Kerry Grimes, head of global partners at AVEVA, explains how his company is working with renowned partners to support customers in their digitalisation efforts
While a little way behind on the digital journey than continents such as Europe, momentum continues to grow in Africa as more and more companies across the spectrum of industries realise the potential of going digital.
As Grimes explained, “There is a lot of excitement and there is transformation occurring everywhere now. A lot of industries want to become more efficient and become more sustainable and there is a lot of investment going into the continent which is enabling industries to evolve and achieve this. From our perspective, in terms of market attractiveness, it is kind of a glove fit because they are encountering the problems which we solve.”
AVEVA already has an extensive presence on the continent, most notably in industries such as chemicals, energy, mining and water but, Grimes noted, there are also emerging opportunities in fields such as smart cities and consumer packaged goods as well. While priority countries include Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, the company is investing extensively in countries across sub-Saharan Africa which Grimes added has become a “definite force.”
Customers beginning their digital transformation journey, Grimes explained, will need to digitise and integrate industrial sensor data (especially for those that are positioned on the edge of their industrial networks) and AVEVA and its channel partners are well positioned to support them through the three core packages of AVEVA Operations Control – Edge, Supervisory and Enterprise.
Read the full interview in the September issue of Africa Review here.
