Veeam, a provider of backup solutions that deliver cloud data management, has underlined heightened interest in cloud within the South Africa and broader Africa markets as a key contributor to growth recorded during Q1 2019.

In a statement Veeam said South Africa reported 26% growth in bookings year-over-year (YoY), and a 41% YoY growth on new partners during the first quarter of 2019.

"This growth can be attributed to key digital transformation projects in both the public and private sector," the company stated.

It added that the first quarter also saw 266 Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) transactions in South Africa, up 27% YoY.

"The VCSP business has seen significant acceleration as cloud service providers become more mature and gain traction in both the private and public sectors locally," the company's statement continued.

According to Veeam, Africa saw a 36% YoY growth in bookings and added more than 100 new customers. New partners grew by 37% YoY during the quarter. The region also increased VCSP transactions by 28% YoY.

Kate Mollett, regional manager for Africa said, "Locally there is a heightened interest in cloud and 'as-a-service' offerings, such as Backup-as-a-Service and Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service. Multi-cloud strategies have become even more compelling for local organisations irrespective of size. From an availability perspective, local datacentres represent information being confined to within the borders of the country, ticking a further essential regulatory box. South African businesses are embracing digital transformation and are using the power and elasticity of the cloud to deliver rich digital experiences to their users."

Mollett added that Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 is the company's fastest growing product.

Trent Odgers, Cloud and Hosting Manager for Africa at Veeam, said recently that businesses are embracing the private cloud with 65% of CIOs in the IDC South African CIO Survey stating they intend to invest in public and private cloud this year.

"Thanks to the recent arrival of Microsoft Azure datacentres in South Africa, companies are going to start expecting more services from their cloud providers. Many organisations have been waiting for this launch before beginning their migration. With the anticipated latency and workflow improvements being associated to these local datacentres, it is going to be more difficult for businesses to ignore the cloud as a strategic driver for growth," said Odgers.

He added: "Furthermore, the Microsoft product stack will also diversify. From Office 365 to Backup-as-a-Service into the cloud, companies will have more options when it comes to value-added solutions. It will also enable businesses to develop new and innovative services to go to market quicker. Ultimately, it is about businesses becoming more agile than ever."