Business Connexion, a South African computer firm, has joined the scramble for Kenya’s IT tenders worth billions of shillings, taking competition a notch higher.

The firm which is listed at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange says it will spend Sh2 billion in the coming year rolling out services in construction of electronic storage facilities (data centre), payroll, traffic management and motor registration.

The move promises to create jobs as the firm builds electronic data centres, rolls out tele-presence systems that will link the Court of Appeal and other courts countrywide.

Business Connexion is also expected to supply a case management system that will enable users to track court cases from trials to sentencing on-line.

The firm’s arrival in Kenya comes days after the government announced that it has outsourced its payroll management service to Payment Solutions Ltd to help enforce the one third of salary rule on loans.

Business Connexion’s head of innovation Isaac Mophatlane says the company will start its operations in the second week of January after recruiting staff. The South African firm has operations in five other Africa countries — Nigeria, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania and plans to make Kenya its regional hub citing the country’s strategic location, high quality IT infrastructure, good regulatory policies and readily available skills.

From the vast number of opportunities, Business Connexion is targeting, Mr Mophatlane says the firm will initially offer data centre solutions such as cloud computing.

The company plans to offer the services by either buying into a company that is already doing the business or through service partnerships.

Part of the company’s Sh2billion war-chest will go buying equity in such company.

“We want to work with the locals to achieve our goals and we are not going to use data centres outside Kenya but instead set up our base right here,” said Mr Mophatlane.

The firms is eying the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) segment of the telecoms business an area Kenya is seen to have strengths given the country’s strong human capital base .

Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta said Business Connexion’s entry into Kenya is timely coming at a time when the government has completed most IT infrastructure rollout and is in the process automating its services.

“By June next year, the government will release funds for the second data centre and embark on cloud computing,” said Mr Kenyatta.
“ Automating public services not only increases efficiency of delivery but also reduces corruption,” he said.

The battle for IT government tenders including the supply of computer related hardware and software involves Oracle, NetApp, SevenSeas , Safaricom , Mfi , IBM, Cisco, Jamii telecoms Ltd and BPO operators among others.

Key State departments holding the big contract cheques are Treasury, the Judiciary, police, prisons, Ministry of Lands, Immigration and Kenya Revenue Authority.Cisco, Safaricom and Jamii telecoms have secured part of the contract to rollout a pilot tele-presence facility that links the Nairobi and Mombasa courts.Plans are underway to rollout the project countrywide.

Use of the tele-presences is expected to speed up delivery of justice, cut travel boarding and security expenses that the government incurs every time the judges travel to hear cases out of Nairobi.

Mr James Munene, the chief executive officer NetApp in a previous interview with Business Daily said aggressive drive by the government to automate it’s processes and digitize it documents offers new business opportunities for the private sector.

“Digitized data will need to be managed and stored which for us, provides an opportunity since we offer data management and storage facilities,” said Mr Munene.

Source:http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate%20News/-/539550/1057826/-/11nc1dhz/-/