TechSoft International, formerly TIBCO South Africa, is now the exclusive distributor of TIBCO Software products in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The companies have announced a partnership whereby TechSoft will be TIBCO's strategic regional partner with Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) status.

The deal reinforces TIBCO's value proposition in South Africa and its ability to meet the technology needs of the Sub-Saharan region, according to Sicelo Xulu, chief executive officer, TechSoft.

South African customers and partners can receive 135% preferential procurement benefits as TechSoft continues to focus on demand from within key sectors including telecommunications, banking, manufacture, logistics and energy, among others.

Xulu said, "One of the reasons for the partnership agreement is that it future-proofs TIBCO's South African operations in line with the demands of the South African economy. TechSoft has created the Professional Services Group (PSG) that will provide first-tier support for customers throughout the region it serves in Sub-Saharan Africa."

This represents the opportunity for customers to fuel their digital transformation, adopt the cloud, and become more data-driven.

According to the companies, as TIBCO's exclusive partner for the region, TechSoft will continue to provide the same solutions and services as before with some added benefits.

"These include local first-tier support and a local executive team able to make decisions locally and pivot faster for better customer service. Support requirements beyond first-tier will be escalated to TIBCO as they always were so customers will retain full access to TIBCO best practices," Xulu adds.

Xulu maintains that TechSoft retains all TIBCO South Africa employees and premises, meaning that "TechSoft will continue operations, uninterrupted."

TechSoft is owned in the majority by South African business solutions provider Dynatech and TIBCO will maintain participation in the company with a minority shareholding.

According to the companies, William Hughes, executive VP and chief administrative officer for TIBCO Software, is a non-executive director on TechSoft International's Board of Directors.

"TechSoft is a business that we are proud to partner with in meeting the unique requirements of the Sub-Sahara Africa markets. Meeting enhanced B-BBEE requirements, as mandates by South African government policy, ensures that TIBCO can continue to provide competitive advantages to organisations and the many commercial customers in the region who benefit from our global best practice solutions and services," said Hughes.