In business, the importance of partners cannot be overstated, which is why, according to George Senzere, pre-sales manager for anglophone countries at Schneider Electric, it is always important to be selective about who you choose.
“Such a choice should be based on strong due diligence, deep industry knowledge and an understanding that the entities you partner with are organisations that are genuinely making a difference in customer sales and service,” he says.
Kevin Kolobe, a director at Green Wave Group, a Schneider Premier Partner, explains that for him, a technology partner of choice is one that undertakes significant and ongoing investments in research and development (R&D).
“Knowing how much effort goes into their R&D should give you peace of mind that the technologies you as a partner will be using today will also be consistently worked on and developed further. It is this continuous improvement that is the hallmark of what makes a good partner in a digitally transforming world,” he says.
Senzere suggests that from a Schneider perspective, it focuses on providing potential partners with a one-stop shop, by bringing together a range of different environments, including building management systems (BMS), solar solutions, power metering and data centres, under a single roof.
“Partners always want solutions that have been tested, validated and have real use case scenarios, and they align themselves to multinationals because it also gives them access to the skills of thousands of certified engineers and subject matter experts around the world. This, in turn, enables these partners to position themselves as trusted advisors to their own customers.”
Kolobe explains that Green Wave has been a Schneider partner for close to a decade, initially becoming involved with the business because it was seeking a BMS solution.
“Once we looked more deeply into their other areas of expertise, namely in solar, power metering and data centres, we realised it not only matched our own natural progression in this direction, but also provided us with a much bigger canvas to undertake our energy efficiency-focused work on,” he says.
According to Senzere, energy efficiency is a key play for the future. With everything seemingly going electric, including vehicles, this means electricity consumption will continue to rise. The same holds true for data centres, whose energy demands continue to increase as the cloud grows and the edge spreads. For this reason, energy management and efficiency is more critical than ever.
“Undoubtedly, the increasing focus on energy efficiency means greater levels of competition, which in turn drives organisations to be consistently innovative, to more clearly understand what the market wants and to deliver solutions that are tailored to exactly what those market demands are.”
“Pulling together the kind of solution that meets these market demands, of course, requires careful planning and understanding of the customer’s needs. Moreover, it requires a partner with the right levels of skills and expertise to undertake the implementation. For Schneider Electric, meeting these requirements in a holistic manner is the core reason we believe in working so closely with our partners,” he concludes.
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