Microsoft Gold Certified Partner i5 has moved to new premises, reflecting the company's strong growth through 2007 and giving it the floor space to continue its aggressive expansion plans into 2008.
The company has relocated to Building A, 152 Bryanston Drive, in Bryanston.
Established in 2003, i5 has rapidly grown into one of the country's premier Microsoft solution providers, specialising in customer relationship management and related business software, including intranets, extranets, business intelligence and mobility.
Driven by CEO Glen Ansell's value-oriented approach to enterprise software deployment, the company today employs 52 staff.
With double the floor space and additional facilities such as a training centre, canteen and function area, Ansell says the highlight of the new building is its hosting centre facilities. "With this capability, i5's business will begin moving into the arena of on-demand utility computing and software as a service," says Ansell.
With 1 000 square metres of space, he adds that the company can accommodate roughly a 120% growth of its current staff compliment. "Our headcount has increased substantially in the past 12 months and this is expected to double again in the coming year, based on customer demand," Ansell continues.
He says the company's strategic intent is to continue on its growth trajectory, both through targeted acquisition as well as organically. "With the acquisition of Chameleon Technologies (now Blacklight) and Fusion Factory in 2007, we are satisfied that we have what it takes to identify companies that offer complementary skills and capabilities and to successfully integrate these under the i5 banner. As a result, i5 will continue to seek out individuals and organisations to enhance our ability to meet the technology needs of our customer portfolio," he says.
Explaining the philosophy behind the company's sustained growth, Ansell says i5 believes in simplicity, particularly when justifying IT investments. "When approached to design or implement a technological solution, we always start with the question 'why?' To achieve appropriate and meaningful results, technological interventions must be tied to a solid business plan and sound commercial principles. It's the common sense which is all too often lacking in the IT world," he says.
Ansell adds that technology deployments should be assessed within the context of the client organisation. "Successful technological interventions are those that have been assessed and anticipated from a perspective that encompasses strategy, people, their skills, existing systems, and the organisational infrastructure."
This approach has not only won i5 customers, including First National Bank, Hollard Insurance and Sasfin, but also several awards from Microsoft. The company was named 2007 Microsoft Partner of the Year award for Independent Software Vendor Solutions and was a finalist in the Information Worker Solutions, Licensing Solutions, Business Solutions and Winning Customer Initiative Awards.
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The i5 group was founded by Glen Ansell in 2003 and started as a technical consulting firm focused exclusively on Microsoft technologies. With the company's rapid growth, it continued to differentiate itself by maintaining a very close working relationship with Microsoft and creating an unmatched pool of expertise in most Microsoft technologies. Our primary competence lies in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Information Worker, our specialisation in customised CRM, intranets, portals and call centres have secured us prime position in the market as niche specialists with a high level of customer satisfaction and technology optimisation.
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