As a white-label provider of cloud services to service providers, Business Connexion will use its Parallels Automation platform to deploy, provision and bill their public cloud offerings. These offerings will be hosted within Business Connexion's world-class Tier IV Data Centres, which have the highest level of quality, security and risk aversion.
The alignment of these two market leaders will accelerate the growth of the African continent's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by arming them with world-class and affordable cloud-based technologies. Through a simple experience, SMEs will now be able to purchase the solutions they need without large capital investments or long-term contracts. Services will be retailed through a service provider reseller model, offering SMEs a variety of options.
"Previously, complex IT services that enhance an organization's operations were procured using capital investments and built using in-house IT skills," said Charles Lalieu, Business Connexion Managing Executive: Cloud Service Brokerage.
"This meant that companies that had cash constraints were not able to compete effectively and lacked core IT services. This has changed; now any organization can have complex IT solutions, and the most significant benefactors of this cloud solution will be small businesses who often don't have in-house IT resources."
Through this partnership, African SMEs will now be able to focus on business profitability and increasing competitive capabilities. The solution has already been launched in Nigeria, and is now launching in South Africa as part of the group strategy to make technology more accessible across the continent.
"Together with Business Connexion, we are striving to help African businesses leapfrog to the most advanced and advantageous IT consumption model - the cloud," said Alex Fine, Sales Director Africa, Parallels. "Using our platform, Business Connexion is now uniquely positioned to expand to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya markets. With its data centre facilities, and relationship with key cloud software vendors, they are enabling local service providers in Africa to become real cloud providers."
