Dell puts the spotlight on SADC because of the growth of South African plateaus

D EMC places greater emphasis on the SADC region ( Southern African Development Community) and increases the resources devoted to it, although only cautiously at the beginning.

Over the past year, our approach to SADC has been a channel-driven activity, "says Doug Woolley, GM: Dell EMC South Africa, on the margins of the Dell Africa 2018 Partner Summit in Cape Town this week .

There was no real investment in technical staff and we depended largely on our distributors to meet the demands of the local market.

Despite the company's lack of concentration on the region, last year's sales showed an upward trend. "We began to realize that there was no real growth in South Africa, and the next growth area for us would be the SADC, which we see as a hypergrowth zone. " 19659004 "We received investment approval early in the year"

There will also be a host of pre-sales specialists and a dedicated sales engineer to support the account manager and previously unsupported channel partners

.] "Partners and clients had to rely on South African resources before, when they were available, while now there will be resources dedicated to the region."

If success is to come in the first six months, Woolley adds: "It's a relatively small investment, but it's the beginning of an investment trip. We do not want to be arrogant, we will take it slowly and cautiously, but that's significant for us. "

Woolley is quick to point out that the channel will always play a key role in the strategy. We will never cover the market, so we need partners for scale and to cope with the complexity. In SADC, there is so much value that partners can add to the ecosystem. We want to focus on digital transformation to these markets and all of this will come through partners;

The recent appointment of Brad Pulford as GM: Channel and Distribution at Dell South Africa is also essential, Pulford will work with "metal" partners (Gold, Platinum and Titanium) to help with training and increase presence from Dell in different markets.

We began to realize that there was no real growth in South Africa and that SADC would be the next growth area.

Doug Woolley, GM: Dell EMC South Africa

"We are going to have to improve the overall market and partner base in a lot of the more complex technologies that we put on the market, such as hyperconverged infrastructure and data "

Turning to the product portfolio, Woolley says that so far, the focus has been on storage, but he sees a possibility of Developing the Server and Client Activities of the Company

makes the staggered availability of technology around the world quickly become a thing of the past and another key reason to focus more on the SADC region

" No more technological levels, where something appears in the United States, then Europe, and then the South. Africa and finally the rest of Africa. Many big customers are competing on a global scale, and they want the same solutions; they are not happy to wait. This is especially true for some of our larger client accounts, which is why we are setting up the account management structure.

Woolley states that Dell EMC is under-represented in its market share in the region. Mozambique as a country where it will give priority to its original purpose
The focus will also be on the offer of increased support from Dell Direct, with spare parts in the rather than depend on partners. , Botswana and Mozambique, Mauritius and Zambia plan to receive the next.

"We need to make sure that we can support what we sell, and by offering these services in the country, it should offer the base of partners and customers greater comfort and allow the same SLA and repair capability that we we have in South Africa, which will improve the customer experience, "he says. 19659004]" We were part time in SADC, but the big thing is that we will focus more on us. We are here for the long term. we do not just dive into the toe, "he concludes.