Following the acquisition of Automic by CA Technologies, CA Southern Africa has announced the automation company's official launch in South Africa.
CA Technologies bought Austria-based Automic, a business automation software provider, for $635 million last year.
"With CA's strong brand name in SA, their Infrastructure, skills and team, I believe this is a big opportunity for Automic to take automation to the South African market," says Nabil Ben Abdallah, vice-president of sales Middle East and Africa for Automic.
Ben Abdallah noted Automic has no immediate plans to diversify to other African countries, as the company's main focus remains South Africa. However, he says the company has sold its technology to companies in Nigeria, Kenya and Mauritius, without Automic being present locally.
"We have some accounts in other countries in the region, but not in a focused fashion. Due to SA's mature economy and dynamic business environment, Automic's main focus is to capture the South African market. Eventually, we will explore growth to other African countries, but we need to deliver some success here first."
Ben Abdallah said the maturity of the South African IT market and its increased investment in digital transformation initiatives will drive faster adoption of Automic technologies by local companies.
To reach and expand its client base in SA, Ben Abdallah says the company will leverage CA's direct and channel model. "We will generate demand by showing prospective customers our credentials and expertise gained from years of experience in automation."
Companies do not acquire new customers overnight - it's a gradual process, says Ben Abdallah. Automic plans to host customer events, hold round tables and invite decision-makers to promote the Automic brand.
As technology evolves at an exponential rate, automation is the answer to solving the complexities companies are facing in in a world where hardware has no relevance other than being there to run software, he says.
Andrea Lodolo, CTO of CA Southern Africa, says that given the need for companies to contain costs and still improve their customer experience, it has become paramount to increase automation across the value chain.
"There are still too many siloed areas in companies where bottlenecks exist, where manual tasks are slow and error-prone. Consolidating these by using an automation solution that covers every aspect of that chain will help companies achieve far greater returns," notes Lodolo.
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