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DUBAI - Danish company GN Netcom, the maker of Jabra brand headsets for mobile phones and offices, is making a major investment in its resources in the Middle East and Africa region, or MEA, following a significantly high growth in business in the region.
- PUBLISHED: Sat 31 Dec 2011, 11:13 PM UPDATED: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 4:04 AM
- By:
- A Correspondent (INTERVIEW)
“The growth in the Middle East and Africa has been significantly higher than our global growth of 19 per cent and our revenue in the MEA region has tripled over the last four years. We are market leaders in MEA,” Mogens Elsberg, president and chief executive officer of GN Netcom, said in an interview with Khaleej Times.
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“We believe that we are doing business in a market that is full of opportunity and has very aware consumers that demand only the best quality and after sales support,” he added. Excerpts from the interview:
What is your background and what are your products?
Jabra is a world leader in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of a broad range of hands-free communications solutions. With a reputation for innovation, reliability, and ease of use that goes back more than two decades, Jabra’s consumer and business divisions produce corded and wireless headsets, plus mobile and in-office speakerphones that promote productivity through freedom of movement, comfort, and functionality.
What are Jabra’s primary target markets?
Globally, we are the market leader in Europe, Middle East and Africa, we are number two in North America, and we are number one or two in Asia. These are the areas we focus on. We have more than 120 offices all around the world — Australia, Asia, the US, all European countries and Middle East and Africa. We do business in more than 50 countries around the world through distributors and partners, we are truly a global company.
What are the facilities and product back-ups offered by Jabra to its customers in the Middle East?
Jabra is a clear-cut leader in its field and in the Middle East we are fully committed to supporting our customers with a warrantee programme and after-sales support points in each market we are present in through our channel partners who are closer to the consumers of the Middle East and are able to support them best.
What is your market share and revenues, especially in the region?
I can safely say we are averaging a 35 per cent share across our brand in the region between our consumer business and our enterprise business. I can confidently state that our revenue in the MEA region has tripled over the last four years.
What are your expansion plans in the Middle East region, especially in the Gulf?
We are constantly evaluating our plans and direction, and have a very aggressive and clear strategy to grow further not only the markets we are operating in such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc, but also to invest in new opportunity markets all being led out of the MEA hub which we have based in Dubai due to its central location and excellent logistics and airport hub facilities.
How have your products been received in the UAE?
Very, very well. We have been growing our share in both customers and distribution outlets in addition to the corporate space where Jabra is very active in partnering with strategic alliances such as Microsoft/Cisco and Avaya.
How have mobile accessories evolved through the years? At what point are we in now?
The first technology driving demand to mobile accessories is wireless where people use their smart phone without having to hold them against their ears. That is one trend. The other one is the fact that more people use their phones for music, so they listen to music while they’re texting or maybe writing emails or so. That is another trend driving demand for the need for stereo headset to listen to music on the phone.
In your opinion, what is driving demand in the region?
We started 10 years ago in this region, and we are still capturing market share from the region. There is no doubt that a lot of mobile phones have been sold in the region, and also there is the smart phone being very popular in the region and that drives demand for our headsets. The other thing that is driving demand for our business is on the B2B side. The traditional call centres being operated out of the region, from Egypt as an example, offer an opportunity for us to drive business. Another thing is the unified communication, or UC, technology. A traditional office professional working in office uses a lot of ways of communicating with his colleagues and the outside world. UC brings all these user experiences into one. I can choose which way I want to communicate with my team, my partners or anyone outside the company. These trends are driving demand for our business.
Is UC is being used in the region?
Yes, this trend is everywhere. We started deploying with our strategic allies like Cisco and Microsoft and governmental institution like Ministry of Health. Etisalat is deploying the product from Microsoft called Microsoft Lync. UC is becoming the new way of working in the Gulf countries. The fast communication is offering to the employees, most of them travelling within the Gulf, a new way of increasing productivity. So we see high adoption more specifically in the GCC.
How do Jabra products adapt to UC solutions?
Companies like Microsoft, Avaya, Cisco and alike are building these Unified Communication solutions. We need to make sure that our headsets solutions are optimised and certified for their solutions. Quality of the audio is critically important.
What makes Jabra products unique from the rest of the field, considering the stiff competition?
Several things set us apart from the competition. The quality of the audio has to be excellent. We have what we call “Noise Blackout” so when you talk on your headset, you actually exclude the noise from the background. Lately, we are using this technology to reduce noise on the headphones in the airplane. Our products have to be intuitive and easy to use with a focus on the design and wearing comfort.
How do you tailor your products to a certain local market and make them appealing to all groups?
Having a local presence and a strong team across MEA we are constantly evaluating and understanding the region’s needs. An example is Jabra Clipper. We had identified that the customers in the MEA region specifically in the Gulf markets were very specific in their need of a Bluetooth headset with a mono corded headset — this was created and marketed using local inputs and customer insights. Once we developed it for the region, it actually started selling in Europe. So there is an interesting interaction on what the local region can come up with and feedback into Europe.
Are there new products soon?
Jabra recently unveiled the Jabra Supreme, the first non-stereo headset to incorporate Active Noise Cancellation to block out noisy environments for the user wearing the headset. Also just released, the Jabra Sport, the Bluetooth stereo product, makes it possible for exercisers to listen to music and take calls during workouts.