From left, Gary de Menezes, country general manager, Africa, Michel van der Laan, vice president, Europe and Africa, and Muhammad Omar, channel and alliance manager, SADC.Spring is usually viewed as a new beginning, so it is rather apt that the seventh largest software focused company in the world came into being on September 1 as Micro Focus officially acquired Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
“It’s critical we continue developing a portfolio that is relevant to both our customers and partners,” says Michel van der Laan, vice president responsible for Europe and Africa at Micro Focus. “The process of integrating the back-end systems are underway, and it is envisaged to complete this by the end of October 2018, our financial year-end. Until then it’s business as usual for both Micro Focus and HPE clients.”
Gary de Menezes, country general manager: Africa at Micro Focus, says, “Though there are two different cultures – one that has grown up inside the development of a hardware organisation and the other from a mainframe background – the two are complementary to each other. From what I have seen the different thought processes and ideas from the two teams are working well together. We have already set out the company road maps for the next five to six years and because we do not have any sunset products, customers can expect to see the benefit of a combined portfolio coming into effect in the future.”
The main message for
customers of both platforms is that nothing changes regarding the
products they are currently using, says Muhammad Omar, channel and
alliance manager: SADC. “We only started integrating from
1 September and it will take a while before all processes are under one
operating system. During this process the company will be communicating
with all its customers keeping them abreast of developments in ensuring
a smooth transition. However, should problems arise these will be
sorted as quickly as possible.”
One of the key aims for the company is skills development and apart from working in conjunction with Sita in setting up programmes within this government structure, the company is also in discussion with Wits University in setting up a South African branch of its Cobol Academy.