Dimension Data is hopeful of keeping the City of Johannesburg IT outsourcing deal if it goes out on tender later this year.
The listed IT company took over the provision of IT services to the city after former provider Masana Technologies filed for liquidation towards the end of last year, claiming the council owed it at least R64 million.
DiData took over the R230 million contract to provide end-to-end services to the city in September last year. The deal runs until October.
Grant Bodley, GM for Teamsource at DiData, says it is the company's intention to try and renew the contract. He expects the city to go out on tender later this year and follow the proper procedures.
Job worries
The company provides IT services to the city in 17 different areas, which range from desktop support, IT access management, service desk, as well as networking. Bodley says some of the areas of the contract are still being transitioned over to DiData.
Bodley says the transition was seamless, with only a few minor hiccups that did not cause any disruption in services.
He notes that the transition of the contract was complicated by Masana's liquidation, as staff members were concerned about their jobs, which resulted in uncertainty within the organisation.
However, DiData took over 115 - about 90% ‑ of Masana's staff that were working on the contract. The company has supplemented this complement with 20 of its own staff to ensure best practices are adhered to, says Bodley.
As soon as the transition is completed, the company aims to start looking at ways to make the city's IT systems more efficient, he adds.