The industry alliance established between Integr8 IT - South Africa's largest privately owned national BEE-information technology network integration and infrastructure management specialist - and IBM, has matured into a successful service delivery model. The result is expansion of emerging business opportunity beyond South Africa's borders.
It has been a year since news broke of the multimillion-rand contract won by Integr8 IT and its business partner IBM to deliver IT services solution to Gold Fields South Africa, one of the country's largest producers of precious metals.
In that time both parties have focused on the implementation and service delivery of the two key elements of the contract, that being a contract duration extension and a widening of scope.
The newly scoped five-year contract has ensured the supply of range of infrastructure services including server systems, desktops and call centre. The contract extension aspect is reported to include support for infrastructure as well as applications management.
"The combination of our refined managed services model and proven experience within the rapidly expanding critical ICT services market has helped us to differentiate the company in line with the objectives of this industry alliance. We are committed to our role in this partnership with IBM and Gold Fields going forward. It is a partnership based on the key understanding of the difference strategic technology infrastructure investment can make alongside effective application of people, processes and product that will add measurable value to Gold Fields and its shareholders," says Lance Fanaroff, joint-MD of Integr8 IT.
To date the partnership has been involved in servicing Gold Fields South Africa, but also assisting the mining group in its international presence in the Netherlands and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Integr8 IT is directly involved in the provision of global Microsoft Active Directory & Exchange services that will assist the Gold Fields group in the migration towards Microsoft-based technology environment.
"The services model that we have now established with IBM allows us to benefit from its experience and knowledge of corporate governance and globally entrenched legislation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley," adds Fanaroff. "It contributes significantly towards the refinement of our services and our strategy going forward."
Fanaroff says that a large-scale project of this nature, involving a shift from an insource to an outsource scenario, usually impacts significantly on all parties. It is a tribute to the level of understanding and synergy between Integr8 IT and IBM that this impact has been kept to a minimum, he adds.
"Our HR complement has been increased and, in certain cases, there has been promotion. Due largely to a carefully executed and planned HR strategy, we have managed to secure a 95% staff retention rate. This falls in line with our aim of always retaining the highest level of skills available in the market," Fanaroff continues.
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Integr8 IT is a network technology services and solutions company. A renowned leader in the field of system integration, infrastructure management and support services, the company employs a wealth of highly skilled, best of breed, certified system engineers who are directly involved in high-level consulting, support and integration.
The company's core focus is on network infrastructures specialising in design, planning, deployment, management and maintenance. Offices are located in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, with representation in Port Elizabeth, East London and across the Southern Africa region.
Integr8 IT is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner for Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Network Infrastructure Solutions, Information Worker Solutions, and OEM Solutions.
It has been acknowledged and accredited with many awards, namely: Microsoft Gold Partner of the Year, African ICT Achievers -CIO of the Year for Africa, Best Customer Experience of the Year, Network Infrastructure Solution of the Year, Security Solution of the Year for Middle-East, Africa and Eastern Europe, Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, and many others, every year, since its inception.
Named as one of the country's Top ICT Companies and honoured with a position among South Africa's Technology Top 100 Companies, Integr8 IT has established itself as a strategic partner with numerous internationally-recognised technology vendors and industry leaders, including: 3Com, Attix 5, CA, Citrix, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, MTN Network Solutions, Sun Microsystems, T-Systems and Verizon Business.
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