IOCORE, the more than $100m-strong IT services company born out of the former New Africa Technology Holdings (NATH) group, will be launched to its South African customers and partners in Johannesburg and Cape Town on 12 and 13 April respectively. In the last few days the company has also been launched in Europe and Australia.
Duncan Simpson-Craib, a director of the new investment holding company behind IOCORE, says the launch follows 18 months of preparation, during which a number of IT services businesses in the IOCORE stable were consolidated into a single organisation, which will operate under the IOCORE banner in Western Europe, Scandinavia and Asia-Pacific as well as in South Africa.
The company has enjoyed phenomenal success since its formation in 1995 by Simpson-Craib and Mike Frayne, who now runs the company`s operations in the Northern hemisphere. Since 1995, IOCORE has grown to the point where it now has offices in 14 countries and employs in excess of 1000 people, with a market penetration that spans Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Americas.
"By end of 1998, we had achieved the necessary critical mass to move forward from a commercial point of view and we needed to consolidate," says Simpson-Craib.
"IOCORE South Africa has emerged from this re-engineering period as a highly-focused organisation, with seven business units focusing on specific expertise and services that can be called upon by the group as a whole," he says.
These business units include Consulting, Enterprise Business Solutions (ERP), Application Development, Contracting and Recruitment Services, Outsourcing and Systems Management. These divisions are supported by a New Technologies Forum, which spearheads the company`s moves into major emerging markets, while the Sales and Marketing business unit provides IOCORE`s customers with industry sector-focused account management.
IOCORE now has a solid platform from which to continue expanding, and Simpson-Craib has no doubts about its capabilities in this mission: "We aim to be among the top ten South African IT Service and Solutions Providers within five years, as well as a leader in e-solutions technologies," he states.
Among IOCORE`s key strengths is its impeccable track record in delivering software solutions to its client base. "We have the expertise and capacity to deliver a total software solution that is made up of many elements - from Web-enabled e-commerce and front-end systems, to the back-end systems necessary to drive these. IOCORE has a powerful range of options for clients," he notes.
Another strength lies in the company`s consistent focus on successful emerging technologies in high-growth markets, notably the Internet and e-commerce. These also play a strategic role in the leading technologies supplied by IOCORE, among them Oracle, Microsoft and SAP.
IOCORE`s strong management team - both globally and in South Africa - has ensured the ongoing success of the company. Sue Steyl, previously MD of NATH Africa, will continue as MD of IOCORE, while Simpson-Craib will maintain overall responsibility for IOCORE`s operations in the Southern hemisphere.
Underpinning IOCORE`s success, Steyl believes, is its human capital. "We are privileged to employ some of the most sought-after IT professionals in the industry," she says.
"One of the reasons is our dynamic, entrepreneurial management style, which encourages and rewards innovation and creativity. Although the group has grown beyond the stage where we can run as a family, we hope to continue to strike a fine balance between flexibility and the controls intrinsic to more mature companies," she says.
According to Steyl, IOCORE will continue its rapid growth, aggressively growing its market share by executing both local and international projects. "We have proved we can compete and win against the best in the world," she says.
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