Johannesburg, 24 Jan 2017
For CommerceQuest SA (CQSA), 2017 marks the 20th Anniversary since opening the doors for business back in 1997. This serves as a major milestone for a small, niche, IT software integration company! Over the years, the industry has seen a lot of companies, small and large, come and go... So what is it about CQSA that has kept it going and not only still going, but still growing?
Firstly, its dedication to customer services and service delivery has enabled it to keep a loyal customer base. It has several customers who signed up with it way back in 2001 with whom it still does business today, whether it is software sales or providing them with the dedicated support they need. This leads onto the fact that it continues to grow its skills base and knowledge and has a truly technical team of support and software implementation specialists, with a very low churn rate so that it is able to invest, grow and have product specialists on hand when they are needed.
Although 2016 was a somewhat challenging year for many in the local IT industry, CQSA significantly grew the business by achieving over a 20% growth in terms of turnover for the 2016 calendar year. But what is even more exciting than the numbers, is the fact that it signed up a brand new customer for every month of the year - 12 new customers. Not bad going in a turbulent market.
Customising its offerings to suit the needs of the customer is relatively easy for it as it has a niche offering and it is a small company in terms of its actual size, which allows it to be flexible and fast to react and to be negotiable. Having an understanding of the financial and time pressures of running a business and of doing business, it puts itself in its customer's shoes and comes up with plans and ideas to help with a solution. For example, the capital outlay of purchasing a software licence can be a big knock on the budget, so it offers a monthly (OPEX) option where it can leverage the cloud, with our AgileCloud offerings, where it makes sense.
It has always enjoyed, and continues to enjoy, a good team spirit within the company and it is very proud of the technical learners training programme it has put in place to give young people, who did not have the means to attend university, a chance to learn with us. In 2017, it has launched its University Assistance programme where it is paying the fees and mentoring three learners who it hopes will graduate with flying colours and join its full time team, whether it be technical support, sales and marketing or product sales.
So a huge thank you, to all its loyal and supportive clients who have been carving out the path with it and negotiating all the ups and downs, some of them since 2001. A huge thank you to its new clients for giving it the opportunity to prove itself and learn from them.
Reflecting back on the past 20 years, there have been many challenges for its customers and indeed itself. It is sure there will be more - and it is looking forward to solving them together with its customers!
Share