Business Objects, a provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, has opened a South African office. Previously represented only via indirect sales through various channel partners, the company`s local offices are headed up by Gary Lawrence, former MD of Baan SA, and founder of Softworx.
Lawrence explains the necessity for a local Business Objects presence: "From a Business Objects standpoint, the time is right now for us to have a direct business in the market. If you look back three or five years, business intelligence was primarily seen as providing end-user reporting capabilities, and typically you were seeing small deployments of the solution to about 20 users. It was a very departmental type of approach.
"Today what we`re seeing is that people realise that BI needs to be a fundamental part of their overall business strategy, never mind the IT strategy, going forward. Now, we`re winning deals for deployment to tens of thousands of users. As a result of that, we feel we need a direct presence to give those organisations the belief that BI is key to their strategy and comfort that we are here and providing support and thought leadership into the market."
Thought leadership, awareness of the direct presence, and a deeper understanding of the value which business intelligence can bring to an enterprise are what Business Objects SA hopes to bring to the market.
Relationship-building
The local office is a 100% owned subsidiary of Business Objects International, and as Lawrence explains, will have a relationship-building and managerial role to play.
"The role of Business Objects SA essentially is to build the infrastructure to support our partners, so they can provide absolute value to their customers, and at the same time we`ll then forge direct relationships with the customers.
"The model, however, won`t mean that we`ll sell directly to customers. The partnerships we`ll forge will be with technology partners, consulting houses, and other distributor partnerships."
Today what we`re seeing is that people realise that BI needs to be a fundamental part of their overall business strategy, never mind the IT strategy, going forward.
Gary Lawrence, MD, Business Objects SA
Business Objects has two distribution partners servicing the South African market - Dimension Data and Bytes Technology Group (formerly Usko). Though the short-term plan is to build relationships with technology and consulting partners, Lawrence does not preclude the possibility of signing on new distributor partners in the long-term.
"Right now, we`re not looking for additional local partnerships. Certainly in the short-term we won`t appoint anyone, and if we do it`ll be based on the extent to which that partner can assist us in a particular geography or sector in the marketplace.
"We don`t want to appoint every mom `n pop shop as a distributor. It`s important for us to appoint organisations that have credibility and that can get into the enterprise - like DiData and BTG. It`s also our view that these partnerships only work when there`s enough of the pie for everybody.
Business value
"What we want are substantial business units, dedicated to understanding Business Objects, dedicated to understanding BI and the value it can bring to people and work in a strategic manner with [our] industry partners."
Business Objects` existing client base will continue to be serviced by Dimension Data and BTG, but they will have the option to work with the new technology and consulting partners that will be brought on board. At the same time, they will have the option to enter into a direct relationship with Business Objects, which will facilitate that process.
"The plan right now is to focus on SA, but we will be moving further north into sub-Saharan Africa. The model for us is really clear; for the distributors to make that investment with us, we need to make sure there is substantial business value for them in return."
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