The IQ Business Group is celebrating the first chapter of its history in South Africa on a decidedly upbeat note today. In an event styled as "Reflections on the Future", IQ Group`s 500 employees relived some of their more significant achievements of the past year and in a symbolic gesture each was handed a book in which they can co-author the future of the group. The book records the events of the past year, as well as the outline of the future strategy, but the actual pages of the book recording the execution of the strategy going forward is blank. Employees are then invited to co-author the actualisation of the business strategy.
The industry process and technology outsourcing group, which opened in mid-1998, ended its first 15 months` initiation into the industry as South Africa`s biggest healthcare IT player, with a turnover of R10,8-million recorded for its first nine month-financial year end to March 31, 1999.
Now it`s poised to make an equal impact on the financial services IT industry, with major industry technology outsourcing transactions in the wings both locally and abroad.
This will help grow group turnover to an expected R120-million by March 2000, says IQ managing director Johan Roets.
"Organic growth, international expansion and acquisitions are very much on the cards for the next two years," says Roets. "So far, our unlisted status has allowed us to remain focussed on achieving the strategic goals we set out without being distracted by the whims of the "amorphous" markets, the press and analysts, and this will continue to be the case.
"However, we have achieved a depth of business expertise and credibility that has allowed us to start moving far more aggressively into new target markets. This includes in particular the financial services IT and process management market where we believe we can play the same "reinvention of the industry" role we are playing within the South African healthcare industry, with hopefully equal success."
Roets confirms that major announcements in this regard are expected from IQ Business Group shortly. Negotiations with an Australian business partner are progressing well, and the company has also been shortlisted as the possible Group technology partner for local insurance giant, Fedsure. A number of local acquisitions are also on the cards.
If successful, the Fedsure deal would likely mirror a partnership already in place between IQ and Fedsure`s health provider, Fedsure Health, under the IQ Health banner. IQ Health is now firmly entrenched as South Africa`s biggest healthcare IT provider, with over 1,7-million lives administered by providers in Southern Africa, utilising IQ Health`s industry and technology, thought leadership, products and processes.
The IQ Business Group now employs more than 500 skilled staff in all, and its 'intellectual capital` is widely regarded as a key factor in its success to date, representing as it does some of the best skills in the industry in South Africa.
This was acknowledged just three months into operations when IQ was distinguished within business circles as one of very few companies to be appointed an Approved Training Organisation within SAICA` restructured Training Outside Public Practice scheme.
"We have deliberately gone about attracting exactly the right calibre of person with the extra ability to think laterally and deliver unique, innovative solutions by offering unlisted equity as part of the employment deal," says Roets.
"All our staff are shareholders who`ve bought into the company ahead of a public listing and who therefore have a vested interest in IQ`s ongoing success."
But Roets stresses a JSE listing is not an immediate priority for IQ Business Group: "We will move in that direction eventually, but only once we have achieved a potential market capitalisation of R1-billion - about two years from now," he says confidently.
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