Dimension Data is confident about the future of the IT services business locally and in the rest of Africa. This is driving it to stay ahead of the technology evolution curve, and ensure its clients are both globally competitive and significant contributors to their local economies.
This is the view of Jason Goodall, MD of DiData Middle East and Africa, who says the company has invested more than R1 billion in SA's technology infrastructure during the past three years. “Dimension Data has created a much-needed capacity improvement that is ripe for exploitation by businesses both locally and in the rest of Africa.”
In BMI-TechKnowledge's 'SA IT services market sizing and forecast 2008-2013' report, DiData is identified as SA's dominant services provider.
Over the past three years, Dimension Data's accumulated spend on infrastructure includes R984 million on hosting and network infrastructure, R200 million towards the Seacom cable, R20 million on a data centre including a voice network, and the roll-out of African points of presence to ensure the company has a comprehensive pan-African network.
“BMI-T's report bears out the trend we're seeing globally towards more managed and hosted services, as well as selective and comprehensive outsourcing,” says Goodall.
He explains that organisations want to cut costs, boost productivity, tighten security, and ensure compliance by consolidating their own IT infrastructures, as well as taking advantage of the business process integration benefits of the convergence of IT and telecommunications.
Goodall says IT as a utility is less than 10 years away. As outsourcing and managed services evolve through the virtualisation of assets and software with the trend of cloud computing, organisations need to start planning for a services-oriented approach to business, he states.
The BMI-T report shows the services market is growing, with a 25.2% increase from 2007 to a total value of R27 billion in 2008. The market is expected to grow to a value of R38.6 billion by 2013, and outsourcing services accounts for the largest portion (40.4%) of the 2008 services market.
“Our investment in infrastructure, both here in SA and in other African countries, positions us to help organisations move smoothly and sensibly into a world of IT as a utility and, therefore, remain competitive and profitable throughout,” concludes Goodall.
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