Software giant plans to drive 50 per cent of all sales through partner network by 2015
Software giant SAP Africa has announced its plans to drive 50 per cent of its software sales through its partner network by 2015. Speaking at the SAP Africa Partner Awards 2010 and Quality Awards 2011 ceremony last night, SAP executives used the platform to celebrate the achievements of their partners and express their commitment to growing the ecosystem further over the coming years.
“We have made a strategic decision to drive a large part of our business through our partners,” said SAP Africa’s Ecosystem and Channel Director, Desmond Nair. “Currently, we sell only 15 per cent of our software through our partners, but we plan on increasing this significantly over the coming years, really utilising the diversity and scale gained through collaboration with partners.”
SAP’s annual partner awards recognise the contribution SAP’s ecosystem makes to the software giant’s business and highlights those partners that have excelled in developing and growing their partnership with SAP while continuing to drive partner success.
“SAP's strategy and success for customers’ lies in nurturing a rich ecosystem of partners that contributes to the comprehensive value proposition and innovation for our customers. Tonight we recognise those partners that support SAP's strategic goals, programs, and initiatives, and those who best leverage them to promote joint business growth, and additional new business,” added SAP Africa’s MD, Pfungwa Serima.
SAP’s current ecosystem of partners is split into those that sell software, those that sell services, and those that do both. Nair anticipates that each of these roles will change substantially over the coming years, with previously software focused partners expanding their work in the SME space to the point where all of SAP’s software sales to small and medium businesses will be conducted by partners. Service sales through partner collaboration will also undergo an evolution, with SAP’s strategy for innovation – particularly in the cloud, in-memory and in mobile – forming a platform for partners to build on.
“SAP’s ambition is to focus on growth beyond its excellent achievements last year, both locally and globally. We plan to embrace the new opportunities that are emerging, both for SAP and our partner network, and are excited to see how strategy come into effect over the coming years,” concluded Nair.
The SAP Partner Award winners are:
Small to Medium Category
Bronze - Accenture for The Botswana Power Corporation Project
Silver - ALTTAB for the New Kenya Co-operative Creameries Project
Gold - SEAL Infotech for the Bidco Oil Refineries Ltd Project
Large Enterprise Category
BRONZE - HCL Axon for the Pick ‘n Pay Retailers Project
SILVER - Britehouse for the Pretoria Portland Cement Company Project
GOLD - Deloitte for the AFGRI Operations Ltd, Kenya Project
