In this exclusive interview, Michael Chang, Regional Sales Head at Synology, shares insights into the company’s tailored approach to market development across the Middle East and Africa.
What differentiates Synology from competitors?
At Synology, what sets us apart is not just our advanced technology and high-performance tools, but our ability to tailor strategies based on regional diversity. The MEA region is extremely varied in terms of culture, business needs, and technology adoption. That’s why we adopt a localized approach to each market.
For example, in Saudi Arabia, we implement a culturally aligned go-to-market strategy, while in South Africa, we tailor our offerings based on local infrastructure and business priorities. This targeted, region-specific approach helps us connect better with customers and meet their unique needs.
How do you adapt Synology’s strategy to suit diverse markets?
Each country has its own technological landscape and pain points. So, we design specific strategies for markets like the GCC, Lebanon, or various parts of Africa, customizing our offerings to match both cultural expectations and technical requirements.
This regional customization ensures our solutions are not only technologically relevant but also culturally compatible and scalable. We work closely with local partners and customers to develop campaigns, services, and training programs that reflect each market’s maturity and needs.
What market development tactics have proven most effective across the Middle East region?
The most effective tactic has been localized engagement—through in-person events, partner-driven activations, and tailored educational webinars. These efforts help demystify Synology’s offerings and show how our solutions can be applied in practical business scenarios.
We also heavily invest in partner enablement, ensuring that our resellers and integrators are equipped with the tools, certifications, and support they need to provide excellent service. This channel-first approach builds trust and scales our impact in regions where direct presence may be limited.
Could you discuss any recent successful initiatives or campaigns that contributed significantly to revenue growth?
One of our most successful recent initiatives has been working with major clients such as Huda Beauty and the Museum of the Future in the UAE.
For Huda Beauty, the primary challenge was managing the growing volume of media files. We provided enterprise-grade storage solutions to scale their storage capacity and ensure secure file management. They also implemented Synology Drive for internal file sharing and Snapshot Replication to protect against cyberattacks.
At the Museum of the Future, we deployed enterprise-grade storage and backup solutions, including Microsoft 365 Active Backup, to safeguard their cloud data and ensure business continuity.
We’ve also driven growth through localized events, webinars, and participation in exhibitions like GITEX, which helped increase brand visibility and awareness of our offerings in storage, data protection, and surveillance.
How is Synology positioning itself in response to trends like hybrid cloud, data security, and AI?
We’re actively investing in technologies that support hybrid cloud deployments, particularly for organizations that require data sovereignty and on-premise control with cloud scalability. Synology’s private cloud infrastructure provides this balance, which is critical for government and finance sectors.
From a security perspective, our backup and replication tools are designed to defend against ransomware and data loss, using features like immutability, snapshot technology, and air-gapped backups.
In terms of AI, we’re integrating AI-powered analytics into our surveillance and productivity platforms, helping customers automate workflows, identify anomalies, and gain more intelligence from their data.
What steps has Synology taken to ensure customer satisfaction?
Customer satisfaction begins with empowering our partners. We ensure they’re well-trained in Synology’s technologies and capable of delivering exceptional after-sales support.
Additionally, we offer direct backend support. If a client or partner faces an issue, they can escalate it through our web portal, and our team will assist promptly. This combination of partner enablement and direct support ensures a seamless customer experience.
We also collect real-time feedback from partners and end-users to inform our product development and regional strategies. This has helped us build long-term trust and loyalty in a variety of markets.
Are there any customer success stories that stand out to you?
Two recent success stories from the UAE stand out: Huda Beauty and the Museum of the Future.
For Huda Beauty, their growing media storage needs were met with our scalable enterprise storage solution. They also adopted Snapshot Replication to secure their data from cyber threats.
The Museum of the Future, on the other hand, leveraged our enterprise-grade storage and Microsoft 365 backup solution to secure and manage their data efficiently. These implementations reflect our commitment to providing scalable, secure, and high-performance solutions to enterprise clients.
Synology’s ActiveProtect offers centralized management and scalability for data protection. How does it compare to traditional backup systems in terms of deployment efficiency and operational overhead?
ActiveProtect marks a major evolution in backup infrastructure. It’s a centralized, policy-driven platform that allows IT teams to protect diverse workloads—from virtual machines and SaaS applications to endpoints and servers—without juggling multiple tools.
It takes only 5–10 minutes to deploy, with everything pre-configured. There’s no need for separate hardware procurement or software installation—it’s all built-in. This simplicity drastically reduces operational overhead.
The platform includes features like source-based deduplication, immutability, and automated integrity checks, which improve efficiency and reduce manual effort. Its ransomware-resilient architecture with air-gap capabilities and WORM storage ensures data integrity, making it a cost-effective alternative to legacy solutions—often reducing storage and licensing costs by over 50%.
As Synology expands its portfolio across storage, backup, collaboration, and networking, how is the company ensuring seamless integration for businesses?
We ensure integration through a unified ecosystem, built on our proprietary platforms—DiskStation Manager (DSM) for general IT operations and PAM for enterprise-grade storage. This allows for native interoperability across Synology’s full range of solutions.
With centralized management dashboards, IT teams can oversee system health, data protection, collaboration tools, and network activity—all from a single console. Shared APIs, synchronized authentication systems, and consistent security policies mean no silos—just seamless orchestration.
Our use of AI in applications like Surveillance AI and Office AI enhances functionality while streamlining user experience. This approach delivers a centralized, secure, and scalable IT environment, ideal for both on-premise and hybrid infrastructures.
What are your goals for the coming year in terms of sales and market development?
Our key goal is to increase local engagement across different countries in the MENA region. We’re planning to host more localized events to better address the diverse needs and pain points of each market.
We’ll also be expanding our product portfolio, particularly with enterprise-grade storage solutions, SMB/SME tools, and AI-powered surveillance and productivity solutions. Governments in the region, especially in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia, require compliant, secure, and on-premise solutions—and Synology is perfectly positioned to deliver.
