The IT services major ITC Infotech has finalized plans to set up shop in South Africa in what observers described as taking its long-standing association with South Africa to the next level. To this end, the company will soon inaugurate a new global delivery centre in Johannesburg. In this short interview, Vishal Kumar, President and Regional Head at ITC Infotech spoke about their plans including the launch of their 10,000 sq ft facility. Excerpts.
What inspired the need for ITC Infotech’s delivery centre?
ITC Infotech established its presence in South Africa in 2010, and we have steadily expanded our operations across the region. Over the years, we have witnessed firsthand the evolution of South Africa into a very attractive destination for IT service delivery, both for our clients in the region, as well as our global clients.
South Africa offers a rich & diverse talent pool with the right skills and industry domain knowledge. Couple these encouraging developments with state-of-the-art infrastructure and South Africa’s cultural affinity with global standards, and we have a strong contender in South Africa for efficient IT service delivery.
We are positive that our IT service delivery centre in South Africa will grow and expand into a sustainable destination for ITC Infotech to provide cutting-edge technology solutions & services to clients globally.
Read also:Africa Needs Updated Digital Rights Laws
What kind of investment is ITC Infotech making in South Africa with the launch of the delivery centre?
We are witnessing a huge uptick for specialized technology services & solutions from our clients in South Africa. This includes Automation, Digital Workplace, End User Computing as a Service (EUCaaS), Automated Application Management Services (AMS) and moving from Monolith to Microservices. We are strengthening our expertise in these cutting-edge technologies with a layer of deep industry domain knowledge, to provide clients with ‘Business-friendly Solutions’.
We are investing in building significantly differentiated value propositions on these pillars. These are areas where we will continue to stay invested in. We are exploring partnership opportunities to nurture niche startups in these areas. We will also continue to invest in our people, to strengthen the skill sets of our people and stay at the very cutting-edge of technology. Additionally, over time, we will continue to expand our presence in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which will bring us even closer to our clients in the region.
Read also:Nigerian Central Bank Orders Banks To Share Customer Data With Fintechs
What challenges has ITC Infotech faced when launching the delivery centre?
We had to innovate and put in place several digital interventions, in view of the global COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to be guided by our core philosophy of employee centricity & client centricity, as we navigate these challenging times. So, all decisions and actions really stemmed from our commitment to ensuring the health and safety of our employees, while delivering on our commitments to our clients, seamlessly.
In fact, more than challenges, this has been a huge learning experience – right from collaborating virtually to delivering services through our distributed workforce. At ITC Infotech, it’s not just Work From Home (WFH), we practice Secure Work From Home (SWFH). And we have been able to partner more closely with our clients, rallying together from ensuring business continuity to now delivering business resilience and recovery.
What employment opportunities will the delivery centre provide and how many people is ITC Infotech aiming to employ?
Ever since the inception of our operations in South Africa in 2010, we always had sales, marketing and administrative presence, along with a growing team of IT experts. We are now consolidating our presence by setting up a full-fledged service delivery operation, with aggressive plans to double our local workforce in the next 18 months.
Read also:The Finalists for Ecobank’s 2020 Fintech Challenge Announced
The quality of technology talent in South Africa is top-notch. In fact, we are now hiring locally for senior positions, including Project Leads and Programme Managers, in addition to entry & mid-level opportunities for technologists.
Our service delivery centre offers multiple opportunities for the right-skilled talent, in addition to numerous training & learning opportunities for our people to grow continuously. This helps our people move up the technology value chain quite rapidly.
What is ITC Infotech’s role in reskilling young South Africans?
ITC Infotech has been running a very successful campus to corporate programme in South Africa for over 6 years now. Through our Graduate Business Programme, South Africa, a Talent Immersion Programme which provides a holistic learning experience to young graduates, we are building digital leaders of tomorrow.
Our Graduate Business Programme in South Africa is one of the institutional capabilities we are investing in, to create an inclusive and culturally diverse organization. This has also resonated very well with our clients in South Africa.
ITC Infotech’s mantra of creating a future-ready workforce is to ‘Source Locally, Deploy Globally’. And this, in fact, opens a world of possibilities for our people to move laterally across our global organization.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry