Technology

Integr8 Group first in its class with technology services to Curro Holdings
2010-09-08 The Integr8 Group, the largest privately owned BEE ICT managed services company on the African continent, has been appointed as ICT services provider and support partner to Curro Holdings, the parent company of all Curro Private Schools. First on the list of projects has been the integration of technology to enhance the institution’s communication infrastructure, strategy and management.

Intuate/Contact Solutions announce merger acquisition
2010-09-08 Local technology solutions and people resources integrator, Intuate Group has announced the merger-acquisition of Contact Solutions, a contact centre solutions provider that has been operating in the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) market.

Vodacom Business Opens world-class Tier 4 Data Centre in Durban
2010-09-06 Vodacom Business Opens world-class Tier 4 Data Centre in Durban Exponential Growth of Cloud Computing Planned for in Flexible configuration

Standard forms of security cannot keep up with market development
2010-09-03 Devices such as access cards, PINs and passwords, designed to protect end-users, are not only ineffective against modern day threats, they often end up being used to perpetrate crime.

Offer is ‘vote of confidence’ in SA
2010-09-03 BANKING regulator Errol Kruger yesterday said HSBC’s plan to buy Nedbank was a “vote of confidence” in SA.

RDB Consulting partners with Workgroup IT to offer Oracle hardware products
2010-09-02 Information management and outsource ICT specialists, RDB Consulting, are pleased to announce a newly formed partnership with Workgroup IT, which will see it selling Oracle hardware products to the South African channel.

‘Green’ software minimises impact on environment and overheads
2010-09-01 Inter-Active Technologies, South Africa’s leading call centre and communications expert, is encouraging business leaders to do their bit for the environment by switching to ‘greener’ IT practices – a move which could also help them reduce their energy costs.

Q-KON & ND SatCom Receives Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award
2010-09-01 Q-KON, a South Africa-based provider of turnkey solutions covering specialist areas of telecommunications and ICT, has secured joint first place for a Satellite IT Innovation Award within the Business Service Innovation category of the Global Telecoms Business (GTB) Innovation Awards 2010, held recently in London, UK.

IDentity Indaba – a holistic approach to practical identity management
2010-08-31 Management at Ideco Group Ltd. (Ideco), the market leader in identity management solutions, has confirmed its primary sponsorship of IDentity Indaba 2010. This event will take place on 15 September at the Indaba Hotel, Gauteng.

Swicon360 launches SpinifexIT to illuminate benefits of quality reporting
2010-08-30 Management at Swicon360 (Pty) Ltd. (Swicon360), an established business technology partner and solution provider within the international Human Capital Management (HCM), HR and payroll markets, has introduced the SpinifexIT Generic Reporting Toolkit© to the local market. The solution is targeted at organisations that want to leverage off SAP-based reporting functionality to streamline data manipulation and management.

Virtual tuition, a real solution to a real problem says Accsys
2010-08-30 The virtual classroom or online tuition, reflective of the progress made as a result of the ongoing convergence of technology and education, has emerged as an effective and plausible means of addressing skills shortages. This is the view of Teryl Schroenn, CEO at Accsys, a national supplier of payroll, HR, time & attendance and access control solutions, who advocates eLearning as the most credible answer to the urgent requirement for skills across various industries.

Nedbank, Vodacom to launch cellphone service for unbanked
2010-08-27 NEDBANK and Vodacom will next week launch a new cellphone banking service that the bank hopes will provide impetus to efforts to penetrate the unbanked market.

Are your communications systems ready for the economic upturn?
2010-08-26 Are your communications systems ready for the economic upturn?

Ending password problems in contact centres
2010-08-26 Everyday they get forgotten, creating recurring IT admin costs and reducing agent productivity. They also get shared and stolen, leaving the door wide open for insider fraud. And yet passwords remain the cornerstone of almost all IT access. Surely it’s time to look for a modern solution to this perennial problem?

CONTACT CENTRE FRAUD
2010-08-25 Call Centre Fraud in the News

Can you afford not to monitor your IT environment?
2010-08-25 Over the past decade the business environment has changed dramatically, and IT no longer merely supports business operations, but underpins them and forms a backbone so vital that often business cannot function without it.

Ending password problems in contact centres
2010-08-24 Everyday they get forgotten, creating recurring IT admin costs and reducing agent productivity. They also get shared and stolen, leaving the door wide open for insider fraud. And yet passwords remain the cornerstone of almost all IT access. Surely it’s time to look for a modern solution to this perennial problem?

Soarsoft announces release of Metalogix’s StoragePoint 3.0
2010-08-24 Soarsoft Africa has announced the release of Metalogix’s StoragePoint 3.0 - revolutionary SharePoint-based software that actively manages the entire storage lifecycle of content while dramatically decreasing storage costs.

Saipem win in Algeria
2010-08-19 Alcatel-Lucent will deploy a mission critical communications solution for Saipem to increase safety and security in Algeria

BioTherm Energy plugs into Integr8 Group to charge up ICT efficiency
2010-08-11 BioTherm Energy, a national developer and owner of cleaner and renewable energy projects and independent power producer, has invested in the service and support of its ICT managed services partner the Integr8 Group, in order to bolster operations.

Innovation
2010-08-10 The Innovation Hub, SA's only science park accredited by the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), signed a Memorandum of Understanding of major significance with the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX) of Belgium.

Zycko announces Polycom KIRK Wireless Server 8000
2010-08-05 Enables wireless mobility today with investment protection for tomorrow

SAS Analytics top market choice for evidence-based decisions
2010-08-02 SAS increases market share, as industry analyst firm ranks SAS as leader in advanced analytic tools for 13th straight year

Interaction SIP Station™ by Interactive Intelligence wins Network Products Guide’s “Reader’s Trust Award”
2010-07-30 IP phone replacement device honoured with a “Reader’s Trust” 2010 Best Products and Services Award in the voice over IP category.

Amadeus spreads its wings into Africa with Integr8
2010-07-29 The Integr8 Group, the largest privately owned BEE ICT managed services company on the African continent, has been awarded a substantial extension of its full outsource agreement with Amadeus Southern Africa in South Africa. Service, complete support and managed services will now also be extended to another nine African countries.

Bytes offers Mid-Market customers affordable enterprise contact centre capabilities
2010-07-27 Bytes Communications is pleased to announce that it can now significantly bolster the contact centre environment of its mid-market customers with the new Genesys Compact edition from Alcatel-Lucent.

The changing face of personal identification
2010-07-26 A powerful solution to combat economic crime is now at our fingertips. One South African company is leading the way in the world of identity-based security solutions

Capitalising off cloud-based human resource management
2010-07-22 It was only a matter of time before the production and application of technology within people management reached new heights in South Africa – and it has now reached the clouds, to be more specific.

Interactive Intelligence enhances offering for credit and collection industry
2010-07-21 Enhancements to automated dialer helps credit and collection agencies increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and maintain compliance.

Interactive Intelligence and Buzzient partner to offer integrated social media monitoring, routing and reporting solution
2010-07-20 Partnership helps enterprises and contact centres to route and report on social media content more effectively and efficiently.

Accor Group selects Alcatel-Lucent
2010-07-19 Accor Group selects Alcatel-Lucent to deploy hotel telephony solutions worldwide that enable new personalised communications services for guests

BI smarts that lets you 'up' your game
2010-07-16 After two decades, demand for Business Intelligence remains high. What has changed is that data volumes have exploded and markets are increasingly volatile, emphasising demand for faster, more accurate, and deeper insight into business performance. and the potential impact of market forces on operations and earnings. Analytics provides a competitive advantage - and unlike the solutions of yesteryear, these systems are today within reach of most and take hardly any time at all to implement and show a return.

Dogs definitely allowed
2010-07-15 Dog cushions are not a common business expense . . . unless you happen to be part of the Dimension Data team responsible for managing the Standard Bank call centre technology.

SAS acquires UK software firm Memex
2010-07-13 SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, has acquired Memex, a worldwide leader in intelligence management solutions that help improve intelligence processes, enhance public safety, and prevent and deter crime, terrorism and other threats. The company has a strong presence in the law enforcement and homeland security markets.

Do you know where your IT spend is really going?
2010-07-09 The IT environment is becoming increasingly complex, and with the emphasis firmly shifting towards greater accountability, improved efficiency and improved transparency, there is a growing need for organisations to reconsider their IT cost management systems.

Presence Social Media: how to integrate social networks into your Contact Center
2010-07-09 Presence Technology launches the Social Network solution to manage information from various social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Skype, and integrates it with the Customer Service Center.

Dreaded' fault in undersea cable stymies internet
2010-07-08 A FAULT in the Seacom undersea cable which runs along Africa’s east coast has interrupted internet access for millions, including local users.Seacom said yesterday that its undersea cable system had collapsed, disrupting services from Kenya to India and Europe.“This is the one thing we have been dreading,” said Suveer Ramdhani, Seacom’s spokesman.

Wireless, a winning formula for networks
2010-07-07 The development, integration and application of wireless networking infrastructure continues to drive growth within the networking environment. It remains a force to be reckoned with, certainly from a volume of trade perspective.

BasisOne attracts global acclaim for local IAM technology project
2010-07-05 BasisOne (Pty) Ltd., a member of Swicon360 group of companies and one of Africa’s first SAP-accredited hosting providers, has received a European Identity Management Award for a cloud computing solution the company implemented utilising IAM technology provided by Novell.

Entering the government call centre market
2010-07-05 Governments across the globe are moving towards providing the same level of service as their private-sector counterparts. Unfortunately, government agencies are faced with legacy issues and technologies, making the transition to newer technologies and processes difficult. However, deploying new technology will greatly assist governments to provide the customer service that citizens have come to expect. This is often particularly evident at the first point of contact with government agencies – the contact centre.

How King III can shape your data recovery and business resilience plan
2010-07-02 The revised King Code and Report on Governance for South Africa, better known as King III, is the first corporate governance legislation that includes IT governance in its recommendations. It calls for companies to put in place “a framework that supports the effective and efficient management of IT resources to facilitate the achievement of a company’s strategic objectives”.

Skills development in SA - breaking the tradition
2010-07-01 Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills development is still a 'hot topic' in South Africa with many companies struggling to find the appropriate skills to match their requirements. This ongoing quest has propelled corporate South Africa to look towards skills development programmes, internships and lucrative offers to highly qualified and experienced individuals in order to gain and retain skills within specialist areas of ICT. Jaroslav Cerny, CEO at RDB Consulting, an ICT outsource and consulting company, believes that looking for individuals that have the right aptitude and attitude is often more important than a candidate that fits the 'skills' profile.

Protect your data with proactive monitoring
2010-07-01 It has been said that the 21st Century has marked the change from the 'Age of Things' to the 'Age of Information'. From a business perspective, the value of an organisation's information has increased tremendously - and the wellbeing of the databases that contain this crucial business information has become a priority. Proactive monitoring of databases has gained traction as organisations aim to ensure reliability and uptime. In fact, it's become an imperative for organisations rather than a 'nice to have'. The challenge however lies in deciding whether to outsource this very specialised function, or not.

GRC as a corporate strategic weapon
2010-06-30 Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) has become a prime concern for organisations in recent years - a result of new legislation and industry specific requirements, as well as an increased awareness of the benefits GRC brings. Ultimately, an organisation's GRC initiatives should be viewed as a strategic corporate weapon, rather than merely a means to comply with various laws and guidelines, or 'keep the CEO out of jail'.

European eGovernment Contact Center Wins Altitude Software Innovation Award
2010-06-18 Award Recognizes Portuguese Government Social Security Contact Center Innovative Use of Altitude solutions to Improve Access to Public Services

Survey Rates IT Consolidation a Top Customer Priority
2010-06-09 Riverbed Technology, an IT performance vendor, recently released findings from a user survey conducted at Interop Las Vegas 2010 that confirm businesses across the board are making IT resource consolidation and virtualization a top priority in order to contain and lower costs, while simplifying management chores.