Johannesburg, 18 Oct 2006
Natal Portland Cement (NPC) has outsourced the management and maintenance of its computer network system to specialist information and communications technology (ICT) service provider, Business Connexion.
According to NPC`s IT manager, Rodrigo Brito, the benefits of having experts at the controls became apparent almost immediately following the handover to Business Connexion in June this year.
The KwaZulu-Natal-based cement company has 30 Microsoft Windows 2003 servers providing a service for more than 300 computers distributed throughout its branches in the region.
These computers comprise 150 thin clients, 130 desktops and more than 20 laptops. They are connected in LAN/WAN (local area network and wide area network) at the company`s branch offices at Durban, Newcastle and Port Shepstone and its concrete and aggregate production plants on the south coast (at Marburg, Margate and Park Rynie), north coast (at Tinley Manor) and in the Durban area (at Shongweni).
The shareholding of NPC was acquired by the Portuguese-based cement company, Cimpor, in 2002 which led to a significant expansion in the ICT system at the company.
"From only about 50 computers before the merge, the number of computers and laptops grew fivefold," said Brito, who was involved in IT in the Brazilian cement industry before moving to Durban to join NPC last year.
"Following this significant expansion, it was decided to employ a specialist company to manage and maintain our network. We looked at several companies before awarding the contract to Business Connexion.
"We chose Business Connexion for a variety of reasons, including their commanding presence in KwaZulu-Natal, their commitment to excellence, their solid infrastructure and their overall service procedure."
Brito says two Business Connexion technicians are on hand every day at the NPC headquarters while technicians are available two days a week at the branches. A call centre, help-desk and technical infrastructure complete the support team at Business Connexion premises.
"The computer system is vital to the success of our business. In fact, we couldn`t operate without it. Having experts to handle the day-to-day running and maintenance of the system frees me up to concentrate on our ICT strategy and core business, which is essential for success."
Business Connexion`s KwaZulu-Natal regional chief executive, Will Heygate, says the way that NPC has approached ICT outsourcing has led to a lowering of costs for the company as well as improvements in performance, reliability and availability of computer systems.
"With a managed services provider, companies benefit from access to a far wider range of skills and services. In addition, they are able to document the required levels of availability and reliability in their service level agreements, which ensures ICT services are geared to deliver optimal value for spend."
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