Johannesburg, 11 Jul 2002
Sourcecom Technology Solutions, the e.enablement ICT company, today announced that it has joined the list of global heavyweights to be awarded Microsoft Gold Certification.
This certification is awarded exclusively to those companies able to provide countrywide, expert-level technical support for Microsoft technologies, in addition to offering a full range of multi-vendor support services for their products.
The company, however, announced that it is relinquishing its historic Microsoft Licensing agreement status, saying that this is no longer a strategic requirement as the company is focused on and in line with Microsoft's .Net direction and associated Web-based business applications and services-which are the real future growth areas, in terms of yielding 'revenue and value' with the government and enterprise markets.
"The Gold Certification is strategic to our objectives and in line with our position as an e-enablement and solutions-based company. The ability to issue Microsoft licences, however, is an administrative and commodity function with little differentiation," says Sourcecom Executive Director Business Solutions, Robert Harlow.
Sourcecom, a BEE company, which reported revenues of over R350 million for the year-end 2002, reflecting the change in direction of the 'old Sourcecom' and an increase in growth of approximately 51% over the previous year, now shares the Gold Certification status with just six other players, including Siemens Business Services, Dimension Data, Symetrics, CS Holdings and Unisys.
"Sourcecom remains strongly focused on the support and services model which will bring increased value-add for customers. In achieving Microsoft Gold Certification, we believe we are in a stronger position to focus on enabling customers through advanced support and services, provided around the clock. Although the preparation for this qualification is costly, we think the end results are beneficial and will engender the continued, loyal support of our clients," says Harlow.
Among the requirements to achieve Microsoft Gold Certification was the company's accreditation with a network of other vendors, such as Cisco, Citrix, HP/Compaq, Novell and Intel, with which Sourcecom has long-established premier partnerships.
Says Harlow: "The certification will give clients access to a pool of highly-specialised and skilled engineers for end-to-end support on operating systems, applications and basic desktop functionality."
Sourcecom's investment in the future is reflected in its allocation of resources and dedication to continual employee growth and development. The company has a team of 30 specialist engineers based in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. The Microsoft Gold Certification will see part of the specialist team managing Sourcecom's 24x7 high-end service help desk. This will allow customers to field their questions to a live expert within minutes of calling. In the case of on-site requirements, an expert will be assigned to respond within 30 minutes.
If an engineer is unable to solve a problem that is mission-critical to business, gold certification gives Sourcecom the resources to bring in a pre-negotiated team of engineers with higher level skills and expertise. This exposes clients to a spread of the best services and skills available within both Sourcecom and the pool of Microsoft specialists.
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