Wialon at GITEX Global 2021: overview

The Middle East is a lucky region to have a major tech exposition held both in 2020 and 2021 despite the coronavirus-related restrictions. GITEX Global 2021, the largest and most influential trade show of the region, achieved the pre-pandemic levels of attendance, and we were happy to be part of it once again.

In this article, you will learn about the show, explore the latest regional trends, and find out the key to business growth.

The fair of technology and innovations

In 2021, the array of the industries presented at the show included IoT, smart cities, 5G, cloud computing, security, and many more. GITEX welcomed 3,500 exhibitors from 140 countries, which makes it a truly global tech fair.

Wialon expo booth at GITEX Global 2021

Gurtam came back to this grand event as a Wialon team of 9 members. Considering the current travelling restrictions, it was a pleasure to see so many partners from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and many other countries – 43 in total. We appreciate every single visit of the telematics service providers and hardware manufacturers who took their time to come to our booth and share their experiences and valuable insights.

Karina Lukjanova,
Lead Business Development Manager (MENA), Wialon

“We talked about our partners’ requirements, local market situation, and pondered on how we could assist the community with their projects and growth. We also discussed how the market has been recovering after the pandemic, and what measures have been taken to bring businesses back. I am extremely thankful to our partners openly sharing their knowledge and feedback. This helps us develop Wialon in the right direction.” 

News from the region

How was Wialon doing in MENA in 2021?

Despite all the difficulties, the Middle East is relentlessly developing. Local Wialon partners managed to adapt to the hard, unstable conditions of the past two years, and even increased the number of connected units. It is here that we reached an important milestone in 2021: Advance Telematics Solutions, a company from the UAE, connected the 2,800,000th unit.

Karina Lukjanova, Lead Business Development Manager (MENA), is holding a meeting with a Wialon partner

Companies from the MENA region worked hard in 2021. As a result, three of them made it to the Wialon TOP 50 Global rating: Location Solutions from UAE; Amanah Teknologia from Kuwait; Integrated Solutions from Iraq.

Our local partners implemented many creative and effective Wialon-based projects. One of them, Digital transformation of supply chain and fleet management by Cloud Services Group from Egypt, participated in the IoT project of the year 2021 contest and won in the nomination “Construction and demolition.” Much effort brings much success. Congratulations!

The latest MENA telematics market trends

The MENA market has adapted to the new reality, and the demand for telematics services has increased again: the pre-pandemic industries have been optimized or reactivated, and new niches have been emerging rapidly.

Business areas, in which telematics can thrive, depend on the country but we can point out several general regional trends.

Here is a list of business areas with a high capacity for growth in the MENA region:

• Construction. Believe it or not, 30% of all the cranes existing in the world are located in the UAE only. The scale impresses and provides a great opportunity for implementing projects for construction companies.

• Delivery and logistics. All businesses related to e-commerce and delivery of goods have become and continue to be in high demand. Our partners have the Logistics functionality of Wialon at their disposal to make their solutions more effective and handy for the end-users.

• E-toll payment. Electronic toll collection systems are being implemented in the region to tackle, among others, the problem of heavily overloaded roads in the cities. This is a promising business area as end-users will definitely need solutions to make their payment process simple and reliable.

• Car rentals, including the luxury segment. Although with restrictions, travelling comes back to life, and car rental services can benefit from using telematics solutions for fleet management, billing, claim management, and car theft prevention.

• Healthcare. All businesses related to health are a fertile ground for growth. IoT is used for transmitting vast amounts of health-related data, tracking the spreading of infections, and monitoring patients remotely, to name a few.

• Security and video monitoring. Today, this market requires much more than just basic GPS tracking. Video monitoring is becoming a must for ensuring security, and the upgraded Wialon’s video module can be of great help for telematics service providers involved in this sector.

>> Learn more about current telematics and IoT trends from presentations by the Telematics Dubai 2021 speakers

Shah Zain Rashid Ahmed,
Business Development Manager (MENA), Wialon

“COVID-19 has affected and still continues to affect businesses across the region. Nevertheless, the telematics market is growing at a steady pace. For example, in the UAE, the infrastructure and economic projects developed over the last 10-15 years in different industries have increased demand for IoT solutions. The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council also demonstrate a trend of becoming huge telematics markets.”

Valery Zinkevich,
VP of Business Development (MENA), Wialon

“The pandemic situation has provided an understanding that borders can be easily crossed in the era of online business, and created favorable conditions for local companies going international and international companies entering this region.”

Treasuring the community spirit

Despite all today’s options for talking remotely, nothing will replace face-to-face meetings. In 2021, GITEX Global was one of the few in-person events where we could meet with the partners and talk about their achievements and concerns.

“Our growth wouldn’t be possible without two crucial elements: Wialon and the community. We were working as a team, and I want to thank everyone for our common results. And it is truly great when our partners are sharing their knowledge with the community. Education is the key. I sincerely believe that we should invest more time in sharing our global experience with the Wialon partners,” thinks Valery Zinkevich.

Meetings at the exhibitions are beneficial in many ways: they unite, clarify, educate

One day before GITEX Global, Gurtam held a live reunion for Wialon partners from the Middle East and North Africa – the fifth Telematics Dubai conference – to reboot their telematics expertise and feel the power of the Wialon community. You can find the key takeaways from Telematics Dubai 2021 on our blog.

See you this year!

The Wialon team was happy to attend the GITEX Global exhibition, tune into its atmosphere, and get inspiration for the year 2022. Meeting with the existing and potential Wialon partners, and hardware manufacturers helped us understand their needs better and think of the ways we can be of help and provide a stronger presence of the Wialon community in the Middle East and North African region.

This October, we will participate in GITEX Global 2022 with an IoT zone uniting top telematics players under the Wialon umbrella. One day before the show, we will host Telematics Dubai for a day of valuable insights, exchange of experience, and networking. We look forward to meeting you in Dubai!

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