Global ICT giants BT and Hewlett-Packard have announced the launch of the BT HP Alliance in SA, firmly demonstrating the two companies' "undimmed enthusiasm" for the South African market.
Through the alliance, the two are partnering to target high-volume clients looking for integrated ICT solutions, with BT providing communications services and HP providing IT services.
This is the eighth country where the two global groups have a formal agreement to generate business, says said Lucy Dimes, BT's global MD of the BT HP Alliance.
The BT HP Alliance operates in limited geographies, which include the UK, the US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Norway. It also conducts a fair amount of business in the Middle East, and has plans to launch in India, she said.
It already has some presence in SA, having won Anglo American's $450 million global ICT contract last year. This gives the alliance the platform to jumpstart its operations in SA.
Dimes would not give projected targets for annual revenue the partnership plans to generate from its South African operations in the next couple of years.
However, she emphasised that the alliance has aggressive growth targets, having generated more than $2 billion of business in the first three years of operations globally. The alliance would not have launched in SA if it did not expect to do well, she said.
SA is a growing, internationally-focused economy, providing the alliance with enough customers who need combined ICT and communication services, Dimes added.
"Customer feedback in the build-up before launching also shows there is an appetite for the alliance."
Paul Killick, head of worldwide operations for the HP BT Alliance, said it is very strategic to both organisations. "This isn't just a marketing alliance, it is a growth engine."
Local growth
The launch of the BT HP Alliance in SA means the two companies' local operations will partner when bidding for high-volume business, working as preferred strategic partners, Dimes said.
At an operational level, there will also be a pairing of business development managers from executive, finance, business development management to the actual teams implementing the contracts, she said.
On average, the BT HP Alliance has a team of about 15 people from each side at management-level, Dimes said.
Dimes and Killick would not say whether the presence of the alliance would create a significant amount of new jobs. However, Killick noted that both companies are committed to aggressively growing their presence in SA, and a growth in business needs people.
Undimmed enthusiasm
Brian Armstrong, BT's GM for its Middle East and Africa operations, says the local operation is on track to double its annual revenue and staff, and meet other operational objectives it announced last February.
Armstrong noted that BT continues to have undimmed enthusiasm for the SA market, despite the regular power outages.
The power outages are simply part of the growing pains as the SA economy grows, said Armstrong.
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