Extending the new gusto in which it has approached the New Year, Novell South Africa has made four key staff appointments to drive its new business strategy to market.
Stafford Masie, MD at Novell SA, says: "Novell is entering a very exciting time in its lifecycle especially with the recent announcements around the strategic acquisitions and alliances we have made in the Linux and open source space. It is with this that we have taken a strategic decision to skill up our people and make key appointments to ensure that we can best capitalise on these growth opportunities, as well as identify new avenues for growth."
The appointments include the instatement of Paolo Ferreira as Cape Town Branch Manager, Trish Barwick as Channel Manager, Mark Smissen as Business Development Executive and Allison Singh as Systems Engineering Manager.
Ferreira has been with Novell for over four years, prior to which he worked with a number of companies which specialised in the provision of Novell solutions and consulting services. Ferreira says his vision for the Cape Town office is to grow government business through the channel, as well as empower the channel with the right tools such as sales and marketing support to ensure that the office maintains and grows the already 25% of the local revenues it brings in. He adds that the Novell open source strategy will be a key driver for this.
Barwick, on the other hand, has been with Novell SA for over 10 years and says the company is entering exciting changes. She adds that it will be part of her role to grow the existing channel, create a new channel through which to aggressively attack the Linux and open source space, where she is aiming to ensure this leg of the channel strategy meets with empowerment criteria, and lastly to develop a channel which will give the company a way into and the ability to target the top 200 companies in SA.
Having taken over the role of Systems Engineering Manager, Singh has been with Novell for close on four years. Going forward Singh has been tasked with raising awareness around the Novell Linux offerings as well as providing support to the existing and future channel. He says the mantra for the future is to spread the word and ensure that everyone who doesn`t know, gets to know all about the Novell service offerings.
The Business Development team is a new initiative within the company and the division has been created to open new business opportunities for the company as well as assist in the formulation of a new channel.
Smissen, who has been appointed as the Business Development Executive, says his role will include the formation of strategic alliances and partnerships above and beyond the traditional channel players. According to Smissen, open source and Linux in the enterprise is going to be the next big thing, and he wants to be part of the wave as it hits, and he feels that Novell is leading the race at this time.
"It is wonderful to see the new enthusiasm and vigour among our various teams. The people at Novell SA are charged and excited about the year ahead and are very much singing from the same song sheet, it has become the most amazing place to work and the energy is electrifying," ends Masie.
Share
Editorial contacts