Africa is an area of high focus in NetApp's growth strategy and in order to further develop the business, the storage solutions vendor will continue to invest in the continent.
So says Manfred Reitner, NetApp senior VP and GM, EMEA, who notes that through a focused channel distribution strategy across the continent, the company is able to ensure that business in Africa has the support required to continue to build on the recent success in the region.
"NetApp's strategy is to build a strong, Africa-wide go-to-market model based on the pillars of our channel model, big global OEM and sales partnerships such as IBM and Fujitsu, and technology alliances like Microsoft, Cisco and VMware, or SAP, to name just a few, as well as strong alignment with resellers, which will add to our growth in the region," says Reitner.
Channel focus
According to Reitner, the channel is critical as NetApp is a supremely channel-focused company. He explains that NetApp has a large partner infrastructure and channel throughout Africa and, through this network, the vendor is able to deliver solutions quickly and efficiently.
"We recently announced our one-programme-model which has a simplified agreement policy and offers one contract for resellers, regional service providers/systems integrators and vertical solution integrators," he says. "As a result, it makes it easier for partners to do business on behalf of NetApp and allows for greater flexibility, which is required when doing business in Africa.
"What we are currently seeing in the African market is that end-users are looking for solutions that will deliver long-term functionality, and in some cases customers are changing their procurement models to accommodate this."
Due to resource challenges, Reitner explains, enterprises are looking at maximising their capital and operational expenses and looking at alternative solutions such as cloud services. Consequently, he adds, delivery of leading cloud solutions is one of the biggest opportunities.
"We will continue to support our partners through our partner programme and continue to bring innovative solutions to market. NetApp has developed a strong partner programme which fully supports global systems integrators and global service provider partners, consultant and distributors," he says.
Market dynamics
He points out that this has come about as a result of changing market dynamics, growing demand for new technologies such as cloud or flash and new buying patterns require a more flexible approach to selling IT solutions, especially in Africa.
As a result, partners are forced to adapt their business models and diversify their capabilities to meet customers' complex IT challenges, while ensuring continued business strength, he notes.
"We want to enable partners to go to market in the way that they want to and to be able to choose the best blend of products and services that address the changing business needs their customers have.
"By doing this, NetApp continues its proven legacy of innovation and our reputation for delivering a consistent, predictable and profitable partner programme is evident. Partners are the business for NetApp," says Reitner.
Online partner directory
He explains that NetApp is also updating its tool set for partners, including the unveiling of a searchable online partner directory on the company's Web site.
"It will concentrate partner-related information under one landing page. Extensive search functions will help customers and NetApp field teams to find the right partner through combinations of solutions, capabilities, services offerings, location and more. The new tool will also enable partners to publicly promote all the capabilities they offer and expand the reach of their business."
To Reitner, many African companies are adopting cloud in some form and with the uptake of cloud technology, they can see multi-thousand percent increases in time to delivery for new applications, dramatically better utilisation of storage capacity, millions of dollars in annual savings on hardware and software support costs and a technology infrastructure that is easier to scale to accommodate shifting workloads.
He is of the view that with technology pretty much taking care of itself, one of the key issues that might confront an organisation is what type of cloud to choose - private, public or hybrid.
Concluding, Reitner says Africa is a vast region from a geographic perspective. "Alongside this, every country has different rules and regulations that we need to adapt our channel model to in order to meet the requirements of the enterprises in these countries, as well as understanding business landscape. Another major challenge is currency fluctuation which would limit enterprises in Africa from adopting major technologies like cloud to accelerate their GTM strategies."
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