The recent announcement that Deutsche Telekom and Daimler Chrysler have entered into a strategic partnership in the IT sector through Deutsche Telekom`s acquisition of a 50.1 per cent shareholding in debis Systemhaus, will have major impact on the IT sector in South Africa.
The acquisition has catapulted debis Systemhaus, which was formed in 1990 and originally tasked with supplying information technology services for the entire Daimler-Benz group, into one of the top three IT Services Providers in Europe.
It`s South African subsidiary debis IT Services, which started off in 1997 as a joint venture between debis Systemhaus and Denel will, as a result of the acquisition, now be ranked amongst the top three IT companies in South Africa, alongside PQ Africa and Dimension Data.
According to debis IT Services CEO Wolfgang Jakob, the company is already one of the fastest growing IT services companies in South Africa. Jakob sees the deal as a vehicle that can instantly position debis as a major player in the e-commerce arena.
"There is no doubt that the Deutsche Telekom backing will open up a world of opportunities for the South African subsidiary. With the convergence of the IT and telecomms sectors the expertise of an organisation like Deutsche Telekom will give us a foothold in to other areas and strengthen our skills offering. It will also allow us to claim additional resources in e-commerce, information systems management, including networking, and project services," said Jakob.
Locally, debis has been on a winning streak. They recently secured the prestigious Sanlam outsourcing contract from under the noses of better known IT organisations, namely Dimension Data, PQ Africa and IBM SA. The five to seven year deal worth R1.2bn, is one of the largest IT contracts awarded in recent time. A sister company, debis Fleet Management, also secured the largest ever vehicle outsourcing deal in South Africa, when it won the R5bn Telkom contract.
debis` clients on the IT services side include South Africa`s largest companies: Absa, Sanlam, Denel, Eskom, SAB and the hotly contested Uthingo lottery project. Jakob confirms they are doing phenomenally well considering the company only recently set up in South Africa; "We now have 800 employees and a turnover in excess of R500m. All this was achieved in just two years."
However, Jakob says the company has no intention of remaining idle. "We fully intend to grow the business from an IT outsourcing company as it is perceived locally, into a fully fledged IT Service Provider. To do this, we will need to expand our skills base and that is where the Deutsche Telekom deal will support us."
As part of the company`s strategy to develop and grow in South Africa, Jakob confirmed that debis is in the market for an empowerment partner; "We are not just paying lip service to the empowerment concept. If you look at our experience with the Uthingo consortium for the national lottery, debis created, trained and supported 11 empowerment companies to implement the lottery network roll out. We have been in discussions with a number of empowerment groups. We do however want to ensure that the business model we choose supports true black empowerment."
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