Kinda Baydoun, Regional Channel and Alliances Manager – Middle East and CIS at Veeam tells Reseller ME in an exclusive interview, all about data protection and how vital channel partners are for growth and success.
Are you participating in GITEX Global 2022? If yes, what products and solutions will you be showcasing at the event?
Yes, Veeam will be participating this year at GITEX Global. We will use the event as a platform to share our company’s vision for the future of Modern Data Protection and deliver live demonstrations of Veeam Platform – the single platform for ALL workloads, whether Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS and Kubernetes environments. We will also look to engage and enter into high level discussions with our ecosystem of channel partners. Over the past year, Veeam has unveiled more than 30 product updates. Trade attendees visiting the Veeam stand at GITEX can expect to learn more about the following innovations among others:
- Veeam Backup & Replication v12 – Released as the most advanced data protection solution for Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS and Kubernetes workloads, Veeam Backup & Replication v11 has been downloaded by more than 850,000 users. The company has continued innovation and expansion of its expansive feature set with v12 by further hardening the capabilities customers need in today’s ever-changing IT ecosystem. The new version expands the ability to reduce business risk through improved data and systems security recoverability at scale.
- Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 v7 – As the Microsoft 365 backup market leader, with over 11M users under paid contract, the new version will include enterprise-grade monitoring and reporting capabilities as a result of integration with Veeam ONE, helping to keep systems and infrastructure running smoothly thanks to built-in intelligence.
- Veeam Backup for Salesforce – Following the success of its Microsoft 365 product, the company will provide a demo of Veeam Backup for Salesforce, a much sought-after addition to Veeam’s portfolio. With the ability to back up in the cloud and on-premises, the new offering eliminates the risk of losing Salesforce data and metadata.
- Kasten K10 v5.0 – the most complete enterprise data management solution to date purpose-built for Kubernetes. This latest release is focused on delivering a comprehensive risk management strategy, streamlined CI/CD pipelines and new ecosystem advancement details that optimise and de-risk Kubernetes investments. These advancements all aim to help the expanding Kubernetes community work more efficiently and securely in cloud native applications.
What are your expectations from the event this year?
Besides networking with customers, partners and industry peers, we will present our brand and position as a global leader in modern data protection. Veeam is the tied #1 provider worldwide during 2H’21 in IDC’s DR&P market. In the latest IDC Semi-annual Software Tracker, 2H’21, Veeam had the fastest revenue growth in the worldwide data replication and protection (DR&P) market among the top five vendors, all other vendors combined, and overall market average. In fact, Veeam’s YoY growth was more than double its nearest named top five competitors in the market. I can attribute much of our success to the relationships we have built and fostered at the event over the years and I expect GITEX 2022 to be no different. We expect to build a strong business pipeline by showcasing our innovations that will help customers drive business efficiency and agility, protect their data no matter where it resides, and ensure that they are well prepared for the next stage of digital transformation.
What will be your theme of participation at GITEX?
The theme of our participation will be around ‘Helping Organisations tackle Ransomware, Cloud and Kubernetes Challenges with Modern Data Protection’
How have your regional strategies changed in recent months?
The Middle East findings of Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2022 throws up some interesting statistics:
- 98% of UAE organisations and 97% of Saudi organisations experienced unexpected outages within the last 12 months.
- 86% of UAE organisations and 84% of Saudi organisations suffered ransomware attacks, making cyber-attacks one of the single biggest causes of downtime for the second consecutive year.
- 69% of UAE organisations and 76% of Saudi Arabian organisations are already running containers in production, while 29% and 22% respectively plan to do so in the next 12 months. There is a need for data protection to keep pace with the maturation of containers.
Veeam recognises these trends and our focus is on giving the region’s businesses the tools needed to protect the vital data and information upon which their businesses depend. We work very closely with our ProPartner ecosystem to ensure that we are helping them develop the right capabilities and offerings to meet the increasingly complex needs of the end-customer. We work with our partners in a collaborative, rather than prescriptive process that provides the ideal environment for mutual success. We will continue to expand our eco-system but on a soft segment basis so that each partner can find a real space where they can develop their activities. Customers will also be able to find any competency they’re looking for via our partner ecosystem that provides a rich variety of competencies.
At GITEX this year we will be announcing and promoting new partnerships, and onboarding new Veeam Accredited Service Partners (VASPs)and aggregators.
How important is channel for you and how do you enable channel partners to work with you?
We attribute a great deal of our success to our channel partners. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is big focus for Veeam this year, especially with the new release which provides our Microsoft 365 customers with more control and effortless recovery. That being said, we are running many initiatives with our partners, service providers, distributors and aggregators around this solution. The initiatives include hands-on training, round tables and very attractive promotions. In addition to this, we are also planning multiple initiatives within our channel ecosystem that includes our strategic alliance partners and Veeam Accredited Service Providers (VASPs). As an example, Veeam is the one of the major ISV sponsors for the Microsoft Datacenter launch event in Qatar, which is a very strategic event that will change the dynamics of the Cloud landscape in the entire Middle East region. This is key for spreading more awareness about the Veeam portfolio, especially within the enterprise segment. We can feel a great response from our partners from across all the Middle East countries – in particular, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Qatar, where we see huge potential in the Data Protection market and we are witnessing the fastest growth.
What is the advice that you would like to give to the channel community at GITEX?
A key area that needs attention from partners is the ability to build specific skills and knowledge around technology domains that are in line with today’s digital transformation imperatives. We see that most of our partners are still adopting the traditional model, which is being a one-stop shop for all vendors. This model is no longer viable, as customers are looking for experts and advisors. Considering the huge potential in this region, partners need to invest in their staff and decide on the big bets that will ensure their company’s survival and future growth.
