Ascential Software South Africa has launched into the local market with a strong message for its channel: "Our success will depend entirely on the success of our partners."
Embarking on a pure channel model, with no direct sales capability, Ascential is reinforcing long-standing partnerships with local business intelligence channel partners, and seeking new channel partners in the area of media management and analytic applications.
Ascential Software is an independent operating company within Informix Corporation, the database company. Its split from Informix was announced late last year, and it has spent the time since then cementing its value proposition and establishing its own credentials. It is a provider of information asset management solutions, with 1 600 corporate customers worldwide. Locally these include AngloGold, BoE, Liberty Life, Sasol, Vodacom, Telkom, CNA and, most recently, Naspers.
"Our DataStage channel is well established, having been built up from the days when DataStage was owned and represented by Ardent South Africa. Here we are reinforcing our relationships with our 12 partners," says Julian Field, country manager for Ascential. DataStage is a complete set of components for managing the collection, validation, organisation and administration of information assets. Its channel is managed by Denzil de Klerk.
Ascential`s other product set embraces:
. Media 360, for businesses highly reliant on media content.
. Axielle Portal, a tool that provides the infrastructure for personalised portals.
. iDecide, which bundles components of the other three products to create analytical applications dedicated to specific industries; for example, the tracking and analysis of website hits.
This channel, which is being developed with in-depth consulting and training, is managed by Carol Ann Searra.
"Where Informix is in the business of databases, Ascential focuses on tools that are database- and platform-independent," says Julian Field, The company has derived its name from the word ascend, "the act of climbing upward", the goal of every business; and the word essential: "of essence" or substance, as the fundamental building blocks.
"We will focus on market sectors such as telecommunications, insurance, financial services, media and entertainment, and retail. We collect, validate, organise, administer and deliver information assets to realise value from structured and unstructured enterprise data, thereby reducing costs and increasing profitability.
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