India’s ITC Infotech to build R10m facility in SA, targets 100 jobs

Vishal Kumar, ITC Infotech’s president and regional head for Middle East and Africa, as well as APAC and India.

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Indian-based technology services company ITC Infotech is set to invest R10 million in its “global delivery centre” in South Africa.

The Bangalore-headquartered ITC Infotech delivers business consulting, customer relationship management, data warehousing, enterprise resource planning, mainframe services, quality assurance and testing.

Through its delivery centre, the company is looking to create as many as 100 jobs for talented South African youth.

Spread over an area of 10 000 square feet in Johannesburg, the company says the new facility is being set up with an investment of R10 million, “reflecting the deep commitment of ITC Infotech towards South Africa”.

According to the firm, the new centre will not only create jobs for local people but also reskill many youth in emerging technologies, making them industry-ready and able to contribute to the overall economic growth of South Africa.

The new centre comes as a relief to SA’s depressed job market. Stats SA recently revealed that unemployment in the country rose to 30.1% in the first quarter of 2020. It pointed out that in the quarter, employment decreased by 38 000 to 16.4 million.

As unemployment figures in the country remain unflattering, other multinational companies like Amazon have chipped in to alleviate the situation, announcing it is looking to hire as many as 3 000 people in SA.

Vishal Kumar, ITC Infotech’s president and regional head for Middle East and Africa, as well as APAC and India, tells ITWeb: “ITC Infotech’s delivery centre in South Africa has been set up to help our clients in the region, as well as globally, to enhance their end-user computing experience and efficiencies.”

According to Kumar, the delivery centre will primarily focus on providing service desk operations, as part of ITC Infotech’s digital workplace solution offering.

ITC Infotech’s digital workplace solution leverages automation to enhance the end-user experience, delivering significant productivity gains for organisations, Kumar explains.

“Through our delivery centre in South Africa, we will enable our clients’ IT teams to migrate from standard service level agreements management to ITC Infotech’s experience level agreements.

“This delivery centre will also enable rapid deployment of our cloud-based digital workplace solution, driving adoption across the enterprise,” says Kumar.

In a statement, the company says the uncertain times, driven by the global pandemic, have put the entire world on edge.

It points out that technologically-skilled and talented people are still looking for jobs across domains, and ITC Infotech is committed to creating more job opportunities for talented South Africans.

Through the new delivery centre, the company also hopes to open SA to global opportunities.

Sudip Singh, MD and CEO of ITC Infotech, comments: “South Africa has always been a land of rich talent. With the right set of opportunities and investments, I believe that South Africa can soon be a global destination for technology, trade and commerce.

“Our delivery centre reflects our future plans for South Africa. Significant investments are under way to promote local South African talent and draw global interest into the country,” Singh says.

Prasad Natu, senior vice-president for CIO services at ITC Infotech, says: “I firmly believe that to succeed on a global scale, your foundations must be strong.

“That is exactly what we are aiming to achieve with our global delivery centre in South Africa. In a world where the COVID-19 pandemic has destabilised economies and the job markets globally, we decided to build a strong foundation from where the home-grown talent of South Africa can upskill themselves to compete at a global level.”

ITC Infotech says the primary focus of this centre is to showcase SA’s home-grown talent to the world.

It notes that South Africans are rich in talent and ITC Infotech intends to create a platform to leverage this talent at a global scale.

“We have created a skill centre as part of our global delivery centre to develop native abilities to display locally available skills to a global audience,” says the company in a statement.

For years now, ITC Infotech has been involved with the local community through various initiatives.

The company’s flagship initiative, called the “ITC Infotech Graduate Business Programme, South Africa”, aims to identify and upskill local talent and give them global exposure by sending them to other countries.

As part of global exposure activity, the talents work with the global customer community and several industry verticals of ITC Infotech.

Earlier this year, the firm hosted a graduation ceremony for the students from SA, who had completed a seven-month internship programme.

“We believe this programme’s success are the students themselves. South African youngsters have shown a deep desire to skill themselves and compete with the best of breed in the world, which is very encouraging,” Kumar says.

Since its inception in 2011, more than 35 students have benefited under this programme, which is being conducted in association with CapaCITI, Walter Sisulu University, Pearson Institute of Higher Education, Tshwane University and North West University.