company has been in the international market for years, and has of late been heavily invested in growing its MEA footprint and sales revenue especially in the SMB segment.
Sakkeer Hussain, Director – Sales and Marketing, D-Link Middle East and Africa (MEA), said the company has decided to raise the bar with its channel partner training initiatives because it wants to educate and introduce new lines of products in 2016.

Hussain said the aim of the initiative is twofold – to offer pre-sales and hands-on technical training, and to keep SMB-focused partners updated on the new product offerings the company is bringing to market in 2016. “This year, given the prevailing market conditions, we have made a decision to enhance the technical support to SMB partners as a way of helping them to navigate the market,” he said. “Along with this we have also extended flexible RMA services to our partners to ensure minimal downtime on their clients’ networks.”

In addition, Hussain pointed out that D-Link has also moved to support its training schemes with promotions that are aimed at keeping the sales teams of resellers motivated. “We decided to back the training with promotions to ensure that partners are helped to sell more of our solutions in the market,” he said.

Hussain explained that given the current tough market conditions, D-Link is working with all its partners to focus on new opportunities, leads and converting the same to sales. “We are keen to engage and work with channel partners that are passionate to grow their business with us,” he added.

D-Link’s SMB push is aggressive. The company wants its channel partners to tap into opportunities already available in the region although it has also identified Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Ghana and Morocco as key markets in MEA, where it would like reseller partners to have a larger share of business selling D-Link solutions.

Technology-wise, some of its focus in 2016 is on 10G solutions, on smart switches and 40G at core and unified wireless solutions with 802.11ac access points.

“It is a very crowded market on the networking side, especially for routers, so we are trying to find different ways of thinking, new ideas and how to look at the opportunity for our partners,” Hussain pointed out. “Partners need to focus on the product offerings from 11ac and 10G solutions, which can help promote the products and propel their own businesses to new heights.”