Dell EMC hosted its inaugural annual African awards ceremony last night, as part of its Africa Partner Summit 2018 in Cape Town.

The awards were divided into three regions – North West Africa, Central East Africa and SADC.

"A number of partners really deserved awards, because of the journeys they've been on over the past few months and how they've excelled," says Doug Woolley, GM, Dell EMC South Africa.

"The awards recognise the effort our partner companies have put in, and in some instances how they've turned around their businesses. There's a story behind each award."

Go big

Having won the 'Go big, win big net new business' award for SADC, George Sithole, GM: Sales and Solutions, Dimension Data, says the award recognises the company's success in winning new business, as well as going deeper with existing customers. He adds that the company's reputation is a big factor for its success, especially with the shift to digital transformation.

"In this period of uncertainty, customers want a safe pair of hands for digital transformation. We have global relationships with key vendors and have key assets that help customers move to digital business. Five years ago, we invested in our own managed cloud platform, and can also assist companies to work in a multi-cloud environment."

"We accelerate clients' ambitions and offer an end-to-end value proposition to assist them to achieve them. Clients want help in managing their edge to cloud environment and all the security around it," says Sithole.

Partner of the year

The winner of the Storage Partner of the Year award was Datacentrix. Jamie Scott, GM: Technology, Datacentrix, says that, in addition to winning significant deals, the award recognises the company's consultative approach.

Scott says Datacentrix doesn't focus on 'selling storage', but rather offers clients a data management solution based on the Dell EMC's range of products.

"Our data management team looks at what types of data is stored, where it's stored, frequency of access, and tiering. By conducting research with clients, the team has found that they often have data in the wrong places, and their storage hasn't been planned. We're putting data in the right places on the right devices. Customers are moving to flash for storage, and Dell EMC has the right portfolio."

Here's the full list of award winners:

• Client solutions partners of the year, North West Africa – Orsima

• Client solutions partners of the year, Central East Africa – Computer Connections Tanzania

• Client solutions partners of the year, SADC – Netsurit

• Server partner of the year, North West Africa – Orsima

• Server partner of the year, Central East Africa – IPMC Ghana

• Server partner of the year, SADC – Digital Generations

• Storage partner of the year, North West Africa – CBI

• Storage of the year, Central East Africa – SYBL Uganda

• Storage partner of the year, SADC – Datacentrix

• Go big, win big net new business, North West Africa – INEOS

• Go big, win big net new business, Central East Africa – SYBL Uganda

• Go big, win big net new business, SADC – Dimension Data

• Extraordinary partner of the year, North West Africa – INEOS

• Extraordinary partner of the year, Central East Africa – IPMC Ghana

• Extraordinary partner of the year, SADC – Complete Enterprise Solutions

• Regional distributor of the year, North West Africa – Disway Morocco

• Regional distributor of the year, Central East Africa – Misumi

• Regional distributor of the year, SADC – Pinnacle