How do you segregate and differentiate your customers with AOC and Philips, as both brands cater to the same industry?

Both AOC and Philips monitor brand comes with a very exciting and futuristic model line-up to cater to the various need of all customers.

For Enterprise customers, AOC comes with E Line, P Line, and U line to fulfill the requirements.

For Individual customers, the T line (Stylish), V Line (Mid-level), and B Line (Entry Level) are available to meet the demands of the customers across all the segments.

Similarly, Philips monitor models are also segregated into B Line and E line for B2B and B2C customers respectively.

AOC brand connects more with young, stylish, casual & gaming consumers while the Philips brand stands for design, safety, security, caring, and responsibility.

AOC Gaming and its professional gaming brand, has been the No. 1 gaming brand for three consecutive years (Source: IDC)

Speak about the latest products of AOC/Philips for the enterprise and individual customers 

Carol Anne Dias, Regional Sales Director – MEA at TPV Technology.

AOC launched 15.6” portable monitor 16T2 with FHD IPS touch panel with battery and smart cover for and on-the-move customers.

AOC Q32V3S/WS is available for customers looking for big size, high resolution with stylish design.

AOC U27U2DP will be launched with features like Nano IPS black, USB-C docking with charging capability, and 4K resolution.

Philips Touch series 162B9T (15.6”), 222B9T (21.5”), and 242B9T (23.8”) had got a very good response in the Middle East region. This series comes with 10-point touch, water and dust resistance, VGA, HDMI, DP, DVI, USB connectivity, speakers, and a smart stand.

Philips V8 line up of white color models in 22”, 24” and 27” are stealing the show with our retailers.

Recently, webcams with Type-C models 24E1N5300HE and 27E1N5600HE are launched in Philips to cater to the growing demand for hybrid working.

Discuss the signature features and newest technologies associated with display products.

Monitor has now evolved as a product that adds value to the user experience.

New panel technologies of OLED, Mini-LED, and Nano IPS along with high refresh rates of up to 360Hz and high resolution of up to 5K gives the customer a near real-life experience on the screen.

New features like Thunderbolt and USB-C with charging feature makes your desk free from multiple cables.

The versatile design of the monitors not only takes very less of your desk space but also looks elegant.

Wide color Gamut, IPS black, and Adobe RGB solutions in a monitor produce an array of colors for true picture quality.

Philips had been a front runner in launching monitors with EPD ( E-ink tech), Anti-bacterial painting, Ergo-sensor, Thunderbolt4 connection.

What are the future technologies that we can expect in Philips monitor ?

Customers will see new models with a wide color gamut, IPS black, and Adobe RGB solutions in a monitor produce an array of colors for true picture quality. They will also experience models with video conferencing solutions with 5M or 8M webcams, and microphones with noise cancellation. USB Type-C Solutions with USB-C docking for professionals, display links for the mainstream, and normal USB 2.0/3.0 hubs for entry-level customers are now available.

TPV technology gulf is planning to launch new panel technologies of OLED, Mini LED, and HDR for the best viewing experience.

Ultrawide monitor and super ultrawide monitor with 21:9 and 32:10 aspect ratios will be made available for customers who are looking for more productivity.

How well did you persuade customers with your unique products at Seamless Middle East 2022?

At Seamless, we have been able to highlight Geidea at a very large scale and received an overwhelming response. We have well highlighted the value of Geidea to all our customers including merchants, banks, and other fintech companies.

Speak about the businesses that you have interacted with and the industry verticals Geidea would be focusing on in the upcoming years.

We want to focus on all Industry verticals – retail, F&B, utilities government and B2B business. We want to play a very large role in the supply chain management business as well. We see a large role of Geidea in converting cash to card and specifically in supply chain management business, We wish to replace that with a corporate purchasing card (card on file) and Geidea being the transaction acquirer.

Sailesh Malhotra – General Manager – GCC – Geidea

How do you deal with the competition and what edge ahead Geidea has against its competitors?

We would not focus too much on the competition but values we deliver. Our value proposition is very strong and simple – make payments easier at a cheaper cost by bringing the best technology to both the smallest and largest merchant in the market.

What about Geidea’s collaborations with financial organizations, mainly banks in the region?

One of the notable bank partnership has been with the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). It has a fintech spinoff by the name of Magnati and we have signed up with them as a PSP. We have a few more partnership conversations going on in the region in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman for similar arrangements across multiple products. We will announce these shortly.

Tell us about the expansion plans you have in the middle east region

We want to go pan MENA. However, the selection of countries will be based on regulatory and technology availability / requirement. As of now, our focus is on the established markets, i.e., Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia – we are doing phenomenally well in Saudi.

Do you collect user data as part of the business? If so, where do you keep it and handle it?

We collect information and follow all the standard requirements of Central Banks in the country of operation. We are very rigid and maniacal about following regulatory requirements and ensuring all customer data is well protected. We have our own data centers are these are closely monitored by our team. We follow and ensure all payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) are followed and we stay compliant.

Omega Software is a leading worldwide Point of Sale company providing Information Technology solutions for the Hospitality and Retail industries. Samer EL Deek, Managing Director at Omega Software UAE elaborates on trends in retail and opportunities for software providers in the fast growth segments

With the retail segment booming in the UAE and the GCC, do you see the prospect for POS solutions as a good opportunity for solution providers? 

Retail sales reached $5.4 billion (AED19.9 Bn) last year and will likely see a 7.7% expansion this year, according to an analysis by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and industry. Dubai’s retail market is set to surpass $52Bn (AED 191 Bn) sales by 2020. Definitely this expectation creates a big opportunity for us as software providers.

Despite all what is going on regionally, the GCC in general and UAE in particular remain the best markets to invest in especially on the level of technology and software sectors. We are witnessing a big expansion in the retail market and tourism sector. Surely it is an opportunity not to miss and Omega Software has solutions that are addressing some core requirements of these growth areas. We are working hard to seize all the opportunities possible.

Comment on your retail management solution ‘O market’ – discuss its scalability features and the inroads it has made in the region’s market?

Our retail management solution ‘O-market’ is a robust and stable solution which are a must for any successful retailer. It has all the features needed supporting pos and back office operations. Plus, it supports 8 main languages (including English, Arabic, French etc) and therefore is a helpful tool for the foreign staff who are working in this region. It is quite user friendly, enabling faster transactions and offering much more including powerful theft control which improve operational efficiency and margins for the retailer.

You have solutions for retail management, hotels and call centres – elaborate are they further customized for different customer types?

Omega Software has a large range of solutions that cover f&b, retail and hotels sectors. We have the O-Live for f&b, O-Market for retail sector and O-tel for the hotels sector.

Under these three categories, there are an additional solutions to empower  any business’ operation like call center for delivery, corporate communication for connecting the head-office to its multiple branches, pos mobile, reservation software, catering, inventory, merits the card less loyalty mobile app, accounting software and others.

Discuss the adoption of Mobile PoS in this market and your solutions for Mobile interface?

It is a fact with the need of advanced sales techniques, any business owner tends to increase his margins by reaching closer to his customers and by faster ways. PoS mobile allows this target to be achieved.

In the restaurant industry, every second counts. With our PoS mobile, you can speed up your service, eliminate inefficiency and free your valuable time to concentrate on your customers. It is a genuine way to increase your sales.

What does O-live focus on as a solution? Is this meant only for the restaurant/hotel segment? 

O-Live solution is focused for any f&b business like restaurants, cafeterias, night clubs, delivery outlets.

It consists of 3 modules: friendly point of sale, advanced back office and easy inventory management. Also, it is integrated with a smart accounting solution O-Impact and/or O-Tel solution for an easy management and consolidation of financial bills.

O-Live solution is the only system that offers mobility, delivery, loyalty and much more in one powerful POS. It is everything a business owner needs for his successful restaurant whether he serves dine-in, takeaway, delivery orders and any customized revenue centers.

Does O-Tel primarily target mostly room reservations and tickets sales for theme parks/event etc?

In fact, our O-Tel solution targets medium-sized hotels, motels and hotel apartments sectors. With our O-Tel, you can manage reservations and guest information smoothly, organize your daily tasks efficiently, monitor business performance, book more revenue and save both time and money. It is completely customizable to fit your business, whether for group or individual reservations, room management, multi-currencies settlement and bill printouts, hotel status by room, room rates and much more features. Further, with integrated solution O-Live and O-market, you can do ticket sales to various type like parks, events or theater.

As a software provider, do your solutions integrate easily with different hardware from windows to Linux interfaces and android to iOS?

Our software is implemented in any windows based hardware like Window 7 to Windows 10. Our mobility solution is only integrated with iOS like ipads and mini ipads.

Do you work with channel partners for increasing market inroads?

Inspired by our owner’s culture, we thrive to be loyal towards our suppliers and business partners, knowing that our solutions can be implemented in any hardware model from PoS touch screen to desktops and laptops. We have gained our trust in the market based on that fact.

For that reason, our partner channels and we work hand by hand to serve our customers in the best way. As our company motto reflects “we make software easy to use so you can focus on your business”, we cannot do it without carefully choose reliable channel partners.