As part of an ongoing global growth programme, Seagate Software`s Information Management Group (IMG) has posted Vivek Thomas, channel manager for Middle East and Africa (EMEA), to South Africa with a mandate to develop local distribution channels for its comprehensive suite of products.
According to Thomas, his brief involves using the successful international operation as a template and evolving a local distribution model which suits this part of the world. "I intend studying the current structure with a view to establishing which elements of the company`s global strategy will work in this country," he says.
Well qualified for the task with seven years of channel experience - most of which has been in distribution - he would ideally like to replicate IMG`s successes in other markets here in South Africa. Most recently he had responsibility for running the company`s $10 million-a-year business and North American HQ in Vancouver and his stop-over in this country is en route to the Middle East - where he will handle the distribution of IMG products in that region.
While Thomas intends to leave no stone unturned in this quest, his task is made challenging by the very nature of the products the company sells. "At one end of the spectrum we have Seagate Holos - a high-level business intelligence tool requiring specialised expertise to service and support," he says.
"At the other we have Crystal Reports - a broad reporting tool capable of deriving reports from a wide range of data sources - and in the middle we have Crystal Info, best described as a hybrid of the other two products."
Due primarily to the specialist nature of the sale, Thomas says IMG Corporate sales people typically remain directly involved with Holos clients and he sees no reason to adopt a different approach locally. "Crystal Reports on the other hand," he continues, "lend themselves well to formal distribution channels provided that consistent levels of user and developer training are maintained."
Accordingly, one the first mechanisms he intends putting in place is a certification programme. "Existing value-added resellers (VARs) will be evaluated for compliance with world-wide standards while new partners will be required to undergo certain prerequisite training," he says. This is to ensure top quality support for our customers.
Thomas` responsibility to Seagate Software Africa will end once he has appointed a Channel Manager for the South African IMG operation.
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