You are here: > About Us > Media Centre > Archive

30 May 2014

Telkom Business Teams with Accenture to host CIO discussion on ICT Megatrend

Digitalisation and its impact on business to be the focus of discussion
 
On 4 June, South Africa’s top CIOs will attend a CIO Roundtable to discuss ICT’s latest megatrend and its impact on business solutions. The roundtable is being hosted at the Hilton in Durban by Telkom in collaboration with Accenture and will provide businesses and industry leaders with a one-of-a-kind forum in South Africa.
 
A number of ICT related topics will be covered, all under the banner of Digitilisation. As a leader in the ICT industry, Telkom is well positioned to convene this kind of forum and lead this discussion. Digitilisation is touted as a highly disruptive phenomenon and is expected to have significant impact on business strategies.
 
“It is important for businesses to recognise and acknowledge the business benefits of keeping up with this megatrend because it has far reaching effects on the way business is conducted,” says Mala Suriah, Executive of Strategic Marketing at Telkom Business. “Digitalisation is a business solution to a technical problem and provides a strong competitive advantage for companies. In fact, it will determine if a business is relevant in the future world or not.”
 
The roundtable gives attendees an environment to engage in discussions and uncover best practices in the market to make the best decisions for their businesses and identify whether or not they are deploying the right technology.
 
Among some of the top speakers leading the discussions at the roundtable will be Telkom COO, Brian Armstrong and Managing Director of Accenture Technology Strategy, Lee Naik.
 
Before joining Telkom in 2011, Dr. Armstrong was vice president of British Telecoms for the Middle East and Africa. He also has experience in numerous industries, including ICT research and development, telecommunications, technology management, networking services and outsourcing.
 
Naik is responsible for Accenture South Africa’s Technology Strategy business. He has been with Accenture for 16 years working across industries, helping governments and organisations across major industries navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies and transforming their businesses to be relevant in an ever changing and increasingly digital world. 
 
“Accenture is excited to be part of such a major forum in South Africa that brings together CIOs from various industries to deliberate on this market disruption,” said Naik. “The forum will enable CIOs to understand the opportunity presented by disruptive technologies and leverage it to drive increasing value for their organisations.”
 
Also speaking at the CIO roundtable will be Telkom GCEO Sipho Maseko. Participants in the planned panel discussion include senior representatives from Blake & Associates, Educor and Spar.
 
On the heels of the first CIO roundtable in Johannesburg earlier this year, the Durban instalment is yet another platform for the country’s top CIOs and IT managers to have an in-depth conversation around digitalisation. It is also an opportunity for them to share their insights on employing digitalisation within their respective organisations.
 
Follow the conversation on @TelkomBusiness and #digitalcio.or and get regular updates on www.telkombusinessblog.co.za

For further enquiries, please contact:

Pynee Chetty

Senior Specialist: Media Relations

Group Communication

Tel:+27 12 642 1716

Mobile: +27 81 389 7874

Email: chettpr2@telkom.co.za

OR

Leigh-Ann Francis

Specialist: Media Relations

Group Communication

Tel: +27 12 642 1728

Mobile: +27 81 391 4780

Email: francilm@telkom.co.za

Telkom Park, The Apex

92 Oak Avenue

Technopark

Highveld

Centurion

ABOUT TELKOM:

Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa. We had consolidated operating revenue of R16.8 billion and normalised profit after tax of R1, 683 million for the period ended 30 September 2015. Total assets amounted to R41.9 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R23.5 billion as of 30 September 2015. The group generated normalised free cash flow of R1.4 billion for the period ended 30 September 2015.

As of 30 September 2015, we had approximately 3.3 million telephone access lines in service and 1,030,441 ports connected via MSAN access. We offer business, residential and payphone customers a wide range of services and products, including:

  • fixed-line retail voice services using PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) lines, including ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines, and the sale of subscription based value-added voice services and calling plans;
  • fixed-line customer premises equipment rental and sales services both voice and data needs and these include PABX, Computers, Routers, Modems, Telephone handsets and other ancillary equipment;
  • interconnection services, including terminating and transiting traffic from South African mobile operators, as well as from international operators and transiting traffic from mobile to international destinations;
  • fixed-line data services, including domestic and international data transmission services, such as point-to-point leased lines, ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) services, packet-based services, managed data networking services and internet access and related information technology services;
  • Data Centre Operations includes e-commerce, application service provider, hosting, data storage, e-mail and security services;
  • W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G next generation network, including fixed voice services, data services and nomadic voice services;
  • mobile communication services, including voice services, data services and handset sales through our mobile navbar-brand called Telkom Mobile;
  •  information and communication services including cloud services, infrastructure services, workspace services, global service integration management and hardware and network equipment sales locally, in seven African countries, the UK and Dubai through Business Connexion Group; and
  • other services including directory services, through Trudon (Pty) Ltd, wireless data services, through Swiftnet (Pty) Ltd.

Convergence is one of our key strategic initiatives in building a sustainable future for Telkom.  We will lead the provision of converged services in South Africa in support of our mission statement: Seamlessly connecting people to a better life.