Computer Science Corporation has announced an innovative Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) alliance with two of South Africa`s leading black-owned SAP implementation specialist companies - Cornastone Technology Holdings and Nokusa Consulting to focus on the SAP services market.
The agreement, struck in Johannesburg between the three companies, brings to the South African market a black-empowered offering that will compete for a share of the SAP application implementation and service market.
This is the first empowerment alliance where each member will share the risks and rewards of their aspect of client engagements, while retaining corporate independence. Unlike most alliances, the members will not sell or exchange equity, and the alliance will not be a registered entity in terms of the Companies Act.
The company that acts as the prime contractor with each new client deal will take the legal responsibility for the relationship between the client and the alliance, and manage the project. There will be no hierarchical model with one company playing the dominant role in the alliance.
"This alliance makes good business sense as our local skills, experience and knowledge combined with world-class resources brings a formidable team to South Africa`s SAP marketplace," said Jim Kleyn, CSC`s Global Transformation Solutions (GTS) World Sourcing Director for the South Europe and Africa Region.
The companies will work together on an `open book, exclusive relationship` basis. This means that each company`s business operations will be transparent to the others, and that no new relationships with additional service providers can be struck without permission of others in the alliance.
Existing relationships Cornastone and Nokusa have with other service providers will be phased out over time as current engagements are concluded.
Kleyn said the companies will jointly seek new business opportunities where the combination of expertise and experience, international best practice in implementation, delivery and support, and customer relationships ensures a powerful and winning package for customers needing to engage with a BEE-accredited service provider.
"The risks and rewards will be equally shared between the alliance members," said Kleyn. "For CSC, this is the first of the innovative ways in which we will contribute to the enterprise development pillar of the draft ICT Empowerment Charter.
"We believe that through the model we have established with Nokusa and Cornastone, we will add considerable value to the development of their enterprises and job creation by sharing our global expertise, process methodologies, experience and opportunities."
"This transaction is an innovative and breakthrough approach towards empowerment and capacity building for Cornastone," said Cornastone Chief Executive Officer Hamilton Ratshefola. "We anticipate increasing our SAP resource capacity by almost 30 to 50 resources in the next 12 to 18 months.
"We are delighted about working with CSC, based on its commitment and different approach to BEE compared to most multi-nationals. Furthermore we chose CSC for its thought leadership and outsourcing and management consulting services. We viewed this association with a global leader as an opportunity for Cornastone to builds its capacity, develop critical intellectual property and develop a long-term sustainable business model."
"This is the beginning of a deep and committed BEE relationship with the foremost global company in the industry," added Nokusa CEO Moses Hadebe. "We have been involved with CSC creating and delivering work for large international companies and have found the relationship fitting and fruitful.
"This opportunity will enable Nokusa to build requisite SAP skills very quickly focusing primarily on previously disadvantaged individuals. We have been attracted to CSC because of their outlook and approach to BEE in South Africa, as well as being associated with a company that is a world leader in helping clients use information technologies to achieve business objectives."
CSC`s Kleyn added that each company`s equal stake in the alliance ensures that there is "no senior member and no junior members. We are equal players in what we hope will be an evolving, long-term relationship."
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Cornastone Technology Holdings is a leading black empowered company with over 140 employees, currently delivering services within banking, Insurance, public sector, retail and manufacturing industry. Cornastone is already a leader in IT Security and Consulting , Enterprise System s Management, Application Outsourcing, and IT Infrastructure deployment with revenues exceeding R150 million in 31 March 2004.
Nokusa Consulting
Nokusa Consulting is a black owned and managed consulting company that offers management consulting with specific emphasis on business transformation. The company was founded by a group of professionals that, collectively have a vast amount of consulting experience, having worked in senior managerial levels at a large international consulting company. Some of the professionals have also held Director positions in some of the leading industrial companies in the country. This experience, combined with a deep understanding, and empathy with the transformational issues facing the public sector, places Nokusa in a unique position to offer solutions that are relevant to the problems being experienced in this sector.
CSC in South Africa
CSC offers the South African market a wide range of services, including systems integration, application and infrastructure outsourcing, and business process outsourcing, as well as customer relationship management (CRM) and healthcare and financial services solutions.
In South Africa, CSC also provides Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services to manage the policy processing and administration for its U.S. and UK financial services customers, which include life and pensions providers, short-term insurance and banking. By combining international best practices with local expertise and knowledge, CSC is one of the fastest growing IT companies in South Africa.
A leading IT services provider, CSC adds value through its collaborative approach to delivering fast, reliable and flexible solutions. CSC opened its doors in South Africa in November 1999 and today has offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Richards Bay. It is continuing to expand rapidly in South Africa and is extending its services to the rest of Africa. For more information, contact 021 529 6500 or 011 686 5400.
CSC
Founded in 1959, Computer Sciences Corporation is a leading global information technology (IT) services company. CSC`s mission is to provide customers in industry and government with solutions crafted to meet their specific challenges and enable them to profit from the advanced use of technology.
With approximately 90,000 employees, CSC provides innovative solutions for customers around the world by applying leading technologies and CSC`s own advanced capabilities. These include systems design and integration; IT and business process outsourcing; applications software development; Web and application hosting; and management consulting. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., CSC reported revenue of $14.8 billion for the 12 months ended April 2, 2004. For more information, visit the company`s Web site at www.csc.com.
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