business connexion times
DESCRIPTION
EDITION 3 | AUGUST 2012TRANSCRIPT
12
Business Connexion Offices
SANDTON
Forum Building
5th and 6th Floor
c /o 5th and Maude Street
Sandton
Tel: + 27 (0) 11 290 9001
Fax: + 27 (0) 11 290 9006
MIDRAND
Business Connexion Park 789
16th Road
Randjespark
Midrand
Tel: + 27 (0) 11 266 5111
Fax: + 27 (0) 11 266 1088
PRETORIA
Block F - Glenfield Park
Cnr Glenwood Road &
Oberon Avenue
Faerie Glen
Pretoria
Tel: + 27 (0) 12 427 0300
CAPE TOWN
Ring Road
Century City
Montague Gardens
Cape Town
Tel: + 27 (0)21 550 3000
Fax: + 27 (0)21 550 3020
DURBAN
1 Cranbrook Crescent
Cranbrook Park
La Lucia Ridge Office Estate
La Lucia
Tel: + 27 (0) 31 560 9100
Fax: + 27 (0) 31 560 6008
PIETERMARITZBURG
Techno House
Redlands Office - Estate 1
George McFarlane Lane
Wembley
Pietermaritzburg
Tel: + 27 (0) 33 264 4160
Fax: + 27 (0) 33 394 6018
EAST LONDON
Chesswood Office Park,
10 Winkley Street,
Berea,
East London
Tel: + 27 (0) 43 743 2860
Fax 1: + 27(0) 43 721 0191
Fax 2: + 27(0) 43 721 0161
PORT ELIZABETH
Business Connexion Park 106
Park Drive
Central Port Elizabeth, 6001
Tel:+ 27 (0) 41 397 6000
Fax:+ 27 (0) 41 397 6001
NIGERIA
228 Adebola House
Ikoyi
Lagos
Nigeria
Tel: + 234 7 (0) 25 337 980/1
Tel: + 234 1 463 83 25/6
ZAMBIA
12 Kalembwe Close
Rhodes Park
Lusaka
Zambia
Tel: + 26 (0) 211 256347
Fax: + 26 (0) 211 25 6348
TANZANIA
Mikocheni
Lucy Lameck Street
Plot 6
Kinondoni District
Dar Es Salaam
Tel: +255 (22) 2780606
Fax: +255 (22) 2780504
MOZAMBIQUE
Rua de kassuende
No. 140 Bairro da Polana
Maputo
Mozambique
Tel: + 258 21 49 5530
Fax: + 258 21 49 4831
NAMIBIA
cnr Jan Jonker Road &
Thorer Street
Windhoek Namibia
Tel:+ 264 (0) 61 204 0000
Fax:+ 264 (0)61 204 0009
KENYA
2nd Floor
Eden Square Complex
Chiromo Road
West Land
Nairobi
Kenya
Office: +254 (20) 367 3242
Fax: +254 (20) 367 3232
UNITED KINGDOM
Connexion House
4 Arlington Court
Whittle Way
Arlington Business Park
Stevenage Hertfordshire
SG1 2FS
Tel: + 44 (0) 845 678 1122
Fax: +44 (0) 845 678 1123
Business Connexion Ltd
Connexion House
4 Arlington Court
Whittle Way
Stevenage SG1 2FS,
United Kingdom
0845 678 1123
BUSINESS CONNEXION
LIMITED UNITED KINGDOM
Head Office:
1 Berkeley Street, London
W1J 8DJ
Data Centre:
Connexion House,
4 Arlington Court, Whittle Way,
Stevenage, SG1 2FS
The Business Connexion FootprintAFRICA INTERNATIONAL
Visit bcx.co.za or bcx.mobi to find out how we can connect your business to a world of endless possibilities.
For queries or submissions please contact Marketing and Communications at - Tel: +27 (0) 11 290 9128/9108, E-mail: [email protected]
UCS SOLUTIONS
2nd Floor
Sunninghill Crescent 2
The Crescent
3 Eglin Road
Sunninghill, 2157
Tel: + 27 (0) 11 518 9050
Fax: + 27 (0) 11 803 4017
UCS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
2nd Floor
34 Melrose Boulevard
Melrose Arch
Tel: +27 (0) 11 243 3600
Fax: +27 (0) 866 186 242
ACCSYS
Sandhavon Office Park
Pongola Crescent
Eastgate Ext 17
Sandton,
Tel: +27 (0) 11 719 8000
Fax: +27 (0) 11 719 8060
CEB MAINTENANCE
10 Archimedes Street
Cnr Desmond Road
Kramerville
Sandton
Tel: +27 (0) 11 444 0265
Fax: +27 (0) 11 444 0360
BusinessConnexionTIMESAmplifying the power of Connective Intelligencetm
The route to a simple solution is usually extraordinary.
H I G H L I G H T SFrost & Sullivan rewards Business Connexion once again
Following on last year’s recognition by Frost & Sullivan that the company is a leader in the South African data centre space, with 27% marketshare, Business Connexion was again awarded a Best Practice accolade for its energy efficiency efforts around data centre cost savings.PAGE 5
Business Connexion gets a mobisite
Last month, saw the launch of the Business Connexion mobi site. The mobisite is a simplified version of our company’s corporate website and is an easier way to access our website using mobile devices such as cellular phones.PAGE 6
Business Connexion launches employee onboarding course
The ever-increasing pace of the global economy, demands that organisations of all sizes place a lot of emphasis on integrating new employees as rapidly and smoothly as possible, not only to help new employees adapt, but also to help them become effective in their new jobs more rapidly.
In response to this, Business Connexion, this year, launched its onboarding course as part of its induction programme to get new employees familiar with the overall goals of Business Connexion Group and its divisions and to support them as they embark on early projects all in an effort to achieve success (and productivity) quickly.
The ultimate benefits are:• Engaged employees who identify with the company brand• Employees who understand their role within the department and company• Increased retention • Reduced turnover • Increased productivity• Communication of consistent information
During the past year, various feedback sessions with employees highlighted the need for an induction programme. Business Connexion believes that all new employees must be given timely induction training. This training is regarded as a vital part of recruitment and integration into the working environment.
This policy, associated procedures and guidelines define Business Connexion’s commitment to ensuring that all employees are supported during the period of induction, to the benefit of both the employee and the company. Business Connexion is also committed to ensuring that employee induction is dealt with in an organised and consistent manner, to enable employees to be introduced into a new post and working environment quickly, so
that they can contribute effectively as soon as possible.
The company’s views on the benefits of good induction are as follows:• Enabling new talent to settle into Business Connexion quickly and become productive and efficient members of the company within a short period of time • Ensuring that new talent is highly motivated and that this motivation is reinforced • Assisting in reducing employee turnover, lateness, absenteeism and poor performance generally • Assisting in developing a management style where the emphasis is put on leadership • Ensuring that employees operate in a safe working environment• Reducing costs associated with repeated recruitment, training and lost production.
The Induction programme framework is Three- fold: Core Induction which is applicable to all employees, Divisional Induction which focuses on the specific division that the employee is appointed within, and Departmental Induction that focuses on the department that the employee is appointed within to ensure that the employee understands their role within Business Connexion and performance expectations are agreed from the beginning of the relationship between Business Connexion and the employee.
The programme has three stages: Pre-Induction, a contact session and an online course that ensures that new talent have a positive experience when engaged with Business Connexion and that all existing employees have access to key information about the group.
The programme ensures that basics like the overview of Business Connexion, the group’s strategy, its products and services, leadership, Business Connexion Brand and Values as well as the company’s investment in its people. END
ABOVE: Pictures from the Onboarding session hosted at the Business Connexion Sandton office
EDITION 3 | AUGUST 2012
Business Connexion recently launched its Employee Engagement initiative - letmegive
Business Connexion recently launched its Employee Engagement initiative - letmegive. This is an initiative that calls on all Business Connexion employees to get involved in making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate and will be managed as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility activities. PAGE 9
Edison Basson, Deputy Managing Director of Business Connexion Namibia
Edison Basson, has been appointed as Deputy Managing Director of Business Connexion Namibia. Edison will deputise Ferdi Graupe for a transitional period and it is envisaged that he will then take over the position of Managing Director.PAGE 11
2
Editorial
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO’S DESK
Business Connexion C
EO - Benjam
in Mophatlane
Editor in ChiefDeanne Pienaar
GM: Marketing
E-mail: [email protected]
EditorMiranda Lusiba
Group Manager: Communications
E-mail: [email protected]
Deputy EditorKaunda Chama
Public Relations Manager
E-mail: [email protected]
Art DirectorDorbyl Malubane
Design Specialist
E-mail: [email protected]
CONTRIBUTORSArnold Beyleveld, Mike Walker, Leeya Hendricks,
Zareen Hartley, Gabi Erasmus, Amanda Gibbs and Rositta Mbanze.
FOR QUERIES OR SUBMISSIONS PLEASE CONTACT MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS AT:
T +27 (0) 11 290 9128/9108E [email protected]
BUSINESS CONNEXION TIMESEDITORIAL TEAM
Business Connexion - Group Structure
Dear Colleagues
It is once again time for another edition of the Business Connexion Times. I am sure that much like myself, you have started identifying with this publication and looking forward to paging through a publication that showcases all the good that our company does, both internally and externally.
The last couple of months have seen a number of great initiatives launched, some great deals signed and some awards bestowed on Business Connexion, once again demonstrating why we remain the number one system integrator company on the continent.
On the Corporate Social Responsibility side, we saw the launch of letmegive, our employee engagement initiative, which attracted very good response from the majority of Business Connexion employees. It makes one really proud to see that I work with people who care a great deal about the plight of those who are less fortunate than themselves.
We also took time out to educate ourselves about Business Connexion with the onboarding sessions, which also received equally impressive responses from all employees. These were very important session because we cannot
properly represent ourselves in the market if we do not fully understand who we are.
Some of the great deals that come to mind include ATIO, ZapThink, and Q-Kon. These are just three from the many that we recently signed and are already seeing promising signs in terms of returns on the investment we made in them.
On top of this, Frost and Sullivan once again gave us a Best Practice accolade for our energy efficiency efforts around data centre cost savings. This puts a stamp on the fact that our efforts in green computing and energy efficiency are not going unnoticed and will go a long way in opening more doors for us in the hosting, cloud and data centre space.
In addition, we took time to take our message on the road through our Connectivity Series events that took place in our major regional offices including Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban and Cape Town. These events allowed us to reconnect with our existing clients, while at the same time we interacted with potential clients and even members of regional media houses.
We also made a recent appointment in Namibia, with Edison Basson taking on the role of deputy managing director for that country, Edison brings a wealth of knowledge to both the company and the position.
Our UCS and Canoa divisions also continue to perform beyond expectation and have contributed immensely to what our performance will look like as we reach the end of this financial year. As we begin our journey in the new financial year, I would like to thank you all for continuing to contribute to keeping Business Connexion ahead of competition and for your tireless efforts in carrying out your duties.
I look forward to our achievements in the next three months, which I am sure will be worth putting in yet another Business Connexion Times newspaper and the press at large.
Regards
Last month, Johan van Huyssteen was appointed Managing Executive for Business Connexion’s Western Cape region. His appointment was effective from the first of this month. In his new position, he will report directly to Vanessa Olver, the company’s deputy CEO and Group Executive for the Services Group, and also represent the Western Cape on the Services Executive Committee.
Van Huyssteen has been with Business Connexion for over 10 years and has over 30 years experience in the ICT Industry. He has extensive experience not only in the Infrastructure, Data Centre and
Communications industries, but also in the Outsource environment and Client Engagement.
As the Western Cape is the second biggest economy in South Africa, Business Connexion is confident that he will bring the required experience and leadership to the region in order to increase Business Connexion’s market share.
He will also be responsible for driving the group strategy for the Western Cape. END
Specialist ICT services company, Business Connexion, announced that it concluded a transaction whereby ATIO acquired all of its Avaya assets and subsequently partnered with the company in providing Avaya solutions to its customer base. Matthew Blewett, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Business Connexion explains: “As part of the realignment of our Technology Division and in order to ensure appropriate strategic focus, we have re-evaluated how we engage with our vendors. As a systems integrator, Business Connexion remains committed to implementing and supporting solutions from its vendors and this includes Avaya Technology. For this reason, we have concluded an agreement with ATIO to ensure that they partner with Business Connexion to provide the necessary focus on selling and supporting Avaya solutions”. Blewett adds: “In this regard, Business Connexion has entered into a long-term strategic alliance with ATIO whereby they become our exclusive partner for all Avaya business in Africa. ATIO is well respected in the call centre and voice technology markets and represents an ideal partner for Business Connexion. As a result of this transaction, our current employees focusing on Avaya technology,
will transition into ATIO to form part of its interactive division. This easily makes ATIO the strongest and most focussed services provider in the Avaya space in Africa, providing our customers with enhanced support and service continuity”. “After ATIO’s cessation of our Interactive Intelligence assets to ININ earlier this year, we decided to investigate how ATIO could complement and grow our current offerings,” said Chris Van der Sande, CEO of ATIO. “When we became aware of the fact that Business Connexion was looking at streamlining their technology offerings, we jumped at the opportunity to acquire their Avaya assets, thereby dramatically increasing ATIO’s Avaya market share in Southern Africa.” Dawn Hollingworth, Managing Director of ATIO’s interactive division, is excited about the addition to the division. “Being able to increase our staff compliment in such a manner means that we are able to provide increased service levels to all our clients, both ATIO’s existing and Business Connexion’s”, she noted. “We are excited about where this acquisition will take ATIO and will continue to focus and improve on our strengths in order to surpass our goals,” Van der Sande concluded. END
Business Connexion partners with ATIO on Avaya business
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Business Connexion News
Amplifying the power of Connective IntelligenceTM - BusinessConnexionTIMES
Business Connexion has earned two awards from the global software supplier Symantec for its efforts to become South Africa’s leading provider of information security systems.
The double award presented at Symantec’s Partner Event 2012 recognised Business Connexion as its Commercial Segment Partner of the Year and its Security Reseller Partner of the Year.
Business Connexion has won each of those awards in the past, but this is the first time it has clinched both titles in the same year. “It’s the first time we have won both categories together and that’s quite unusual,” said Eric McGee, Business Connexion’s managing executive for information security services and cloud infrastructure services.
The awards recognise technology partners who have done the most to boost Symantec’s presence and reputation in the security space and the commercial segment. Competition in these sectors of the IT market is fierce, McGee said, and Business Connexion would work hard to protect its award-winning partner status in the future.
“There is no rest or relaxation because the competition isn’t going
away. Our solution is to continue to deliver excellent services to our customers to retain and grow our business. We need to continue to focus on building the market and creating opportunities.”
Symantec is a global leader in security, backup and availability solutions, protecting anything from mobile device to cloud-based systems for large enterprises. Handing over the awards, Chad Cleevely, Symantec’s Channel and Commercial Manager for South Africa, said these prestigious titles were something Business Connexion should be proud of.
“We are pleased to present two very well-deserved awards to Business Connexion for their positive commitment to Symantec in South Africa. As one of only a handful of Symantec Enterprise Security Specialists in South Africa, Business Connexion has shown great success in selling security solutions to the enterprise and commercial segment, and achieved up to 60 percent growth in IT Compliance solutions,” Cleevely said.
“Their alignment and focus to the Commercial segment business has resulted in some impressive business successes, including being one of our top performing partners in the Opportunity Registration
Program and very healthy year-on-year growth in the commercial segment.” END
During this year’s MTN Application Awards ceremony, Business Connexion, in partnership with TransUnion, won the Best Andriod App (enterprise) award for the TransUnion Dealers’ Guide App.
The companies were also runner-ups in two categories for the Best IOS App (enterprise) alongside RapidTarget and runner-ups for Best HTML5 App alongside DJ Satchmo.
The TransUnion Dealers’ Guide App was launched earlier this year and allows Auto Information Solutions subscribers to access the latest South African Trade and Retail values (M&M Values), for the following types of used vehicles in the South African Market:
• Passenger Vehicles • Light Commercial Vehicles• Medium Commercial Vehicles • Heavy Commercial Vehicles• Motorbikes.
The values include the Current Year Price as well as Estimated Values and the application will adjust for mileage and condition automatically.
The MTN App of the Year Awards, which were held at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, showcased mobile applications across 10 categories that have made an impact in their markets over the last 12 months and the people behind them. END
Double awards coup for Business Connexion
Dealers’ Guide App scoops MTN award
ABOVE: Gordon Love, Symantec’s Regional Director for Africa (left) presents the awards to Eric McGee, Business Connexion’s managing executive for information security services and cloud infrastructure services and Flip Erasmus, Symantec’s Business Development Manager responsible for vendor relationships, with Chad Cleevely, Symantec South Africa’s Channel and Commercial Manager (right)
ABOVE: Eric Stokes, Mobile Development Manager: Application Services
ABOVE: Johan van Huyssteen, Managing Executive Business Connexion, Western Cape Region
ABOVE: Matthew Blewett, Business Connexion Chief Operating Officer
Johan van Huyssteen appointedManaging Executive: Western Cape
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Business Connexion News
Business Connexion plays its part in grooming SA youth!
Jobs and skills shortages, especially amongst the youth, are issues that continue to make headlines and have even made it to the top of President Jacob Zuma’s agenda. There is no doubt that these issues pose a challenge for South Africa and its economy.
In an effort to help government address these issues, as well as develop a talent pipeline, Business Connexion runs an internal Graduate Internship Programme, which aims to equip graduates with skills that will enable them to become employable citizens.
In support of this goal, as well as in line with the group’s strategic goal of attracting, developing and retaining talent The Human Resources Learning and Development department, along with various divisions that include Services, Technology and Innovation to name a few, recently hosted Graduate Open Days during youth month. These were held at Business Connexion’s Head Office in Midrand as well as the regional offices in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, East London and Durban.
The main objective of the Open days, which took place in June, was to invite top students from South Africa’s tertiary learning institutions to come and engage with the business first hand. The students had the opportunity to learn about Business Connexion, the services and solutions it offers, various careers in the ICT sector as well as the opportunity to apply for the 2013 Graduate Internship Programme.
Business Connexion is constantly on the lookout for new talent but also prides itself in helping to groom individuals in their areas of expertise in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry.
“Technology plays a vital role in today’s world and what better way to reach out to a tech savvy youth than through open days where they can come in and experience the Technology on offer at Business Connexion!” says Grace Dipale, Business Connexion Group Executive for Human Resources (HR). There are currently 150 young people who are being groomed through the Business Connexion internship program of 2012 and they are spread across various divisions. “It is a great opportunity for me to be trained at Business Connexion because it is a company that encourages innovation and excellence, and this motivates young people, like myself to excel in what I do. Every day is a chance to learn something new and develop further as a professional,” says Rositta Mbanze, Marketing and Communications intern.
The aim of this programme is to provide interns with the opportunity to gain practical workplace experience related to their fields of study. When asked, Mpendulo Ntlengethwa, an intern in the Services division (Voice Technology) said: “I am grateful for the opportunity that Business Connexion has given me because I have now learnt about Nortel and Cisco technologies, in the practical sense.”
The inclusion of this practical component at the workplace provides graduates with a competitive advantage in the labour market and will result in them gaining valuable experience and exposure to the workplace.
“We understand the challenges faced by the country and our business with regards to education and specialised skills. That is why we make a conserted effort to help build a skilled labour force; and as a group, we are commited to playing our part in grooming South Africa’s future leaders,” states Dipale. END
The impact of mobility in the world todayABOVE: Graduates listening attentively at the Graduate Open Day presentation ABOVE: Business Connexion East London Regional Executive Xolani Mbulawa presents a
prize to Linda Bidi from Fort Hare University
ABOVE: Business Connexion HR Group Executive Grace Dipale presents a prize to Cinos Mukandatsama from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
ABOVE: Graduates taking notes during the Graduate Open Day presentation
With smart phones now rapidly outselling desktop computers, the amount of software applications being developed specifically to run on smart phones will soon outnumber the amount being written for traditional PCs by four to one. That’s an indication of how mobile our world has become, as many employees prefer to access their corporate applications on the same sexy and sophisticated devices that they use for Facebook and Twitter, rather than use clunky office computers. The ability to access corporate data on the go is bestowing immense freedom and improving productivity. But it creates problems as IT departments have to integrate all these diverse devices without creating additional security risks as staff carry sensitive corporate data around in their pockets. Business Connexion is highly experienced in the field of mobility, partly because our own software engineers and IT experts are always among the first to adopt the latest personal devices. Our Application Services division increases the mobility of a business by developing and deploying innovative solutions that can also help traditional businesses access new markets. Business Connexion can also manage mobile applications on behalf of your business. We already own 20% of the application development market in South Africa, and research house BMI-T named Business Connexion as the leading company for Custom Application Development in 2011. Adding our Mobile Device Management (MDM) cloud service to the solution means that enterprises can confidently manage company devices and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) as well as the applications running on them.
With a global total of almost 6-billion mobile subscribers, it’s not surprising that developing mobile apps is a huge and highly competitive business. There are apps for everything you could possibly imagine doing on your cellphone – and for thousands of other things you never even thought of doing. Already there are more than a million apps in existence, and software downloads from Apple’s App Store have exceeded 18-billion. Business Connexion also helps companies to make the most social media channels, which are an increasingly important way of reaching and relating to your customers. Yet so far on Twitter, only 26% of businesses include calls to action in their tweets, and 70% of businesses ignore complaints that customers post on Twitter. As well as strengthening and widening customer relationships, social media tools can cut costs, with many businesses seeing a drop in marketing costs by moving to social marketing. Africa is lagging behind in some respects, but this is still the opportune time for businesses of all types to address mobility and social interaction. One technology helping to achieve that is HTML5, a pivotal technology in the growth of the “cloud” that delivers services and software over networks. Until recently, many applications had to be developed for specific handsets because of a lack of standardisation, limiting which markets an application developer could target. HTML transcends that barrier, because its cross-platform usability means applications can be written once and used on many devices. That is fuelling fresh growth and innovation in the industry. Many parts of Africa are yet to benefit because of a lack of network coverage, low disposable income, and the widespread use of basic handsets unable to handle these more sophisticated services.
Using simple technologies such as USSD that can be accessed from almost all devices, these users are still able to connect to the services they need. Almost 1.25 million handsets are sold every month in South Africa, with an estimated 29-million people using a mobile phone. That outstrips the number who own a radio or a TV, and vastly outweighs the 6-million who have a PC and 5-million with a landline. That confirms that Africa’s on-ramp to the internet comes in the form of handheld devices. Worldwide, approximately 472 million smart phones were sold in 2011, and that should reach almost one billion in 2015. Numerous surveys have shown that people use their smart phones to help with the shopping, find retailers online, compare prices, read reviews and purchase goods. Yet there is still much to be done to create compelling apps that people will experiment with and keep using. A record 1.2-billion apps were downloaded in the last week of 2011, according to TheNextWeb.com. However, research by #MobileAppStats shows that 26% of apps are used only once, then never used again. So despite the massive amount of choice, people are not finding what they want, or are happy to do less with their cellphones than the suppliers would like them to. Africa needs – and Business Connexion is working to deliver – compelling and easy to use apps that run on the less sophisticated phones still prevalent across the continent, in African languages and with content relevant to their lives. This thought leadership article was written by Eric Stokes, Head of Mobile Applications at Business Connexion. END
Following on last year’s recognition by Frost & Sullivan that the group is a leader in the South African data centre space, with 27% marketshare, Business Connexion was again awarded a Best Practice accolade for its energy efficiency efforts around data centre cost savings.
The Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement is presented, each year, to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that they make in their products and services. This award recognises the company’s inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer base expansion. The research firm explains that the accolade was motivated by Business Connexion’s ability to optimise energy efficiency.
With the volume of computing processes effected in data centres contributing to the strain placed on the national electricity grid, coupled with rising electricity costs, causing companies’ operating costs to rise, Business Connexion has attempted to reduce this cost by adding a new dimension to its service portfolio, and introducing energy efficient assistance.
The company has leveraged its extensive experience and knowledge of the industry to offer energy optimisation solutions across different industries. Business Connexion has also been recognised as an Eskom-approved Energy Services Company (ESCO).
“In essence, we have been certified to assist clients to achieve energy efficiencies in their processes, including their data centres. As a result, Business Connexion qualifies for funding from Eskom in cases where we are able to demonstrate our contribution towards conserving energy, whether in its internal operations or in its service delivery to clients. This is expected to be a strategically important differentiating factor in the data centre market, particularly when companies start to come under legislative pressure to be more energy efficient,” explains Jaco Moolman, managing executive of Energy Project and Industrial Solutions at Business Connexion.
Meanwhile, Business Connexion boasts a wider array of data centre services for its clients in South Africa, compared to its competitors who tend to have a fairly limited product portfolio of services. As a result, it is in a prime position to cater for all clients’ data centre services requirements, ranging from Cloud Infrastructure Services, Hosting, Mainframe, Open Systems, Database Management to IT Service Continuity Services. This is a result of the company’s ability to attain either a leading market position or ranking among the market leaders in several of the data centre services.
He adds that the market for data centre services in South Africa is showing remarkable potential for growth, with an expected 9.6% compounded annual growth rate for the next seven years, as more companies look to reduce their costs. “Our flagship data centre in Midrand was rated at Tier IV, the only such rating assigned in Africa up to the end of last year. This followed an investment of R23 million since 2010, geared towards increasing the availability of electricity
and expansion of usable space to accommodate project growth. We expect the data centre to generate at least 15% in energy savings for us.
“The use of virtual technologies is a key driver behind the efficiency of a data centre. Virtualization technologies allow the maximum use of resources through software management systems which allow multiple clients to share one server. This has a significant Green IT impact as we as a service provider, are able to realise cost savings by serving a large number of clients using fewer servers. We have made extensive use of shared virtual technologies in the provision of our data centre services,” explains Moolman.
Meanwhile, Business Connexion has become the leading provider of data centre services in South Africa with five of its own and 80 data centres which it manages on behalf of its clients. The company’s market share last year grew from 23% in 2010 to 27% in 2011, which is well ahead of the 15% held by its closest rival. Part of this success is due to the capabilities in energy efficiencies that the company has built over time, that are designed to not only create energy efficiency internally, but also for delivery of services to clients.
Frost & Sullivan comments that the company has also added a different dimension to its clients’ assistance in becoming more energy efficient because of its continued in gaining capabilities to help both Business Connexion and its clients reduce their energy consumption and costs. END
Frost & Sullivan rewards Business Connexion again
5
Business Connexion News
Amplifying the power of Connective IntelligenceTM - BusinessConnexionTIMES
Business Connexion partners with Zap-Think to offer SOA trainingLeading ICT services company Business Connexion, recently partnered with ZapThink, a Dovèl Technologies Company, to offer its globally recognised Licensed ZapThink Architect (LZA), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) credentialing course in Johannesburg.
ZapThink is a leading global Enterprise Architecture, Service-Oriented Architecture, and Cloud Computing advisory, training, and thought leadership firm.
It will be presenting the new version 9.1 of the LZA course, which includes the Enterprise Context for SOA, SOA Design Principles, SOA Reference Architecture, SOA Intermediaries and Integration, The Role of Data and Semantics, Service Composition and Business Process, Web Services-Based SOA, REST-Based SOA, SOA Governance and Security, Planning and Running the SOA Initiative, and Addressing SOA Organisational Challenges.
The course was delivered by ZapThink president Jason Bloomberg, at Business Connexion’s Midrand offices.
“We were excited to have Jason run this course at our location,” says Paul van der Merwe, business unit manager Innovation and Development, Business Consulting at Business Connexion. “ZapThink’s course is globally recognised as the best vendor-independent, enterprise centric SOA course available, and several of our consultants will undergo the training as well.”
He adds that getting involved in this partnership and especially the course is further testament of Business Connexion’s dedication to Cloud Computing and the development of skills around cloud-based technologies. “As the enterprise space continues to embrace Cloud Computing, and recognise that it is far more than simply outsourcing your data centre, they will start wanting to maximise its full potential and this means that Business Connexion and the market at large should prepare for this by having the necessary skills available to match the imminent demand,” explains van der Merwe.
“Fully leveraging the Cloud requires an architecture-focused, enterprise-centric approach that places Cloud resources into the context of enterprise IT.” END
The Marketing Team launched yet another branding tool when it updated the range of the Business Connexion branded Notebook Skins to the company’s employees.
The skins fit perfectly on all regular notebook computer sizes and provide a protective layer that also acts as a mini billboard with Business Connexion’s latest branding.
These Notebook Skins remain one of our company’s most exciting ways to carry Business Connexion’s message to the world. END
Connective IntelligenceTM game
Now available, notebook skins launched!
Launch of our Federal brand strategy
Business Connexion mobisite now live
6
Business Connexion Brand News
ABOVE: Mpendulo Nhlengethwa (Winner) and Leeya Hendricks,Senior Marketing Manager: Brand
ABOVE: The newly launched Laptop skins
As part of our brand’s evolution, Business Connexion is making a concerted effort to ensure that it also remains properly positioned so that it gets the right exposure and manages to achieve the maximum impact. When we launched our current brand positioning in 2008, a decision was made to take a monolithic brand approach. This was done to strengthen the Business Connexion brand and avoid having too many messages in the market, so all of our acquisitions and products were absorbed into the broader Business Connexion brand. However, as the Business Connexion brand had strengthened in the market over the years, and with the company having grown and changed through mergers and acquisitions, coupled with the launch of new products and services, this year a decision was made that a Federal approach is the best way forward. Doing this will increase Business Connexion’s opportunity to leverage off its brand’s equity and position the company’s different divisions, products, services and partners better in the market. This way we have given them all added exposure in the market and we mutually build on our brand equity through association. One of the many brands to be highlighted in this new Federal approach, was Q LINK, which is one of the Business Connexion brands that already existed within the group prior to the monolithic
brand structure, and was assimilated into the Business Connexion monolithic brand.
With this new approach, it has been rebranded and given a fresh new look.
The Q LINK brand is well known in the market for being a one-stop collections solution that optimises the success of the collection of high volumes of monthly payments from consumers through various collection channels.
Q LINK’s solution provides a collections service that overcomes the complexity of having multiple interfaces to a variety of collection channels.
Even though it is part of the broader Business Connexion brand, Q LINK holds a niche area of focus and has kept its own identity, through its specialised products and services that resonate well with its target audience.
The new Federal branding as well as the Q LINK branding (visuals and usage guidelines), are all available on the Business Connexion WorkZone. These are intended at giving employees a better understanding of the Federal and Q LINK brand strategy, architecture and guidelines as well as give visual examples of what our new federal branding will look like. END
Last month saw the launch of the Business Connexion mobisite. The mobisite is a simplified version of our company’s corporate website and is an easier way to access our website using mobile devices such as cellular phones.
The mobisite is an extension of our corporate site and is optimised for smaller devices.
In the past few years, an increasing number of small, medium-sized and large businesses outside the technology industry have designed mobile-specific versions of their Websites as a means of capturing the smartphone consumer segment.
The move toward mobile spawned a brand new domain name suffix in 2006, when users were offered for the first time the chance to register domain named ending with .mobi.
The .mobi extension is similar to other popular suffixes, such as .com or .net. However .mobi Websites are required to adhere to a number of standards that make sites easily viewable on handheld devices. As such, .mobi Websites are designed to accomodate smaller screens across all smart phones.
The Business Connexion mobisite is fully functional and can be accessed from all mobile platforms on http://bcx.mobi/. It does not contain detailed information as the full site, but is a perfect quick reference point for all our client-facing employees that are always on the move.
We urge you all to make use of this additional resource whenever you need to access company information from your mobile device and also feel free to share the link with our current and potential clients. END
One of the highlights of this year was the Connective IntelligenceTM game. The game was intended to test how well Business Connexion employees know the company and its brand, as well as their general knowledge. The game was played over a three-week period and the winner walked away with a fabulous 13” Apple Mac Book Pro. What also made this game exciting was the fact that it could be played from both a computer and smart phone.
This first game’s bragging rights went to Mpendulo Nhlengethwa, pictured below, who captured the top of the leader board. END
7
Business Connexion News
Amplifying the power of Connective IntelligenceTM - BusinessConnexionTIMES
Business Connexion recently hosted regional Connectivity Series events, as part of its client-focus campaign that took place between the months of July and August in three of our four regional offices across the country namely, Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban.
Key note speaker at the events, JP Landman addressed guests on current and future financial and business trends in South Africa and how these affect the way we all do business, more importantly in the context of the regions, where Business Connexion operates.
Landman, a leading political and economic trend analyst who has wowed audiences with his keen insight into current developments in South Africa and across the globe, focused on trends in politics, economics and social capital, including poverty alleviation. The UN has even quoted some of his startling findings on the role of public institutions in battling corruption.
Vanessa Olver, Business Connexion Deputy CEO comments: “This served as a great opportunity to engage with current and prospective clients in the region. The global economy has undergone a paradigm shift which has impacted the way we all do business. It is therefore imperative for us to identify challenges faced by business and then provide ICT solutions to assist in overcoming them.”
She explains that because of the state of the economy, every company is now forced to look at cost effective ways of running productive businesses. This therefore creates a great need for Business Connexion to focus on understanding the specific business challenges faced by its regional clients.
By doing so, the group will be in a better position to tailor-make ICT solutions to tackle these challenges.
Business Connexion’s strategic offerings aimed at assisting in overcoming business challenges include:
Cloud Computing
This enables clients to tap into the power of now, having dealt with the efficiencies of IT through the likes of automation, the business can now be mobilised to collaborate with others in a real-time information exchange to transform collective computing power into business knowledge.
Custom Application Development
Application services focus on increasing the mobility of a workforce through using the latest mobile technology; developing innovative solutions to access new markets for businesses offering complete solutions from design to deployment.
Energy Efficiency
As the first and currently only ESKOM-approved JSE listed ICT Energy Services Company (ESCO), we offer energy management solutions including Energy Audits, Assessments, Financing and Commissioning, offering financial benefits, improved performance of plant, reduced maintenance as well as better management, which will translate into client’s efficient use of energy and lower overheads.
Industrial Solutions
Our in-dept understanding of the industrial sector enables us to provide stable and reliable ICT environments that are effective and efficient, improving production, maintenance, quality and inventory, bridging the gap between factory floor and the boardroom.
“As a business, we have a great deal of achievements to share that includes our rise in profit, our returns from our African expansion, and locally the recent partnership with Rackspace in the Cloud Computing space, our recognition in the area of energy efficiency, our investment in industrial solutions through the acquisition of Quad Automation as well as application development capabilities.
These alone are a testimony of how we can assist clients to run efficient and cost effective businesses in spite of the economic challenges,” concludes Olver. END
Business Connexion holds Connectivity Series events
ABOVE: Keynote speaker JP Landman
ABOVE: Kwa Zulu Natal Regional Executive Andrew Nicholson with clients at the Connectivity Series event
ABOVE: Port Elizabeth Regional Executive Patrick Monks (on the right) with a client at the Connectivity Series event
ABOVE: East London Regional Executive Xolani Mbulawa speaks during the ConnectivitySeries event
UCS Solutions was recently awarded the 2011 SAP Solution Partner of the Year award. SAP Partner awards are presented annually to leading SAP Africa partners that have excelled in developing and growing their partnership with SAP Africa and driving customer success.
The Solution Partner of the Year Award is determined by showing evidence of strategic engagement and significant contribution to the SAP solution portfolio – for example, adding business value in a variety of areas such as the amount of revenue organisations generate for SAP software license sales, Field engagement and volume, marketing efforts and customer references as well as proactive account planning and solution deployment with customers.
“UCS Solutions, with some 140 professionals skilled in SAP software, delivers approximately 10 projects each year to clients around the globe, helping them achieve high performance and develop on-going sustainable benefit from these investments,” says Chris Shortt, Senior Executive: SAP Application Services. “We’ve been working closely with SAP for 14 years. Such deep experience enables UCS Solutions to consistently deliver the very best value to our clients in our chosen industries of focus.”
“We understand the power of our partnerships, through which we continue to drive strong, joint innovation and expand our customer touch points – leveraging our local and industry expertise as an extension of SAP’s sales and services efforts”, says Shortt.
This recognition adds to the many SAP awards that have been won by UCS Solutions over the years. END
8
News clippings
UCS Solutions Wins SAP Africa Top Partner Award
CEB Maintenance – a one-stop IT support shop
ABOVE FROM LEFT: Chris Shortt - Senior Executive: SAP Application Services, Pfungwa Serima - Managing Director SAP Africa and Reg Barry - Executive: Projects
CEB Maintenance was established in 1987 as a self-financed and privately owned company. Since then, CEB has grown to be one of South Africa’s largest IT Maintenance Service Providers specialising in point of sale (POS) systems for the retail industry and now part of the Business Connexion family.
Its clients include Shoprite Checkers, Mr Price, The Foschini Group, The Clicks Organisation, Truworths, Spar, Woolworths, Queenspark, CFS RICA, Vodacom and Cashbuild.
CEB Maintenance and Onsite Connect, joined forces in June 2011 with the aim of supplying the Retail, Private and Public sectors with the best break-fix service in the industry.
Its service offerings to clients include:
• Day-to-day break-fix service• On site hardware and software upgrades• Workshop repairs to equipment• Special Requests and Project Management: This includes planning, staging and installation of new stores and roll-outs as well as equipment de-installation and store revamps• Equipment warehousing and asset management• Warranty process and repair management• Supplier management• Continual service improvement initiatives• Contact centre• Complete cabling solution• Account management
CEB Maintenance has 704 employees, this includes more than 350 field-based and over 50 workshop employees.
The division’s customers are supported from 14 CEB Regional Offices and an additional 34 CEB Service Centres providing a footprint of 48 locations throughout Southern Africa, which excludes the additional service centres manned by UNS. Our offices include coverage and support in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland and Lesotho, with an addition of Ghana and Nigeria through partnerships with Business Connexion.
CEB Maintenance’s field engineers are specialists in the repair of retail specific equipment and have the skills to diagnose and resolve many incidents onsite. All repairs of a more intricate level will, wherever possible, take the form of component swap outs to prevent the need for lengthy repairs on site. CEB engineers are required to carry boot stock in order to replace equipment on site.
Its main repair centres are located in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. These decentralised repair facilities refurbish modules, such as printers, scanners, monitors and cash drawers.
CEB Maintenance is well equipped to supply, install and support a range of cabling options, including fibre, copper and wireless solutions. It ensures compliance with the preferred brand and topology standards as selected by the customer and supports these accordingly.
The division’s cabling facility has provided cabling services in the retail, hospitality and other fields since 1994. Cabling services during this period ranged from single data point installations to new store installations including complete data infrastructure configurations and extended to full standardisation of cabling infrastructure in stores nationally and into the neighbouring territories. END
By adding the cabling component to the current service offerings, CEB is now clearly distinguished as a “one-stop IT support shop.” END
Interns from Business Connexion in the KwaZulu-Natal region have taken it upon themselves to establish their own corporate social investment project which is aimed at helping the Sparks Estate Cheshire Home.
The team of interns had considered a few homes and locations (Victoria Embarkment Children’s Home, Edith Benson Home, Addington Hospital: Children’s ward, Mahatma Gandhi Hospital and SPCA). After research and careful consideration, a decision was made on one home, based on the following criteria:
• Location • Cost• Accessibility • Requirements
Sweety Sabelo, Linda Sikakane and Sthembi Hlatshwayo were at the forefront of this initiative and identified the home and identified its major challenges, they were assisted by 20 other interns who assisted either through fund raising or with the final renovations.
The Sparks Estate Cheshire Home is a registered Welfare residential facility providing residential care for 48 severely mentally and
physically handicapped children and few adults. The Home caters for residents; from all communities within the, KwaZulu-Natal region since 1979.
Located at number 145 Mary Road, Sydenham, Durban, it is headed up by Mrs Wendy Maharaj and needed improvements with the TV Room (Painting, Cushions, TV Stand, TV, Sitting Area), wheelchairs,
bed sheets and shelving for each room.
The Home continues to rely on this very important and vital act of giving from the Communities. Some of its major sponsors include the National Lottery Distribution Fund and the local community, which sponsors cooked lunches or suppers for the residents. END
9
Business Connexion News
Amplifying the power of Connective IntelligenceTM - BusinessConnexionTIMES
In June, Business Connexion introduced an Employee Engagement initiative called letmegive. This initiative is an open invitation to all Business Connexion employees to get involved in making a difference to the lives of the less fortunate and is managed as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
The initiative, involves employees giving a portion of their money or time and sometimes both to underprivileged communities in South Africa. Therefore, letmegive aims to encourage employee volunteerism and payroll giving within the company. This initiative is earmarked at benefiting the developmental organisations and letmelearn™ beneficiaries of Business Connexion.
Payroll giving will be effective from September 2012, whereby employees can nominate an amount of their choice to be donated to one of the Business Connexion Development Organisations. Employees interested in participating in this initiative, need to
complete the Business Connexion Payroll Giving Programme Nomation and Cancellation Form and send it to HR at [email protected]. Nominated values are voluntary and employees can, at anytime, cancel contributions.
The Employee Volunteering Days will be done in an organised and controlled manner by the CSR department and employees will be notified of these volunteering days in their regions. Volunteering days will be conducted with and in partnership with one of the Business Connexion Development Organisations or one of the schools currently in the Business Connexion School Programme.
More information regarding this initiative is available on the workzone under Marketing and Communciations, where the form for the Payroll Giving Programme can also be found. Alternatively for more information, please contact Arnold Beyleveld on: [email protected]. END
Business Connexion launches Employee Engagement initiative - letmegive
After the successful handover of three IT Labs in February this year to the learners and staff at Matladi Project High School based in Zebediela in Limpopo, Business Connexion employees returned to the school on 22 June and dedicated a day to helping the school paint its newly refurbished classrooms.
The Business Connexion Marketing Team, together with other employees from the Polokwane Office, all set aside a working day to assist in bettering the learning conditions of more than 1000 pupils at a school located in a region that faces many challenges, including a high level of unemployment and poverty.
“The refurbished classrooms will make for a better learning and teaching enviroment. Business Connexion through its letmelearn™ initiative, aims to help reclaim the high standard of our education by continually bettering the learning conditions of schools; one class and one young person at a time,” says Arnold Beyleveld, CSR Manager at Business Connexion.
The refurbishing and turning of the three classrooms into IT Labs, early this year, included repainting, fixing of light fittings and adding new furniture to create a conducive environment for learning.
“Our intention as a company goes beyond just handing over IT Labs, we want to maintain lasting relationships with the schools
that we assist, so that they can continue providing young people in South Africa with the best quality education possible. Going forward, we will involve Business Connexion employees, as part of our letmegive programme, in projects with our beneficiaries such as our school programme so that they can see, first-hand, how their efforts will impact lives,” explains Beyleveld.
He adds that it is important that employees give some of their time or money, as these small efforts will help better the plight of those that are less fortunate in the areas that Business Connexion operates, stating that this, as well, should not be limited to these areas only.
“Business Connexion understands the challenges faced by the country with regards to education and specialised skills. That is why we are committed to giving back to communities by grooming South Africa’s future leaders,” says Business Connexion CEO Benjamin Mophatlane.
Meanwhile, the letmelearn™ programme has seen Business Connexion implement IT labs at schools in the Free State, North West, Gauteng and Eastern Cape and now with this project, we also implement our employee engagement programme under the letmegive that will focus on employee volunteerism and payroll giving. END
Business Connexion employees give a day to charity
ABOVE: Seitiamotho Sello, Head Master at Matladi Project High School and Arnold Beyleveld, Business Connexion CSR Manager
ABOVE: Business Connexion employees at Matladi Project High School
ABOVE: Business Connexion employees take part in letmegive, at Matladi Project High School
KZN interns lend a hand to a good cause
ABOVE: Business Connexion KwaZulu-Natal interns ABOVE: Linda Sikakane and Sweety Sabelo
10
Business Connexion News
The SIS story – how SiloFX grew into the groupOn 01 June 2007, Business Connexion made yet another of its strategic acquisitions when it bought the business interests of SiloFX, a specialist systems integration consulting company.
The rationale behind the acquisition was to bolster the Business Connexion’s system integration capability both from a skills and market share perspective and provide renewed impetus to the company’s existing clients on systems integration services.
Upon acquisition, the SiloFX business was ring-fenced as a business unit with the Professional Services business called PS SiloFX, headed up by the ex-SiloFX MD Vish Rajpal. PS SiloFX was not allowed to infringe or impose on existing Business Connexion integration business during the two year warranty period.
PS SiloFX successfully over achieved its warranty obligations and produced a PBIT result as at the end May 2009 over achieving its warranty by almost R 3 million.
At the end of the warranty period, the Professional Services exco took a decision to integrate the various systems integration initiatives and capabilities which existed within Business Connexion including SiloFX and create a single unified national systems integration competency called Professional Services Systems Integration Services and Vish Rajpal was appointed as its Managing Executive.
This resulted in the creation of a R 20 million revenue per annum systems integration capability within Business Connexion which achieves a 33% PBIT. The business’ success is a result of streamlined operations with unique skill sets within the ICT domain to deliver high-ending innovative solutions to our company’s customer base.
Today Business Connexion boasts a single systems integration capability with skills and implementation experience across the large scale systems integration vendors. Systems Integration Division has created a powerful capability within Business Connexion to deliver a holistic turnkey Business Integration solution.
The growth potential of this unit has been already tested and experienced within Business Connexion’s complex customer domain and has provided the ideal platform to propel the company to the position of a leader within the IT Business Integration domain.
With convergence and consolidation of IT technologies and vendors within the SI/SOA space, the Systems Integration Services division is ideally positioned to acquire a larger market share within the IT integration domain.
• +-75 Skilled Integration Resources • Specialised capabilities • Enviable Blue chip integration clients • Technology Agnostic • Footprint in most industry sectors • Vendor partnerships
Integration Consulting Services • Integration Planning and Roadmap • Governance • Integration / SOA Centre of Excellence • Outsourced / Co-sourced Integration Partner • Business Integration (Process Driven) • Data Driven Integration (ETL, replication) • Business Process Automation (BPM) • Business Activity Management (BAM) • Composite Applications / SOBAs
Generalist Vendor Driven IntegrationSolution Sets • SAP PI • Oracle Fusion • SoftwareAG WebMethods • Microsoft BizTalk • IBM Websphere • MuleSoft MuleESB • Globalscape
Success Stories • Vodacom SA – moved from delivering the first Oracle Fusion Implementation to leading Oracle Fusion implementation partner, • Eskom – 85% of the Integration Competency Centre support is staffed by BCX • Sasol– trusted outsourced Integration partner with defined integration SLAs • SA Reserve Bank – cutting edge, complex data exchange solution for the Bank to manage their B2B interactions
2012 – 2013 Highlights• Awarded Government IFMS data exchange project;• Awarded multi-million Oracle Fusion integration project at Vodacom
With the award of the IFMS Data Exchange solution, this now cements us as the top systems integration capability in SA. We will now officially have implemented within all the industry domains and across all the product domains.
The importance of what we achieved here is mainly three-fold:• Implement the first formal integration centre for SITA • Implement the largest open-source integration project in the Southern Hemisphere• We will be responsible for the integration and information movements all government employees
The Vodacom Oracle Fusion award has also been exciting because we partnered with a reputable international service provider to augment our local capabilities. Within the Fusion space, this partnership provides Business Connexion with access to key integration resources, in addition our global partner will share critical IP by enabling us to leverage of their global expertise, integration approach, methodologies and design acumen.
With the convergence and consolidation of businesses and a result of the current global outlook, this division is well positioned to offer client the innovation to leverage off their existing IT assets. From a technology perspective, convergence now is visible between the application development and systems integration verticals which will realise exciting synergies within the BCX technology framework and provide new growth potentials to our clients. END
BUSINESS CONNEXION PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
News clippings
ABOVE: Vish Rajpal, Systems Intergration Services Managing Executive
www.markertwatch.co.za
www.itnewsafrica.co.za
www.itweb.co.za
www.fastmoving.co.za
www.it-online.co.za
www.fastmoving.co.za
11
Business Connexion News
Amplifying the power of Connective IntelligenceTM - BusinessConnexionTIMES
Business Connexion Namibia appoints a deputy Managing DirectorA proud product of the Namibian soil and a great believer and supporter of his country’s development initiatives, Edison Basson, was recently appointed as Deputy Managing Director of Business Connexion Namibia. Edison will deputise Ferdi Graupe for a transitional period and it is envisaged that he will then take over the position of Managing Director.
Rodwell Zvayari, Group Executive: International at Business Connexion Group says: “Edison has all the qualities that we need to take Business Connexion Namibia to greater heights. Because he is originally from Namibia and understands the dynamiques of the country, his appointment will not only be beneficial to us, but also to the business environment as well as the Namibian community at large.”
Basson, is a well versed and dedicated ICT professional with experience spanning over 15 years of ICT service delivery. He has been with Business Connexion Namibia for over two years as an Account Executive. In this role, he was directly responsible for Public Sector business development.
Prior to joining Business Connexion Namibia, Edison spent time
at Absa Namibia, FNB Namibia, National Housing Enterprise, Old Mutual Namibia as well as the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation.
Edison adds: “Being born and bred in Namibia gives me an added advantage as I do not only understand the business environment of Namibia, but also the challenges faced by our communities. I am continuously seeking to contribute in a meaningful way to this country’s development priorities and this appointment will give me the opportunity to do just that.”
His past roles spanned across ICT Service Delivery, Systems Administration as well as ICT Operations Management. Basson is trained and certified in various aspects of the business of ICT including Enterprise Architecture, ICT Infrastructure Management, ICT Project Management as well as in General Management. To further enhance his knowledge, Edison is currently pursuing studies in Business Informatics.
“I am looking forward to taking on this exciting challenge; and making a difference while doing it,” concludes Basson. END
Durban office hosted top clients in a Family Rugby Day!The KZN regional office recently hosted its top tier clients for a Family Rugby Day, a second of this nature. The response and feedback received from clients about these fun and relaxed family style events, has been very positive. Clients were invited with their families; and they came to enjoy the Sharks vs. Western Force game that was held at the Kings Park Stadium with their children aged between 4 – 12 years. Children were served burgers and party packs were arranged for them as well as hand-outs for all the guests. Matthew Blewett said: “The objective of the day was to ensure that it was not the same as our typical business networking events, but rather an opportunity for our clients to interact with the Business Connexion family in a relaxed, happy environment; and once again the feedback was, as always, amazing.” END
ABOVE: Edison Basson, Deputy Managing Director Business Connexion Namibia