Arabian Reseller caught up with Ekta Puthran, the MEA Lead for Collaboration at Barco, at Vibe Dubai, to speak about the future of workspaces
Can you tell us about your partnership with AVI SPL?
So, AVI SPL is one of the top global strategic resellers and system integrators we work with. We have been associating with them for years now. The reason we prefer working with them is that they are very structured in terms of their go-to-market strategy and they have global and regional accounts they work with. They also have a very regional focus and their ideology revolves around customer satisfaction.
AVI SPL is also a Gold Partner in the region and we’ve been associating with them for quite some time now. And right now, our biggest focus with them is the focus around collaboration, hybrid collaboration, smart meeting workspace, and so on. We also work with them on how meeting rooms are set up in the modern workspace.
Tell us about your participation in the Vibe Dubai event.
Our participation at the Vibe Dubai event is to highlight our partnership with system integrators. We are also sponsoring this event because we believe in their go-to-market strategy and the relationship we have with them. And most importantly, we believe in the whole ideology of modern workspace. We work with system integrators such as AVI SPL to provide agnostic solutions.
So it’s a complete hybrid collaboration solution we are offering. Today, if you speak about meeting room technology, there are two types – one is for presentations, and the other one is for conferencing and collaboration. The presentation can happen through a hardwire. However, if you are looking for a smart collaboration solution, it should be all about convenience.
In a hybrid collaboration room for conferencing, we give complete flexibility to our customers to walk inside the meeting room with any laptop, soft client, and peripherals such as a camera, microphone, speaker, and so on. Our solution Clickshare, helps you bridge everything just through a click of a button or through the application. So, you end up with a meeting room experience without any limitations.
In terms of your strategies for the regional market, how do you work with your partners in terms of identifying what your customers require?
The biggest decisions for any business take place in the meeting room. That’s our focus. It does not matter if it is an SME, a startup, or even a business conglomerate. However, due to the pandemic, face-to-face meetings declined, and everyone moved to online meetings.
Thus, we saw more demand for video conferencing solutions. Today, people get onto a video conference at least 5 to 6 times a week. When you get on a conference call, the first 10 minutes are spent on solving connectivity issues. As Barco, we try and eliminate that, by providing a seamless collaboration and wireless conferencing solution. So the go-to-market strategy we work with is for our partners to identify what the customers want and not try and sell what we want to sell.
So, it’s all about educating the customers as to what the future is. Ten years ago, when nobody even thought about wireless presentations, we launched a wireless conferencing solution. That came in handy, during the pandemic period. As a company, we follow the future trend. So right now, our major focus is on educating the customers about what the futuristic meeting room is going to be like.
Our key focus is to give a completely flexible and agnostic solution. Bring whatever laptop you use or any conferencing device, and we’ve got you covered. No wires on the table, no tablet on the table, and a clean table with a modern futuristic workspace. That’s what we have to offer.
