CipherWave's newly appointed regional director for KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Rajan Ponnen, says he intends expanding the Internet service provider into a leading position within the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and mid-market enterprise segment in the province.
Established in 2010, the company specialises in providing growing businesses with a range of Internet solutions to help them connect, communicate and collaborate with their customers, employees and suppliers. Over the last two years, the company says it has invested significantly in its network, cloud and voice platforms.
In his new position, Ponnen will oversee all of CipherWave's operations, sales and marketing efforts within the KZN region, while focusing on creating new opportunities.
Discussing challenges facing South African businesses, Ponnen believes most local businesses are facing extremely high Internet price points as traditional solutions are still being offered to a large part of the market.
"Technologies like software-defined wide-area network and cloud options are still at the bottom of most service provider's price book, whilst the overall technology world is steering away from traditional costly options and technologies like multiprotocol label switching. I believe service providers should be focusing on trying to solve the customers' business challenges by using their infrastructure, network and technical skill to help the customer fix these problems and not necessarily just selling products," he points out.
Local SMEs, he adds, are also struggling to find the perfect Internet partner who understands their business and would be able to offer a custom solution which would allow for the business to reach its full potential through increased productivity and profitability.
Rajan has 15 years' experience across various roles within the telecoms and technology industry. Before joining Cipherwave, he was the regional sales manager for key accounts at Vox Telecoms within the KZN region.
Before that, he was a manager at MTN Group, where he looked after key global and multi-national sales across nine of the telco's operational countries.
"I am excited to be taking on the role of regional director for the KZN region as part of CipherWave's organic growth plan. My short-term goal is to continue to develop further on the existing relationships that the company has with partners and customers, and I believe there is still tremendous opportunity for further growth. Our long-term goal is to remain relevant and agile within an ever-changing environment by keeping staff, partners and customers enthusiastic about Cipherwave's innovative culture, solutions and investments," he notes.
Wayne D'sa, MD of CipherWave, says: "We're excited to have Rajan join our team and believe he will add tremendous value to our customers and partners in the KZN region. We believe the timing was perfect to continue our expansion plans, given the investment and growth into our network, voice and cloud platforms over the past 24 months."
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