An innovative and pragmatic approach to addressing relevant issues, the calibre of IT executives you attract, and the impact the community is making in the sector all resonated with Entelect, says Daniel Manyemwe.
“What makes the CIO South Africa community truly exciting is its innovative approach to engagement. It breaks away from the conventional conference model of passively listening to presentations,” says Daniel Manyemwe, chief customer officer (CCO) at Entelect. “The community creates an environment of deeper engagement and more meaningful conversation with outstanding South African leaders.”
CIOs are meeting customer needs more than ever
“Over time, digital strategies and a robust technology estate are no longer optional for a company to remain relevant,” says Daniel. “CIOs and CTOs have gone from being facilitators of IT initiatives in the past, to becoming essential members of the exco team, playing a crucial role in crafting a customer-centric strategy to meet the evolving needs of end users.
“The end users, and specifically Gen Zs, have high expectations of their digital interactions, and it influences how they relate to businesses. Companies can lose their competitiveness in a very short space of time through outdated digital channels, or not providing innovative products. The boardrooms have realised this, and it’s quite clear that budgets have been increasing on tech spend to ensure that relevance remains,” Daniel adds.
He mentions that budgets are being directed to initiatives such as digital channels, automation, and insourcing of IT skills. Highlighting the paramount significance of vendor selection, Daniel states, “The long-term consequences of good (and bad) decisions concerning the technology an organisation adopts, the vendors it collaborates with, and the skills and culture it nurtures all squarely fall within the CIO’s domain.”
A people-centric culture
Entelect provides end-to-end technology services and solutions. Their biggest strength is understanding their customers’ problems, assembling teams that focus on what actually matters, and delivering real returns.
“A lot of the work we do is bespoke software. When we work with our customers, we understand their business, where the complexities lie and design solutions that meet their ultimate objectives,” he explains.
What separates Entelect from their competitors is their strong people-centric culture. “We are relentless in ensuring our people are growing. We make certain that all our people are being challenged on an ongoing basis and excel throughout their journey with us,” Daniel explains.
“As a result, our people are excited to be solving complex problems for our customers and seeing their businesses succeed. “
Deep and meaningful partnerships
Daniel says Entelect brings value by cultivating deep and meaningful partnerships, where a personal commitment to their end-customer success is paramount. “It’s the most important thing,” he notes. “We want to be personally invested in the success of the projects we’re working on and our CIO’s objectives. This way, our customer’s success becomes our success.”
Entelect has a reputation for assembling highly talented multidisciplinary teams, which have end-to-end craft competencies, including business analysis, data science and engineering, quality assurance, experience design, and software engineering.
“Our multidisciplinary teams work together to deliver on these large bespoke systems. In addition, our broad industry experience built over the last two decades enables us to adapt best practices pragmatically; which in turn results in rapid value add.”
Daniel states that Entelect pays close attention to the team dynamics, technology competencies and tooling experience of all people on a project creating a high-performing unit which establishes a truly customer-focused, delivery-centric culture.
Daniel explains that Entelect currently has eight international locations, from which they can draw on talent. Entelect is able to set up engagement models that have close-to-customer individuals, and if there’s a project that's being done in Australia, New Zealand, England, or the Netherlands, the company has teams on-site that can come into the office, work together with customers, and then be augmented with Entelect’s bigger South African presence.
“South African technical competency, price-point and language make us an attractive option as a world-class offshoring partner.”
Fellowship in the community
Entelect gives back to the industry through their graduate programme, which creates permanent employment for its participants.
“Our graduates have full-time jobs from the moment they step out of university,” Daniel explains. “For two months, they participate in an intensive bootcamp that bridges the gap between university and the workspace. In addition to a comprehensive curriculum covering enterprise grade technologies and crafts, there is a deliberate focus on soft skills required to be successful such as expectation management, collaboration, and emotional intelligence.
“A university degree provides a strong theoretical foundation but does not prepare graduates for the practical complexities in large enterprises, both people and technology. As a result, graduates entering the workforce are ill-prepared to handle the high expectations and vastly more complex systems. Our bootcamp has proven to be effective over the last decade by producing juniors who match up to their more senior colleagues within the first two years of their careers.”
A core value for Entelect is fellowship, Daniel notes. “We have a clear understanding of how that translates into teams and internal engagements, and now CIO SA provides a fresh approach to living this value of fellowship in the community.”
