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European data management firm sets up office in SA

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 24 Jan 2019
Iniel Dreyer, MD of DMP South Africa.
Iniel Dreyer, MD of DMP South Africa.

European data management firm DataManagement Professionals (DMP) will open an office in Johannesburg before the end of January.

Established 12 years ago, the Netherlands-headquartered firm specialises in secure data management products and services such as storage, backup and archiving solutions to cross-sector organisations.

The company has partnerships with various IT firms, including Commvault, Dell EMC and NetApp, to assist organisations to store, protect and manage their data, through providing a complete service that supports the core business.

DMP South Africa, according to the company, will offer local organisations a range of data management support services, including its pay-per-use data management-as-a-service (DMaaS).

Iniel Dreyer, former Microsoft consultant and previous MD of data management consulting firm Gabsten Technologies, has been appointed to head up DMP South Africa, as the local MD.

"DMP will offer local businesses a complete range of cost-effective solutions, from backup and recovery to hybrid cloud environments, storage and protection to a complete managed service.

"The DMaaS model is an attractive and affordable option for the South African mid-market and global enterprises alike. An added benefit is that local businesses are able to use best practice services to effectively manage and maintain their data assets."

The consequences of ineffective data management and backup can be catastrophic for any organisation, Dreyer points out.

"A 'do-it-yourself' approach might seem attractive when budgets are tight, but given the complexities of today's data landscape, it typically turns into a costly and complex exercise. We want to assist South African businesses to reduce complexity and costs, while complying with data protection regulations."

Over a quarter of local organisations that participated in ITWeb's online Data Protection Survey admitted to only having a partially defined data protection strategy in place.

The survey revealed that while data security remains a top concern among company decision-makers, only 41% of respondents said they were satisfied that their backup data is adequately protected from malware or ransomware attacks.

African footprint

In the decade of its existence, DMP has grown to include branches in Germany, Denmark, Spain and the UK.

The South African expansion is the company's first venture into the African market, a move that DMP says will open infinite opportunities.

CTO Eric Evers explains: "The move into South Africa is a highly strategic one for us as it is a fast-growing market that has many synergies with Europe.

"By establishing a footprint in South Africa, we can now offer services and solutions to local organisations from a local provider that has international experience and expertise. We will be deploying our offering utilising the same blueprint that we have perfected over the years with our European rollouts."

DMP, according to Dreyer, is also exploring the potential of opening a data centre in South Africa in the near future. The data centre will provide the company with the support to conduct local backups and offer standard applications out of a localised cloud.

This will assist local organisations to achieve their cloud objectives and leverage backup and storage-as-a-service in regulated industries where data storage and protection legislation must be kept in-country.

"We will be utilising a combination of local expertise and international skill to ensure the exchange of information and knowledge. In this way, we will ensure our local customers receive the best possible service and solutions, and a highly efficient data centre," concludes Dreyer.

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