New appointment at IS Partners

Communication sector lead at Microsoft South Africa, David Ives, will be leaving the company to join Microsoft Gold Certified partner, IS Partners, in February.

Involved in the BI market for over ten years, Ives fulfilled a number of executive positions at Microsoft. He was also involved in Business Intelligence (BI), Knowledge Management (KM) and solution architecture at Dimension Data previously.

He will be heading up the BI and KM divisions as a director at IS Partners.

In his previous executive role at Microsoft, Ives worked closely with the Developer Community and Independent Software Vendors in enterprise and solution sales. In his tenure, he has assisted many customers with key Microsoft Offerings, including large-scale BI and KM implementations.

Ives says he is not moving far from home. “BI is a key focus area for Microsoft, and opportunities to add value to clients are delivered through partners,” he says.

Through his association with IS Partner over a number of years, he played a significant part in joint solution wins, including some large, well-known South African brands.

“Information is a critical asset, particularly in an unstable economic climate where there is a dire need for companies to manage their businesses better,” he says.

Ives’s adds that, as a result, the growth opportunity for BI is vast. “Prospects for new ways of thinking, such as in-memory BI, as well as the business need for BI and KM are greater today than in the past. Most organisations have a burgeoning amount of data, but are not always able to access insight on their information. A lack of general skills in the market also opens up the scope for comprehensive KM and BI solutions. There is no doubt that customers are looking for ways of working smarter,” Ives says.

“IS Partners is a leader in this space, and has the potential to also be a major player across Africa through the products and solutions they are developing.”

Caron Mooney, director at IS Partners, says that Ives brings an understanding not only of the Microsoft BI and KM platforms and toolsets, but extensive experience in solution selling, which will ensure that value is unlocked for customers.

BI and KM are closely knitted, complementary technologies. Ives combines experience in both these areas and will allow IS Partners to execute on its strategic group initiatives, she adds.

“We welcome David to IS Partners and believe this appointment will continue in building on the company’s successes.”