Having first opened its doors for business as a hardware reseller, the Gauteng-based Microknowlogy now makes the majority of its profits developing systems based primarily on Lotus Notes and Domino.
Clive Belsham, Joint MD of the recently appointed Lotus Premier Business Partner, says that the company has actively promoted Lotus` collaborative methodologies to assist it`s clients in achieving a reduction in its day-to-day costs and to assist its clients to achieve maintain and improve competitive edge.
"We use a high degree of collaboration with our customers - to achieve the desired results," says Belsham.
"We believe that the more collaboration between ourselves and our customers, enables us to implement solutions that meet their needs. We talk to users, something IS departments seldom do, because they are the people who at the end of the day, drive the applications. It`s a simple methodology," he says. "Why spend all that time and money developing a solution that may knock the socks off the IT manager but is ultimately bewildering to the user. Nine times out of ten such a solution is thrown out because it`s not what the user wanted."
Bearing this in mind, the company has a major focus on understanding the business processes of its customers. "We have to understand how and why they do business," he says, adding "It`s only once this understanding has been achieved that we can begin to design and implement processes that will enable them to improve on their current methodologies via a typical Lotus Notes and Domino collaborative solution." after all - unless we understand the problems and the processes how can we add value?"
Microknowlogy actively encourages its staff to undergo regular training to ensure this is possible. To date, the company has six Certified Lotus Professional`s out of a total of 17 staff members. It is these solution engineers who maintain and manage projects from the word go. "This may include cabling of the network and hardware, installing the software, developing the application - in fact right through to end user training phase if necessary. While we do outsource some of the operations the majority of the work is done in-house," he says.
Microknowlogy also offers its customers a Web hosting solution as a value added service for clients who are unable, or unwilling, to host their sites in-house, as they may lack the technical abilities to do so.
Looking ahead, Belsham says Microknowlogy is looking at expanding its consulting and development arm and that it may hive off its hardware and networking operations into separate divisions each of which will be headed by manager with and equity stake in his operation. "This will enable us to provide a complete range of relevant services whilst still maintaining our customer focus" says Belsham. Additional developments include the possibility of providing support to customers both on a national and international basis. "Using technology such as Notes for its communications and Notes replication to roll out systems, we foresee few obstacles in this area," he says.
Not one to ignore the benefits of establishing a physical support presence, Belsham says the company is also looking at geographical expansion that may see the establishment of an office in Cape Town.
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