Johannesburg, 25 Apr 2007
MTN and JSE-listed solutions and services company Faritec have formed a long-term strategic partnership designed to benefit both organisations.
The partnership has kicked off with four key projects. In the first, Faritec has created a single MTN subscriber database and, therefore, one version of the truth for MTN.
For the second project, Faritec was selected as the prime contractor in the development of a turnkey solution to migrate MTN's ERP system from a Hewlett-Packard platform to an IBM pSeries server.
Faritec's role encompasses consulting, implementation, application migration and services. Although the project is still in its early phases, Faritec's efforts have already lowered MTN's operational expenses.
Erich Roberts, CIO of MTN, says: "We chose Faritec as one of our strategic partners because of its business value proposition. Faritec doesn't just sell technology, it creates world-class solutions which focus on delivering business benefits."
"One of the challenges MTN was facing was the number of different information sources within the company," says Dilley Naidoo, Faritec's Telecommunications Executive.
Roberts adds: "Access to one trustworthy data warehouse makes a tangible difference in terms of using that business intelligence to understand our marketplace and extend our reach."
Commenting on the third initiative, Naidoo says: "As companies mature in the mobile environment, there is a strong shift towards focusing on identifying areas for increasing revenue. In recognition of the elements of fraud taking place in the industry, MTN embarked on a project to implement a fraud management solution."
As a result, Faritec was awarded the project to provide MTN with the infrastructure required to run a fraud management application. The solution is expected to deliver an increase in MTN's revenue through its ability to reduce potential fraud.
The fourth project saw Faritec appointed to provide consulting, auditing, compliance and procurement expertise in the area of Microsoft software lifecycle asset management. Faritec has developed a software lifecycle management solution which operates as a negotiation tool for the customer, providing the ability to look at software utilisation and how it can be optimised.
Faritec is in the process of implementing this solution for MTN in South Africa, Swaziland and Cameroon, and has defined a strategy to extend the solution across MTN's presence points throughout Africa.
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