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By Lisa Strydom, Senior Manager: Channel and Alliances for Africa at Veeam Africa

It’s no secret that the pandemic has seen local companies embrace a hybrid work strategy. This has also had consequences for the channel, with many vendors experiencing growth in their cloud business as more organisations consume as-a-Service offerings to remain operational.

However, it is not an all-or-nothing scenario. Companies still want on-premises solutions while leveraging cloud initiatives to drive things like Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) and Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS). As a result, the channel has been moving in this direction, transitioning from predominantly on-premises offerings back in the early 2000s to including a diverse portfolio of cloud services as well. 

With year-on-year market forecasts for software in SA at 11.2% and global SaaS at 21.7%, we are seeing tremendous business growth and opportunities in the channel.

What has given further impetus is the concept of the 3-2-1-1-0 rule. This requires an organisation to maintain at least three copies of its data, on two different media, with at least one copy stored at an offsite location, one copy offline, air-gapped or immutable, and all backups being verified as containing zero errors. Requiring a business continuity value proposition beyond on-premises means partners are working with local cloud services providers (CSPs). So, instead of investing in building their own data centres they can provide white label cloud solutions using the expertise of the service provider. An example of this can be found in the Veeam Reseller Ready Programme.

Turning to the cloud

Certainly, the cloud is enabling companies to deploy Modern Data Protection, a business resilience strategy that involves secure backup, restore and data management. According to the Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2022, 67% of South African companies are already using cloud services as part of their data protection strategy. Furthermore, 51% of companies’ data infrastructure is currently located in the data centre, with 49% now hosted in the cloud.

It stands to reason then, that almost a quarter (23%) of local businesses rated the ability to protect cloud-hosted workloads as the most important buying factor for enterprise data protection this year. Just under a third (28%) believe that Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service capabilities are definitive attributes of Modern Data Protection.

Diversified channel environment

What this has meant for the South African channel is that there are many new entrants in the market to complement the existing companies helping end-users transitioning to a hybrid approach. The smaller, “younger” partners are born in the cloud – the so-called ‘digital natives’ – and are more agile and can go to market faster with new offerings.

This is something that has especially been good for Kubernetes solutions. For instance, the Kasten K10 by Veeam is a cloud native data management platform that provides mobility across different cloud instances and attracts a different type of partner to those Veeam has been dealing with to this point.  This is evidence of the complexity and diversity of business infrastructures out there, as well as flexibility being demanded as they embark upon or progress their digital transformation journey.  The ‘modern’ in Modern Data Protection is always in a state of flux.  It was cloud in the 2010s, for the 2020s we have containers. 

To this end, the Kubernetes market is showing the first signs of approaching maturation in terms of deployment, with 46% of businesses already running containers in production, and 44% planning to do so in the next 12 months. Of those organisations deploying Kubernetes, almost half are already backing the data within them in some capacity. However, there are further steps to be taken to ensure that data protection does not fall behind the trend.

Kubernetes environments require an application-centric approach over an infrastructure focus. This means businesses need a backup solution that works across a range of Kubernetes application stacks and deployment methods. Establishing a container data protection strategy and following backup best practices such as the 3-2-1-1-0 rule are key components of Modern Data Protection well-suited to Kubernetes too.

Vendor-led, partner supported

Of course, most channel partners do not deal just with one cloud data management vendor. They have various relationships in place and therefore asking them to invest extensively in a single vendor and understanding the value proposition as thoroughly as the vendor does is asking a lot.

This is where Veeam is focused on building intimacy with its partners, which is a rich mix of those who represent the wider channel IT sector: VARs, Cloud and Service providers, VASP (providing Professional Services), Alliance partners, SIs, Global SIs, distributors, and aggregators. It is a collaborative process that provides a framework and environment for mutual success, placing the end-customer’s needs at its heart.  This uncovers new business which is transacted through Veeam partners. The company is 100% channel-focused so is committed to creating opportunities for its partners. We also encourage them to work with one another if that is best for the customer, what we call ‘partnering with partners.’

Reliance upon the channel to create new business means being there to support partners and helping them to develop competencies is another important part of that. This is why we run industry certifications so partners can prove their ability to manage customers’ data (the Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE) and the Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) programmes). 

Given the changes that are happening throughout the local channel, working closely together across the entire ecosystem of provider/ vendor/ channel/ customer is an imperative for success.  Whether that is commercial success for the channel or – more importantly – ensuring that end customers have the right Modern Data Protections solutions they need to keep their businesses resilient and viable for their own people, customers, and communities.