South African corporate and governmental communications specialist InfoSat has been awarded exclusivity for Africa as a strategic partner of Vuepoint, US developer of comprehensive Web-based enterprise software and services for e-learning, knowledge sharing and performance support.
Via its business television platform InfoInteractive, the Johannesburg-based solutions provider will roll out Vuepoint`s internationally acclaimed Vuepoint Learning System (VLS) product suite on a continental scale to its middle- to top-end corporate and parastatal customer base. Forging InfoSat`s manoeuvre into global markets, this initiative enhances its existing multicast-oriented communications offering and services fresh demand for content-driven end-to-end enterprise training. In addition, the value-added partnership will link into InfoSat`s social awareness role by extending distance education arms into disadvantaged communities.
Listing high-end satellite IP development as a major business focus, InfoSat has already clinched a foothold in the African region as a leading value-defined provider of high-speed Internet access and creative corporate connectivity. Through its strategic alliance with Vuepoint, InfoSat is now well-positioned to round off its offering with a high profile web-based e-learning platform - VLS ver. 2.0 - for all-round superior business efficiency. Says InfoSat MD Commercial, Eduard du Plessis, "Vuepoint`s intuitive one-stop shop technology has us fully equipped to fuse our experience in traditional business television technology with state-of-the-art e-learning software to effect what we predict as a massive transformation in competitive enterprise training, marketing and communications."
InfoSat`s inside perspective and proven aptitude in handling South African social complexities - in particular, the ability to interpret and respond to the educational layering of various sectors - played a significant role in the company`s selection as a conduit for Vuepoint`s expansion into the African market. Committed to the upliftment of South African schooling, InfoSat was applauded last year for its direct involvement in providing Internet connectivity and web-enabled study resources to Myeka High School in a rural district of KwaZulu Natal. Du Plessis claims that uptake of VLS by forward-thinking corporates will set aside revenue for the company`s social responsibility drive; specifically in channelling the same enhanced platform into infrastructure-poor localities for purposes of distance learning.
The value-added partnership maintains particular relevance in light of the recent Skills Development Act issued by South African government: an equity treaty legislating worker training incentives towards productive citizenship. Vuepoint`s comprehensive e-learning solution forms a fitting vehicle for obligations maintained by South African companies towards building employee skill-set, from instilling knowledge of labour rights and legalities to delivery of applied training material.
Marrying such a process with a technological driver calls for definitive software that formats user-adapted outcomes-based learning whilst anchoring logistical costs. System openness is key, in terms of integrating instantly updateable generic content with that specific to an enterprise or industry sector. A suite of background applications locks in VLS`s ability to manage the entire learning process, from personal curriculum planning to content creation and performance evaluation. Functional richness is enhanced by a host of additional facilities that includes online conferencing.
With inbuilt tracking and test facilities transforming user output into structured measurables, even workshop intervention can be monitored intrinsically or by an external third party. Featuring seamless platform-independent implementation, the system presents as a walk-through interface and operates entirely via a uniform desktop environment in both real-time and playback scenarios - for on-the-job interactive training and offline viewing respectively.
Says du Plessis, " Hinging premium e-learning sofware upon our multicast engine aligns with the geographical spread of organisations in Africa and the related issue of infrastructure underservicing. From the mass dissemination of broad-spectrum multimedia to the targeted distribution of interactive training manuals, VLS is set to boost the 80/20 content/facilitation focus that training authorities are striving at worldwide and that becomes ever more critical in underdeveloped environments."
As a speed-to-market advantage, the platform also allows companies to deliver knowledge to customers and suppliers both on and offline via a content repository that can be updated from desktops anywhere in the world. In fulfilling a content facilitating role, InfoSat will also align strategically with educators from leading local campuses - offering product-specific training in developing an up-to-date stream of reference material.
"This partnership confers significant cost benefits to the cross-section of African business - to all size organisations, whether global or confined in presence," adds du Plessis. "This follows not only in terms of leveraging multicasting`s economies of scale, but also because Vuepoint`s license per user costing fine-tunes the control of training overheads.
"InfoSat is confident that aligning with Vuepoint will filter essential resources to all layers of the local community," concludes du Plessis. "Enhancing our value-branded network solutions offering in this way will certainly see both companies well into market, welcoming revenue streams to a mutually beneficial end."
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