Interview: Georges Tannous, Area Vice President of Sales in the UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa, Genetec

In an exclusive interview with a&s Middle East Georges Tannous of Genetec shares insights into the transformative impact of cutting-edge security solutions in Saudi Arabia’s development and plans for the future

E-mail:   editorial@asmideast.com

a&s Middle East: Good day, Mr. Tannous. Thank you for joining us today. To start, could you introduce yourself and provide an overview of Genetec’s presence and experience in the Middle East?

Tannous: Certainly. My name is Georges Tannous, Vice President of Sales UK Ireland Middle East Africa for Genetec. We are at Intersec Saudi Arabia. Genetec has been participating in this show for several years now. We’ve been in the Middle East for close to 20 years. We have some of the largest references across the Middle East, Africa, and in fact globally, and we work with the best-of-breed partners, from system integration and distribution. Just as importantly, with the best-of-breed technology partners when it comes to the hardware that we connect to our platform.

a&s Middle East: Genetec is known for its unified security platform. Can you delve into how this platform supports the emergence and enablement of smart cities and what sets it apart from the rest of the market?

Tannous: Our platform is a unified security tool that includes video access control, license plate recognition, and a vast variety of IoT connectors, all in one single platform, which is a big differentiator for Genetec compared to the rest of the market. What this helps our customers do is have one single point of contact for all their security needs. When it comes to upgrading, training, purchasing, and innovation, one company does it all, and more importantly, from a cybersecurity perspective, having a unified platform allows you to have tight control over your environment. There’s less friction between different types of software, and there’s less opportunity for vulnerabilities to be able to penetrate an environment.

a&s Middle East: Can you provide specific examples of how Genetec has been successful in critical infrastructure markets, transportation, or other industries using this platform?

Tannous: Genetec has been successful in various markets. This includes the critical infrastructure market and the transportation market, and from a transportation perspective, we’re talking about airports, trains, and ports. This has been a very important segment for Genetec. We’ve also done fantastic in the banking industry as that segment has been upgrading its systems and is under new regulations. And last but not least, oil and gas. From an oil and gas perspective, we have some of the largest players that are using our product, and this is, you know, largely because of our ability to scale and solve problems that are unique to that market.

a&s Middle East: How does Genetec’s experience in working with various industries contribute to making it a perfect fit for the Saudi Arabian market?

Tannous: This is where the Saudi market becomes an extremely important region for Genetec. When you look at the quality, the scalability, and the variety of the solutions that we’re able to provide, Genetec is, I would say, a perfect fit for the Saudi Arabia market, and we’ve been very successful at helping customers resolve very complex problems in large environments.

a&s Middle East: Let’s shift our focus to public-private partnerships. Can you share some insights into Genetec’s collaboration with Saudi government agencies and private sector partners, and how these partnerships benefit Saudi Arabia’s growth and development?

Tannous: We have done this not by pushing technology but by going into the customers’ environment, understanding what they need from us, sometimes identifying things that they don’t know that they need because of our wide experience across the globe, and being able to customize a solution that’s really going to address the problems that they’re trying to solve. Over and above this, once the security part has been configured, designed, and engineered, the value-add of Genetec, what our customers are investing in, is our ability to help them from an operations and intelligence perspective.

Our platform is a unified security tool that includes video access control, license plate recognition, and a vast variety of IoT connectors, all in one single platform, which is a big differentiator for Genetec compared to the rest of the market

a&s Middle East: How does Genetec’s ability to leverage existing infrastructure, such as video, sensors, and cameras, contribute to data aggregation and provide insights to enhance safety and security?

Tannous: What we’ve excelled at doing is leveraging an existing infrastructure, which is the video, the sensors, and the cameras, to ingest, analyze, and provide insights about their environment through data aggregation. And we’re not doing this just from a video perspective; we’re able to pull the video, we’re able to pull the access control, we’re able to pull the license plate recognition data, and make sense of it so that customers can use this extremely valuable information to understand their environment, to improve their cost structure, to drive cash flow within their spaces, to improve their ability to generate revenue in some cases. So this is where we’ve been able to really distinguish ourselves.

a&s Middle East: Now, shifting to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, could you explain how Genetec’s security solutions align with the Vision’s pillars, such as economic diversification, infrastructure development, and quality of life improvement?

Tannous: The plans are very ambitious, and that fits well with what Genetec does. We have 1000 engineers in our headquarters who are focused on innovation and continuous improvement so that we can keep up with our customer demands. The Saudi Arabian market is one of the most fast-moving markets, the most visionary, and the most advanced. We have the right commitment to maintain the velocity of any of our innovations and our improvement to grow with these types of clients. I think the biggest value that we will add in the next, you know, three, five, eight, ten years to this market is our ability to support the digital transformation. If I look at the plans, it will all rest on a digital environment. Of course, there’s the engineering part, but at the end of the day being a fully digitized project is a score, and we believe that this will be where we will play a big role in how we can help this region reach their goal and their Vision for 2030.

a&s Middle East: Can you provide more insights into the specific technological advancements and solutions developed by Genetec that are particularly relevant to Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation initiatives?

Tannous: Our commitment to innovation and continuous improvement is a key driver. We have 1000 engineers dedicated to this. Saudi Arabia is a fast-moving market, and we aim to support its digital transformation goals. Our ability to leverage existing infrastructure and provide insights through data aggregation will be crucial in this context.

a&s Middle East: Thank you, Mr. Tannous, for sharing these insights about Genetec’s role in supporting smart cities, public-private partnerships, Vision 2030, safety and security, and digital transformation in Saudi Arabia. Your perspectives have been invaluable.

Being a fully digitized project is a score, and we believe that this will be where we will play a big role in how we can help this region reach its goal and Vision for 2030