Progress Software South Africa has boosted its well established foothold in the Cape with the appointment of Louw Coetzee as provincial manager for the Western Cape.
Coetzee, who has a background of IT in healthcare, has been made responsible for delivering 25% growth year on year for the region, which covers Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Recognised as a world leader in the embedded database market, Progress provides the underlying software technology and services required for developing, deploying, integrating and managing effective e-business solutions. The company has been among the highest performing subsidiaries worldwide in the three years since MD Rick Parry converted it from a distributor to a full blown subsidiary.
Coetzee was appointed after Progress contracted executive solutions company Cycan to find the right person to drive the region`s growth. Cycan put both Parry and Coetzee - along with two other candidates - through a rigorous, stringent process during which capabilities were mapped against requirements, and a holistic view was established of individual and corporate goals, aspirations and objectives.
Coetzee has a two-pronged approach to achieving growth within the division. "The traditional new product sales and licensing focus of the business will be complemented by our focus on new opportunities in the integration space," says Coetzee. "This will see increased focus on the professional services side of the business using Sonic ESB, our Enterprise Service Bus solution."
The Sonic ESB provides a standards-based, service-oriented architecture for business integration using Web services and the J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA), increasing business agility and making it easier for organisations to incorporate new applications and services into the business process.
Coetzee regards himself as a collaborative manager. "Empowerment plays a crucial role in business today, but if it is not coupled with enablement, it has the potential to set people up for failure. Companies need to focus more on equipping people with the skills to deliver set targets," says Coetzee.
"My strategy for the Western Cape is to ensure we have the right partners with the right level of support in order to secure success. We need to provide end-users with the right products for their success, and ensure we fully understand their business so as to maximise inherent value for clients."
"The Western Cape was the headquarters for the previous distributor, Realtime Systems, so Progress has a strong presence in the region, and we needed exactly the right person for the position," says Parry. "Cycan`s overall management of the process has given me the assurance that we have every chance of succeeding in this objective."
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