Kathea has started a company called Jabster Technologies, which will be the sole distributor for Jabra products to resellers in southern Africa.
This, according to the company, is in order to boost its market share and growth in SA.
Pete de Lange has been appointed as MD and Scott Corry as sales director for Jabster Technologies. The new company has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and will provide unified communications (UC) support to its local channel base.
De Lange says Jabster Technologies will be rolling out a partner programme in March this year. The company will also provide training on products, sales, events and running a partner incentive programme.
“In 2010, while still under Kathea, our direct business was 70% and 30% was channel-focused. Through last year, 40% was direct, 60% run through channel, and 50% was UC business.
“This year we are hoping for 80% channel and 20% direct sales, which will get phased out over time because we don't want to compete against our own channel, and aim to get 90% of our business in UC.”
De Lange said a new breed of channel partners are establishing themselves in the UC space, where they have been traditionally focused on network provision and management.
strategy this year.
“Companies of any size looking to deploy a UC platform of some significance will be our target market. We had 20% growth in our wireless units and mobility offerings in the office space, which has become far more important.
“We will be putting in models that our channel partners can utilise to take software licences and devices with services... and selling it as a packaged deal. We are trying to drive models that we can align... with what users want from the headsets themselves,” explained De Lange.
Jabra has had a presence in SA through Kathea since 1999. According to Joel Hamon, Jabra president for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Central and Latin America, the newly formed company will create opportunities for the Jabra brand and local channel partners.
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