EMC sees SA, and particularly the rest of Africa, as a high-growth market, and also believes the region has the potential to experience rapid cloud adoption.
This is according to PhilippeFoss'e, VP for EMEA channels, who spoke to ITWeb ahead of the EMC World Conference, in Las Vegas.
Foss'e said EMC expects to experience faster growth in Africa than the rest of its markets. He also explained that while EMC has a strong presence in SA, it expects to see rapid growth in the rest of Africa.
According to Foss'e, the company plans to invest in growing its channel partners on the continent. He pointed out that while EMC performs some direct sales in SA; in the rest of Africa, the company operates solely through its channel partners.
However, Foss'e emphasised that direct sales are not an obligation for the company's operations in SA, and that the channel is also very important to these operations.
Investing in skills development with its partners is part of EMC's business model, said Foss'e.
He added that while it is not unusual for the skills shortage in Africa to be filled by foreigners, EMC does not see this as a sustainable model. For this reason, EMC's goal is to help its partners grow the skills of their own organisations, rather than simply importing skills.
Cloud critical to Africa
According to Foss'e, factors in Africa that will drive cloud adoption include pressure to reduce costs as well as the presence of large companies. He also suggested that if the skills shortage in Africa is addressed, the region will see rapid cloud adoption.
Foss'e explained that Africa is in a state of economic crisis, and has been for many years. He says that, as a result, CIOs are being told that they need to reduce IT spending by 30%. This reduction in costs can only be accomplished by moving to cloud computing, according to Foss'e.
Foss'e also pointed out that, in Africa, large companies are driving the economy. He said international banking and telecoms companies that operate in Africa account for a significant portion of the continent's IT spend. Moreover, according to Foss'e, these companies will export their IT strategies, including cloud computing, to their African operations.
He adds that cloud computing also allows these large companies to leverage infrastructure that is off-country.
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