Many South Africans believe solutions developed overseas are of better quality than local offerings. The local software industry is struggling, perhaps due to the stigma of perceived inequality attached to South African technology, which could simply be the result of poor marketing.
This is according to Kgabo Badimo, MD of Spescom DataVoice. Badimo says nFold Software's annual Enterprise Software Survey, conducted in association with World Wide Worx, highlights this perception.
“Only 17% of respondents indicated that they would prefer to buy locally developed software, and a very small 7.5% indicated that they would prefer in-house developed solutions. This is in contrast to an enormous 60.4% of survey respondents who prefer to buy from a global supplier,” observes Badimo.
However, he argues, SA has a very strong, albeit small, software skills base in the country with experience specifically tailored towards the African market. While there is a multitude of technology and software solutions developed internationally, these often do not meet the needs of users in SA and the rest of the continent.
International solutions tend to fall outside the price range of local companies due to exchange rates, import duties, and high total cost of ownership resulting from the need to obtain service and spares overseas, explains Badimo.
“Often these solutions also require a large amount of customisation to work locally, further increasing the total cost of ownership of products,” he continues.
The local touch
Badimo argues that South African solutions are more affordable in the long run, are more easily customised, offer greater functionality and because they a locally developed, service and support is easily available, resulting in less downtime.
“The main advantage of using local suppliers who develop local software, aside from cost savings, is that the developers are always available to work jointly with the customer to customise and enhance the technology. They are also on hand to configure the solution and tailor parameters within a few days, instead of the process taking weeks or even months,” he offers.
“Inflexible software licensing and inadequate support is also driving more interest in local products. Price is no longer the main consideration. Customers want effective solutions that work for them, with high levels of support. South African developers can offer exactly this,” concludes Badimo.
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