South African companies given "e-advantage" by RedBrigade

South African companies should no longer be held hostage by the IT skills shortage which has to date impeded the rate of next generation IT adoption in the country.

Mastech Europe and Africa which has just rebranded under the name RedBrigade, is positioning itself to aggressively drive the mobile commerce revolution that is on the brink of sweeping through Europe.

RedBrigade is an operating company of iGATE Capital, the renamed Mastech Corporation, a company with 15 years experience in high-value information technology services and solutions.

"The web revolution is driving e-services to the top of the value chain, and that`s where we want to be," said Guil Hastings, CEO of RedBrigade. "When it comes to wireless applications, no one is in a better position in the market space. Our experience in m-commerce places us in a unique position to offer cutting-edge capabilities to clients transitioning into the WAP arena."

"RedBrigade South Africa can draw at any time on a workforce of some 6,000 highly trained consultants in specific skills areas such as Java, OO, Oracle, Client Server and network skills," claimed Angus Young, Country Manager for RedBrigade South Africa. "The shortfall in resources will not be a problem for us as we can give South African companies access to world class skills and experience at local rates."

RedBrigade, which has recently developed solutions in the motor leasing, insurance and financial arenas, believes the local skills shortage should not be an excuse for South African business to lag behind in the new e-economy.

Digital revolutionaries poised to overturn European

RedBrigade`s parent company, iGATE Capital (NASDAQ: IGTE), recently doubled its market capitalisation to US$3.0 bn as it has transitioned into a holding company overseeing ten separate companies in various sectors of the e-services industry. The firm specialises in creating, acquiring and building leading e-services companies around the world. iGATE will pool its expertise and resources to help RedBrigade thrive in the WAP and wireless web enablement sector.

iGATE has made available US$75 million through its Ventures Fund I, enabling it to nurture and develop companies into new areas of technology. The goal is to finance and launch e-services companies that are selected for their scalability, return potential, and ability to add significant value within the iGATE Capital partner web.

RedBrigade`s recruitment and retention programs will be key to its efforts. Many of its brand-building initiatives will be used as its single greatest outreach tool to new recruits, clients and investors.

"The creation of RedBrigade, a company fully dedicated to m-commerce, will provide better strategic focus for our leading-edge clients," said Hastings. "The change will also empower our workforce to take responsibility for the delivery of excellent IT solutions to businesses. As part of the restructuring, all current employees will be given the title of `Founder`."

According to the CEO, "an empowered workforce is key to a company`s success."