Dubai calling: GITEX 2017 and Gurtam Partner Conference

October begins with GITEX 2017 – the most significant industry event for telematics in the Middle East. And Gurtam lights up in anticipation of the Technology Week and the Partner Conference for MEA companies. Read the article to know why you shouldn’t have missed the event. 

The Conference. 11 hours of inspiration

The previous year was a success. In 2017, Gurtam Partner Conference was held in a top-class Fairmont hotel… 33rd floor overlooking the Persian Gulf and endless beaches of Dubai. 35 partners from all over the region to discuss Gurtam plans and community news. This year, the UAE, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait were represented by key industry players using solutions by Gurtam.

Traditionally, Aliaksei Shchurko delivered an opening speech to set the tone for the event and create a working, though informal environment so that partners could generate new ideas and share experience.

The Business Development Director for the Middle East Alexander Smirnov picked up the slack and the microphone to speak about our successes and share the plans for 2018 in the region with ever-growing Gurtam presence. With Lebanon and Bahrain joining the community in 2017, the geography of Wialon solutions has extended to 13 countries here, and we are not yet planning to stop.

New products – the topic raising great interest among the partners. Nishad Kaippally announced NimBus as the most anticipated solution for passenger transportation tracking just recently supplemented with the proprietary API. Also, Nishad referred to the novelties in Logistics (that has also been updated to v.2.2 since then) showing how to cut costs on delivery and encourage customer loyalty. Last but not least the new video telematics solutions in Wialon won most of the acclaim when presented in combination with the “Passengers” module and demonstrated with several MDVRs.

The first part of the conference ended with a discussion of Wialon strengths and areas for advancements. Technical issues provoked lively debates for the participants to share their best ideas. Now we have much information to analyze and implement in practice.

The after-lunch session started with an interview with the visiting guest – Elie Aad from Sigfox Middle East – performed by Olga Filonchuk, the International Sales Direсtor at Gurtam. The opportunities for LPWAN network deployment has become such a hot topic that we decided to cover it in details on our blog.

The conference wouldn’t have been complete without success stories by our partners: 

• Traklink from Jordan presented security staffs monitoring case
• Integrated Solutions from Iraq delivered a presentation about waste management control
• Hamed Kazemi from GGRCO discussed personal tracking issues
• The UAE-based Sicuro Group focused on the satellite monitoring in hot spots

To continue the topic of “Wialon in practice” Alexander Smirnov, Anna Anistratova, Olga Filonchuk, and Nishad Kaippally presented 10 case stories from across the globe, including railway monitoring, school bus tracking, and concrete transportation control.

“I can say it for sure that the format proved to be of maximum advantage for system integrators. Case stories evoke new ideas and spread the spirit of cooperation,” says Alexander Smirnov. By the way, all the presentations are available for the participants at my.gurtam.com.

The official part of the event ended with a “play-and-learn” workshop on sales practices. All the participants were suggested to think over satellite tracking services to be implemented for cow-tracking. And there were 20 solutions in the end, including the udder filling sensor! Delighted and amused we headed to the dinner.

“Every partner noted the well-targeted and insightful agenda, the aura of commitment, and practice-oriented approaches. We thank everyone for helping us to make the conference happen,” adds Alexander. 

GITEX 2017. At the forefront of a digital ecosystem

Although the conference was over, GITEX 2017 was still coming, and it was impressive! 147 000 visitors from 97 countries came to learn more about digital innovations and “re-imagining realities” (being the core topic of the event). With so many visitors, we had an impression that not less than a half of them were hanging out at the Gurtam booth – the traffic wouldn’t get down until the last hour.

“Again, GITEX proved to be productive. We held about 40 partner meetings to discuss our problems, joys, projects, and plans. Traditionally, we devote most of our time to partner communication, which is important. Our booth was visited by Traklink, Integrated Solutions, GGRCO,” told Alexander Smirnov.

NimBus – our new solution for passenger transportation tracking was also demonstrated at our booth, as well the innovative flespi platform presented by Chief Gurtam Architect Aliaksei Shchurko. 

BCE, Ruptela, RCS, Gosafe, Meitrack, Concox, SysTech – Gurtam hardware partners were always near so that our clients could get the integrated satellite monitoring solution. Thanks to the special hardware manufacturers map both Gurtam and our technology partners were easy to find.   

The conference is over, as well as GITEX. We can be sure of one thing – our partners provide the most valuable insights into the business specifics of the region, and we are thankful for that. Still, if you have any sound ideas and suggestions, contact your personal manager or publish them on our forum. 

Want to see it with your own eyes? Find more photos on Facebook! 

See you in Dubai. Anytime!