Cloud infrastructure has become the foundation on which to build the solutions every business needs to be competitive in today’s connected environment. Digital transformation and modernisation are more than buzz words: they are organisational imperatives, regardless of company size or industry sector.
According to Sumeeth Singh, the cloud provider business head for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) at VMware, the past two years have been a rollercoaster ride in terms of cloud adoption.
“The pandemic has been a catalyst for the cloud,” he says. “Even though there are different maturity levels when it comes to migrating to the cloud, every company needs access to rapidly available infrastructure whether that is to enable distributed work or accelerate its digital transformation journey.”
Lee Syse, cloud Technology lead for SSA at VMware, believes that Africa provides VMware and its channel base with significant opportunities in this regard: “We have seen the adoption of technology accelerate. Customers require innovative solutions with VMware investing significantly with cloud service providers to help modernise their platforms to enable this.”
The company’s VMware Cloud Verified Partner (VCVP) programme has been designed to facilitate the process, with 60 partners across SSA to provide cloud services to the channel.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of independent technology market research organisation World Wide Worx, hosts several videos in the series. In the fourth episode, he says it is imperative for the IT sector to find ways for the cloud to be relevant for those outside of IT.
“There must be an understanding of the cloud beyond traditional IT clients,” he says. “As such, companies must find ways for the cloud to make sense for business users who are the true end-users of cloud services.”
Singh echoes this sentiment and says this is where the VCVP comes in, highlighting the work done with one such partner, Strategix.
“Strategix was a natural choice for us as they provide the core skill set required to deliver VMware solutions to the market. As a VMware Cloud Verified Partner, they can provide their customers with a true hybrid cloud feel with our technologies which are backed up by their own managed service provider competencies. Strategix is, therefore, the ideal fit for the VCVP programme as they understand business in Africa from an IT perspective.”
Singh says that VMware has recognised that even if it is a multi-cloud world, the private cloud still plays an important function.
“VMware offers the private cloud in a consumptive manner. Through the VCVP and partners like Strategix, end customers can transact and get the cloud feel in a strategic environment without needing to own and manage their own infrastructure.”
Goldstuck says the ecosystem is essential to accomplish this: “VMware is the conduit from the hyperscaler to the channel. And then Strategix becomes the conduit to the customer at the end. Both the cloud and the channel are evolving rapidly, and customers need trusted partners to navigate this journey.”
Abdul Moosa, CTO of technology solutions specialists CoCre8, says this has created a sizeable market for companies to deliver local-relevant cloud solutions to SSA:
“If a business is not digitally transformed or leading with digital transformation, it will soon become irrelevant. We are looking at the channel to harness the global backing of companies like VMware and partnerships with Strategix to co-create solutions that help customers digitally transform.