What do the Tour de France, Nelson Mandela and digital business have in common?
What do the Tour de France, Nelson Mandela and digital business have in common? Written by Wedaeli Chibelushi Produced by Stuart Shirra 3
We spoke to the Managing Director of Dimension Data Middle East about the future of digital business
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hen I ask about her experiences in the maledominated tech sector, Mechelle Buys du Plessis laughs: “We just can’t balance that boardroom, can we!”. Buys du Plessis is Managing Director of Dimension Data Middle East. She has spent 22 years at the global IT services company, working in diverse areas such as marketing, client services and sales management. She became Managing Director in 2015; in this role she
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ensures Dimension Data remains an equal opportunities employer. “We need to make sure that we’re attracting and retaining the best skill and to do that we need to make sure that we’re providing equal opportunities to the best of the best,” Buys du Plessis tells me. “To me, gender doesn’t have a part to play when there is a global IT skills shortfall.”
Maintaining talent is important to Buys du Plessis. Dimension Data has a strong reputation to uphold - the company has been providing IT solutions and services since 1983. Buys du Plessis began in 1994, and can remember Dimension Data’s humble South African roots. “Dimension Data was a young company at the time, and we were going through changes in our country [Nelson Mandela became the first black South African president in 1994],”
she said. Today, Dimension Data has 31,000 employees, 75 percent Fortune 100 clients, 59.6 percent Fortune 500 clients and a 58-country coverage. In 2015, it received over 100 client, vendor and industry awards, and over 50 of these in the first half of 2016. What services does Buys Du Plessis oversee? “Dimension Data focuses on four high level areas: digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces of tomorrow and cyber security,” she says. “IT-as-a-service is growing across those four pillars… we look at everything from cloud advisory services that help our clients deliver against a clear roadmap, to delivering off premise, or public cloud services; on premise cloud solutions and hybrid cloud solutions.”
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Mechelle Buys du Plessis Managing Director, Middle East
Originally qualified in Food & Nutrition sciences, Buys du Plessis started her career in IT in 1994. She has worked across multiple countries & three continents. Starting at ground-roots level, she quickly moved from a presales role, to a sales role and into Corporate and Key Account Management. Her passion for service delivery moved her to General Manager, Client Services. From here, she was appointed head of Marketing for Africa and Middle East, prior to moving to the United Arab Emirates in 2007. Buys du Plessis has filled Sales Management, Solution Director and Managing Director roles in the United Arab Emirates. She is happily married to Anton and is proud to have a daughter, currently an under-grad veterinary student in Ohio, USA.
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TECHNOLOGY
Many clients come to Dimension Data seeking its cloud services for Microsoft and cloud services for SAP. Microsoft technologies form the core building blocks of Dimension Data clients’ productivity and unified communications and collaboration (UCC) strategies. The company’s cloud services for Microsoft focus on reducing cost in achieving this strategy. Likewise, with Dimension Data’s cloud services for SAP, cost control is achieved. All this is provided on a fit for purpose SAP HANA certified public, private and hybrid cloud solution, backed by certified SAP support teams. Buys du Plessis continues to add to Dimension Data’s service pool. “We offer a OneCloud partner programme, IT outsourcing, consulting and professional services, managed services, managed services for data centres and support services,” she expands. “Our solutions centre around big data, client computing, cloud, data centres, data centre management & automation and data centre optimisation. This is a very big area
Manoj Kumar Regional Sales Lead
Holding a Masters in Business Administration, Kumar started his career in India and moved to the UAE in 2003 as Sales Account Manager in the IT field. He joined Dimension Data in 2007. Kumar is very passionate about client relationships, team work and partnerships with key vendors. His main goal is always about enabling better solutions for our clients. Kumar is married to Jaya and they have a son, Om Kishan.
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for us,” Buys du Plessis says, pausing for breath. “Quite a large spread - it might sound very confusing. It’s not. We basically work with our clients from a consulting engagement, all the way to managing the IT operation on behalf of our client.” Finally, she makes sure to note networking and security, Dimension Data’s original domain. We ask how security services have developed since the early days. “Security is and always will be big business,” Buys du Plessis explains. “Big dollar figures are quoted in terms of what cyber security is doing to the world. “Globally, and in the Middle East, security is enabling digitisation. If you look at fintech or technology businesses, they are leading this charge, and we see this in the Middle East as well. Many of these businesses are asset light, whilst ensuring secure transactions, so we think that security expands beyond the physical perimeter into the cloud environment.”
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This benefits businesses; it enables them to have quick deployments across multiple cloud platforms. This process is especially relevant to contemporary Middle Eastern businesses, where according to Buys du Plessis, a large amount of rightsizing, downsizing and mergers and acquisitions take place. She tells us that the Middle East is “very visionary, very innovative…going out there and pushing the internet of things”. Buys du Plessis explains how cloud technology contributes to this progressive sector. “We love cloud technology,” she laughs. “We’ve basically acknowledged that for most of our clients there’s going to be both cloud and non-cloud components, but with cloud playing a very strong role. Dimension Data has invested a significant amount of money in our capability over the past five to six years. The strategy is two-fold - one side is for our own organisation to make sure that we are agile enough to serve our clients best, the second is to build the cloud into the centre of everything we do with our clients.”
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es e y o pl a t a m e of ion D r e b ns m e u N im D t a
Ahmed Elias Procurement & Partner Alliance Lead, UAE
Elias is a CIPS ( Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply – UK ) certified professional and a finance graduate who worked in the finance sector for a decade. He started his career as a junior level Accounts Assistant before moving to the role of Lead Accountant within just a few years in the manufacturing industry. From here, he moved to Sales Coordination and Sales Administration roles, which positioned him well to move to the procurement field as a Buyer for the oil field industry. Elias joined Dimension Data in 2007 as Team Leader for procurement. Having lead the procurement team as procurement manager, Elias stepped into a Dimension Data UAE management role, where his responsibilities include supply chain and vendor alliance management. Elias’s in-depth knowledge of procurement, logistics, vendor management, contracts management, e-procurement and vendor pre-qualification sets him apart. His wide experience across multiple industry verticals, including manufacturing, construction, oil field services and IT with Dimension Data brings unmatched value. Elias has a passion for motorcycling and is a proud father of a 15 year old son.
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Ovais Khan Services Lead, UAE
A graduate in Computer Engineering, Khan has been employed with Dimension Data since 2008, where he started as a Network Engineer. With a passion for technology and services delivery, he has since risen over the years to lead the current services team. During this journey, Khan has served in various services functions within Dimension Data Services including Project Management and Services Delivery, and was a proud recipient of CEO award for Certification of Excellence in Services. Khan has numerous certifications in Project Management, Finance, Services Management, Process Improvement and IT Networking. Khan embraces his lazy nature which helps him find, creative and efficient ways of doing things. Khan lives in Dubai, with his wife and two beautiful daughters. Khan enjoys combat sports and in his spare time, plays cricket for a local cricket club.
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Two years ago, Dimension Data partnered with ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) to establish new ways to engage global Tour de France fans. With cloud at the core of our solution, Dimension Data has revolutionised the viewing experience by transforming the way race data is analysed and delivered to the cycling community, which includes fans, the media, the teams and the experts. Dimension Data plans to build on that innovation for every year of its involvement in the Tour, powered by cloud infrastructure. “As much as it’s a privilege to manage such a successful business, there are things that keep me awake at night. I take personal responsibility for our exceptional employees, and
our clients are at the top of my mind all the time,” Buys Du Plessis admits. However, she’s proud of Dimension Data’s growth during the 22 years she’s worked there. Ultimately, the challenges are worthwhile. “My first love has always been technology and how it changes business…how it changes life. I wake up every morning thinking that it’s a hell of a privilege to manage a business with products and solutions that change lives.”
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