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Since the elections, government has placed an increasing focus on service delivery and realigned its various departments in order to achieve this, he explains. As a service provider to government it is the job of IS to do everything in its power to support the government in this task.

A strong team

Part of this strategy has involved the establishment of a dedicated Public Sector team inside IS. “Although we have done a significant amount of work for government in the past, having a team that is focused on working with both our clients in the public sector, as well as with all the different parts of the organisation, to ensure their services are aligned with the needs of the public sector is the next logical step for IS,” he explains.

“Our public sector client list includes local, provincial and national government as well as state-owned entities. Apart from being ISP for the State IT Agency, it also provides services to the City of Johannesburg, the South African Post Office, the SABC and Metrorail, to name but a few. Already 12% of the company’s turnover comes from the public sector and it plans to raise that proportion to 40% over the next five years.

The renewed focus on the public sector is restricted to a small team within IS, but rather is a core strategy for the organisation with complete backing from not only the IS management team, but also the board of Dimension Data as well, he notes.

“Our public sector strategy has had a massive impact on the organisation as it has created renewed excitement in the organisation. We have a strong mandate from the company to make the investments that are necessary to deliver the services that government needs,” Mashawana says.

In order to get this understanding of government departments, it is necessary to take a long, hard look at their budgets in order to understand where the needs are most pressing, he says. By understanding the role that technology plays in service delivery, it is possible to create proposals that match the needs of government as well as backs the service delivery goals of government. “Much of what we do is based on the principle of risk and reward. We as IS are making substantial investments into infrastructure and sometimes this is done on the basis that it will provide the foundation for future business,” he explains.

A good example of this is the contract that Dimension Data and IS won to supply services to the Mafikeng Industrial Development Zone, where IS had to build the relevant infrastructure without government contributing to the cost of the infrastructure. This required that IS build a business case for the investment rather than simply expecting the client to finance the cost of the investment.

Mashawana comments that this kind of investment has an additional benefit for IS in that it allows the company to expand its geographic reach. “At the moment we have very strong geographic coverage, but we still have some way to go, and with that in mind, we are ramping up our infrastructure in specific locations.”

Another example where infrastructure is desperately needed is the Limpopo province, where there are about 153 healthcare centre sites, 460 clinics sites and 41 hospitals, together over 654 sites and thousands of schools. All of these need some level of connectivity in order to deliver services efficiently. This is one area where IS is investing in infrastructure to aid government. “There are areas where no service provider has infrastructure and if we want to work there, we have to build the infrastructure from the ground up,” he comments.

“We are also expanding our presence in the different provinces, including Limpopo and Mpumalanga, areas that have not traditionally been high on the agenda for IT companies,” he says.

Widening its reach

The company is expanding its footprint through two different strategies; the first is the establishment of branch offices in key locations; and the second is partnering with SMEs in order to provide coverage where it is not financially or logistically viable to set up our own infrastructure. Partnering with SMEs to provide coverage is also part of IS’s strategy of enterprise development. By giving emerging companies access to the skills and resources within IS, the company is building up a network of partners as well as ensuring that these partners are strong enough to meet the needs of both corporate customers and the public sector.

All of this is aimed at stimulating the ability of IS to service its clients. “The first part of this service delivery is reducing overheads such as telecommunications costs and allowing departments to use these funds for service delivery,” Mashawana says. “By looking at where we can save money, we are able to help departments focus on the task at hand.”

Cutting the cost

A key enabler in this area is the voice over IS (VOIS) solution that IS has spent the past five years developing. By leveraging its state of the art voice over IP platform, which IS has spent more than R100 million building, it is possible to cut dramatic amounts from departmental communications budgets. VOIS is a fully converged communications platform running on IS’s MPLS network. This network enables the company to ensure that communications across its network are guaranteed the appropriate level of service. With the ECNS licence awarded to IS earlier this year, the company is now a fully licensed telecommunications operator, but without the burdens that other operators have to carry.

Mashawana explains that IS is able to pick the most appropriate connectivity options for all its clients, irrespective of which company owns the infrastructure. “Sometimes we source that connectivity from other telecommunications operators, and other times we need to build our own infrastructure to reach the client.”

While government is looking to ramp up its delivery of services to South Africans, IS is focused on delivering a set of services that not only helps the departments, but also make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people.

C O N T A C T

Collen Mashawana

Public Sector Director: Internet Solutions
Tel: 011 5751000
Fax: Details to follow
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.is.co.za