ALKHOBAR, 22 April 2003 — Every year I am exposed to the marketing strategies of hundreds of IT companies. Few are superb. Most are inadequate. Plenty are obnoxious. Companies with obnoxious marketing think that if they catch the eye or ear, the brain will follow. They are wrong. I have a running list in my head of those companies who have badgered me with ugly advertising or ludicrous marketing campaigns. All communications from those firms go directly to the trash. I never watch their horrid TV ads. The remote control, kept close at hand, is effective protection from their continuous attempts to insult my intelligence.
The cheerleader IT firms make me crazy. You know the ones I mean. Their marketing info always starts out with stuff like, “We are great. We are best. We’re bits and bytes above the rest.” Then they list a bunch of statistics that have been manipulated a hundred different ways and can’t be confirmed by the average human being. Even worse than the cheerleaders are the doomsdayers. These are the firms who love to come up with a scary line to lead off every press release. According to the doomsdayers, if you do not buy their product, your network might crash, burn, self-destruct or download itself to Rio — all in the next 15 seconds.
I got a press release last week from one of the IT doomsdayers. The company is called ComGuard and their April 16 press release was headlined: “Businesses in the Middle East still unsure about security issues.” The press release went on to describe decision makers as “confused about how to best safeguard their business operations from external threats.” Of course, ComGuard, “the region’s leading IT security provider” is coming to the rescue to “help them” by hosting a “groundbreaking workshop.” This is the point when I helped myself by throwing their press release in the trash.
In the first place, how was this company certified as the region’s leading IT security provider? I went to their website, comguard.net, but I didn’t find any awards posted there nor any info on their outstanding performance from a source such as IDC. As for ComGuard’s groundbreaking workshop, over the past few years I have been to many security workshops/seminars/presentations, sponsored by different companies, all supposedly more wonderful and educational than the next. At the end of the day, every one of them turned into dreary product or service promotions.
I’d have thought by now that ComGuard would have learned to put out straight-forward information to the market. The company was involved in a bit of a scandal some months back. ComGuard sent out a press release on Dec. 16, 2002, that was in actuality pushing a security solution called PitBull. Unfortunately, the release started out with the sentence, “Recent studies into existing IT security solutions in the banking sector in the Kingdom by a leading IT security solutions provider has shown that up to 95 percent of banks surveyed are insufficiently protected against attacks by IT hackers.”
The information was incorrect and a crisis got going when news organizations picked up nothing from the press release except that distressing falsehood. Financial institutions in the Kingdom were extremely upset and objected to ComGuard’s negative portrayal of their IT security situation. On Dec. 24, 2002, ComGuard issued a clarification:
“Commenting on recent press reports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Daniel Nufer, marketing director of ComGuard explained: ‘Our comments were made in the specific context of Linux/Unix operating system security. This is a global issue and our concern was to highlight that this issue also applies in this region in which we operate. These comments were intended in a constructive way. Taken in the context in which they were presented, they were not designed to adversely impact on the reputation of any organization in the Kingdom. The comments made by Dr. Amine Mehablia, head security consultant, were based on a personal analysis and experience in Unix platforms. It was intended to highlight the importance of having a trusted operating system on our Unix platforms...’”
Then, on Jan. 14, 2003, ComGuard issued a second clarification:
“Regarding the press release we issued on Dec. 16, 2002, that was sent to the Saudi daily newspapers and that mentioned that 95 percent of Saudi Banks using Linux/Unix operating systems are insufficiently protected from hacker attacks. We would like to assure that these statements in this press release and issued by Dr. Amine Mehablia, head security consultant in our company (ComGuard), are not based on any research or study as mentioned in the press release and that the company has no current information about operating systems in Saudi banks. As such, we inform you and wish to apologize for what was communicated in the previously mentioned press release.”
Unfortunately, many people who read the false statement about the Saudi banks, never saw the apology from ComGuard and the falsehood can still be found online. Such irresponsible marketing is deplorable.
In all fairness I must acknowledge that there are some companies out there with excellent marketing strategies. I encountered one last week. Huawei Technologies is coming on strong in Saudi Arabia. They already have done business with companies such as Saudi Aramco and Saudi Telecom and they recently held their first roadshow to demonstrate their technologies.
The roadshow was a quiet affair. Using the resources available through their strategic relationship with one of the oldest Saudi firms specializing in telecom services, Arabian Electronics, Huawei invited selected interested decision-makers and technical staff from companies in the Eastern Province to view a presentation of their technologies, and then try them hands on. The technologies were all live — no dead boxes lying on tables.
Huawei is not a little company. They do not have to be restrained in their marketing. Yet, Huang Li, GM, Huawei Tech Invest Saudi Arabia Ltd. stated that, “Huawei prefers to do business quietly. We always place our product excellence, corporate agility and extremely competitive prices at the forefront of our marketing. We do not feel that there is a need to make a big noise. We have found that a job well done, combined with a low profile, best pleases our customers.”
Huawei is a private high-tech company established in 1988 and fully owned by its staff. The company has 22,000 employees. Forty-six percent of the staff are engaged in R&D and more than 10 percent of Huawei’s annual revenue is put back into R&D. Huawei’s sales in 2002 were $2,707 million. The company is a growing global supplier of telecom equipment and customized network solutions. They have 33 local branches in China and 32 worldwide branches outside China, with products in application in over 40 countries.
“Huawei has opened an office in Riyadh in order to establish a long-term presence in this market,” said Li. “We are interested in developing a local work force in Saudi Arabia and in building local capabilities. As a part of that strategy, when we look at our marketing, we must approach potential customers in a respectful, culturally acceptable manner. We have found that in Saudi Arabia, people prefer to create relationships with their technology suppliers. They want to know about us and our technologies. Plus, we must learn all we can about our customers and their needs.”
Li explained that Huawei has a state-of-the-art demonstration facility in China where clients can come and, “be overwhelmed.” Even so, it is still important to Li that individuals from the first encounter, actually handle and use Huawei’s technologies.
“That is why we had a road show in Alkhobar,” said Li. “We wanted to show people, up close, a little of what Huawei can do. We want the market to believe in our technologies. Whether its broadband, fiber optics, switching, sensor technologies — whatever the interest, we can demonstrate that our technologies are commercially and technically competitive. We enjoy answering questions. We want Saudi Arabia to get to know Huawei, because we plan to be here for a long time.”
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