For the first time in the twenty-year existence of the National Productivity Awards competition, the National Productivity Institute (NPI) last month awarded the first ever Platinum Award to the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC).
Chairperson of the Productivity Advisory Council, Aubrey Tshalata described Elections `99 as a monument to vision, innovation, energy and vision. "Under impossibly diffficult time frames the IEC has delivered an election to the people of South Africa of which we may all be justifiably proud."
Throught he innovative use of ICL`s barcode scanner technology the IEC was able to consolidate registration records daily and produce the first common national voter`s roll in South African history within seven days of the conclusion of voter registration.
The technology provided by ICL added enormous impetus to the process. By international standards it was considered impossible to register all of South Africa`s citizens in just three months.
Due to budget constraints this process was completed in a mere nine days. 18,4 million people in 14 560 voting districts registered, a figure that constitutes in excess of 80 percent of all eligible voters.
The NPI believed that "?while productivity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness were substantially improved, continued innovation, and systems and skills development will lead to greater savings and better service delivery in the municipal elections next year."
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ICL SA
ICL SA is the local subsidiary of the global technology giant, ICL. With a staff complement of some 600 people, offices in the major cities, and a network of service centres throughout the region, the company is able to offer world-class business solutions and services tailored to meet the specific needs of its customers. The ICL Group is wholly owned by Fujitsu, the second largest IT entity in the world, and employs 22 500 skilled professionals in 40 countries.
ICL SA focuses primarily on three core vertical markets - financial services, retail, and public administration - with travel and transportation and media and telecommunications identified as very important secondary markets.
In recent years - and to achieve its goal of being the number one global IT services company by 2010 - ICL has moved from being a traditional hardware supplier to one committed to designing, building and operating systems and services that enable customers to create, maintain and develop personal relationships with the people who use their products and services.
The company has further identified four go-to-market areas that address the needs of modern, successful businesses - customer relationship management, electronic business, applications, and IT utility.
Despite being a global technology giant, ICL SA is firmly rooted in South Africa and as a truly South African entity, is fully committed to being more representative of the country`s business, economic and social demographics. Thebe Sci Tech, the prominent and respected black empowerment group, owns 40% of the company, the ICL Group 54%, and Old Mutual and the ICL staff share incentive scheme the remaining 6%.