ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
We use distributors to try and recruit
these people but we are not sitting behind
the distributor. My people, my sales
engineers, are going to develop the system
integrators, the value added resellers and
the MSPs. We are engaging with them to
train them.
Are there any countries in which
Linksys is particularly strong?
In this region (Middle East) Linksys has got
between 40% and 50% of market share.
We are the largest networking company
in the region if you combine the consumer
and SMB markets. In some of the product
categories we have got the market share.
We are very strong in the UAE, KSA
and the rest of the Gulf. There are areas of
growth in places like Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan
and Kuwait.
with basic product presentation and then we also spend time talking
about the hands-on training of these products. We actually do a
demo and we give multiple products to the participating team. They
are doing the implementation and installing and getting a good feel of
the product.
What we also do is live scenarios. Recently we took Starbucks as
an example saying ‘we have got 50 coffee shops and I want you to
provide Wi-Fi solutions.’ So we ask our partners ‘how would you go
about selling your WiFi solution to them?’. This is so they understand
what their scalable needs are and what they want to do in the next
few years. This means they are understanding their requirements and
proposing the solution.
Then we take our partners into the implementation part of it.
We run through the whole exercise so at the end of the training
they have experience right from understanding the customer needs,
asking the right questions to understanding what their current
needs and future needs are, as well as understanding their business
and making recommendations.
So they are designing the solution, proposing the solution and
implementing the solution. At the end of the training they know what
the solution would look like and how you would sell that solution.
Do you use System Integrators?
Yes. We sell our products through distributors like Ingram Micro and
Logicom. They then sell to system integrators, value added resellers
and MSPs.
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
Issue 20
LinkSys works
with four different
channels: traditional
and online retail,
reseller, system
integrator and
service provider.
What have the main growth areas
been over the last couple of years
for your business?
In SMBs and the mid-market we have
been growing much faster than the actual
market growth. We launched a gaming
router. Before we launched this there were
a lot of routers in the market which were
branded as gaming without offering any
real benefit to the gamers, so we launched
something which was purpose built for
gamers. This is one area where we have
been pretty strong.
Do you operate the gaming
side of the business through
channel partners?
Absolutely, there are two things we
do with any new product. There are
specialised stores that are focused on
providing gaming equipment to the
gamers. There is a big gaming community
now. These guys have a lot of money to
spend and they are geeks. They know
exactly what they want. Those specialised
gaming channels is where we focus to drive
our gaming router business.
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