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By providing the infrastructure which supports the creation of value from IT investments, Cornastone Enterprise Systems (CES) is ensuring that the ability of IT departments to sustain service delivery is rock solid.

Managing Challenges

The complexity of IT infrastructure inevitably puts pressure on government technology departments to support effective service delivery in the public sector. Legacy systems combined with new technology waves enable IT departments to contribute to government goals of superior service delivery to its citizens. However, with each technology advancement, there is the added issue of increased complexity and the challenges it brings. Added to the problems caused by these technology advancements is the skills shortage that also inhibits the effective use of IT technology. Unless adequately addressed and managed, these challenges can adversely affect the ability of the IT department to accurately support the service delivery mandate of government.

This is according to Lufuno Nevhutalu, chairman of Cornastone Enterprise Systems (CES), who explains that his company specialises in providing expertise and skills in developing solutions that create value from IT investments.

Establishing a Sound Foundation

Nevhutalu says the deployment, configuration and support of an appropriate hardware infrastructure is the first –and perhaps most vital – step in establishing a sound foundation for the support of efficient systems that support public service delivery. “Perhaps even more than the private sector, the public sector is faced with the enormous challenges of meeting the needs of what are effectively its customers, with limited resources,” Nevhutalu notes. “With the shift in perception to ‘the citizen as customer’, government in effect has made a commitment to serving some 50 million customers.”

In terms of solutions, CES specialises in the provision of a wide range of technologies and services, including the ability to design, architect, develop and deliver cost effective infrastructure hardware and software solutions and ‘branded’ support in terms of its partner status with some of the world’s leading manufacturers of enterprise hardware and software.

For new and existing IT assets there is a dire need to automate operational needs and to monitor and manage these IT assets. This is a vital requirement in maintaining the service that the asset was designed for. CES have broad experience and have implemented from start up Enterprise Management Systems to complex multi vendor end to end management systems. This includes fault, performance, asset, configuration, service, SLA, capacity, simulation and assurance systems crafted to users unique needs.

Committed to Delivery

Nevhutalu explains that as CES strives to support government in its mission to extend services to every South African citizen, it continues to focus on bringing the latest technological developments to bear. The company is also rapidly establishing itself as a specialist in the subject of virtualisation – something that can have a direct impact on efficiency. “Our server and desktop virtualisation solutions offer full business continuity and are fully auditor- and regulatory compliant,” he says. “CES has a proven track record in providing the full cradle-to-grave range of services, from architecting a solution to transforming an entire site to a virtual environment, to the migration and transformation, monitoring and after-sales service of that environment.”

And of course, since the very nature of government is that it must reach all the people, therefore service points located throughout the country are required, Nevhutalu says CES’ provision of network accelerator appliances thus plays an essential role in supporting efficiency at the point where people interact with government services. “Through advanced technologies, we are able to reduce bandwidth usage and cost across 3G/ HSDPA and wide area networks (WANs). Our network accelerator appliances are designed to make the WAN feel and respond like a LAN,” he explains.

Information storage is another critical aspect of every organisation and is something that holds especially true for the many agencies that comprise an effectively functioning government. Nevhutalu confirms that CES provides solutions that solve e-mail file compliancy and retrieval challenges. “Our solutions offer Single Instance Storage with tiered and automated data life cycle management capabilities, where data can be retrieved in minutes rather than days, while data management remains compliant to the strictest rules and regulations of worldwide standards,” he says.

Interacting with the Whole

As a focused provider of infrastructure solutions and services, CES doesn’t claim to be all things to all people, instead Nevhutalu states that the company provides infrastructure, on which applications such as business intelligence, ERP, databases, middleware and applications reside, run and happen and continue to perform after implementation with well engineered IT management systems. . “We also provide the services, maintenance, consulting and architecture of the infrastructure which support these solutions,” he says.

So, while the company does not and will not claim to be an expert in any of these specialised fields, Nevhutalu nevertheless explains that it is essential that CES has the expertise to understand how these applications and solutions interact with the underlying infrastructure layers. “By understanding the customer’s service delivery objectives, we are able to take these into consideration when architecting solutions. We use industry standards and guidelines to structure our approach, although we take into account such factors as the type of organisation, data, application, and information architectures,” he says.

“In the same vein, we need a good understanding of networking, applications, operating systems and storage. While the infrastructure itself is just one of the numerous essential components in the value chain, none of these components operate in isolation; therefore, having a firm grasp of the related components – something that CES prides itself on - is essential if optimal solutions are to be created,” he says.

Figure and Ground

So what is it that makes CES stand out from other service providers? Nevhutalu agrees that while the products and solutions it brings to market are essential to the effective operation of business and government, it is not in these solutions that its differentiators lie.

“Our view is that all our competitors offer products and some even offer the same ones, at that. However, where we believe that CES has a genuine value-add is in the company’s skill in crafting and tailoring solutions, coupled with the fact that it has a very people-centric culture. This culture is apparent in how we engage with our customers and in the concentrated approach we take to problem solving,” he says. “What we do right at CES is to hire and breed the right quality of people.”

Supporting Efficiency

Like many other organisations, government is seeking to achieve greater efficiencies which reduce resource utilisation. This is not only practical in terms of the limitations of, for example, electrical power, but is equally necessary to support long term sustainability. “CES is committed to helping government to create a greener environment. That means reducing the carbon footprint while maximising the performance of current and future assets. To this end, we have invested in the expertise and techniques to reduce facility requirements and costs.”

“In short, CES is focused on supporting government by enabling it to get the most out of its IT investments through the engineering of high performance into public sector systems and applications,” he concludes. 

C O N T A C T

Lufuno Nevhutalu

Chairman: Cornastone Enterprise Systems
Tel: 011 287 1500
Website: www.cornastone.co.za