Ride the wave but keep a sharp eye on surfing conditions, says Integr8 IT

ICT companies should now be revelling in the `boom` that has long been associated with, and threatened to catapult the information and communications technology industry forward ever since innovation and technology started to underpin the modern working environment.

Lance Fanaroff, director at national network integration and infrastructure support specialist Integr8 IT, says the market can offer a ticket to ride, but companies should take care not to lose focus on their core speciality in the process.

Integr8 IT finds itself in a unique position. With a staff complement that has grown from a mere handful to around 150, excluding contractors used to support remote areas, and service level agreements in place with high profile national and international clients, the company continues to gain momentum in a tight market. The main reason, says Fanaroff, is consistency in approach and a commitment to organic growth.

"Although we have grown quite substantially within a relatively short space of time, it has been very much controlled growth. We chose to focus purely on network infrastructures and become the best at that. There are a lot of other players in this space at the moment, but we believe we are one of the few existing solution-driven IT companies. Our business is based on evaluating the infrastructures of companies and identifying the most appropriate technology for a specific environment. We are very much in touch with the business needs of our clients," says Fanaroff.

"Many companies try to change a great deal but most have remained predominantly product-focused. To us product forms part of an overall solution. Our strategy is to identify the best product or technology to suit the client. In most cases we either become the IT extension of the client or they completely outsource this function to us," he adds.

This emphasis on client consultation and infrastructure evaluation requires that Integr8 IT maintain a level of skills and ability in order to add value and understand the IT requirements of its clientele.

"Once we are brought into the picture, we are responsible to understand and satisfy the IT needs of our customers. Each client is unique and all will have different needs. Delivery is exceptionally important and our strategy in this department is that we would rather undersell and over-deliver, than the other way around," says Fanaroff.

If delivery is seen as a pearl within the competitive ICT industry, then strategic focus on a field could be argued to be its crustacean. With a business model and infrastructure that is positioned to add flexibility, it is possible to adequately service companies across the board, in terms of size and scope.

"IT has made anything possible. It can be done. It comes down to budget from the client`s perspective and skills from our side, but anything can be done. We make a point of growing with the client - taking them through a solution with consideration of many factors including current and future IT demands.

There is no point in simply providing a solution now and in six months having to change the situation - there must be an element of forethought as to whether or not the infrastructure is scalable and modular enough to handle the growth a company anticipates. At the end of the day our role is to be the trusted IT advisors, to help make the best decision possible for the client and to date our success is proof that we are successful with this approach," says Fanaroff.

The ICT environment has become a lot more complex, says Fanaroff. He believes it is now necessary for companies to specialise rather than concentrate on a `one-stop-shop` strategy.

"I think this contributed towards the bubble bursting. Companies have tried to encapsulate every service in a bid to satisfy existing clients and woo new ones, but the end result is a thinning out process. Instead of being meticulous and specialise in one area, a company will try to cover many areas and basically hope for the best. The complexity of today`s demanding market makes this an impossible task and nowadays anything that is not core focus is outsourced - IT is the same," adds Fanaroff.

With this knowledge in mind, management`s goal is to be the best at what the company does and take advantage of the opportunities that lie in wait.

"From an IT perspective we expect a great deal of opportunity to come through. We are into the third year post-Y2K and since then people have become a lot more dependent on their infrastructure. From our perspective we have been able to capitalise on the opportunity. Businesses are so much more dependent on technology - even companies that didn`t really have much infrastructure to speak of can no longer operate unless they are online. Today e-mail is a crucial business tool and has moved from being a luxury.

"We foresee much growth as businesses and individuals come to rely more heavily on technology," says Fanaroff.

The main challenge for the company at this stage is to ensure that growth remains controlled, service levels, skills and delivery continue to boost the company`s reputation in the market.