Pretoria, 28 Sep 2010
Computer Assisted Telephony Systems (CaTS), one of a number of active business partners for IBM's lotus Foundations and Tivoli Start solutions - business software solutions specifically aimed at the small and medium enterprise business market - said its launch of the products last month at its offices in Tanzania went down “exceedingly well”.
Johan Grobler, MD OF CaTS, said: “We had more than 45 people attend the launch, which was held at the Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel, and we have 13 really solid leads. The leads,” he said, “are from a broad spectrum of companies operating in the parastatal, bank and motor industries.”
CaTS has offices in Dar Es Salaam, which it uses as a base to focus on business in the rest of Africa, from which 80% of its revenue stems.
The new 'sewn-off' Tivoli and Lotus solutions - which still come with all the necessary features - are estimated to be around 50% cheaper then the “full versions”.
CaTS is currently active in African countries that include Lesotho, Nigeria, the DRC and Tanzania.
It has recently been short-listed for a R30 million tender with a large telecommunications company based in Nigeria.
“We do focus on business in South Africa too,” said Grobler, “but for the past few years, the bulk of our income is coming from Africa - and this figure could even go beyond 80% of our total revenue during the next 24 months. Particularly if we win the R30 million telecommunications tender in Nigeria.”
Grobler said he expected to secure around 20 new Lotus Foundation clients during the next 12 months, which would add around 10% to the company's revenue stream.
“The average user is probably going to be a company with around 10 users. But I think we are going to see growth in this market beyond the first 12 months as users realise the benefits. The market will grow steadily.”
He said the company was aiming to land a similar number of “Tivoli clients”.
“Cost is a factor in Africa, but the beauty of these scaled down versions is that they come with enough features for small to medium companies. This is one of the reason we believe they will prove to be very successful in Africa.”
He said that while Tanzania is still a relatively small market for the company, the economy is vibrant and is showing “a lot of potential”.
“Our offices there also give us a foothold to work with, and sell to, neighbouring African countries. Africa seems to have been more protected from the global credit crunch, because they work less on borrowed money and more on cash - well, certainly in Tanzania.”
Share