Yasser Zeineldin

Meeting one of Bill Gates' principal representatives in the Middle East is rather a daunting prospect. For Yasser Zeineldin is regional marketing manager for the world's best-known marketing brand - Microsoft over took Coca-Cola two months ago. And conversations with leading figures in the IT industry can be linguistically challenging, as this is an industry with a private language all of its own.

But Mr Zeineldin knows this fact only too well, and fortunately adopted a more relaxed style for dinner in the elegant surroundings of the Vivaldi Restaurant overlooking the Dubai Creek from the Sheraton Hotel. He arrived at 8.30pm, wearing the Microsoft chairman's trademark open shirt, and having only just logged off in the office as the final preparations are made for the launch of the Microsoft Office XP system at the end of this month.

'Microsoft is a company that is constantly re-organising itself. It happens every six or nine months, we organize to meet the customer needs and to address the challenges by the ever changing IT industry. It is the great strength of our company that it has never forgotten its roots as a start-up. Bill Gates tells us to constantly monitor what the smaller companies are doing and we react very fast.

'A typical example was our move into the server market with Windows NT , Windows 2000 and the Server Products. People said why are you bothering to do that when you have a major share of the PC market? But we are always moving forward to offer a broader and more comprehensive set of products and services to our customers. Similarly, the enormous success of MSN and the WEB properties that Microsoft offers today was basically all in the making in the last couple of years'.

Mr Zeineldin has a passion for software, and joined Microsoft four years' ago from AT&T. His background as an electronics engineer coupled with his international experience, have prepared this Alexandria-born executive for the top IT marketing role in the Middle East. He clearly relishes the challenge, and exudes enormous energy and enthusiasm for the new vision and strategy for Microsoft, namely .NET and some of the products which are to hit the market soon like the latest release of Microsoft Office, the Office XP.

It is rather hard to sum up his exact statements, as some of the detail is inevitably too technical for a general audience. But suffice to say that Office XP is designed to make document handling and data organisation much easier, dramatically improves workgroup collaboration and effectiveness and makes far more use of the Internet than its predecessor. It also offers new voice and handwriting recognition capabilities in addition to the traditional keyboard.

At this point, the excellent first course arrived. A generous mixed salad for Mr Zeineldin and an asparagus dish for his interviewer. For a restaurant that is barely six months old, the Vivaldi has a confidence and panache that sets it apart from the many other Italian restaurants in Dubai. Mr Zeineldin declared himself very impressed with his first visit.

But what about the bigger picture? Where is Microsoft heading in the Middle East?

'Last year we grew at 60 per cent,' says Mr Zeineldin. 'This year it will be more like 30 per cent. Some of our markets in the Middle East are becoming mature, and our growth rates in such markets are thus smaller. However, many countries are still emerging as new IT forces in the region and in these places we still enjoy 40-50% growth, but it averages out overall to about 30%.

'On an international front, we believe that some of the correction in the stock market in the US was inevitable and in fact healthy. The market is back to the basics, in that companies have to demonstrate a viable business model and deliver bottom line results to win investors. We believe that the Internet is definitely here to stay, and is going to transform our lives even further. But not every company that has a .com in its name will succeed. The business fundamentals and the value proposition have to be there.

'Our share price recovery this year is a good example of this principle. We have come up 60 per cent from earlier lows of around $40, and this recovery helps to underpin confidence across the group in the long term approach that Microsoft takes and our solid business fundamentals'.

Indeed, Microsoft's regional marketing boss emphatically agrees with the suggestion that big companies like Microsoft often improve their position in markets during difficult times. But what does he see as the future for the IT sector in the Middle East?

'One of the things that makes me passionate about software is its ability to transform economies and raise productivity,' says Mr Zeineldin. 'The countries that are protecting the copyright of software producers will see far greater advance than those that are not. Some people think that protecting copyright is about protecting the rights and the interests of software companies.

'That is a very limited view of the picture though. The way we see it is that in today's economy, Information Technology plays a pivotal role in determining the competitiveness and effectiveness of companies, governments and the economy in general.

'So, imagine if you are a manufacturing company and you do not have the IT solutions to help you manage effectively your sales, production, inventory and distribution, then your cost of goods and gross margins will be negatively impacted. So how could such a company compete in the local, let alone the global markets?

'Well, without the IT solutions and the people - the intellectual capital - behind them, it is a very difficult job. So, protecting the software industry is a corner stone in having an advanced IT industry and in retaining the right people, our largest intellectual capital which in turn will have positive effects on enabling businesses to be more competitive.

'This leads to a virtuous cycle of competitiveness, economic growth, expansion, job creation and improved quality of life. That is what protecting the software and IT industry is about. These are the magnets of the new economy and for attracting foreign investments.

'The Middle East countries that make an effort to protect software industry will do well. The UAE is a good example, and we have had encouraging signs from Jordan and Oman recently. Once countries get copyright protection right they will see far more activity from companies like us, and that will move things forward more quickly'.

So it seems that Microsoft envisages a digital divide in the Middle East between countries that get the productivity enhancing benefits of IT systems, e-government and e-commerce, and those which fall behind because they do not offer the industry the protection of intellectual property that it requires.

At this point our main course intervened. This was fairly light, as suited the lateness of the hour. My guest enjoyed a plate of garlic prawns and his questioner some thinly sliced fillet of beef with rocket salad. Again both were excellent choices. We paused for a moment to savour the delicate flavours and then returned to our conversation.

OK, Microsoft will carry on re-inventing itself. So where is the US software giant heading next?

'We are very excited about the proliferation of new devices to access the Internet and its services,' says Mr Zeineldin. 'That means users will have seamless integration between the various devices that they use. Whether it is your mobile phone, pocket PC, Web TV, auto PC or the standard PC, we are working on the software that will orchestrate the data interchange between these devices to serve the business and consumer needs.

'Such software will make it possible for people to be connected anytime, anywhere and on any device. This is another step forward in developing Internet delivery, and also a major part of our .Net strategy'.

We carried on talking into the night. Two enormous deserts arrived of the wasteline-expanding variety, and we were forced to abandon half the portion. Coffee concluded a first-class dinner in first-class company.

On leaving the restaurant my parting thought was that the IT sceptics who thought Microsoft had had its day during the NASDAQ crash are clearly wrong. The Microsoft software bandwagon is moving on to pastures new, and the new Office XP system is just the next phase in the expansion of this incredibly successful company. For the .NET strategy is built around the Internet and will have interesting impact on consumers as well as business transformation. We have really seen nothing yet.