People

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.

NCSolutions brings Liquidware Labs and Kaviza to Africa
2010-09-07 NCSolutions has secured distribution rights for Liquidware Labs and Kaviza software, enabling the company to offer end-to-end virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

Exploiting hidden profits through Activity Based Costing and Management
2010-09-07 At a recent breakfast hosted by SAS Institute, International industry expert Peter Turney, CEO of Cost Technology Inc, explored Customer Profitability as the hidden opportunity for sustainable bottom line growth.

Call Centre set up for Aids Drugs
2010-09-06 Call Centre set up for Aids Drugs

‘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.

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.

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.

Scotland, Italy and Sweden to benefit from infusion of African ideas
2010-08-23 An Information Systems academic at the University of Cape Town has achieved recognition from a European Union programme whose roots go back to Erasmus Mundus,  a Dutch humanist and the first intellectual to understand the power of the printed word.

MiWay creates jobs in Bloemfontein
2010-08-18 As it continues to expand on the back of innovative and affordable insurance solutions, MiWay has announced that it has opened a contact centre in Bloemfontein, a key central city.

Jozi Skills Hub offers training and job searches
2010-08-17 The City of Johannesburg yesterday launched the Jozi Skills Hub, a labour exchange programme that offers skills training and hopes to address the skills gap, particularly among artisans.

Recruitment levels on the rise, index shows
2010-08-16 Although employment fell sharply last month , recruitment increased in all sectors, according to the Adcorp employment index issued yesterday.

South Africa meet Germany
2010-07-30 T-Systems interns work and play in Germany as part of Konrad Reiss Internship Programme

Avoiding pitfalls, holding on to talent – what decision makers should know
2010-07-23 A general increase in competition and related surge in interest and investment in technology to empower people and improve operations means that businesses have to focus on recruiting the very best skills available.

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.

‘World Cup: A great boost to South Africa economy’
2010-07-13 SOUTH Africa and its people have indeed benefited from the on-going FIFA 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Bytes Outsource Services boosts BEE rating to Level 2
2010-07-12 Bytes Outsource Services has improved its Empowerdex BEE rating from Level 3 to Level 2 as part of the Altron vision 2012 initiative. It has achieved an overall score of 87,21%.

Youth have potential to spare
2010-07-12 South Africa's young people could have much to offer the country, but too many of them are unemployed and thus not able to reach their full potential.

Outsource incentives reviewed
2010-07-07 THE Department of Trade and Industry is reviewing the incentives used to lure offshore investors to outsource some non core services, such as call centres, to SA.

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.

Pastel call centre scoops international awards
2010-07-03 Softline Pastel, South Africa’s leading developer of accounting and business software has received international recognition by winning three awards at this past weekend’s Contact Centre World Awards run by ContactCentreWorld.com, the online magazine for the global contact centre industry. Pastel’s 140-seat call centre based in Woodmead in Gauteng won the Best Community Service category, was a runner up for Best Help Desk and placed third for Best Customer Service. There were five finalists per category with only three of those actually being placed. Pastel was placed in each of its categories. The awards ceremony was held in London on Saturday and benchmarks entrants against the best in the Europe, Middle East & Africa region. The judges consider both management strategy as well as the actual achievements of the support centre and the final result is determined based on a combination of written entry and judging by industry peers.

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”.

A sound approach to King III
2010-07-02 The King Code of Governance Principles and the King Report on Governance (King III), which came into effect in March 2010, has been met with a considerable amount of optimism, particularly in light of its relevance in the global marketplace as well as it alignment with the Companies Act no 71 of 2008, which is scheduled to come into effect on 1 July 2010.

The "BRAIN" Model of intelligibility in business telephony
2010-06-30 Despite the vast technological advances in telephony over the past century, there are still many challenges and obstacles that remain in terms of intelligibility. George Ashley Campbell, a pioneer in long-distance telegraphy and telephony, showed in 1910 that accuracy over the telephone stood at only 59% as opposed to 96% over open air, and although things have come a long way since then, we still find ourselves putting up with inaccuracies that we encounter in telephone conversations today.

BasisOne emerges as Africa's premier SAP-accredited hosting provider
2010-06-30 BasisOne, a member of the Swicon360 group of companies, has become the first company in Africa to achieve international accreditation as a hosting provider of SAP managed services solutions.

SMS messaging gets to work
2010-06-28 SMS, the happy accident of mobile technology that turns 17 this year, shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, maintains Pieter Streicher, managing director of BulkSMS.com, if anything SMS is going to accelerate its stellar trajectory thanks to increased business adoption.

Roll-out of the Monyetla Work Readiness Programme
2010-06-23 The Business Trust requests proposals from employer-led consortia, including recruiters and accredited training providers, to provide entry-level training for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector.

Blue label data attains centre of excellence accreditation
2010-06-22 Blue Label Data Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blue Label Telecoms Limited, has been granted Centre of Excellence Accreditation by the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA). Blue Label Data Solutions is one of only five data companies in South Africa which, following a rigorous audit, has received this prestigious accreditation.

Opinion piece: Virtualising the desktop - save space, save money, save the enviroment
2010-06-22 'Virtualisation' and 'cloud computing' have become IT buzzwords of late, and are often used interchangeably. This is a misconception - cloud computing is in fact only one form of virtualisation, one that uses the Internet as a platform for dissemination of resources and applications, among others. Other forms of virtualisation, some of which could be of enormous benefit, bear investigation.

Outrageous Interactions competition launched for SA call centres
2010-06-21 In their quest to honour the hard-working call centre agents and managers of South Africa and to inject a little humour into what can be a very stressful job, Interactive Intelligence has launched the Outrageous Interactions contest.

New survey shows IT skills under pressure but junior and entry level skills available
2010-06-18 CareerJunction has released the CareerJunction Index (CJI) Q1 report for the IT Sector. The CareerJunction Index is an analysis of the online labour market in South Arica and provides detailed insight into the supply vs demand trends of online career seeker talent across 10 industry sectors.

Call Centre managers must manage World Cup expectations
2010-06-10 As the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa kicks off employers are advised to implement a policy to deal with potential staff absences over the football season.