InterviewsOutlook

Outlook 2022: “Our Go-to-Market Strategy is to Have Deeper Engagements with Customers”

Mena Migally, the Regional Vice President for META at Riverbed, says that the consequence of the rapid digitalisation has been that the networks are now more distributed and complex

What sort of opportunities did 2021 bring along?
Through 2021, we witnessed explosive growth in Cloud and SaaS Adoption and the massive shift to remote work. In fact, the recent Riverbed | Aternity Hybrid Work Global Survey 2021 revealed that 84% of UAE business and IT decision-makers believe that at least a quarter of their workforce will remain hybrid post-pandemic; with 38% saying more than half their workforce will be hybrid.

At the same time, a consequence of rapid digitalisation has been that networks are now more distributed and complex. Quick fix IT solutions have also made app performance less reliable, rendered user experience less predictable, and significantly expanded the security threat plane as the network expanded across geographies and further into the cloud. The adage, ‘You cannot manage what you can’t measure,’ holds true and the Riverbed | Aternity end-to-end visibility suite is now more relevant than ever.

What were your key achievements in 2021?
With strong growth in our visibility portfolio over the last couple of quarters, Riverbed recently reunited with Aternity, an independent division of Riverbed, to meet customer demand and fill a void in the market for full-fidelity, end-to-end visibility for the digital and hybrid enterprise. By joining best-in-breed technologies, Riverbed | Aternity delivers the most comprehensive offering with end-to-end visibility across networks, apps, cloud, and down to the end-users to provide actionable data insights that drive real business outcomes.

In 2021, we also launched the Riverbed Community, where customers, colleagues, and peers come to connect to share their insights on visibility, performance, and security of networks, applications, and end-users, and current issues affecting the IT industry, as well as shared experiences with Riverbed products and solutions.

Grounded in the collaborative spirit of technology professionals and accessible to all, the Riverbed Community is built on open dialogue in which tech professionals can ask and answer questions, share insights and learn from each other. The goal is to elevate the expertise of everyone in the community, share ideas and develop relationships that persist outside of the data center. The community is open to all and there are no prerequisites to join.

Do you see opportunities in the regional markets with new markets opening up?
Our momentum in the region continues to be driven by the tremendous opportunity we see in markets such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Turkey. In line with this, through 2021, we adapted our go-to-market strategy to have a deeper engagement with key customers in these countries.

In addition, we doubled down on our commitment to the channel. Ghassan Abou Rjeily, Regional Channel and Alliances Manager, META, Riverbed has been working closely with our regional Value Add Distributors – Mindware, StarLink, and Crestan – to empower resellers and integrators to capitalise on opportunities in emerging markets.

According to you, which technologies will be in demand in 2022?
Insight into the top technologies for 2022 can be gleaned from the results of our recent Riverbed | Aternity Hybrid Work Global Survey 2021. In this region, UAE’s business decision-makers revealed that their top areas of technology investments over the next 12-18 months will be:

  • Better visibility of network and application performance (61%)
  • Investing in end-user experience and digital experience monitoring solutions (53%)
  • Investing in cybersecurity technology and software (47%)
  • Investing in the application or network acceleration solutions (46%)
  • Updating company-wide hybrid workplace strategies and policies (44%)
  • Increasing the use of cloud services and software as a service apps (31%)

What will be your key focus areas for 2022?
In recent years, owing to the increased network complexity and the need to ensure consistent, high-quality digital experiences for customers and employees, visibility has become increasingly important to organisations. Visibility provides insight into where performance and security problems exist, what they are, when they occurred, and why. This insight, in turn, informs action.

Recognising this, Riverbed has steadily pivoted its business towards visibility, and we are seeing significant momentum in this space. While performance optimisation remains a core strength of the Riverbed solution portfolio, today, visibility forms the largest part of our business with us realising double-digit growth in our visibility business in the most recent quarter. The total addressable market now represents a $20 billion opportunity for Riverbed and given our recent re-unification with Aternity, we are strongly positioned to capitalise on this.

Show More

Chris Fernando

Chris N. Fernando is an experienced media professional with over two decades of journalistic experience. He is the Editor of Arabian Reseller magazine, the authoritative guide to the regional IT industry. Follow him on Twitter (@chris508) and Instagram (@chris2508).

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button