Windhoek
Acer, the global hardware, software and services company, this week announced its investment and growth strategy for the Namibian market. As one of the world’s top five PC companies, with a presence in over 160 countries, Acer has identified Namibia as a key country for its continued emerging markets growth and expansion.
Acer Africa country manager, Paul Collins, outlined the company’s growth strategy at an earlier press conference. “Namibia’s sovereign risk rating makes it one of the best-rated economies in sub-Saharan Africa. A stable political climate, an economic environment that supports foreign investment and positive GDP growth forecasts are some of the factors that contribute to Acer’s bullish outlook on this market. To drive this growth, we have bolstered our customer service delivery capabilities in-country and identified opportunities to support the further development of the education sector though technology,” said Collins.
Celebrating 40 years of making technology accessible
In 2016, Acer celebrates its 40th anniversary. The company has celebrated numerous achievements and milestones over the past four decades – from commercialising microprocessor technology in the 1970s to the present day, where Acer is pioneering developments such as Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC) and launching strategic initiatives such as the “BeingWare” program to meet the needs of users in the era of the cloud.
Enhanced customer service offering
Understanding the cost and productivity implications of downtime for business customers, Acer today announced a new after-sales service offering. By investing in its local service partners, Acer is now able to offer a fetch, repair and return service on selected products to customers located in the major centres of Windhoek, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.
Acer is further investing in its customer service offerings through the Acer Reliability Promise, which is now available to business customers in Namibia. In the unlikely event that a product fails within the first year, Acer will not only refund the customer 100 percent of the purchase price paid, but also repair the unit under warranty. The Acer Reliability Promise applies to selected products in the Acer TravelMate and Veriton ranges as well as selected monitors and projectors.
Investing in the education sector
The education sector is a strategic pillar of Acer’s business worldwide. With more than four decades’ experience in the education sector, Acer is equipped to meet the needs of today’s educational institutions and will apply this expertise in the local market.
“We adopt a lifelong learning philosophy and believe that exploration through technology is a right, not a privilege. This is why Acer’s broad range of products, solutions and services for the education sector are affordable, reliable and robust to help students and teachers create new ways of interacting and learning,” said Collins.
With a strong network of education-focused partners in South Africa, Acer is seeking to build similar competence within the Namibian market. As a 100 percent indirect organization, Acer sells only through its network of partners and intends to identify, recruit and invest in partners in Namibia that will enable it to bring to market the products, solutions and services that will meet the needs of education institutions.
Acer works closely with its ecosystem partners, such as Microsoft and Intel, to anticipate the needs of all levels of education customers. Innovations such as the Acer Aspire One Cloudbook is one such example – an affordable and intuitive cloud-based device that is removing some of the traditional barriers to entry in this space. Another is Acer’s Cloud Professor offering, aimed at making learning content more accessible to a large number of learners.
“We are confident that our broad portfolio, differentiators such as the Acer Reliability Promise, strong local partnerships and ongoing innovations will enable us to grow from strength to strength in the Namibian market,” concluded Collins.