Technology Corporate Management (TCM) has retained its EmpowerDex AAA, Level 2 contribution broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) rating for 2013. TCM's BBBEE review this year was conducted in accordance with the recently released ICT charter effecting higher targets and an adjustment in weighting for most of the seven elements on the scorecard.
"As a privately held company, TCM realises that flexibility in the current fiscal climate is a necessity. The ICT charter has introduced indicators that encourage established ICT players to stimulate the growth of developing technology entities. TCM's subscription to enterprise development and preferential procurement has been through skills transfer, mentorship programmes and favourable payment programmes, which enable smaller, empowered and engendered companies to obtain increased liquidity. These factors enhance the agility of developing IT companies, allowing healthy and fair competition with larger organisations, which ultimately results in growth," says Iqbal Hassim, TCM Executive Director and BBBEE custodian.
In today's economic conditions, some customers may be required to extend the life cycle of their IT infrastructure without having a negative impact on delivery to business. Service levels need to be maintained or grown with the business and its needs, while budgets continue to be reduced. "In the ICT industry, this means services and support become fundamental in ensuring continuity, even with older infrastructure, without hampering delivery. Customers are increasingly able to make informed and educated decisions on the technology concepts they wish to adopt as part of their organisations, which means TCM needs to constantly up-skill its resources to address customer needs (and wants) regardless of geographic location or technologies of choice. TCM's understanding of these concepts, with its ability to continue to meet customers' high expectations, is what makes us not only an industry leader but a contributor," explains Hassim.
TCM services over 400 customers across all industries, located in urban and the most remote areas. TCM's strength lies in its coverage, which is vital in the IT services area. TCM engineers and technicians, who make up over 70% of its over 750-strong workforce, are located throughout South Africa in order to deliver on its stringent service level agreements (SLA) with its customers across all sectors and over a wide variety of locations. TCM relies heavily on skills transfer to keep all engineers equipped and up to date with the latest knowledge on its large product portfolio.
"TCM has always incorporated its BEE strategy as part of its daily operations and policies, fully recognising that only through the generation of appropriate skills can it achieve its business objectives. As an organisation, we understand that by nurturing and continually developing our workforce, the following can be achieved: Skills retention, the ability to operate in a competitive environment, the maintenance of accreditations with our chosen OEM (original equipment manufacturers) partners, the choice when to outsource services operations, and delivery on SLAs to customers in urban and remote locations."
The ICT charter dictates that industry players invest in socio-economic development initiatives relevant to the industry. The formation of the TCM Academy in 2007, prior to this requirement being announced, is a clear display of TCM's position as a forward-thinking industry leader. Eighty percent of the skilled individuals harvested from TCM Academy have been absorbed into the company's workforce since the Academy's establishment. TCM Academy partners with organisations such as Tomorrow Trust, The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and Change The World to recruit previously disadvantaged individuals into its obligation-free programmes, which provide MICT SETA-accredited and internationally recognised qualifications. Multinational networking giant, Cisco, recently recognised TCM Academy's achievements by awarding it with the "Academy Learning Opportunity Award" for 2012 and a certificate of dedication for its five years of instruction and lasting contribution to the Cisco Networking Academy.
Being able to accurately identify solid investment initiatives and enforcing meaningful policies, TCM is able to continue to drive its transformation advancements and thus facilitate the creation of an environment conducive to successful delivery of its business objectives and providing sustainable value to its associates. TCM, having retained its "AAA" rating, affords customers the ability to claim 125% BEE preferential procurement recognition on spend with the industry leader through its Level 2 status accomplishment.
TCM company information:
BBBEE status: EmpowerDEX "AAA", Level 2 Contributor
Main branches: Sandton, Midrand, Bedfordview, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth
Contact: (+27) 11 848 6000 or marketing@tcm.co.za
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