Page 144 - July 2024 Issue 632

Saeed Alajou

(Senior Sales Director, Enterprise Business – Unifonic):

We are a customer-focused organisation and we innovate based on what the market tells us

aeed Alajou, Senior Sales Director, Enterprise Business at Unifonic, is a
Shigh-calibre and extremely ambitious technology professional with a
proven track record in managing large teams (sales, pre-sales, service delivery,
consulting) with global technology companies. He is a skilled negotiator with a
strong emphasis on solution and consultative-based selling, leveraging focused
customer strategies to drive success. Furthermore, Mr. Alajou has significant
experience in growing market share across the GCC and wider MENA region
and establishing full operational teams in new markets. Al Bayan Magazine
met Mr. Alajou on the sidelines of Seamless Middle East 2024 and conducted
the following interview.

“ 2023 was phenomenal and we expect extraordinary growth for 2024 ”

• What is the added value behind your participation in a lot with them. All I can say is that there is a place for everyone.
Seamless Dubai 2024? Numerous fintech companies have successfully established their
- We have been participating in Seamless UAE and KSA for three value propositions. They have shown their value as independent
years now. In terms of the target market we pursue and the tar- players, and naturally, their evolution will probably have some
get companies we interact with, we believe this conference to be banking services. On the other hand, there are other fintech play-
one with significant value. It is also an opportunity to engage with
ers that have an open API ecosystem, which can help the open
our existing customers and partners, so we feel that it is a must-
attend event. Considering everything, the Seamless Middle East banking ecosystem. At the same time, NEO banks provide digi-
2024 provides us with significant ROI and continuity in touch tal-only banking services and are evolving independently. The
points with our customer base, and we seek to continue partici- legacy banks are also trying to become more digitally savvy and
pating in the event in the years to come. agile. These banks are currently targeting a segment of a demo-
graphic they don’t have - the younger generation. Overall, there
• In your opinion, what are some challenges that the fintech is a place for everyone, and there will not be a replacement of a
sector is currently facing and how are you being able to
overcome them at Unifonic? traditional banking model by fintech.
- The fintech sector is one of our key areas of focus. Besides fin- • Are you coming up with any new products for 2024?
tech, we work extensively with the broader financial and retail - We innovate based on what the market tells us. We are a cus-
sectors. I think the challenge we see is bridging the sort of com- tomer-oriented organisation, and our product strategy is guided
munication experience. There are still a lot of challenges around by the voice of our customers. So, we innovate backwards, which
communication that happens on single channels and moving that helps us be very agile. We are investing heavily in the conversa-
entire omni-channel experience across different channels. For tional AI space, and we see a lot of value there. We are also
example, some people engage with mobile applications but then investing in the CDP space, where we can thoroughly understand
want to move to conversation and voice applications. There are customer behaviour and data.
times when you feel that those
communication channels are • Are you satisfied with your
quite disconnected. We at results during 2023? What
Unifonic, help bridge this gap
and elevate that experience are your expectations going
for our customers. forward into 2024?
- We have had a phenomenal
• Do you think that Fintech 2023 and are expecting extra-
and digital payment solution ordinary growth for 2024. Our
companies are taking over
the role of banks or do they organization is scaling, inno-
work hand-in-hand? vating and growing significant-
- In my opinion, they are not ly. Therefore, we are capitaliz-
replacing banks. We are not ing on any opportunity or
banking experts, but we work potential that is present to us.

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