At a gala awards ceremony held at the Fairmont Hotel, Palm Jumeirah in Dubai and attended by more than 100 delegates, Cisco presented awards to its top performing Tier-2 channel partners from the UAE, Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen in recognition of their outstanding performance in 2016 across 14 categories.
“Our theme for the partner event was focused around digital transformation, which we believe presents a high value opportunity for our Tier-2 channel partners now and in the years ahead. Cisco’s channel partners can leverage our leading technology solutions from an expansive portfolio to build their role as trusted advisers for enterprises looking at transforming themselves to be able to truly embrace and benefit from digitisation,” explained Shukri Eid, Managing Director – East Region, Cisco Middle East, during the event.
“At Cisco, we believe that great relationships produce great results and this is why we are committed to supporting our partners as they form an integral part of our strategy and growth. We take great pride in celebrating the channel partners who continuously innovate and outperform their peers in meeting their business and sales goals, as well as meeting Cisco’s performance targets,” he added.
The top performing Cisco Tier-2 Channel Partners for 2016 are:
1. UAE Partner of the Year: Intertec Systems
2. Oman Partner of the Year: National Telephone Services Company
3. Pakistan Partner of the Year: Commtel
4. Vertical Partner of the Year: EMW
5. Emerging Partner of the Year: ISYX Technologies
6. Services Partner of the Year: Bios ME
7. Public Sector Partner of the Year: DarkMatter
8. Enterprise Partner of the Year: Smartworld
9. Commercial Partner of the Year: Intertec Systems
10. Small Business Partner of the Year: New Trend Computer Networks
11. Data Centre Partner of the Year: DarkMatter
12. Security Partner of the Year: Help AG
13. Collaboration Partner of the Year: Genome Technology Consultants
14. Enterprise Networking Partner of the Year: Omnix International
“Channel partners in the region are being increasingly challenged to not just meet technology milestones but also to deliver on business outcomes for their key enterprise customers as they jointly transform themselves for the realities of tomorrow. Cisco’s annual partner awards is a consolidation of the top Tier-2 partners who are able to meet both the challenges of reskilling themselves in a short window of opportunity and delivering solutions successfully for their key customers,” commented Frida Kleimert, Channel Lead – East Region, Cisco Middle East, in her address to Tier-2 partners during the event.
“We believe that in the digital era, partners will need to specialise to stay ahead and differentiate themselves. It is going to come down to how they identify in their marketplace, through unique vertical and technology skills, and the specific value they can bring to customers. We understand that our partners’ success is critical to our success and that is why we at Cisco invest heavily in the programmes and services that support them,” she continued.
One of the highlights of the Tier-2 partner event was the keynote delivered by Mukta Arora, Group CIO at Aster Healthcare, who spoke on ‘Digital Transformation and the Opportunity Ahead’ and what, from a CIO’s perspective, is required by the partners to adopt this journey. In addition, the event included demonstrations by both Cisco and Cisco distributors across platforms which included:
• Comstor demonstrated Cisco end-to-end Security Solutions using dCloud demos
• Logicom demonstrated Cisco Collaboration Solutions
• Imagicle, an Ecosystem partner, demonstrated Imagicle’s integration with Cisco Collaboration
• Aptec Ingram demonstrated Cisco Wireless and Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX) Solutions
• At the Cisco booth, a demonstration of Cisco Hyperflex Solutions and an opportunity to ‘Ask the Expert.’
Supported by key sponsors Aptec, Logicom and Comstor, the Cisco East Region Tier-2 Partner Event 2017 brought together key channel partners from around the region to celebrate their go-to-market success and chart out future digital and smart solution strategies. Through this summit, partners were updated on the latest transformational technologies and received a detailed road map of Cisco’s digital and smart solution strategy for accelerating profitable growth. The event underscored the power of working together in the Partner Ecosystem, and provided an opportunity for the partners to engage with Cisco executives and network with their peers.