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  • Students of Datacentrix, OpenText training programme graduate with pride after year-long course

Students of Datacentrix, OpenText training programme graduate with pride after year-long course


Johannesburg, 19 Jul 2017
Open Text students.
Open Text students.

Datacentrix, a South African provider of high performing and secure ICT solutions, in partnership with OpenText, a global leader in enterprise information management (EIM), offered a year-long programme for 10 hand-picked students to enhance local skills development within the technology industry.

Datacentrix is an OpenText Platinum Partner in southern Africa, as well as being a SAP Special Expertise Partner - EIM, SAP OpenText Competency Partner - and Exclusive AIIM Training Partner in Africa.

Juane Peacock, MD for EIM and coastal region at Datacentrix, says: "The 10 graduates, who come from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Town, absolutely excelled during the course. Datacentrix is exceptionally proud of their stellar performance."

Peacock says the graduate programme was recognised during the recent OpenText 'Digiruption Indaba', held at The Galleria in Sandton, Johannesburg. He explains: "Last year, Datacentrix selected these university graduates - all of whom had previously earned a BSc or equivalent degree and built skills across a number of programming languages - to embark on this year-long programme. The course included intensive training on OpenText solutions, as well as on softer business skills, such as business etiquette, administration and correspondence. The intention was to give the candidates a well-rounded course that would allow them to take their place within the employment space as confident professionals at all levels, both technical as well as on a more personal level.

"During the year, the graduates gained a solid understanding of OpenText's solutions. We have received excellent feedback from some of the clients to whom the graduates were exposed. This type of input, of course, justifies our faith both in the candidates as well as in the hand-selection process that we followed."

Lenore Kerrigan, country sales director: Africa for OpenText and sponsor of the graduate programme, speaks with enthusiasm and passion about the achievements of the last 12 months. She says: "Recognising South Africa's need for local IT skills, we embarked on finding suitable university graduates to put through our in-depth business and technology learnership modules. The result has been phenomenal, with all candidates passing with flying colours and now entering formal employment as OpenText content server consultant administrators and developers.

"Through sheer determination, the group achieved an astounding result, with nine graduates achieving distinctions for their first task, and one missing the mark only by a minimal margin. The international trainer was flabbergasted, saying ordinarily out of a group this size, perhaps only 20% of students would pass with distinction - and these would be people who already have years of experience in the work environment. One word comes to mind when summing up the group, and that is collaboration. It was incredible to see 10 people working so well together as a team."

Sindisiwe Ntombela, one of the Durban-based graduates, says: "The Datacentrix/OpenText graduate programme provided me with the building blocks I need for my future. The programme introduced me to a lot of useful resources and gave me the opportunity to meet a variety of professionals in my field. By attending the boot camps and events, and interacting with professionals, I've learnt how to communicate in a professional environment.

"One of the highlights for me was that, in the space of a year, we were able to acquire three certifications, which is quite an achievement for graduates fresh from varsity. Within one year of progressive experience, I've assisted in the successful completion of two client implementations. On both projects I performed different tasks, working variously as a junior software developer, software tester, user-acceptance testing facilitator and junior user support technician."

Ndumiso Ngcobo, another graduate based in Gauteng, says: "Being on the course was an amazing experience, which gave me the opportunity to meet with content experts from across the globe and share ideas. Our training was provided in three different cities, which sometimes felt like being on a roller coaster where you were given new challenges from time to time!

"The completion of the course is already helping me a great deal, as I'm able to carry out challenging work activities and reference the knowledge I gained from the training. I'm now client-based in Pretoria, working as a technical consultant implementing content server workflow apps and live reporting dashboards that enable businesses to process information efficiently."

Kerrigan adds: "OpenText provided the students with the knowledge, but it is at the customer sites where they will utilise their skills and gain experience. So far, the client feedback has been both positive and moving, with one in particular stating that more organisations should feel obliged to give graduates the much-needed practice to further their skills. I could not agree more. The success and desire to learn, the early mornings and late nights that these graduates insisted on to further themselves, has given us the motivation to launch this successful programme again this year."

"As a socially responsible company, Datacentrix embraces the upliftment of the youth of our country for the betterment of families and communities, with a number of skills development initiatives in place," explains Datacentrix CEO, Ahmed Mahomed. "The students are now certified OpenText consultants and all 10 have now been employed full-time at Datacentrix. We look forward to continuing our journey with them as they embark on the next stage of their careers, and are proud to have played our part in this programme. I would like to express my thanks to both OpenText and our EIM team for demonstrating Datacentrix's commitment to skills development and for portraying the human aspect of the business."

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Datacentrix

Datacentrix provides leading ICT integration services and solutions to South African organisations, ensuring their success and sustainability into the digital age. The group maintains its approach to partner with its customers, equipping them with valuable insight and helping to align their ICT undertakings with their business strategy.

Datacentrix offers a deeply specialised skills component and is endorsed by the world's foremost technology partners. The company is recognised for its agility, in-depth industry knowledge, proven capability and strong overall performance.

Datacentrix is a level two (AAA) B-BBEE contributor, with 125% procurement recognition. For more information, please visit www.datacentrix.co.za.

OpenText

OpenText enables the digital world, creating a better way for organisations to work with information, on premises or in the cloud.

OpenText's technology addresses the full range of EIM challenges, bringing to bear 25 years of experience solving the enterprise's biggest information management problems in the fields of enterprise content management, business process management, customer experience management, business network, and discovery.

OpenText has more than 100 000 customers worldwide, serves more than 600 000 trading partners on its business network, facilitating more than 16 billion transactions per year. The OpenText Cloud has 1 200 customers, with more joining every day.

OpenText was founded in 1991, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and is a leader in the enterprise information management (EIM) market, which is a large, growing, and relevant $20 billion+ market.

For more information about OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTEX), visit opentext.com.

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