Business Connexion has announced the renewal of its exclusivity contract for Actuate`s enterprise reporting solution. The company has plans to market this product throughout its African operations.
"The renewal of the exclusivity contract positions Business Connexion as the sole reseller of Actuate on the continent and aligns with our strategy for growth across Africa," says John Hilton, product manager at Business Connexion`s Enterprise Applications Solutions Competency.
"Business Connexion has been the sole provider of Actuate in Africa for six years and while we have always had the rights to sell in this market, we have not focused on it until now. Thanks to our acquisition of Intrinsic Technology, which has a large African footprint, we are well positioned for growth across the continent."
He points out that Actuate is about having a conformed set of reports that can be accessed by relevant personnel within a company at any time, or - in the case of a mobile operator, for example - provide tailored information to individual customers, with a high level of automation.
"The types of organisations that serve a large number of customers, such as those in the mobile or financial services arena, are increasingly offering bills electronically. Actuate can allow customers to access their individual billing or call reports, as well as a myriad of other content pertinent to them."
Hilton says that when positioning Actuate in Africa, Business Connexion will focus on the telecoms and financial services industries, as well as the retail space.
"Organisations such as these rely on good reporting in order to run their businesses everyday. The value of the product lies in the way it can streamline reporting processes and provide information that is pertinent to the right person at the right time," he says.
"We have already achieved success in the local mobile telecoms, financial services and retail industries. A large retail client recently signed an extended term contract with us, which shows the long-term commitment to the product that our clients have."
Business Connexion is hard at work driving Actuate into Africa, with the company already having submitted proposals in Egypt, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
"This indicates that interest from the African market already exists, specifically in the telcoms and financial services sectors, so things are looking really good in terms of our planned African drive," he says.
Hilton also claims that much of Business Connexion`s recent success with Actuate has been due to the addition of a new analytics module within the product, which allows data to be analysed in a near real-time manner.
"Where the normal product produces reports, the new module allows questions to be asked around these reports. While this is not unique to Actuate, it indicates a move for Actuate from the e-billing space into the enterprise business intelligence suite (EBIS) arena."
"Actuate has traditionally been associated with the e-billing space, but this is a narrow view. With the addition of the new module, the product really fits into the business intelligence (BI) segment," claims Hilton.
"While the analytics product may appear a bit lightweight in comparison to the high level BI products, it is ideal for users who are still in the process of growing to the point where they would require high level BI. As they grow, Actuate plans to be standing there with them and growing as they do."
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