ICA
FR
A
AL
I O N E L S
G
E
R ANN
CH
A F RIC
GROWTH IN AFRICA
IS DRIVING THE
The channel market is changing.
There is a trend emerging
where solutions across different
categories are combining to
create a more holistic, horizontal
approach to the channel
offering. But companies are also
demanding hyper-specialised
businesses and application
technology skills from vendors.
And, according to Westcon and
Ruckus Networks, this outlook is
set to continue in 2019.
CHANNEL MARKET
D
ue to the current economic
climate in South Africa,
the region has experienced
shrinkage. “Even though the
shrinkage is still relatively small, if these
conditions persist, we are likely to see a
steady decline in players in the channel
market,” said Andries Janse Van Rensburg,
Channel Manager at Westcon. “However,
for Africa, we are seeing the exact opposite,
with strong channel growth in regions such
as Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Mauritius.”
Riaan Graham, Sales Director, Ruckus
Networks Sub-Saharan Africa, agrees
given that these specific countries are not
dependent on South Africa’s economy.
As a result, he says that there is a steady
growth in these regions especially from a
There is no doubt that
the channel is changing
– but every year we
see change so it’s not
change we need to fear.
28
Wi-Fi perspective as new hotspot roll-outs
and infrastructure upgrades have become a
necessity and priority in the respective regions.
“With wireless staking a claim as
‘critical infrastructure’, there are a number
of implications and trends that we are
seeing coming to the fore in the channel,”
said Graham.
“Channel players have looked at
diversifying their own offerings – from
partnering with home automation installers
to working directly with the logistics sector
around a unified communications strategy.
We are also noticing that partners are more
often coming directly to Ruckus to get
guidance on building solutions as they start
to move into different vertical sectors – the
trust has been earned.”
However, budgets aren’t keeping up. As
most IT products are imported either in Euros