Business software giant, SAP plans to acquire new partners and expand its channel strategy into Africa.
This was revealed during the SAP Africa Partner Awards 2010 and Quality Awards 2011 ceremony, where SAP indicated that it will increasingly drive a large part of its business through its partner ecosystem.
Pfungwa Serima, SAP Africa MD, said: “SAP grew 32% in software revenue, and there's no way we could have done that on our own. We are truly committed to our channel partners to drive profitable business.”
Serima said EUR540 million worth of software was sold in the African region, and half of that amount came from SA. He said this shows SAP's commitment to its aggressive growth plans for the channel ecosystem in Africa.
Desmond Nair, SAP director of ecosystem and channel, pointed out: “Currently, we sell only 15% of our software through our partners, but we plan on increasing this significantly over the coming years, utilising the diversity and scale gained through collaboration with partners.”
SAP's partner ecosystem is split into those that sell software, those that sell services, and those that sell both. Nair anticipates that these roles will change over the coming years. SAP's software sales to small and medium enterprises will, in the future, be facilitated through partners.
Service sales through partner collaboration will also undergo an evolution, with SAP's strategy for innovation - particularly in the cloud, in-memory and in mobile - forming a platform for partners to build on.”
Derek Kudsee, COO of SAP SA, explained SAP will be driving innovation in its partner ecosystem by enabling channel partners to develop functionality on top of its platform.
SAP Africa said it plans to drive close to 50% of its software sales through its partner network by 2015.
The SAP Partner Award winners were Seal Infotech, for the Bidco Oil Refineries Project, in the small to medium category, and Deloitte, for the Afgri Operations Kenya Project, in the large enterprise category.
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