More than 60 South African organisations already use Rackspace for the managed hosting of a wide range of online services. Jacques Greyling, MD of Rackspace UK is South African, and says a major company objective is to expand the partnership base.
"We have a built-in affinity with SA as a significant proportion of our staff, particularly technical support, are South Africans. Rackspace has a strong commitment to develop relationships in this growing market", says Greyling.
Brian Garvey, channel and alliances manager, EMEA, adds that Rackspace sees SA as a market in which it can replicate the 84% revenue expansion it experienced in 2005 by "raising our game, delivering to our partner needs and developing partnerships".
Rackspace is looking for partners who can add value to its services through the partner`s core competencies.
"We seek out organisations with expertise in search engine optimisation, Web design and development, customer relationship management, security and many other skills; businesses with people who can create software solutions that relieve customer pain.
"Our approach ensures that we have a vested interest in what our partners are doing, through creating joint propositions that add value for customers."
The Rackspace goal in entering into a partnership is to develop a relationship in which the added value generated allows resellers to earn higher margins, purely because with a combined offering, they are positioned to be quite distinct from their opposition.
"Typically, if organisations are offering solutions in partnership with Rackspace, they can maintain and update systems for customers through one of our interface gates as opposed to having to physically go to the customer`s premises," adds Garvey.
In addition to adding value to their business by partnering with Rackspace, partners as members of the extended team are able to network with other partners, creating a community of complimentary product and service offerings.
These partner communities thrive by extending partners` access to many different skills sets, technologies and know-how. In South Africa, Rackspace is looking to create this type of community and help partners develop new business. "It is a proven way of achieving the high-growth level that Rackspace has become known for," says Garvey.
Rackspace`s partner categories fit specific needs: The first is the Referral Partner who receives once-off fees for regular referrals. Once consistent quality and numbers of referrals are achieved and a strategic fit is identified, the partner can move on to the second category.
Solution Partners are companies with a strategic fit between their products/services and the Rackspace service offering, through which a mutually beneficial partnership can be developed, creating opportunities for both companies.
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