Graham Brown Channel Manager for South Africa/South African Development Community, Commvault

Commvault Systems, Inc. announces that industry veteran Graham Brown has been appointed channel manager for the South Africa/South African Development Community (SADC) region.
 

With close to 3 decades of experience in the IT industry, he returns to Commvault to take up the role, having previously joined the company in 2019 as an enterprise account manager for the financial services sector.
 
“Earlier this year, I decided to explore different avenues in the database and application space. Having been involved in data protection and data management for such a long time, and with it being a career passion of mine, this is what led me back to Commvault,” he says.
 
He points out that he is rejoining the company at a pivotal time in its history as the hybrid world is evolving at great speed. The combination of AI, together with the evolution and disparity of workloads and the adoption of cloud computing is presenting customers and partners with new challenges.
 
“Against the backdrop of cyber resiliency, cybersecurity, ransomware and data protection, data management as a discipline and as a function almost becomes that much more difficult to achieve,” he says.
 
Reinventing itself
“Commvault has been one of those organisations that has managed to reinvent itself over and over again, as the data management landscape has evolved. Commvault has been able to reposition itself, reinvent, and find new innovative ways of doing data management.“
 
He notes that significant opportunities still exist for firm’s channel management strategy in the South African and SADC market, as there is still a significant amount of potential for growth in the region.
 
“If you look at us as an emerging market, some of the market drivers present here provide us with so many opportunities to actually make a difference. Obviously, there is the energy crisis which calls for energy solutions and sustainability in terms of the need to go green,” he says. “Additionally, there is datafication and artificial intelligence which are revolutionising what we do on a daily basis. So, it is indeed a very interesting time for the IT sector, and cybersecurity and data protection will likely be tested quite heavily in the South African market.”
 
Solving complexities
This, he says, coupled with the rise of cloud platforms and as-a-service models are inclined to offer up many opportunities for the firm and its channel partners. However, these opportunities are likely to extend beyond the supply of software, or SaaS, or even hardware technology from Commvault, but also to the skills and services that are complementary to solving these complexities.
 
Brown says one of his main goals will be to awaken some of the “sleeping giants” within Commvault’s channel ecosystem.
 
“There’s much untapped potential that is waiting to be activated. When there is a mutual alignment and big emphasis on trust in terms of what partners in the region are aiming for, and there is agreement on what defines success for the partnership for both Commvault and for a reseller, only then will the recipe begin to come together.”
 
Brown adds that his main message to the channel would be around engagement. “We are an extension of your ecosystem as partners and alliances – just as you are an extension of our family. We are here to journey with the channel. But importantly, the whole intent is to drive successful outcomes to grow revenue.”