US-based software company Citrix is looking to double its business in the next three years in its emerging markets region as well as South Africa.
This was revealed by Andy MacDonald, Citrix's area vice-president for emerging markets, in an interview with ITWeb during the Citrix Synergy 2018 conference in Anaheim, California.
The emerging markets region includes Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States, Eastern Europe (including Turkey, Israel and Southeast Europe), Middle East and North Africa as well as Sub-Saharan Africa.
"The task that I have been given is to double the business over the next three years," said MacDonald, a Cisco veteran who joined Citrix in January.
"Emerging markets, for Citrix, is a new opportunities market in which we are looking to leverage our new products and increase our penetration. This is a very exciting time in the emerging markets and I think we can do so much better. I am very confident in our ability to build the business," he said.
However, the company did not disclose its latest financial results for the emerging markets region.
On how he plans to achieve this goal, MacDonald said he will ensure Citrix gets the right employees.
"We've got an attractive place to work at, and we are looking to get the brand out there so that it is known better in the marketplace."
The company also wants to educate customers around the brand. "We are looking at our investments on how best we can build the Citrix brand in the African market. We have to be customer-centric and we really need to understand our customer needs."
According to MacDonald, SA is one of the key markets in the emerging market region and Citrix is looking to drive the business in SA.
Citrix announced a number of products at the event. Brendan McAravey, Citrix SA country manager, pointed out that most of the solutions are already available in the country while others will arrive after about 90 days.
MacDonald added that the good thing about the South African market is that there are a lot of opportunities. "We are already selling new and innovative products in that market. Some of the products will be able to solve some bandwidth issues that African companies usually struggle with."
The other advantage is Citrix's partner Microsoft's cloud presence in SA is growing and Citrix is looking to leverage on that, he noted.
Microsoft has indicated it is looking to introduce its Azure data centres to the South African market soon. Citrix and software giant Microsoft have a long-standing relationship. Microsoft Azure cloud runs various Citrix software components, including virtual desktop software for hosting Windows 10 systems.
"Microsoft's cloud presence in Africa will help drive our business in the region going forward," said MacDonald.
He added that the growth in the adoption of mobile applications by African companies presents another opportunity. "We see people are running their businesses off mobile phones across the continent just like anywhere else. So I think Citrix fits into that really well because we can help to bring software-as-a-service applications into a secure environment. That will help businesses to drive forward."
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