Business communication and managed services provider ICTGlobe sees declining local voice margins and the weak SA currency as compelling reasons to seek a global market for ICTLabs.
“A US headquarters for the research and development (R&D) subsidiary of ICTGlobe means stronger group earnings off the back of dollar denominated inroads in developed world markets,” says Riaan van Stryp, head of ICTLabs and the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of member company, ICTGlobe Management (Pty) Ltd.
ICTLabs is located in Boston in the US with additional presence in the ICTGlobe group head office in Centurion where it has already rolled out such product innovations as VPBX, a business-class cloud-based phone system offering a comprehensive feature list, and CallVault, a secure call recording storage platform that ensures untampered call recordings are stored safely and separate from the customer’s PBX system.
Currently, ICTLabs is primarily a software product and platform development division that focuses on integration, automation and web portal development. ICTLabs provides different platforms and systems as well as together turnkey project management to ensure successful implementation and systems integration.
ICTLabs’ vision for the sector is one where South African ICT (information and communications technology) firms enable the country’s move away from volatile primary industries and into value-adding tertiary sectors. The company see local ICT firms spreading their wings overseas where South African talent collaborates with the world’s best to develop new ways to get more out of ICT assets in maturing markets.
“In competitive markets like South Africa, small to medium-sized players have to contend with aggressive pricing from larger players that they can achieve on the basis of volume. By basing our relatively young R&D division outside of South Africa, we hope to be exposed to new ways of doing business in the sector that we can import into SA, while also introducing overseas markets to the ICT innovations we have developed locally,” Van Stryp says.
“We should remember that South Africa has historically been a centre of telecoms innovation with prepaid cellular and mobile banking two obvious examples.”
ICTGlobe has historically been an exceptional firm due to its ability to innovate in a very commoditised space. Now, it’s building on that culture with dynamic executive and management teams, and a renewed focus on innovation.