Global business intelligence and analytics solutions provider SAS has partnered with regional value-added distributor Redington Value to deliver its offerings in the East Africa market.
Dubai-based Redington Value, a subsidiary of the India-based Redington Group, will provide on-the-ground support and act as the vendor’s dedicated partner to serve SAS customers in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya.
According to independent research, the global business intelligence and analytics market is accelerating at break-neck pace and is poised to grow at around 10.3 percent in 2019, reaching an estimated value of $27 billion by 2020. Emerging Markets are set to grow at an even faster pace, with the Middle East and Africa market predicted to reach $4.1 billion.
Desan Naidoo, vice president SAS Africa, said, “Analytics is changing the world we live in and research shows that companies using analytics for decision-making are 6 percent more profitable than those that don’t.”
He adds that in order to capture the opportunity faced in the region and to ensure that customers benefit from the power of world-class analytics, “SAS continues to look to innovative ways to go-to-market and empower customers to transform data into intelligence.”
“The decision to enter into a strategic partnership with Redington in East Africa came about as a result of the growing analytics market in that region and to ensure that our customers’ needs are not only met but exceeded,” said SAS senior director for S&E EMEA Alliances and Channels, Steve Harris.
As organisations look to embed analytics into their business processes, the need for strong domain expertise and local regional support and scale becomes ever more critical to ensure customer success. Consequently, SAS began an extensive evaluation to identify a strategic partner in the East Africa region. “We had a clear vision of what we wanted from a strategic partner prior to launching the process, and Redington Value met all of SAS’ requirements, and more,” Harris says.
Ramkumar B, president, Redington Value Division, said, “Redington Value has embarked on a journey of creating a best-in-class data and analytics practice in East Africa with consulting, sales, pre sales and delivery capabilities. We wanted to partner with the best Advanced Analytics Solution Provider in the region to address some of the most complex business problems facing the region. SAS was a clear choice to achieve that objective. For SAS, Redington’s footprint and vast network in the region is going to help accelerate their growth. We are very hopeful of a great partnership which will define the way transformational technologies are taken to market, particularly in emerging geographies.”
Sayantan Dev, Redington Gulf vice president – VCG, said,“With our reach and extensive customer network in East Africa, we are confident that, together with SAS, we will provide the perfect solutions to businesses throughout the region, while simultaneously furthering the technological advancement of the area.”
According to Dev, the partnership with SAS comes at the perfect time. “Customers are becoming more familiar with advanced analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and other new technologies. They understand the concepts and how they see these concepts could work for their businesses – now, they are expecting technology providers to tailor their solutions to meet the business need.” He added that technology providers are having to adjust their approach from selling a concept to detailing how a particular product will solve the specific business problem at hand.
“Our partnership represents an extensive investment in East Africa, offering ongoing commitment to our customers in the region,” Harris said.
