The inaugural Deloitte SA Fast 50 programme has come to a close - with five standout companies recognised for their achievements in the ICT industry.
Unlike international variations of the competition, Deloitte opted to have five "winners", who all showed exceptional promise in the ICT industry over the past five years.
The five finalists were Afrihost, iSPartners (now Karabina), Adapt IT, Frogfoot Networks and Globetom.
According to Abraham van der Merwe, MD of Frogfoot Networks, the company entered the Fast 50 programme mostly out of curiosity. "We've been blessed with exceptional growth over the past few years and we wanted to see how we compared to other technology companies in South Africa," Van der Merwe says.
Similarly, Gian Visser, Afrihost CEO, also viewed the programme as an opportunity to see how his company was measuring up against competitors. "We feel our company is a leader in our industry, and we'd like to gauge ourselves against the most exciting and innovative organisations in the country."
Adapt IT's tremendous financial success over the past five years motivated its entry into the competition, says CEO Sbu Shabalala, adding that this sort of accolade is not easy in an emerging market struggling to keep up to speed with international trends.
For Grant van der Wal, CEO of iSPartners, entering was more about showcasing his company's achievements. "Deloitte is a fantastic brand, recognised around the world. We are a winning organisation and we like to win, and the nomination alone is affirmation that we are on top of our game, validating our approach and our philosophy."
About the winners
For Trevor Wright, lead for technology, media and telecoms in the Risk Advisory unit at Deloitte, the nature of the South African market means companies have to come up with exciting solutions. Deloitte was looking for this kind of innovation through the local search.
The "youngest" of the group, Globetom, has been around since 2002 and is a software engineering and systems integration company with a key focus on the telecoms industry. According to Philip Stander, MD of Globetom, the company is diversifying into different markets, but continues to foster local innovation.
Also working in the telecoms industry, Frogfoot Networks is an Internet service provider that services medium-sized businesses. "Our company is focused on bridging this gap. We have a comprehensive range of services that you would normally expect from large enterprise driven ISPs, but we are smaller, faster, friendlier, more agile and accessible," says Van der Merwe.
According to Visser, Afrihost has two main focus areas - ADSL broadband and Web hosting. The company specialises in stable and affordable shared hosting, which he asserts is of a world-class standard. "We have also recently branched into cloud hosting," Visser adds.
Since 2001, iSPartners has grown to five businesses, comprising over 150 employees, with a national footprint, says Van der Wal. The business technology service provider helps people in business succeed. "Their success is our success," he adds.
The most established of the finalists, Adapt IT, has been around since the late 90s and has offices around the globe. The Adapt IT Group provides business applications and solutions for organisations in the manufacturing, mining, financial services and education sectors.
The winners' spoils
Each of the winners will receive the opportunity to use Deloitte's specialised consulting services free of charge. These services will assist with specific problems or business objectives they may have.
According to Stander, the Fast 50 programme highlights the silent success stories of companies that overcame the challenges of growing a start-up into an established enterprise amid global and local market consolidation and increased competition.
"The recognition is a fantastic catalyst in the positioning of Globetom as an organisation with a solid growth track record and one that has the ability to grow by leveraging its locally developed intellectual capital," says Stander.
For Van der Wal, being included in the programme is an achievement for the iSPartners team. "For me, it's about our people, it's about us. It's not only a great accolade for our team, but a reaffirmation that our clients are indeed working with the best."
Afrihost generally measures itself by client satisfaction, but the recognition of peers is a huge motivating factor, says Visser. "This award is a great complement to the other awards we have received, but we also hope it will inspire other companies in our sector to start looking at their clients differently, and changing the way they structure their services and business models," he adds.
"The competition is a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship, two pillars on which the Adapt IT group is founded," adds Shabalala.
Plans for the future
All of the finalists have bold plans for the future, looking to enjoy the same kind of success that landed them this accolade. Wright describes technology as a fast-changing sector that has a significant impact on society, and the Fast 50 programme allows Deloitte to function within this innovative industry.
"iSPartners has a few opportunities ahead of us, which we hope to execute while adding value to our clients and giving great business impact; we'll definitely share more on this later," says Van der Wal.
"Currently, Frogfoot is focusing its efforts on expanding its selection of cloud services and will soon launch a rich set of virtual desktop services, energy and security management services," Van der Merwe says.
For Globetom, the future is also cloud-focused, according to Stander, adding that one of its planned initiatives will be achieved in partnership with an established marketing and distribution player operating in 12 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.
"Emerging technologies, and keeping up to speed with international trends, is a challenge for any South African operation," says Shabalala. "Our clients expect world-class counsel from Adapt IT as well as cutting-edge technology, and the challenge is to keep ahead of the curve and constantly innovate."
Afrihost plans to be more customer-focused. "We want to find other innovative ways to do more for our clients. We want to educate and empower our clients through more intelligent tools and facilities that will make them more enlightened consumers," Visser says.
The Technology Fast 50 award is about recognising and encouraging all types of African IT businesses. The programme is perfect for us in terms of working with and engaging with exciting and dynamic companies," concludes Wright.
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