In that, the company complements its traditional services, with future-focused technologies like cloud, digital modern applications, and security to enable this transformation. According to Prince Hlatshwayo, Executive Head: Huawei Cloud at Vodacom Business, we undertook this shift as we recognised we have an opportunity to offer more to our customers, transform with them, future-proof their business operations using these digital transformation and future-focused technologies. Technologies like Huawei Cloud lend themselves well in offering services that are relevant in the journeys our customers are taking with us, with a cost-effectiveness approach to cloud deployments. This is in line with our position of turning challenges into possibilities, aligned with our strategy.
“Huawei Cloud has the exact capabilities that suit our customer’s needs, capabilities that help them overcome existing business challenges using the cloud competences we offer. Our services for market range from core cloud services (compute, storage, networking) to platform related ones like cloud security, backups, archiving and disaster recovery. We further complement these with end-to-end packaged capabilities that resolve shortcomings in the learning space (uLearning), Document Management in the Cloud and Call centre capabilities using our Artificial Intelligent Call Centre services. As our final outlook, we focus on how we co-create, co-innovate, and have a digital transformation play with our customers using the services we provide”, he says.
Our value-proposition not only lies in the Huawei Cloud but is anchored by core (Systems of Advantage) capabilities that Vodacom Business has built over time. These are core platforms that enable end-to-end customer digital experiences under one roof. These enable our customers to have a sound technology-consumption experience in consuming services from IoT, Networking, Cloud (with deep locally based Huawei Cloud professional and managed services that deliver customer outcomes) and value-adding services that springboard business transformation.
A digital-first business
Hlatshwayo adds that while some customers are focused on the more transactional capabilities of the cloud, such as cost considerations, Huawei Cloud leads with immersing itself in the customers’ business and in understanding their transformation strategies, supported by flexible pricing constructs. Cloud, he notes further, offers many benefits, key to him being how Cloud enables customers to build ‘digital-first’ businesses, levelling the playing fields, allowing customers of all sizes to develop, quickly, into global businesses.
Saschin Naidoo, Director for Partner Development at Huawei Cloud South Africa, adds that the organisation’s core goto- market strategy is a ‘partner-first’ one, and that the likes of Vodacom are at the top of the list when Huawei considers the typical large corporate partners it wants to work with. “In fact, we could use the word ‘fate’ to describe our partnership due to the multitude of synergies that exist between both organizations. After all, Huawei has historically been a telecommunications carrier-focused original equipment manufacturer (OEM), while Vodacom, with Vodafone, is one of the largest telecommunications operators in the world, and one of the best fixed & mobile network providers in SA,” he says. “Thus, our two organizations align well from a core business point of view, while we have both also recently forayed into addressing the needs of the market for Public Cloud Technology & Solutions. Here, Huawei Cloud can offer best of breed cloud services & solutions in order to empower Vodacom Business to lead the way in Cloud transformation initiatives and, of course, from our viewpoint, we are proud to be associated with a company that is a household name in South Africa, and is synonymous with value, reliability, and trustworthiness.”
Dream partnership
Vodacom Business is renowned as an organization that forges the path towards bringing new age technologies to market, continues Naidoo. He points out that while Vodacom Business’ customers have likely become accustomed to this, Huawei Cloud certainly acknowledges the company’s technological prowess, capabilities & key differentiators, as these are some of the characteristics that make Vodacom Business a partner of choice for a Hyperscaler such as Huawei Cloud.
“If you look at Vodacom business and the reputation they have built across a wide variety of sectors, alongside the length and breadth of the skills in the broader team which supports significant capabilities in solving customer challenges, it should be clear why Vodacom Business is such a crucial partner to Huawei Cloud.
“I would describe it as a ‘dream come true’ to be able to work closely with so many highly skilled individuals, who, in turn, are now flying the Huawei Cloud flag together with us. To be able to place their brand and business objectives alongside ours in this way is genuinely a privilege,” he states.
Hlatshwayo believes there is much still to come from this partnership. “The cloud already affords us an opportunity to do things differently, to develop future-focused solutions, and to properly address customer pain points. We will continue to support Vodacom’s customers in ways that allow them to be innovative in how they do business. Ultimately, we would not have chosen to partner with Huawei Cloud if we didn’t recognise this as an opportunity to do more together, and to do it better.”
Find out more
Partnering with Vodacom Business for your Huawei Cloud transformation empowers your organization to embark on a transformative journey that fully harnesses the potential of cloud computing. With our expertise, scalability, cutting-edge technologies, and unwavering commitment to security, Vodacom Business is the trusted partner that can drive your business growth and help you achieve digital excellence.
