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ServiceNow sees business growth opportunity in SA

Regina Pazvakavambwa
By Regina Pazvakavambwa, ITWeb portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 26 Jul 2018
Mark Ackerman, regional director at ServiceNow.
Mark Ackerman, regional director at ServiceNow.

As South African organisations increase their investments in cloud and digital technologies, ServiceNow wants to take a large share of the IT service management industry in the country.

This is according to Mark Ackerman, ServiceNow regional director for Middle East, SA, Turkey and Eastern Europe, including Russia.

Ackerman was speaking to ITWeb at the sidelines of "ServiceNow: The future of work" tour event in Johannesburg yesterday.

ServiceNow provides cloud-based solutions that automate enterprise IT operations. Ackerman said the company offers products that help businesses enable a more consumer-like experience for their workforce. Its competitors include CA Technologies, Salesforce and IBM.

Ackerman, who was appointed to his current position in January, noted his main objective in Africa is to bring ServiceNow to the South African market. ServiceNow already has 47% of the IT service management market in the US, its biggest market. It is looking to replicate this growth locally.

"So we are looking for other markets for exceptional growth, and we see SA and Africa certainly as a massive growth potential within this market."

The massive uptake of cloud by businesses in the country offers a good value proposition in driving organisations to buy into ServiceNow's solutions, said Ackerman. The company plans to help enterprises in the South African market adopt automation technologies in their business processes.

It's looking to increase local market share by growing its head count and ramping up investments in alliances and existing channel partners, he said.

"We have a very aggressive head count growth strategy. We are looking to virtually double the head count, year-on-year, up to 2022. By 2019, the company plans to appoint a channel and alliance manager based in SA." This function is currently managed from Dubai, said Ackerman.

In addition, ServiceNow is looking to grow its channel partners from two to around seven.

He explained that the key focus is to expand the business using channel and alliance partners rather than building a massive team. Beyond that, ServiceNow will use its global alliance relationships, which include Accenture and Deloitte, to help drive business growth in SA.

"Based on those relationships, we believe we are going to get a massive amount of market growth.

"Right now, the go-to-market is to focus on industries and organisations that have clear cloud policies. We are also looking at organisations that are typically using technologies to innovate. We wouldn't go to the average cement company, or brick-laying company.

"We are focusing on very large enterprises like the financial and telecommunications sector that are using technology to innovate, for example. Also, government is really high on the agenda, but that's more on a medium-term view."

The company has about 50 clients locally and is looking to add a significant percentage to that number quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, said Ackerman.

"A large percent of our business at the moment is from new logos, new customers, which is where we are seeing massive growth."

Ackerman noted that for now the company is not looking to have a physical presence in other African countries, but is rather focusing on following its clients, who are in other parts of the continent.

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