Outlook 2021: “2020 Showed Everyone the Need for Digital Transformation”

For Arabian Reseller Magazine, Editor Chris N. Fernando spoke to Mario M. Veljovic, the General Manager of VAD Technologies, about the challenges faced in 2020 and the opportunities to look out for, in 2021.
Here you can read the full Interview:

How was 2020 for the industry and your company?
2020 was a big learning for us – as individuals, as well as an organisation. Considering the challenges, we suddenly got confronted with, I must say we have done a great job ensuring partners kept supported without any disruption.
In fact, we’ve been extending great financial support to our partners to not suffer any additional burden. Furthermore, many of our vendors offered their products and solutions as highly discounted NFRs or entirely for free to support partners stay productive. After all, IT is the least effective industry during this pandemic and we all should feel positive about this.
 
What sort of opportunities did 2020 bring along?
2020 showed everyone the need for digital transformation and that’s not just a crazy idea. Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is the glue that helped to keep it all together during the pandemic and made it less painful.
 
Did you face any challenges in 2020?
Every day we got challenged in 2020, but with that, we achieved a completely new level of efficiency. Everyone in the team, put more efforts and time into our business than ever before to overcome whatever challenge showed up.
 
What were your key achievements in 2020?
All key business parameters kept showing healthy results with our cloudification approach showing the greatest responses, by more and more partner joining us on the journey.
 
What promises does 2021 bring along?
Predictions are still difficult. But personally, I am positive about this year, as we have a great line up of products and solutions that are in big demand to support the needed digital transformation of businesses in the region.
 
Do you see opportunities in the regional markets with new markets opening up?
We do not see any immediate opportunities with new markets opening up, but probably see the UAE cementing its positions as the regional business hub.
 
According to you, which technologies will be in demand in 2021?
Everything that’s flexible, scalable, and as a service will be in big demand because businesses will still carefully evaluate the pace at the markets will recover.
 
What will be your key focus areas for 2021?
We always been a pioneer and innovator and accordingly been ahead of the market in scouting new disruptive products and solutions that will help businesses to reduce TCO and achieve fast ROI. We will continue this mission.
 
What milestones have you set for 2021?
We are not obsessed with touting big revenue growth goals, rather than ensuring we stay a reliable business partner for our vendors and resellers. We will add vendors when needed and when it blends well with our existing product portfolio.
 
What would you like to do differently in 2021, when compared with 2020?
Nothing different really, but rather continue to explore new and effective ways to communicate with our channel ecosystem even better. In the absence of events and social gatherings, we need to find new ways to have unplanned encounters and accidental meetings with people that are not on the target list or in the business pipeline.
 
Do you plan to enter new markets or add new products/applications to your portfolio in 2021?
As mentioned above, we will add vendors when needed and when it blends well with our existing product portfolio.
 
The Interview was published by ArabianReseller & FutureTech Magazines and can be found online here:
http://www.arabianreseller.com/2021/02/09/outlook-2021-2020-showed-everyone-the-need-for-digital-transformation/
https://futuretechmag.com/outlook-2021-2020-showed-everyone-the-need-for-digital-transformation/
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