Arivia.kom in aggressive push

The restructuring of state-owned ICT group arivia.kom, which will see the group emerge as an entirely revamped entity, is almost complete, the company says.

The restructuring and realignment of the group and its businesses started in August last year, with COO Hugo Knoetze cracking his whip at the top echelon of the company, resulting in the suspension of several managers. Most noteworthy was the placement on "extended leave" of Zakes Mnisi, head of outsourcing, pending the completion of an internal probe.

His future with arivia.kom and the outcome of this probe is subject to speculation at this stage, as Knoetze steadfastly refuses to comment on the matter, even refusing to say whether or not the investigation has been completed.

However, Knoetze is clear that heads have rolled due to non-performance and will continue to do so. The company is committed to hiring the "best of the best", with a strong focus on black economic empowerment and skills development, he says, in order to position itself as the number one delivery partner in the country`s ICT space.

This is all part of turning arivia.kom into a world class ICT operation, in terms of service delivery, as well as financial robustness, Knoetze tells ITWeb.

When restructuring is completed in March or April, arivia.kom`s three divisions - infrastructure, focused business solutions and niche markets divisions - will cease to exist, as part of efforts to tighten the company`s focus and utilise its resources more efficiently, he says.

"We will be realigning these businesses to move up the value chain," says Knoetze, adding arivia.kom will focus on a small number of key customers, rather than concentrating on quantity.

The restructuring will see new divisions within arivia.kom, namely consulting and management, business services, and shared services, as well as an outsourcing division, which will stretch across the entire group, he says.

The realignment and new focus is already starting to pay off, says Knoetze, as the consulting and management division, which is operational, recently won a five-year R68 million Airports Company of SA contract.

Meanwhile, the business services division will also be positioned to boost service delivery and meet specific clients` needs, Knoetze says. This division, he notes, is made up of three sections - innovation, partnership management and centralised proposals.

Under the innovation unit, arivia.kom has set up transport and energy forums to better understand Eskom and Transnet`s businesses. These parastatals are two of arivia.kom`s biggest customers and shareholders, and arivia.kom holds contacts valued at R550 million and R450 million with the two groups, respectively.

"We want to be the ICT aggregator for our key accounts and be in a position to outsource business processes. That is why we need to have a very clear understanding about our clients` businesses," says Knoetze.

Arivia.kom`s main target market is to remain government and parastatal entities, as contracts in this space are bigger and far more lucrative, he explains. Meanwhile, arivia.kom will also maintain a strong African presence through its subsidiary, Face Technologies.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is the convergence of IT and telecoms, which will enable telecoms companies with massive infrastructures to provide ICT services. But we have contingency plans," Knoetze points out, adding that arivia.kom has options to look at partnerships, adding capacity and/or acquisitions to remain competitive.

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