Dave Reddy, the new MD for Veritas Software`s sub-Saharan region, believes the key to customer satisfaction lies in delivering value for money.
"In the present economic climate, customers want to get value for every single buck they spend, which is why we put such emphasis on training and accreditation. Having the right set of skills means you can deliver that value," he says.
Reddy comes to storage software giant Veritas by way of Compaq, having moved on at the time of the Compaq/Hewlett-Packard merger.
"I felt it was time to broaden my horizons and look for a new and unusual challenge. I had been at HP earlier in my career so I felt that - in order to do something different - I would move into the software and services side of the industry, which is an area where I could learn something new."
In the present economic climate, customers want to get value for every single buck they spend.
Dave Reddy, MD: sub-Saharan Africa, Veritas Software
In terms of his focus for the next year, he says his main emphasis will be to maintain the company`s customer base and attempt to grow it exponentially throughout the sub-Saharan region.
"We already have a successful formula at Veritas; the trick will be to replicate it throughout the region. The challenge for me is to use my knowledge of the local market and customers to drive our business forward, particularly on an enterprise level."
He says Veritas has developed a training and certification programme for its channel partners that will allow them to deliver the best possible level of service.
"We have developed two sets of products solutions - one for the commercial side of our business and one for our enterprise-level customers.
"Within these solutions we have three levels of skills our partners can aspire to, namely Select - which is our entry-level solution - Premier and Elite."
Reddy says that in order to qualify as an Elite partner, an organisation will have to have a minimum of four engineers, and in parallel to that, the company would have to have its sales and marketing staff certified too.
"The point of certification is to offer a complete programme, rather than one purely focused on engineering skills. After all, having the best engineering staff would be pointless if you didn`t know how to market and sell the products correctly."
He says Veritas fulfils its obligations to customers solely through its channel partners, which is why the partners have to be certified in order to sell the company`s products.
"It is vitally important to be able to deliver value for money to your customers, especially in the present economic climate, which is why we put such a focus on our implementation, support and consultancy services."
He believes there is now a heightened awareness of the importance of storage management and disaster recovery systems - particularly after the events of 11 September - which is why this segment of the industry has been doing well, despite the overall downturn in the market.
As for the future, he states that Veritas is looking at expanding into Africa - the company is already putting a lot of emphasis on its efforts in a number of African countries - as this is a very important focus for it.
"We are doing a lot of work in places like Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius, as the rapid rate at which these markets are opening up means there is a massive opportunity for growth."
Even though SA is seen as a developing nation, he says it is nonetheless recognised as being a leading-edge market, particularly in terms of its financial services and telecoms markets.
"We fall under Veritas` Europe, Middle East and Africa [EMEA] banner and we play quite an important role in this region. SA has always been among the early adopters of technology, so even though we are a long way from the main hub of EMEA operations, we are integrally tied into the market.
"It`s not as though we are left alone on the tip of the continent - SA plays a significant role in generating revenue for the EMEA region."
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