Despite the company’s recent contractual dispute with the South African Home Affairs department, which resulted in a R373.9 million settlement and a decline in earnings before deductions (EBITDA) by a whooping 72,8%, Gijima, a technology solutions provider based in South Africa, looks ahead for opportunities to increase its footprint and focus on on-demand cloud services.
ITNewsAfrica.com caught up with Emson Moyo, CTO Gijima to discuss the company’s future plans
ITNewsAfrica.com: Will Gijima expand into other new markets (industries) in the near future?
Emson Moyo: Gijima is always looking for ways to grow and one of our objectives is to internationalize the company. We currently have a presence in Namibia, Canada, Turkey, Australia and Chile. We are looking at opportunities to increase that footprint. We have expanded into health and education systems and we are looking at other industry verticals where we can add value.
ITNewsAfrica.com: Most of Africa is still spending heavily on Hardware. How is this affecting the company’s business strategy on the continent?
Emson Moyo: We do not have much presence in Africa. Our engagements there are mainly projects where we provide specialist services such as SAP ERP solutions, mining solutions such as our mineRP application, Identity and Access Management solutions especially in public sector, unified communications solutions and general system integration. We are not a products-focused company but more oriented towards providing solutions.
ITNewsAfrica.com: What is Gijima’s present business strategy involving cloud computing? Should we expect additional investment in this particular sector?
Emson Moyo: We are aware of the tremendous changes that will be ushered by cloud computing and have invested in terms of getting the right skills and infrastructure to support the new paradigm. We have embraced cloud computing as a new way of providing services and we are engaged in a number of projects that will see us providing cloud services in the not distant future. We are engaged with customers in mapping out requirements and advising them on how to transition into cloud where it makes sense.
ITNewsAfrica.com: What is Gijima’s strategy regarding the expansion of broadband infrastructure throughout South Africa, necessary for the uptake of cloud services? Will the company invest in the broadband sector in the future?
Emson Moyo: Broadband network access is a key ingredient to cloud computing. We welcome the proliferation of broadband services is South Africa as a key enabler of cloud services. As a company we are exploring different avenues on how best to leverage of existing opportunities.
ITNewsAfrica.com: What are Gijima’s focus areas for 2012?
Emson Moyo: Our focus areas are cloud computing on-demand services, deepening our sectoral engagements by developing solutions for enabling core business processes in our selected sectors, innovation, mobility solutions, health and education solutions.
Denisa Oosthuizen
