Fortinet has announced the winners of its 2017 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Partners of the Year.
The awards recognised the accomplishments of Fortinet’s growing partner community in the region.
Paul Williams, country manager: southern Africa at Fortinet, congratulated the winning partners, noting that Fortinet valued its channel and believed that formal recognition supported partner growth.
“We are a 100% channel company, so we believe it is important to recognise and validate what our partners do to grow the business across SADC,” he says.
Fortinet Southern Africa has seen growth in its partner network, as well as evolution in the partner business models in recent years, says Williams. Some have changed focus to become niche Fortinet specialists, and several have enhanced their offerings to become managed service providers as interest in Fortinet solutions grows across SADC.
“We’re seeing partners moving up to gold and platinum level faster than in the past, as well as partners looking at how they can develop and change their businesses to adapt to Fortinet solutions,” he adds. “Their efforts, as well as feedback from our partners across the region, indicated it was time for us to enhance our channel engagements, formally recognise achievements and support competition between partners.”
The Fortinet SADC Regional Partner of the Year Awards were presented to:
* Sales AM of the year 2017 – Natasha Chance from Dimension Data
* Distributor of the year 2017 – Maxtec Peripherals
* Growth partner of the year 2017 – 10.Dot
* Technical engineer of the year 2017 – Dane Walker from LanDynamix
* Rookie of the year 2017 – NEC XON Systems
* Revenue partner of the year 2017 – Dimension Data
* Deal of the year 2017 – NEC XON Systems – Jason Van Plato
* Gold Partner of the year 2017 – Business Connexion
* Silver Partner of the year 2017- Executive Solutions
* MSSP of the year 2017 – Vodacom Business
The annual partner gathering also updated over 120 top partners on new Fortinet solutions and changing industry trends, with separate tracks dedicated to sales and technologies.
“This year, there is a lot of focus on top-of-mind topics including our Fortinet Security Fabric, new FortiGate 6000 and 7000 series solutions, wireless solutions, industry skills development, and GDRP and POPI – and what these legislative changes mean for local business,” says Williams.