Ict Unplugged March 2010

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Nine years – a lifetime in the tech industry, and gone in the

blink of an eye

The Integr8 Group turns nine on 1 March 2010. Nine years is a lifetime in thetechnology sector, and while we have had our heads down building one of the

most successful ICT companies in Africa, so much has happened around us.Recently, the management team took a moment to reflect just how much hashappened since our inception. Looking back at what other companies weredoing in 2001 also gave us some idea of just how far we – and our industry –has come.

In 2001 AOL Time Warner was formed; the first commercial 3G network waslaunched in Japan; Wikipedia published its first page; the Patriot Act wassigned into being after the September 11 attacks on the US; Google made itsvery first public acquisition; and Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A tumultuous year you have to admit. But we believe something else of greatsignificance happened. Two like-minded people got together in a coffee shopand decided that they would start an IT services company. Despite the shaky

market, despite the world still reeling from the aftershocks of the dotcomcrash, and despite some rather large service companies having a virtualstranglehold on the local market, Integr8 was born. Since then we havegrown from strength to strength. We now employ over 450 full-time staff, weoperate out of six offices across Africa and we are recognised as a preferredpartner by some of the world's largest and most respected ICT companies. In

the nine years since our birth, the world has become a very different place. Inthat time 1 trillion web pages have been created; two out of every threepeople in the world now own a cellphone; 160 billion songs have beendownloaded – 8 billion of those were in fact bought beforehand; and as of February 10 this year, Google has acquired 61 companies.

It's been a very busy nine years, and we think it would be remiss of us not to

take a moment to reflect on our journey. It was the American educationalistand writer, Peter F. Drucker, who said: “Follow effective action with quietreflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” And if anything is true of the team at Integr8, we are certainly set on st ill moreeffective action! We feel we have a right to be proud of what we haveachieved, and we would like to include all our partners, our suppliers and our

clients in our time of celebration and thanks giving. We enter our tenth year of operations with sense of purpose and fortitude. We are exceptionally excitedabout our new website which goes live on 1 March and includes the very bestsocial media enablement possible. Designed and built by our amazingdevelopment arm, this website is a testament to the innovation that resides at

the core of Integr8, and we are sure you will be as impressed with it as we are.Please pop on and take a tour and let us know your thoughts. In closing, we

also ask you to take a moment and reflect on your own company and where ithas come since its inception. Then, share that with us on our Facebook page.

A happy moment of reflection can beuseful to all of us

and, as Druckersays above, result ineven more effectiveaction! Thank youfor sharing our journey with us and

join us in toasting

the Integr8 familyand wishing us all –Happy Birthday!

Lance Fanaroff and Robert Sussman, JointCEO’s, Integr8 Group

The sale that is service

By Bennie Strydom, Sales Director, Integr8Group

We are very excited about the launch of anumber of innovative services, driven by andrun off the latest, cutting edge technology. We

have conducted intensive research and haveexperienced a high demand for solutions fromthe market.

The measurable benefit to our clients is cost saving and a highlystrategic way of investing and integrating technology. It willmean reliability, cost saving, more strategic use of resources.

Some of these solutions and services include:

· Hosted PABX · Hosted Virtual Servers· E-Mail Branding and Archiving· Vulnerability Audits en assessments

· Hosted Blackberry services· Advanced Infrastructure monitoring· Aggregated ADSL services

The month for technology

By Jan Roux, MD at Integr8

February has truly been 'the month of technology' at the

Integr8 Group. In an effort to improve our overallefficiency and, more importantly, our service delivery,we have initiated a complete revamp of all our internaland external systems. At present there is not adepartment that is not being affected by thesecomprehensive upgrades.

We are in the final stages of testing world-class management software thatwill not only provide us with complete visibility of the state of every singledevice and system we support out in the field, it will also give us the ability toimprove service levels by making sure support and maintenance functionsperform pro-actively. The software will also perform much-needed trendanalysis so that the Nerve Centre staff can identify any possible support issue

that might occur well in advance. The new system, together with the revisedprocesses and procedures that will be implemented, will make sure the NerveCentre and technical team delivers a consistent, first class support. The newsystem will also go hand-in-hand with a new and much improved Service Desk solution. The new ITIL Service Desk solution will not only be far easier to use,it will be much more interactive and faster to use, especially for helpdesk and

technical staff located on client sites. This integrated system will take theIntegr8 IT Nerve Centre and the services it delivers to a completely differentlevel.

Internally we are in the final phases of implementing a whole new system intoour Project office. The system will assist both our project management team,as well as our clients to track and manage projects in real-time bases. The

system will ensure that every project gets delivered according to clientrequirements, in time and on budget. By introducing this system, we will notonly guarantee that our projects team performs an exemplary service, we willmake sure that clients receive all the necessary information during the projectto give them peace-of-mind at all times. As far as our fax-2-mail platform isconcerned, we have started the migration onto a new technology and

hardware platform to make sure we stay ahead of the field within premiereservice delivery. The new platform will be more stable and faster than thecurrent solution, but will be more scalable to cater for expected future growth.Lastly we are introducing a state-of-the-art and integrated accounting, CRMand payroll system. This will assist the Integr8 Group's executive committee

keep a finger on the pulse of all expenses and revenue at all times so that wecan make sure we run an efficient and streamlined business which is critical in

today's competitive world.

I am very excited about all these projects because it is clear that all thesesystems will make a huge impact on how Integr8 does business on a day-to-day base. We have always taken pride in our innovation and ability to usetechnology to gain competitive edge in the market. Based on everything that

is happening at the moment, I am proud to say that we haven't lost that abilityafter almost a decade of doing business.

Integr8 Group reinforces HR,marketing division

The Integr8 Group has appointed Tami Sussmanas the company's HR & Marketing Director.Sussman has been successful in building andeffectively managing the growth of thecompany's regional presence as Regional

Director. The latest development to its executivemanagement structure is a strategic move toexpand the Group's HR management andadvance its marketing and communication tomarkets. “Human resource, skills acquisition and retention will continue todifferentiate companies in the market, and we are mindful of the influencethis will continue to have in business in general,” said Sussman.





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Ict Unplugged March 2010