Business Connexion (BCX) has been appointed as the first MPSA (Microsoft Products and Services Agreement Partner) for Namibia and East Southern Africa. The company endorses the XaaS (Everything-as-a-Service) model as the best way to procure ICT infrastructure.

Jane Canny, Group Executive EMEA at Business Connexion, says the XaaS model consolidates hardware and software CAPEX, maintenance and support at specified service levels into a single consumption price

"OEMs are modernising their pricing models as traditional procurement methods can be costly," she says.

As an MPSA partner Business Connexion Namibia will provide clients with the option of an agreement the company says consolidates the purchasing of Microsoft cloud services, software and Software Assurance.

Ferdi Graupe, MD of Business Connexion, said the new purchasing account structure provides more flexible options and more control of how purchases are made, along with multi-year duration options with price protection.

Increasing competition

BCX Namibia says that competition within the Southern African country's SME space is growing, particularly among various cloud independent services. The company adds that messaging and security have become a major focus as migration to the cloud continues.

"We still have a long way to go in comparison to South Africa as far as cloud computing is concerned, but we are starting slowly but surely to grow in this space," the company has stated.

In addition to the availability of ICT skills, which the company describes as a concern to businesses in Namibia, a major challenge to further adoption of the XaaS model is the fact that data must be in-country.

"Although this is still not regulatory, the mindset of clients - especially those of governments -are based in-country, and they do not see the return on investment with the new adoption to market," says BCX.

However, BCX Namibia says it has a 2 -3 month lead on other MPSA partners that are being onboarded and its intention is to be the partner of choice when a customer is considering a move or to sign an MPSA agreement.