SAVANT, the recently launched public-private brand awareness and South African ICTE promotion campaign, is lifting the morale of beleaguered businesses. Representing a united front, several high profile representative organisations will join campaign role players at the Computer Faire 2003.
The information and communication technologies and electronics (ICTE) sector is renowned for its diversity and reported level of fragmentation. Despite being one of the fastest growing industries on the South African corporate landscape, the sector as a whole continues to emit a sense of non-alliance.
As the vanguard of South African ICTE, SAVANT has already begun to break these barriers. The initiative has a common goal to promote locally developed product and services, and establish credible trade and export links with overseas markets.
This goal, says Roger Dawes, Executive Director at The Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA), has created common ground between role players, the majority of who have begun to appreciate and see value in this purpose. According to Dawes, there is measurable work being done to make sure that this spirit and sense of commitment filters throughout the entire sector.
"We are excited about the positive reaction we have experienced since the official launch of SAVANT initiative. The ICTE sector is an ultra-competitive market and there are very few opportunities for role-players, rival companies and representative organisations to sit together in the interests of building the industry and marketing a collective purpose. As an industry-led, government-backed initiative, SAVANT will be actively represented at the Computer Faire, one of the highlights on the ICT calendar. We will be joined by a number of organisations including the Black IT Forum (BIT4M), Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA), Electronics Industry Federation (EIF), International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL), Information Industry South Africa (IISA), Information Technology Association (ITA), The South African Electrotechnical Export Council (SAEEC) and The South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE)," says Dawes.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alec Erwin, has also lent his support to the campaign. Having officially launched SAVANT, Erwin is encouraged by the positive response that the initiative has attracted to date and is confident of the ability of local industry to make its mark on the international scene.
"If we want this initiative to develop to the extent that we all hope and expect, then we must use any and every opportunity to show unity. The ICT sector in particular remains fragmented and part of the reason why SAVANT was launched was to help address this issue. All companies, no matter what size, focus or core business, can benefit from promoting the country in terms of product, service and technology," says Erwin.
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