ORACLE AFRICA

O R ACL E AF R I CA

Playing a key role in Africa’s tech transformation www.oracle.com

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Oracle Africa Enhances its

PRESENCE on the Continent The multinational technology corporation’s presence on the African continent has long been unparalleled within the industry, and the Company continues to innovate in 2015 Writer: Matthew Staff • Project Manager: Donovan Smith

racle Africa has offices in South Africa, Mauritius, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. In the past two years, Oracle Africa has taken even greater strides to enhance its already extensive partner network, embracing the acceleration of cloud adoption among customers, and becoming more active in its commitment to the communities where it does business in the region.

Flexible expansion

“Over the past two years we have doubled our workforce in the region,” says Oracle Vice President Technology AFTA Cluster Leader and VP A&C ECEMEA, Janusz Naklicki. Referring to Oracle Africa’s most recent expansion

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of office space into Kenya in the east, and Nigeria and Ghana in the west, Naklicki adds: “Our country leadership teams in Africa consist of local nationals and our primary offices in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa act as hubs for the West, East and South African markets.

“We have recently committed to new office space in Lagos and Nairobi to accommodate our growth in these locations.”

The drive to keep investing, and to keep expanding, is key as part of the wider Oracle Africa continuous improvement strategy, where “in today’s world, business agility is key,” comments Naklicki.

This flexibility is further supported by rapid growth of its Oracle PartnerNetwork.

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Helping partners thrive and build local businesses is an imperative.

Oracle partners are an extension to the Oracle Africa sales force, as they help Oracle Africa drive new innovations and products into local markets.

Naklicki adds: “We have been engaged in doing business in Africa for decades, and we know the importance of personal engagement with customers.

“We do this through our local partners; we empower them to

provide customers with highvalue products and services, build local relationships, and help their communities prosper.”

Cloud adoption

A more comprehensive partner network and ecosystem, coupled with a more concerted physical presence, helps Oracle Africa align itself with the very latest customer trends.

With cloud adoption rates accelerating in Africa, this ability

becomes even more prevalent, with not only Software as a Service (SaaS) becoming engrained in the sector’s consciousness, but the Platform as a Service (PaaS) space is also gaining traction.

“IT systems have to be fast and simple to be able to be agile,” Naklicki notes. “We believe organisations that run Oracle software, Oracle hardware, or the combination, either on-premises or in the cloud, immediately move to the forefront of innovation and cost-

We do this through our local partners; we empower them to provide customers with highvalue products and services, build local relationships, and help their communities prosper

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effectiveness.

“Our customers face many of the same challenges in Africa as our customers in the rest of the world,” Naklicki states. “Oracle technology is based on open-standards. If you want the power, performance, scalability and agility that computing needs to deliver today, then we recommend Oracle on Oracle.

“From the data centre to the cloud, Oracle Africa not only helps to eliminate the complexity that can

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stifle business innovation, but it also engineers in speed, reliability, security, and manageability.

Skills development

“Skills and ongoing workforce development are essential to create a stable, affordable and, most importantly, local workforce; local knowledge and experience combined with technology can help give rise to new innovations,” Naklicki says, concluding that: “Our customers are

using information technology as a very powerful tool. They are saving money, they are delivering services that weren’t possible before and they are finding very smart ways to bring their products to market.

“Throughout Africa we have seen innovation and transformation beyond even our own expectation and as economic recovery starts to gather momentum, Oracle Africa plans to play a key role in this transformation.”

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SAAS

Offering Tangible Business Benefits through the Cloud

Thomas Kurian President of Product Development

WHEN CONSIDERING the rise of global cloud computing, you don’t have to read far down the list of pioneers to find Oracle. While the uptake of its comprehensive cloud service varies across its extensive international footprint, the Company’s presence in Africa is especially fascinating having grown on the continent alongside the very trends that the business is helping to introduce.

When discussing cloud computing in Africa, you have to discuss Oracle.

Silver linings

Given the rise of cloud technologies over the past decade, the challenge to differentiate and optimise the offering is monumental, but the rewards for finding the right solutions are invaluable, as Oracle has found to its credit across all of its regions of operation.

At a recent Oracle Media Day, Oracle executives told journalists that Oracle customers benefit from using a development platform that supports the same Java programming language used to develop Oracle’s own SaaS applications. They offered five reasons why Oracle should be considered a cloud company.

‘Unrivalled levels of understanding regarding database security, coupled with the ability to continuously expand its cloud functionality, further sets Oracle apart from competitors...’

CIO Perspectives on SaaS

SaaS Blueprint for Success A recent independent survey by IDC of 160 CIOs & IT Decision Makers in 8 countries in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (ECEMEA), complemented by in-depth interviews with SaaS users, provides valuable insight into how CIOs and business managers view and are adopting SaaS.

SAAS OFFERS TANGIBLE BUSINESS BENEFITS

69%

Companies are changing the way that they view SaaS and it is no longer seen as hype, but offering tangible business benefits.

Over 60% of all companies across major verticals have adopted or are in the process of implementing cloud solutions.

say that the cloud offers significant tangible benefits

MAIN DRIVERS OF SAAS ADOPTION

58%

53%

Access to better technology.

Faster deployment.

51% Delivery of more projects.

TOP BENEFITS GAINED BY ORGANISATIONS

36%

61%

Increased competitive advantage.

48%

Improved workforce productivity.

62%

Significant savings achieved.

Impact on process efficiency.

SAAS ROADMAP FOR THE ENTERPRISE CRM

ERP

HCM

20%

19%

planned

already implemented

20%

18%

planned

already implemented

16%

18%

planned

already implemented

In terms of adoption or future adoption plans, most companies have a “SaaS Also” approach.

ORACLE CLOUD: COMPLETE, MODERN, FLEXIBLE, SECURE—AND READY FOR BUSINESS Oracle Cloud delivers a full suite of integrated, enterprise-grade applications services, enriched with social capabilities and embedded business intelligence, and providing easy access via mobile devices.

As a result of Oracle's uniquely comprehensive, modern approach to cloud applications, business can:

Innovate faster with less risk

Quickly execute integrated business processes

Transform user experience and mobile accessibility

Deliver unprecedented insight with transparent and actionable reporting

To download theTHE fullINDEPENDENT report, visit:MARKET-RESEARCH www.oracle.com/goto/idcme DOWNLOAD REPORT Get your copy of the IDC research report “SaaS Blueprint for Success” to see further details about cloud adoption.

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DOWNLOAD NOW

Zensar Technologies Zensar and Oracle are ready to propel your business using the cloud Zensar is a leading software and infrastructure solutions provider with industry expertise across Manufacturing, Retail, Insurance, Utilities, Banking, Financial Services and the Public Sector. The company delivers comprehensive services for missioncritical enterprise applications, business intelligence and analytics, business process management and digital enterprise services.

A recent industry trends study by Oracle highlights a clear increase in demand for Cloud solutions in 2015. Additionally, it indicates an increase in the number of organizations showing an inclination towards making a move to the cloud. Moving to the cloud is rewarding, but poses a few challenges as well. This is where Zensar can help you.

For example - A leading work force management company with over 26 branches leveraged Oracle Cloud solutions to replace manual processes with automated and integrated processes. Zensar helped them realize superior work force, improve end customer service, ability to monitor and control the financial spend and most importantly acquire a scalable platform to support aggressive business expansion plans.

Zensar is an Oracle Platinum Partner and an Oracle Cloud specialized partner. We have helped organizations across the globe to leverage Oracle Cloud platform and gain the following: • Faster return on investment • Simplify and standardize IT infrastructure and lower cost • Moving from CAPEX to OPEX • Process standardizations

Zensar and Oracle Cloud Unique Advantages: • Oracle Cloud Centre of Excellences for Customer Experience, Enterprise Resource Planning, Enterprise Performance Management, Human Capital and Analytics • Proven and tested rapid cloud solution deployment methodology • Cloud and application unlimited coexistence solutions • Oracle Cloud certified professionals • Dedicated Oracle Cloud Lab to build proof of concepts and demonstrations Zensar in Africa Zensar is among the top Oracle service providers in the world and has been present in Africa since 2001, and is well entrenched in the context of understanding local requirements and providing solutions to help Africa based organizations achieve their business objectives.

Zensar set up its first office in Johannesburg and then expanded into Southern and East Africa. Today, Zensar has presence in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Nairobi across various verticals. Currently, the African operation is 700+ people across shores and has got close to 30 customers specifically in the Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Retail, Manufacturing domains and the Government. In South Africa, Zensar is a BBBEE level 3 certified organization operating under the name Zensar (South Africa) Pty Ltd.

E marcom@zensar.com www.zensar.com

We are a leading provider of IT consulting and System Integration services with more than twenty two years of experience in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean, as well as in the European and African regions.

Since our incorporation in 1992, the company has achieved considerable growth, reaching in 2014, an annual turnover of around USD 10 million.

Our Headquarters is in Mauritius and we have regional offices in Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar.

Our workforce of around 150 professionals comprises business consultants, experts and software engineers in the field of Information Technology and Communication. More than 30 of them hold some certification in an Oracle technology.

We successfully carry out, on average, more than 100 projects every year for clients in more than 10 countries in the Indian Ocean, African and European regions. These projects provide solutions in many sectors, including Government, Financial Services, Telecommunications, Agriculture, Textile, Manufacturing, Aviation and Logistics, Hospitality and Tourism, Commerce/Retail, and Construction.

Our New Digital Service Lines

We have dedicated teams that develop and implement innovative solutions in leading edge technologies:

Cloud We implement both On Premise and Cloud solutions.

We recommend Cloud wherever possible because it encourages best practice, requires little upfront investment, avails the latest version of the software and is secure and highly available.

Mobility Our off-the-shelf or custom developed mobile applications integrate seamlessly with our Oracle offerings to provide comprehensive solutions.

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Data We help clients build, manage and analyse gigantic databases.

Security We have a host of solutions to address security concerns of our clients.

Formerly known as MAURITIUS P.O Box 41 1st Floor, The Factory Building, VivĂŠa Business Park Saint Pierre 81430, Moka, Mauritius T +230 405 7900

BOTSWANA P.O. Box 26591 Plot 135, Unit 9, K Gaborone, Botsw T +267 316 1279 F +267 316 1281

In recognition of our valuable achievements, our company has obtained several awards: • We have successfully implemented Oracle solutions for more than 15 years, and are currently an Oracle Platinum Partner.

• In 2010, we obtained the Oracle Partner Specialisation Award for being the partner of choice in the Financial Sector in the region.

• We are a member of the Oracle Partner Advisory Board Africa since April 2013.

Our wide range of expertise in Oracle solutions includes: • Oracle E-Business Suite Implementations: ERP, HCM, Financials, Oracle Database (DBA) and Application Server Support Services • Oracle Cloud implementations: Fusion, Taleo Consultancy and knowledge transfer services: Database • Administration, Oracle Discoverer Oracle vertical applications: Fleet Management, Axle • Load Control, Old age pension management, Document Management System (DMS), Training Institution Management System (TIMS) and Seamless integration with mobile applications, web services • Oracle custom application development using advanced Development Frameworks that boost up productivity

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need us to assist you in addressing your business challenges DCDM Consulting Ltd

Kgale Terrace, wana

MADAGASCAR Emplacement F5, Zone « AFRIPORT » ZI Forello, Tanjombato, Antananarivo Madagascar

SOUTH AFRICA The Business Centre Fourways, Leslie Ave Design Quarter 2191 South Africa

E contact@agileum.com

agileum.com

TANZANIA 7th Floor, Amani Place Ohio Street, Office Park Dar es Salaam Tanzania

KENYA ICEA Building, 17th floor Kenyatta Avenue P.O Box 15168-00400 Nairobi, Kenya

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SAAS Oracle’s President of Product Development, Thomas Kurian emphasised the importance of strategic levers given to customers via integrated applications including ecommerce, sales and service to ensure an all-encompassing real-time customer service. “This type of tight integration between traditionally standalone applications is where we think the future is,” he said within the blog.

“This type of tight integration between traditionally standalone applications is where we think the future is”

8 STEPS TO ORACLE PRIVATE CLOUD

1 Design

5 Ordering services

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Unrivalled levels of understanding regarding database security, coupled with the ability to continuously expand its cloud functionality, further sets Oracle apart from competitors across key areas of innovation, and while PaaS looks set to overtake SaaS as an option in the years to come, the latter still formulates a large aspect of the Company’s service uptake in Africa.

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2 Cloud infrastructure

6 Monitoring

3 Assembling

7 Billing

4 Testing

7 Usage optimisation

Agileum A strong and trusted relationship with Oracle

• The Oracle Partner Specialisation Award for being the partner of choice in the financial sector in the region.

• Membership of the Oracle Partner Advisory Board Africa.

Our ingrained Innovation culture allows us to use cutting-edge technology to create the most suitable solutions to fulfill Over the years, our partnership with the needs of our clients.

Oracle Corporation has strengthened in all business sectors across our territories.

Our company has maintained a As a trusted adviser and a leading ICT strong and trusted partnership with solution provider to governments and Oracle Corporation for over a decade many other industries, we are the first and we have earned a reputation of Mauritian company to have certified implementing Oracle solutions of the resources in Oracle Cloud HCM and are highest quality standards across our currently implementing an Oracle Cloud territories. Our wide range of expertise in solution for a big chain of hotels.

Oracle solutions includes, among others, E-Business Suite implementations, Our implementation of Oracle Human Oracle Custom Software Development, Capital Management to manage the Oracle Business Intelligence, Oracle public service of the government of an Database Management, Java Application African country is one of our recent Development. success stories and further strengthened We also complement our Oracle Cloud offering with consulting services that lead our clients to the adoption of best practices, thereby eliminating the need for customisation. Oracle’s new Cloud HCM version increases global agility with global management of human resources.

With a single human resource instance, for instance, a multi-national can align its HR processes across multiple countries.

In recognition of our valuable achievements, our company has obtained several awards and accreditations: • Oracle Platinum Partner status.

our relationship with Oracle.

We regularly outsource resources to organisations, including other Oracle partners, to assist them on their important and/or complex projects where they require specialised skills. Our rates are very competitive and our skills levels are of international standard.

T +230 4057900 E contact@agileum.com

FLEXCUBE

CENTRE OF LEARNING

Accra - Ghana

INTRODUCTION Harnessing the power and the full potential of your Core Banking Software (CBS) is highly dependent on the skills and knowledge of the end user. From the Teller in the customer facing environment to the Application Support Person, the ability to use your business application effectively to improve service delivery is the goal of most banks. We deliver on all your key end user’s technical or functional training needs.

We propose that for effective utilization of the CBS, banks should target the training of all end users within 3 - 6 months after “go-live”. After this, all subsequent challenges that arise such as changes in sequence of key-strokes are corrected and reinforced. Our goal is to help you maximize the full potential of your investment and to consolidate the in-house knowledge and significantly expand the effective use of ICT.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE INVESTMENT IN YO U R C O R E B A N K I N G S O F T WA R E ( C B S )

ABOUT US iBanking Solutions Ltd. is a Gold Partner in the Global Oracle Partner Network (OPN), with its head office in Accra, Ghana. Our training programmes are fully instructor-led and facilitated by a team of dedicated trainers with technical and functional expertise in IT as a business development tool and banking operations with several years of experience in the financial services sector.

We help trainees bridge the gap between the business issues they will face in their daily tasks and an ever changing ICT dependent environment. We customize training programmes to meet the needs of a given set of employees in the areas of banking operations and technology as a tool or as a service. Our training centre is well equipped with state of the art technology.

Our programmes can be customized to cover full-day sessions or half-day sessions (Lunch and coffee breaks provided)

A well-trained and knowledgeable employee is an asset, operating more effectively, making fewer mistakes and causing less disruption to business operations. Your bank will thereby operate at optimum capacity. There will also be minimal dependency on your Incident Management Structures. iBanking training programmes are designed to help you leverage the design potential and the flexibility built in the CBS to aid in new product launch from time to time. We enable trainees to understand the banking business requirements that informed the design-logic, architecture and general functionality of the Core Banking Application.

Our programmes are aimed at: • Delivering and imparting technical and functional knowledge which will give your bank a winning edge from a cutting-edge technology.

• Enabling and empowering all levels of users to know what to do, when to do it, how to do it, who to do it and why it must be done and thereby causing little or no disruption to business operations.

• Providing opportunity for continuous learning. Specifically, within the training programmes, selected end users can be taken through structured training modules that will provide FLEXCUBE Technical Certification and FLEXCUBE Functional Certification from Oracle University to successful candidates. In our view, FLEXCUBE Certified staff within a bank ensures a stamp of professionalism in those charged with maintaining a higher level of performance and delivery from your FCUBS platform.

• Reducing on-the-job training time by providing new employees with the requisite knowledge and skills by sending them through Accra-based training facility, fully supported by the designers of the software.

LEARN, IMPROVE ...... RIGHT HERE AT HOME

MISSION: To provide customized and demand-driven training and software managed services consultancies to the banking and the financial services industries with a well-motivated knowledgeable team.

VISION: To be a leading financial services training support centre and partner for ORACLE in the delivery of cutting edge technology in Africa.

www.ibankingsolutions.net

FLEXCUBE

CENTRE OF LEARNING

Accra - Ghana

OVERVIEW OF iBanking TRAINING PROGRAMMES BOOT CAMP (I) TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR NEWLY RECRUITED BANK STAFF OR FRESH GRADUATES FROM TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS The programme provides a powerful combination Of theory and practical knowledge on contemporary topics of the Ghanaian banking and financial services industries. The programme is in two phases: (i) The basics of banking business. (ii) The banking application system used by the institution to deliver banking services. (e.g.

Oracle FLEXCUBE) The aim of this programme is to introduce participants to the basic theory and practice of banking and accounting principles through the medium offered by information technology (thus the term “Banking Application Software”).

BOOT CAMP (II) TRAINING FOR NEWLY RECRUITED, CONTRACT STAFF AND NATIONAL SERVICE PERSONNEL POSTED TO BANKS AND THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS The 10-day programme provides a comprehensive coverage of theory and practical knowledge of the various businesses banks offer including new areas such as electronic and mobile banking. The programme is designed to meet the training needs of contract staff and/or temporary staff of banks and financial services institutions (such as National Service Personnel posted to the banks). Practical sessions on banking operations are fully discussed and the theory and the business processes underpinning the daily tasks of the scheduled staff are fully explained.

END-USER TRAINING in Oracle FLEXCUBE FOR SELECTED CATEGORIES OF STAFF, namely: • Retail, Branch and Operations Managers • Tellers (customer-facing and back office) • Staff who work in Trade Finance, Money Markets, Treasury Back Office/Foreign Operations • Consumer Lending/SME/Relationship Managers • Product - & Operations - Support Teams.

This is a 2-10 day programme depending on the job role of targeted staff. The programme uses each individual bank’s Core Banking Software (CBS) version currently in use to execute daily tasks performed by the staff. The programme thus provides the theory, practical knowledge and the technology issues related to the specific business process and the job function of the participant. To achieve full interactivity, the training platform should be what the participant is used to, so we use data from the insitution’s current Core Banking Software (CBS) version.

TECHNICAL TRAINING ON ORACLE FCUBS – APPLICATION SUPPORT The 15-day programme is designed to deepen the knowledge of data centre and end-of-day (EOD) technical staff who support to close current day activities and set-up for beginning of day (BOD) the following day.

In scope in this module are: 1. Managing source versions 2. Debugging user issues 3. Undertaking 1st level analysis and simulated interactions with support teams.

TECHNICAL TRAINING – ORACLE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ENTERPRISE EDITION (OBIEE) The 10-day programme imparts to participants the Oracle FCUBS Technical Architecture, Basic Concepts and FCUBS Naming conventions.

Participants will be taken through the various tables generated in FCUBS Naming conventions. In this module, we cover: • FLEXCUBE data dictionary • OBIEE BI administration universe • Freehand OBIEE/BI publisher report generation Participants will be able to understand the information needed by business units within the bank and will be able to design and produce timely, accurate and useful reports.

TECHNICAL TRAINING ON ORACLE FCUBS DEVELOPMENT WORKBENCH The 10-day programme provides insight into the Oracle FCUBS “Dev Workbench”. Participants are introduced to the Development Workbench Tool, Automatic Code generation as well as Extensibility.

This module includes sessions on FLEXCUBE Installer and Interface set up using Gateway Server.

Contact us Solutions Ltd 10 Abeasi Street, Ambassadorial Enclave, East Legon, Accra - Ghana, P. O. Box KA 30310, Airport - Accra, Ghana Tel.: +233 (0)302 543 202 +233 (0)267 666 351 info@ibankingsolutions.net www.ibankingsolutions.net

Solutions Ltd IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ORACLE FINANCIAL SERVICES SOFTWARE, INDIA AND OTHER TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS WORLDWIDE

LET YOUR INVESTMENT IN ICT DRIVE YOUR COMPETITIVENESS

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SAAS “Oracle Cloud delivers a full suite of integrated, enterprise-grade applications services, enriched with social capabilities and embedded business intelligence, and providing easy access via mobile devices”

Ready for business

“We are the only ones now in the market with all three layers of cloud,” says Kenya’s Country Leader, Dr. Gilbert Saggia.

For Oracle, repeat business and longstanding client relationships are achieved through the evolution to PaaS, and then on to IaaS, but for many of its customers over the past decade, the initial SaaS connection is what defines the Company’s development as a cloud entity and partner.

As an independent survey carried out by IDC recently indicated, the majority of global enterprises now recognise SaaS as a solution that offers tangible business benefits due to the enhanced access to technology, and the improved productivity that is achieved as a consequence.

“Oracle Cloud delivers a full suite of integrated, enterprise-grade applications services, enriched with social capabilities and embedded business intelligence, and providing easy access via mobile devices,” emphasises Saggia.

“Oracle’s modern approach to cloud applications can help businesses innovate faster with less risk; quickly execute integrated business processes; transform user experience and mobile accessibility; and deliver new insight with transparent and actionable reporting.”

“We are comfortable dealing with vendors that are able to provide us with both on-premise and SaaS options for certain applications” - Kevin Kinyanjui, Information Systems Director, Kenya Airways

Dr. Gilbert Saggia, Country Leader, Kenya

“Oracle was selected as the foundation for this new technology platform based on its global expertise in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) deployment and its track record of delivery in the Kenyan and East African markets. We were looking for a world-class solution that is agile and that could seamlessly integrate well with our multiple core business and support systems.

I commend the contribution of Oracle and TransSys, our partner, to the project so far. They have demonstrated global expertise, coupled with a local team that has experience within the Kenyan and regional environment” - Jack Maina, CIO, Britam

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PROJECT JAWABU SET TO DELIVER AN OPTIMUM CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Africa Outlook (AfO): Can you firstly talk me through the company’s affiliation with Oracle and how it began?

Jack Maina, CIO, Britam (JM): In July 2014, Oracle was selected as the foundation of Britam’s new technology platform based on its global expertise in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) deployments and its track record of delivery in the Kenyan and East African markets.

Britam also engaged with Oracle Consulting Services and TransSys Solutions, an Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Platinum level member, to ensure the system was implemented effectively and that the process of transferring skills to Britam’s IT team was seamless.

and also facilitate improved cash flow management and investment returns.

The implementation of structured workflows to enforce discipline in transaction processing and to track/escalate points of delay should improve our internal control system, and increase the efficiency of our internal audit and enterprise risk management functions and controls.

We expect end-to-end straight through processing of some transactions, significant reduction in manual processes/interventions and work-arounds particularly where processes such as procurement/supply chain and HR were largely manual, resulting in accelerated operational efficiency.

Through the HCM (Human Capital Management) modules, we expect increased AfO: What made Britam choose Oracle’s productivity as a result of an enhanced service over other market operators? performance management solution, more JM: We were looking for a world-class accurate and timely computation of benefits solution that is agile and that could seamlessly and reimbursements, efficient recruitment integrate well with our multiple core business and on-boarding process for staff across and support systems. I commend the our seven countries and extended branch contribution of Oracle and TransSys to the networks, and overall increased security and project so far. They have demonstrated global confidentiality of staff information. expertise, coupled with a local team that has The Business Intelligence tool will enable experience within the regional environment. intelligent information, for intelligent decision Oracle has a strong delivery team on the making and increased market responsiveness. ground. Since the initial launch of the ERP project in July 2014, we have seen both Oracle AfO: Finally, what would you say sets and TransSys actively leading at our project Oracle apart from its competitors, based office. on the experience you have had working alongside the company?

AfO: What other benefits have you JM: Apart from providing world-class, enjoyed from this relationship with integrated technology, Oracle has developed Oracle since the services’ adoption? strong presence in the region through its JM: The ERP system is expected to deliver own offices as well as partners like TransSys major benefits for Britam, including timely, Solutions. It is also focused on education to accurate and reliable financial information ensure its whole ecosystem is able to deliver and relevant management reports due to the cutting-edge cloud and shared services integration capability. We expect that the solutions to customers. system will strengthen our management and statutory reporting, incentive calculations

Jack Maina CIO, Britam British-American Investments Company (Kenya) Limited (Britam) is a diversified financial services group, listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, offering a wide range of financial products and services across the insurance, asset management, banking and property domain.

Boasting a presence across East Africa – including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania - the Company has launched “Jawabu”, as the project is known, an ambitious IT-enabled business transformation project designed to deliver the technology capabilities required to provide the best customer experience.

It is part of the diversified financial services Group’s quest to achieve its strategy for regional and local expansion through IT business transformation, and to also respond to the growing requirements of its customers.

Project “Jawabu” is supported by the implementation of Oracle’s E-Business Suite, Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Middleware, Oracle Taleo Learn Cloud Service and Oracle Business Intelligence tools.

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TransSys Solutions TransSys Solutions: Transformation Begins Here Living by its name which represents Transformational Systems & Solutions, TransSys is a certified Oracle Platinum Partner that strives to be a specialist in making client’s transformational vision a reality rather than being a mere system integrator. The founders of TransSys carry over 150 person years of experience in ERP Implementation, Program and Project Management, Bolt-on solutions development and deployment with specialization across Airlines, BFSI, Oil & Gas, Real Estate, Telecom and Retail verticals.

Having a long list honors and achievements to its credit, TransSys Solutions has been recognized with Prestigious Oracle Excellence Award for Specialized Partner of the Year – EMEA in Applications for 2014, Oracle “SaaS Partner of the Year for 2014”, Oracle “Specialized Partner of the Year 2013” in the ECEMEA region and Excel4apps”Partner of the year 2013″ title for GL Wand product category for the second consecutive year amongst other recognitions.

Headquartered in Dubai with a development centre in India, TransSys has served over 70 customers in Middle

East, Africa and India since inception.

The company offers solutions focused on Oracle E-Biz Suite, ERP Implementations, Upgrades and Support, HCM, EPM, Fusion Applications, Customer Experience Management Solutions (Siebel and Fusion) Oracle based Core Developments and BI Solutions.

Innovation driven leadership in Cloud Solutions Besides delivering on premise Enterprise solutions, TransSys is today a leader in delivering SaaS based Solutions with significant innovations to boot. TransSys has done about 30 engagements on Cloud for customers across Banking, Airline, Real Estate and other customers and these solutions cut across Human Capital Management, Customer Relationship Management and ERP domains. Our innovations are around bringing in Industry flavours to the cloud solutions for industries such as Airlines, Real Estate & Banking besides integrations with multiple on-premise applications as well.

Dubai Headquarters +9714-5096707 India Dev Centre +91 44 30851111 www.transsyssolutions.com

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PAAS

Integrative Solution Instils Customer Confidence

Cherian Varghese Cluster Leader, Africa

“Despite several challenges, African countries have continued to outperform global average growth indicators since the turn of the century”

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OVER THE past decade, Africa has become one of the most rapidly evolving regions on the planet in regards to embracing new technologies, despite traditional challenges still engrained into some areas of the continent.

The desire to reach levels of western connectivity and accessibility is there in such abundance that cloud computing, especially, has gained previously unthinkable levels of traction over the past decade or more. Getting SaaS off the ground was challenging enough, but the infiltration of PaaS, IaaS and now even DaaS signifies that more and more regions across the continent have the infrastructure to at least be introduced to these new trends, for the good of the future of business and industry in Africa.

“Despite several challenges, African countries have continued to outperform global average growth indicators since the turn of the century,” emphasises Africa’s Cluster Leader, Cherian Varghese. “The world did not expect such a rapid adoption of cloud, especially from the African countries.

“Platform as a Service (PaaS) sounded like a nonstarter in African markets 12 months back. However the global push on cloud has made a significant impact on the African decision makers. With the emergence of mobile as big player in Africa, services like Oracle Java Cloud Service, Oracle Database Cloud Services and storage as an infrastructure service has captured the mind of both SME & large customers in Africa.

Intense education

Research firm, IDC forecasts that, on a global scale, the PaaS market will grow to more than $14 billion over the next two years; an astounding figure given that the benefits of the trend are still debated and ambiguous across different sectors.

“When they move to the cloud, people are no longer only looking for software as a service or infrastructure as a service,” said Mike Lehmann, Oracle’s Vice President of Product Management in a recent Forbes article. “They’re thinking of bringing

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STATE INFORMATICS LIMITED

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tate Informatics Limited (SIL) is a full-fledged systems integrator that has gained the trust of private companies and Governments alike in the local and international markets. More than 200 consultants, developers and engineers have successfully developed and implemented over 300 ICT projects in Mauritius and mainland African countries.

This has been achieved thanks to the expertise of SIL’s team, to our expertise about the public sector and other domains, and to our relationship with technology partners of global dimensions, including our longeststanding partner, Oracle.

We have learned how to master the technologies of our partners and to adapt them to the needs and expectations of our markets and clients, hence also contributing to our partners’ products, services and brands being highly regarded. SIL is an Oracle Platinum Partner and has developed and successfully implemented key solutions for governments in Mauritius or in mainland Africa, based on Oracle technologies. Examples of such solutions are the Crime Occurrence Tracking System (COTS) for the police force, the Integrated Financial Management Information System for ministries of Finance, the Immigration and Border Control System, and the Company Business Registration Information System (CBRIS). Our ISV status, which is unique in Mauritius, has made it possible for us to provide development services on Oracle and to create the TaMIS packaged software for HR management.

The launch of SILNAM in Namibia in 2003 and that of SILBOTS in Botswana in 2011 both demonstrate SIL’s ambitions as a regional player with partners in various markets, as well as our participation in skills development in every country where SIL is present.

www.sil.mu

Proud to be working with our world-renowned partner.

SIL is a leader in providing integrated IT solutions for the African region. With its offices in Mauritius, Namibia and Botswana, SIL serves multinational companies as well as government organisations and local businesses. The expansion of SIL in the African continent demonstrates our capability to deliver the right solutions, whatever the needs and identity of the client organisation.

Mauritius • Namibia • Botswana

+230 207 8000

silmail@sil.mu

www.sil.mu

O R A C L E

A F R I C A

PAAS over application platforms and workloads to gain some of the same benefits for the application layer; standardisation, faster deployment, automation with more flexible capital expenditure approaches, and seamless integration.”

Varghese explains how this has transpired in Africa: “The adoption of PaaS in our market space has been the result of both intense education to our customers, our partners & our sales ecosystem.

Oracle - PaaS FIRST initiative has yielded great results from market penetration perspective.

African customers are well abreast with our cloud solutions.

Our marquee event “Oracle Cloud World” has pulled customers from this part of the world to attend and interact with global customers. We are backing the African markets with tailored Africa events branded as “Africa Cloud Day”.

“Customers have had challenges to be early adopters, however with a few wins, we have been able to replicate and grow faster than expected”

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Customer confidence

Research does suggest that the level of understanding surrounding PaaS is improving, allowing Oracle to really benefit in the world’s fastest-improving adopting continent.

Additional services across database Java, mobility, integration and on-demand offerings being delivered in the cloud has set the Company apart in this particular market arguably more so than in any other, and customer feedback only goes further in supporting this claim.

“Customers have had challenges to be early adopters, however with a few wins, we have been able to replicate and grow faster than expected,” Varghese states. “Companies have realised that power and infrastructure is a constant challenge in African shores. The enormous amount of electricity required for running large data centres and cooling them, has led them to believe that a failover environment can easily be hosted in remote countries.

“This has led to CXO’s easily adopting the PAAS platform and thereby reducing capital expenses.

Oracle PaaS gets everything onto one platform, so integration becomes easier. This also leads to better economic sense in serving their customers better and bringing faster services to customers.

Varghese concludes: “In a nutshell, customers are feeling confident about investing in Oracle’s PaaS solution.”

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CISAN INTERNATIONAL LTD

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isan International Limited “Cisan” is a multi-competency enterprise transformation and technology consulting firm that combines expertise and capabilities across many industries and business functions to deliver superior value to its clients. Cisan collaborates with its clients, both in the private and public sectors, to build high performance enterprises.

Cisan’s IT transformation solutions help clients get maximum value from existing systems and new investments.

Our professionals are experienced in working with both technology and business executives to help them do more for less.

We specialize in transforming IT operations to complement business directions and priorities, and deliver IT services consistently and effectively. We provide a roadmap to support clients through the IT change process while aligning the business and achieving stakeholder agreement. The result is dramatic improvements in collaboration between users, applications, and technology components, generating significant value for any business and creating competitive advantage.

Cisan’s principals and directors have a combined industry experience of over 25 years in various sectors of the economy: with competence in business transformation, financial advisory, software engineering, communication technology, e-Business development, government transformations (e-Government), systems integration, IT consulting, Instrumentation & Control, and process reengineering.

Cisan has deep understanding of the industries it works in, strong technical competencies, and an outstanding track record both in the private and public sectors. With its tested methodologies and best practices, its clients get bestfit, quality solutions that meet their business demands.

With a flexible organizational structure primed to deliver customized services to its clients, Cisan goes the extra mile to fully understand its clients’ real needs.

In this way, its clients are enabled to reinvent themselves and remodel their operations and business services using proven business methodologies.

I.T & TELECOMS ELECTRICAL & INSTRUMENTATION CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT For over 20 years, Cisan has been providing undisputable first-rate Systems, exceptional Services, and superb business Solutions to a wide spectrum of customers. Our strategic partnerships with many leading global brands have put us in an even stronger position to further secure our place in Nigeria’s ICT and Telecommunications sector.

We supply and deploy Oracle Engineered Systems, traditional servers and storage solutions

Our Partners

Galcon House, Plot 2, Blk 113, Lekki Express Way (By Elf B/Stop), Lekki –Phase 1, Lagos State, Nigeria T: 01-2805755-6 | 08037610167 • E: info@cisaninternational.com • www.cisaninternational.com

O R A C L E

A F R I C A

BIG DATA

Big Data: Who Needs It?

Kevin Attard Country Leader, South Africa

“In Africa, we believe both the private and public sector enterprises are poised to go through the evolution of data warehousing into a fully-fledged data management systems consisting of three components: ‘data warehouse’, ‘data reservoir’ and ‘franchised query engine’” 24

AS TODAY’S enterprises embrace big data, their information architecture must also evolve. Every sizeable organisation has probably run a data warehouse and used business analytics to interrogate the information generated by its IT systems. But data today is far more complex; it consists not only of figures and facts, but also video, data collected outside of the organisation on social platforms, the internet, commerce sites, voice, and many more elements.

“Every enterprise has some sort of data warehouse today, but best practice embraces emerging technologies such as Hadoop and NoSQL,” explains Oracle South Africa’s Country Leader, Kevin Attard. “Today’s information architecture recognises that data is not only stored in increasingly disparate data platforms, but also in increasingly disparate locations; on premise and potentially multiple cloud platforms.”

The idea of a single monolithic “enterprise data warehouse” has faded as a new more flexible architecture has emerged. Oracle calls this new architecture the Oracle Big Data Management System.

Attard adds: “In Africa, we believe both the private and public sector enterprises are poised to go through the evolution of data warehousing into fully-fledged data management systems consisting of three components: ‘data warehouse’, ‘data reservoir’ and ‘franchised query engine’.”

2015 is the year

Now recognised as a kind of capital, data is just as necessary in establishing new products, services and methods of working as it is as financial capital.

“For CEOs, this means securing access to, and increasing use of, data capital by digitising and data-fying key activities with customers, suppliers and partners before rivals do,” Attard continues. “For CIOs, this

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means providing data liquidity; the ability to get data the firm wants into the shape it needs with minimal time, cost and risk.”

To meet the needs of these aforementioned CEOs in Africa, Oracle has set itself apart through its unparalleled levels of innovation to address specific industry criteria, and to produce bespoke solutions across the full range of benefiting sectors.

This, in turn, has laid the foundations for what Attard believes will be yet another pivotal year of big data evolution in 2015: “2015 is the year of big data for enterprises, and it is essential for solutions to evolve as trends for technology usage change in the market. Oracle has an excellent understanding of big data trends predicted in the market and our R&D is geared to address these trends.

“We are focusing on the expectation that corporate boardrooms will talk about data capital rather than big data, big data management will ‘grow up’, companies will demand ‘a SQL for all seasons’, just-in-time transformation will transform ETL (extract, transform and load) activities, self-service discovery and visualisation tools will come to big data, security and governance will increase big data capabilities, and production workloads will blend cloud and on premise capabilities.”

Future forecast

Also addressing the need for different readiness and maturity levels for progressive technologies in Africa, Oracle’s allencompassing approach has aligned itself with recent Gartner research which has shown that early adoption of big data solutions can generate as much as 20 percent difference in performance between themselves and later adopters of the same solutions; Globacom in Nigeria being just one

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ORACLE’S BIG DATA PREDICTIONS, 2015 1. Corporate boardrooms will talk about data capital, not big data 2. Big data management will grow – up 3. Companies will demand an SQL for all seasons 4. Just-in-time transformation will transform ETL 5. Self-service discovery and visualisation tools will come to big data 6. Security and governance will increase big data innovation

of the numerous enterprises to have enjoyed a close, big data-orientated relationship with Oracle over the years.

“In Africa, telcos and banks are the early adopters. So, we believe that the parts of the equation are poised to bring about a positive difference; Oracle’s offering in Africa being state of the art, and the African enterprises – some of them – being ready to adopt early,” Attard concludes. “Oracle will extend its current Big Data Management System to provide fast, integrated, secure access to all data; not only data stored in an Oracle Exadata-based data warehouse or Oracle Big Data Appliance, but also data stored in operational NoSQL databases, transactional

relational databases, streaming data sources and more.

“Our future Big Data Management System will provide a framework for easily incorporating new data sources, ensuring that these new data sources can be seamlessly managed. Oracle will execute its BDMS vision incrementally, spanning multiple product and release cycles.

“Oracle’s core big data products will be available in the cloud. In line with Oracle’s corporate strategy, the same capabilities and products that are available on-premise are also being delivered as Oracle cloud services.

This allows customers to easily migrate existing Oracle systems to the cloud.”

7. Production workloads blend cloud and onpremise capabilities

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A F R I C A

C U S T O M E R

S P O T L I G H T :

S K A

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST RADIO TELESCOPE TRIGGERS SA BIG DATA ACTIVITIES

“Unlike what you may consider in life, when observing the universe, size does matter. Ingesting exabytes of radio telescope data requires a secure, long-term and high capacity storage system like the SL 150” – Manfred Gramlich, Systems Executive, Oracle South Africa

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THE SOUTH African Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Project sees the telescope as a trigger for big data activities in South Africa and reaching into other African Partner Countries. The aim is to bolster development on a large scale as part of a national, multi-disciplinary programme, bringing together local universities, government and industry to tackle a range of big data challenges and to develop skills in big data management.

Focused on the MeerKAT and SKA, a range of projects are underway in the fields of high performance and power efficient computing, advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence and data visualisation, to name a few.

A number of other initiatives are also under way, including collaboration with the Western Cape government that will result in the construction of a big data-focused, high-performance computing facility in the province. In Carnarvon, an e-learning programme for young students, as well as a community knowledge centre, has already taken shape with a view to drive skills development in the area.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an international project to build a radio telescope tens of times more sensitive and hundreds of times faster at mapping the sky than today’s best radio astronomy facilities. Simply put: the world’s largest radio telescope. The SKA will also be the world’s largest public science data project.

Once completed, it will generate data at a rate more than 10 times today’s global internet traffic.

The process of building the biggest radio telescope in the world is rapidly moving forward, located in South Africa and eight other African countries and Australia. The core of the African component of the telescope is being built in the Karoo, near the town of Carnarvon. A green field site for the telescope has been established that is now fully provided with infrastructure; power lines, a very fast optical fibre connection to the national network, specially constructed buildings, roads and accommodation. The site is protected from radio interference (which would make the telescope blind) by regulations promulgated in terms of the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act.

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INTERDIST ALLIANCES

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ith presence in 11 African countries, and plans to increase our footprint, Interdist Alliances is ideally placed to assist partners across the continent to grow their Oracle business.

We currently hold 5 Oracle Specialisations across both hardware and software solutions and are constantly working to increase these as we see our knowledge of the Oracle solutions as a key differentiator, allowing us to offer comprehensive presales advice to both our partners and their customers.

We host the Oracle Partner Hubs in both Nigeria and Kenya, where we offer technical and sales training every week.

In operation since 2013, we have offered over 100 training sessions to over 1,500 students.

Our Oracle Authorised Solution Centre in Nigeria is ranked #1 in the region, with revenue derived from demonstrations and proofs of concept at over $7-million from that market alone.

This year we are taking our OASC to the cloud, enabling us to offer demonstration and proof of concept services to Oracle Partners regardless of their location on the continent.

“Our commitment as a value-added distributor is to help partners find new opportunities and to provide the enablement necessary to support them.

We are very proud to be an Oracle distributor and to be able to execute a shared vision of a word-class technology brand across Africa.” – Kristian Tierney, General Manager E oasc@interdistalliances.com

www.interdistalliances.com

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SKA PROJECT

“The MeerKAT alone is set to generate the equivalent of 700,000 x32 gigabyte (GB) iPods a day, with the SKA1 and SKA2 set to produce exponentially more. The data is structured but flows in firehose-like quantities through dedicated stages of computing, designed to extract very weak signals from the universe. This is then reduced through various stages of processing, resulting in approximately 7,000 x32GB iPods’ worth of data being stored in the long-term MeerKAT archive each day. This is really big data, which presents its own set of challenges, as well as numerous broader opportunities” - Jasper Horrell, Manager of Science Computing and Innovation, SKA South Africa

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A team of South Africa scientists and engineers in the SKA South Africa project office has designed and is building the world-leading MeerKAT telescope on the site. It will consist of 64 dish antennas, each 13.5 metres in diameter, so that each antenna stands about four stories high. They will be distributed over 10 kilometres and are connected by buried power lines and optical fibre connections to very fast computers in the underground Karoo Array Processor Building (KAPB) on site. An Oracle SL150 Tape Library is being used to archive the massive amounts of data being ingested from MeerKAT. It is able to scale to high data transfer rates and can store large volumes of data in an energy efficient form.

Oracle’s StorageTek SL150 modular tape library provides simple and scalable data storage, ideal for backup and archival applications. The SL150 delivers an industry-leading combination of ease of use and scalability, scaling seamlessly from 30 to 300 slots and hundreds of terabytes of data. “Unlike what you may consider in life, when observing the universe, size does matter. Ingesting exabytes of radio telescope data requires a secure, long-term and high capacity storage system like the SL150,” says Manfred Gramlich, Systems Executive at Oracle South Africa.

Dr Bernie Fanaroff, SKA SA Project Director says: “There is intense interest from the international astronomy community in the MeerKAT and teams including South African scientists and more than 300 international scientists have been allocated observing time. The MeerKAT will begin “early science” in 2016 and its full science programme in 2017. A seven-dish array, the KAT-7, has been built on site as a prototype and although it was intended as an engineering test bed, it has worked so well that it is in demand by scientists for their observations and is producing important science.

“In March, 2015, the board of directors and the members of the organisation agreed to the proposal for re-baselining the first phase of SKA, called SKA1.

This was done to ensure that SKA1 could be built within the cost cap of €650 million but still have the capability to carry out the science that it will be expected to do. SKA Organisation will build 133 dishes at Losberg in the Karoo - all of them will be 15 metres in diameter - and 125,000 low-frequency antennas in Western Australia. The 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope will be integrated into the SKA1-MID telescope when the MeerKAT science programme is completed. So the SKA1-MID will consist of 197 dishes in an array spread over 150km around Losberg.”

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OVATIONS GROUP

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t Ovations, we provide specialist knowledge and innovative transformation solutions. We have a unique understanding of how people, processes and technology combine to optimise business functionality and profitability. Our focus is the transformation of business and customer experience and process optimisation.

We are locally based and our people are locally recruited and skilled. We are a niche South African service provider.

Through this approach, we show our commitment to growing key technical and industrial engineering skills in the South African economy and addressing the large skills gap in the market.

At Ovations, we immerse ourselves in the details of your business or technical issue, while addressing the real issues in your workplace – whether it involves people, processes or technology.

We have specialists in industrial engineering, software engineering, banking, IT architecture, training and insurance. These bright, enthusiastic people are not confined to roles but are encouraged to think out-of-the-box and challenge the status quo.

Our team consists of a substantial number of people, based in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We will roll up our sleeves to get involved and solve your business’ technical problems.

Hardworking, but never forgetting how important it is to have fun while doing it, we bring the Ovations culture and brand into your environment and fit in like one of your own.

If we’ve piqued your interest and you need help transforming your business and processes, send us a mail or give us a call to chat and find out where and how we can make a difference to your organisation.

T +27 (0)11 658 8500 E TalkToUs@OvationsGroup.com

www.ovationsgroup.com

We solve complex problems and sometimes we use technology.

Ovations始 focus is the transformation of business and customer experience from manual to automatic. To do this, we first assess what the current state of your business is and whether it始s organisational, process or technology based. Then we see which technologies you have invested in and if they can do the job required to improve the process and solve the problem. If not, we advise and help with the selection and implementation of enterprise software products.

Please contact TalkToUs@ovationsgroup.com or +27 11 658 8500 for more information. www.ovationsgroup.com

O R A C L E

A F R I C A

MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Fulfilling the Needs of the Millennial Generation

Adebayo Sanni Country Leader, Nigeria

NEW RESEARCH from Oracle has revealed that a majority of millennials would be less likely to use a company’s products or services based on a poor mobile application experience, highlighting the importance of apps in the tech industry’s progression, and also the necessity for R&D into the topic by companies like Oracle.

Mobile Applications are a modern day everpresent in the tech domain having a profound relevance to the new systems entering the market, and the generations of people adapting more rapidly to these new technologies.

The demand for enhanced usage across smartphones, tablets and phablets is particularly palpable across what Oracle calls the ‘millennial’ demographic; the population aged between 18 and 34 to which this evolution most applies to.

“Recent research suggests that 85 percent of people aged 18 to 34 own a smartphone and the effect on businesses globally has been dramatic in a relatively short period of time,” notes Nigeria’s Country Leader for the Company, Adebayo Sanni in relation to the study carried out by a Nigerian Telecommunications Commission. “Nigeria ranks seventh in the world by the number of mobile phone users with nine out of 10 people owning at least one mobile phone.”

‘Recent research suggests that 85 percent of people aged 18 to 34 own a smartphone and the effect on businesses globally has been dramatic in a relatively short period of time’

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FUSION INFORMATION SERVICES

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usion has been an Oracle Partner since 2006. Fusion’s initial focus was on implementing JDEdwards and Oracle E-business. Over the years, Fusion has gained extensive experience on managing a range of Oracle projects and technologies.

Fusion’s latest offering, Project Portfolio Management as a Service (PPMaaS) is built on this experience.

Fusion is passionate about changing the world on how projects are conceived and managed. We believe that while projects are complex, they can be delivered with quality and predictability time after time.

Fusion’s PPMaaS will provide the following benefits to clients: • Reduce project failures • Ensure that a client obtains the level of PPM capability they desire • Economies of scale • Just enough governance • At a predictable cost • Using industry standard methods • A client can take complete ownership of the PPM capability when they are ready to do so In addition to the PPMaaS, Fusion has developed a unique Unlocking Leadership from Within Training Programme for Project Managers Coaching is considered to be a key enabler for leadership development, empowerment and transformation, and is a key part of this programme, and looks at how we can take good project manager (with or without a certification) and make them more effective through a process of education and coaching.

www.fusionis.co.za

Project PortFoLIo ManageMent as a servIce (PPMaas) PPM FUnctIons

HoW Does It WorK

Financial Management

tracking and reporting

PPM governance

change control

timesheet tracking resource and capacity Planning

• Assess current PPM (state and Maturity) • Define PPM Model (requirements)

career Management

PMo training

Pilot

2

3

rollout

4

Manage

• Agree PMO Model: - target Benefits - PPM scope - training approach - Quality approach

• Agree pilot projects

• Rollout framework

• Train staff

• Bring PPM to full strength

• Get stakeholder feedback • Refine framework

• Train staff • Conduct communications • Get stakeholder feedback • Make operational

• Develop Framework: - governance - Methods - templates - reporting and MI - software

• Support project managers • Inform community • Inform Portfolio Management • Induction programme • Refine framework

governance Predictable cost Industry standard Methods take ownership when ready

• Track performance

WHY

• Review and fine tune

scalable governance Measurable

Quality assurance

consistent

content and Information Management

cLoUD soFtWare

standardise PPM Processes

outsource

obtain PPM capabalility economies of scale

Manage Projects and Programmes

Methodologies and tools

reduce Project Failures

assess and Develop

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Blueprint

Portfolio Management

BeneFIts

Predictable single source of truth

Benefits Management

Flexibile

risks Issues

UNLOCKING LEADERSHIP FROM WITHIN FOR UNLOCKING LEADERSHIP FROM WITHIN FOR PROJECT MANAGERS KING G LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP FROM FROM WITHIN WITHIN FOR FOR PROJECT MANAGERS PROJECT PROJECT MANAGERS MANAGERS Source: Managing Successful Programmes - Axelos

copyright © 2015 Fusion Information services (Pty) Ltd

email: info@fusionis.co.za

OBJECTIVES

ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT ASSESSMENT

1. Meaning

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TOPICS

TOPICS TOPICS

• Roles • Roles • Responsibility • Responsibility BENCHMARKING

2. Attitude

• Trust • Trust

PROGRAMME

PROGRAMME

4. Power

PROGRAMME

BENCHMARKING BENCHMARKING

3. Loyalty

• Decision making • Decision making • Information processing • Information processing • Self-awareness • Self-awareness • Personal powers • / TRAINING Personal powers GROUP DIALOGUES • Excellence • Excellence

GROUP DIALOGUES GROUP DIALOGUES / TRAINING / TRAINING

5. Responsibility

• Thinking patterns • Thinking patterns • Communication • Communication • Motivation • Motivation

ON THE JOB • CONSULTATION Engagement • Engagement

6. Engagement

• Leadership • Leadership

ON THEON JOBTHE CONSULTATION JOB CONSULTATION

• Personal Values • Personal Values

7. Trust

• Personal Vision • Personal Vision • Personal Efficiency • Personal Efficiency

INDIVIDUAL COACHING 8. Openness

• Wheel of life • Wheel of life • Prioritisation • Prioritisation

INDIVIDUAL INDIVIDUAL COACHING COACHING

• Effectiveness • Effectiveness • Conflict Management • Conflict Management

Copyright © 2015 Fusion Information Services (Pty) Ltd

Ltd vices (Pty) Ltd

Email: info@fusionis.co.za

Email:

info@fusionis.co.za Email: info@fusionis.co.zawww.fusionis.co.za www.fusionis.co.za info@fusionis.co.za www.fusionis.co.za

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• Roles • Responsibility • Trust • Decision making • Information processing • Self-awareness • Personal powers • Excellence • Thinking patterns • Communication • Motivation • Engagement • Leadership • Personal Values • Personal Vision • Personal Efficiency • Wheel of life • Prioritisation • Effectiveness • Conflict Management

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MOBILE APPLICATIONS

“Companies must understand that their mobile apps now serve as one of the most important extensions of their business when it comes to engaging customers. They have become the new conduit between modern companies and the millennial generation, but this will only hold true if organisations can deliver something of value”

The pressure on groups like Oracle to subsequently monitor, analyse and then capitalise on these statistics is significant and has led to critical studies being carried out to forecast the future of mobile applications.

“Companies must understand that their mobile apps now serve as one of the most important extensions of their business when it comes to engaging customers. They have become the new conduit between modern companies and the millennial generation, but this will only hold true if organisations can deliver something of value,” adds the Vice President for Mobile Strategy and Product Management, Suhas Uliyar.

- Suhas Uliyar, Vice President for Mobile Strategy and Product Management

FINTECH GROUP

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intech has over the years acquired extensive experience in addressing Africa’s unique financial services technology challenges and has continued to provide and develop a broad range of innovative solutions and services, including world class custom developed software to meet the ever changing needs of our clients.

These solutions include; Core Banking (Flexcube UBS), Reconciliation, Sacco and MFI, Leasing, E-tax (Automated Tax Collection), Clearing and Settlement (Cheque Truncation), Electronic Delivery Channels (Mobile/Internet Banking, ATM & POS), CRB Reporting, Business Intelligence, CRM, ERP, Outsourced IT services, infrastructure, Unified Communications, Call Center, and Consultancy.

Fintech has partnered with world leading IT vendors, including Oracle, Oracle Financial Services Software, Broadridge, Interactive Intelligence, Imperva, Microsoft, and IBM.

PLEXADA SYSTEM INTEGRATORS LTD Plexada is an IT consultancy where we pursue big dreams.

The millennial generation

“The research reveals that nearly 55 percent of millennials say a poor mobile app experience would make them less likely to use a company’s products or services,” notes Sanni. “According to the global report, ‘Millennials and mobility: how businesses can tap into the app generation’, 39 percent of millennials would also be less likely to recommend a company’s products or services to others following a poor app experience, and 27 percent admit it would even give them a negative view of that organisation’s products or services altogether.”

Alienating the millennial generation, and consequently the key demographic for smartphones and tablet sales, is a risk certainly not worth taking, with the importance and saturation of mobile applications only set to increase further in the future.

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Today, Plexada is a tier one Oracle partner with a diversified portfolio. We accept the challenges that others prefer to avoid.

We are a creative company that grows continuously. Plexada employees personify our path to success. We help customers implement best-inclass Oracle solutions for operational excellence, and information management. Our deep experience in the portfolio of Oracle solutions address a range of customer needs including social relationship management, customer relationship management, data management, procurement and financials.

www.plexada-sl.com

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A F R I C A

MOBILE APPLICATIONS For Oracle, this means that the extent of innovation and research must continue at an equally rapid rate: “There clearly remains much room for innovation when it comes to tablet apps, as well as apps for larger form phablets, and companies that answer the call will be well-placed to capitalise on a still maturing market,” the Company’s research revealed. “However, apps for smartphones and tablets should not be developed independently from each other.

“Many millennials own multiple connected devices, and businesses will need to deliver a consistent, high-quality app experience across all of these if they want to add value for their customers.”

Disruptive in the digital age

“Access, convenience and added-value are the primary requirements of the millennial generation, and a successful digital business will define itself and its services based on these principles” - Adebayo Sanni, Country Leader, Nigeria

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The key moving forward, therefore, is flexibility; to ensure that companies are not only meeting millennial customer demands now, but they are also developing a service that can be adaptable to future demands also.

“We are now in the age of the digital business; one in which mobile, social and the cloud have converged and put companies in a position to build themselves around a fully digital platform and better serve both their customers and employees,” Sanni says. “For millennials, mobile devices are at the very heart of how they interact with companies and with each other.

“Unless they can tap into how this generation actually uses these devices, then organisations will struggle to differentiate themselves in the era of allthings digital. For those that do get things right, the mobile opportunities are plentiful indeed.”

Optimising the cloud in meeting all requirements in the field seems the best way forward, in allowing devices already outside the firewall to access data both in the cloud and on-premise; subsequently enabling businesses to vary their resources and achieve that necessary flexibility.

Sanni concludes: “With their databases, applications, and platform services all tied together in this way, companies will ensure that relevant data and services are easily accessible to everyone that needs them – including customers, partners, and employees – whenever they need them.

“Access, convenience and added-value are the primary requirements of the millennial generation, and a successful digital business will define itself and its services based on these principles. Putting mobile first is crucial to this endeavour, and to being truly disruptive in the digital age.”

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FINEART TECHNOLOGIES … make IT Simple.

Fineart Technologies Zimbabwe (formerly SECSYS Technologies Zimbabwe) aim to rapidly establish itself as a leading technology provider with it’s de facto Service Delivery Platform and related value-added services designed to support mission critical solutions.

Our mission is to provide world-class state of the art solutions and 24/7 support to our customers.

To this end we provide a selection of the following products and services:• Oracle hardware and software installation and support • Service level agreements, help desk and database management • Telecommunications - GSM networks 3G, 4G, turnkey network design and implementation services

GLOBAL COMPUTING SOLUTIONS

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lobal Computing Solutions Plc (GCS) is a leading systems integrator, IT infrastructure service provider and an established player in the Ethiopian IT industry, providing a wide spectrum of technology solutions and services to a diverse customer base.

With more than two decades of rich experience in technology and enterprise IT infrastructure, GCS has successfully implemented, managed and consulted various companies on complex IT and critical business systems.

GCS represents more than 30 brands in value segments of the business and going forward, GCS plans to expand its services not only in Ethiopia but also into neighbouring countries across Africa.

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Gold Partner

Global Computing Solutions is an IT Infrastructure Services provider. Our solutions include;

FSD Partner

Delivering tomorrow’s IT solutions today Contact us info@gcsethiopia.com +251 115 513862 www.gcsethiopia.com

System Integration Network Implementations Enterprise implementations Applications integration End User Computing

Managed Services IT Service management Network Operations Center Security Operations Data Center Operations Cloud Operations

Building Automation Systems Structured Cabling Data Center Setup BAS

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BUILDING IT SKILLS & INNOVATION IN AFRICA

IT Promotes Social Inclusion

‘Today, IT holds the promise to promote social inclusion, combat corruption, expand the digital economy and enable stronger links between citizens and governments, businesses and customers, NGOs and the communities they serve’

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TODAY THERE is a new “third platform” for IT. The first platform emerged in the 90’s when workers had computing delivered to their desktop from a central mainframe. This client server technology made computing accessible to more people. The second platform was the internet age, where people and systems could communicate with each other all over the world.

The third platform is built on cloud computing, mobile computing and social media. All three of these elements can be easily consumed, and are being adopted at an unprecedented rate. Just like other platforms, highly technical skills are needed; these are skills with a strong foundation in math.

Oracle Africa is finding new ways to empower people to embrace and use the new third platform.

“Turning the skills gap into an opportunity requires a multi-stakeholder effort between government, the private sector and the technology industry. Training at various levels must be addressed; from helping to ensure existing employees have the skills they need to keep pace with the changing technologies, to supporting workforce development programmes and working with national education systems,” says Oracle Vice President Technology AFTA Cluster Leader and VP A&C ECEMEA, Janusz Naklicki. “We need to combine our efforts to build a vibrant and innovative skills pool in Africa that can help create a foundation for sustainable economic growth and a pipeline of innovative solutions.”

FALCORP TECHNOLOGIES

F

alcorp Technologies is an ICT services and Solutions Company providing innovate solutions and services to public and private sector organisations in South Africa and Africa.

Falcorp’s solutions focus on 5 core technology areas including, digital and interactive, application services, SOA services, data management, and Oracle services.

Our end-to-end digital business and technology services encompass, digital marketing strategy, analytics, online services, online and mobile solutions, social media and mobile platforms.

T 011 805 6315 E info@falcorp.co.za

www.falcorp.co.za

ICT WORKS

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CT-Works is a business solution provider renowned for forging strategic partnerships with its clients, to achieve efficiencies in operations and productivity in the public and private sectors. Through world-class systems and technology, ICT-Works delivers sophisticated yet simple solutions to complex business problems.

As an Oracle Platinum Partner, we offer a comprehensive range of technology and valuable solutions including continuous improvement consulting services. We provide our clients with a “one-stopshop” for the full spectrum of possible business services.

ICT-Works is 100% black female-owned and is backed by a proven track record of delivering large projects.

Orla Ni Chorcora, Senior Director, Business Development Oracle ECE/MEA, with MTN Foundation Scholar and Oracle bursary recipient to CERN openlab Summer School 2015

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Johannesburg +27 11 234 7040 Cape Town +27 21 834 8400 E info@ict-works.co.za

www.ict-works.co.za

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Supplier Management Requisition Management Quotation Management Bid Management Contract Management Order Management Receipt Management Inventory Management Invoice Management Payment Management Asset Management Budget Management

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Our solution covers the full Supply Chain Management life-cycle for the Public Sector Built on the Oracle Platform and customised for the needs of each country on the continent, our solutions enable public sector managers across all tiers of government to manage all elements of the supply chain lifecycle easily and effectively.

Compliance

Reporting and Analysis

• PFMA, MFMA, PPPFA, SCOA • Cash, Accrual and Modified Cash

• Supply Chain Intelligence • Spend Analytics • Supplier Rotation • Business Intelligence

Governance • Visibility • Accountability • Auditability • Monitoring

Technology

Standardisation • Public Sector Supply Chain Management Business Processes • Centralised Master File: Suppliers, Employees, Items • Delegations and Segregations • Human Workflows • System Workflows Budgeting • Top-down, Bottom-up budgeting • Daily Cash Forecasting • Funds Reservation

• Integrated with Transversal Financial system (BAS) • Web-based Systems • Mobility • Application and Database Security • System Audit trails

Single source of information • Supplier Master • Item Master • Commodities • Employee Master

2015/03/30 2:33 PM

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BUILDING IT SKILLS & INNOVATION IN AFRICA BOHN INC

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ohn Inc, a trusted Information and Communication and Technology Strategic & Implementation Partner of choice to Public and Private Sectors in South Africa and surrounding countries through distinctive, unique and world class offerings.

Verticals: Education - Health - Security Financial Services - Telecoms - Transport – Media & Entertainment

Above: The Information Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) in Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding with Oracle to broaden the IT skills in the region

“We need to combine our efforts to build a vibrant and innovative skills pool in Africa that can help create a foundation for sustainable economic growth and a pipeline of innovative solutions”

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Addressing the skills gap

Oracle Africa is aiming to tackle the skills challenge from four perspectives: employee readiness, ecosystem readiness, workforce readiness and youth readiness. “The elements within these areas are tailored to meet the needs of each audience and also take into consideration the time to market, and help foster a pipeline of IT talent for the future,” explains Naklicki.

Today, IT holds the promise to promote social inclusion, combat corruption, expand the digital economy and enable stronger links between citizens and governments, businesses and customers, NGOs and the communities they serve. They can do this and at the same time dramatically reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Implemented in conjunction with government agencies such as Lagos State and Edo State in Nigeria, the Ministry of ICT and Education in Kenya, the Workforce Development Agency in Rwanda and the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia; the Oracle Africa engagement also incorporates collaboration with the private sector and organisations such as MTN Foundation Nigeria.

“Innovation hubs help support the acceleration of technology innovation, and are often the birthplace of the digital disruption we hear so much about.

Oracle Africa is working with a number of these hubs across the region to leverage Oracle product experts to engage the local tech community via

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Solutions • Information & Communications Technology (ICT) • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) • Platform as a Service (PaaS) • Software as a Service (SaaS) • Business as a Service (BaaS) • Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) • B2B Cloud Computing Infrastructure • 360 Business Intelligence Platform •Data Security Solutions (Storage, Exchange and Recovery)

knowledge transfer sessions. We are pleased to be associated with a community of tech entrepreneurs whose creativity and energy are contributing to the creation of new and exciting African businesses,” says Naklicki.

Oracle Africa also has an internship programme designed for Information Systems and business science graduates. At the end of the internship, candidates can graduate armed with initial on-the-job experience. In FY 14, Oracle Africa retained many of the interns and the remainder had opportunities to seek employment in the Oracle partner ecosystem.

The recent collaborations referenced here are just examples of what Oracle Africa foresees to be a long-term commitment to growing and developing local talent to support Africa’s digital transformation.

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OR ACLE G old Par tner Bohn Inc, a leading information and Communication and Technology (ICT) Strategic Business Partner of choice to Public and Private Sectors through distinctive customer experience and world class coverged solutions.

ORACLE GIVING IN AFRICA One of the ways that Oracle helps to address the ICT skills challenge is by supporting nonprofit organisations that advance education - especially computer science education - as well as organisations that protect the environment, and enrich community life.

Akili Dada, Kenya serves as a leadership incubator, investing in high-achieving young African women from underprivileged backgrounds who are passionate about social change. Oracle’s funds scholarships for five underprivileged young women ages 13-20 in the Young Changemakers Programme, which provides mentoring and leadership training. Scholarships cover tuition, board, fees, supplies, and personal care items.

Strathmore University, Kenya is one of the country’s leading schools of business, finance, and information technology, where the Oracle Centre of Excellence provides training for lecturers and teachers.

Africa Cancer Foundation, Kenya helps prevent cancer and provides holistic solutions for African people affected by cancer, by mobilising resources, conducting research, and providing education to the public and to healthcare practitioners. Oracle funding has enabled the development of a web platform to improve access to cancer screenings, diagnosis, and treatment, and an SMS platform to target communities in rural areas.

WEEE Centre, Kenya addresses environmental and health hazards of increasing e-waste. Oracle funding supports the Centre’s public education programme, which explains the hazards of e-waste and how to properly dispose of it, provides youth entrepreneurship training in the responsible reclamation and sale of valuable materials, and increases the volume of e-waste processed at the Centre. iHub Limited, Kenya supports the local tech community by connecting people and supporting start-ups. Oracle funding has enabled the formation of a Java

Tel : +27(0)10 330 0350 Email : info@bohn-inc.co.za Web : www.bohn-inc.co.za

Users Group, delivery of Alice and Greenfoot workshops for children, and the creation of a showcase event for Java applications and solutions developed at the iHub. Riders for Health, Kenya and Nigeria delivers public health care services to rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa predictably, reliably, and cost effectively.

Oracle provides general operating support, including maintenance of a fleet of motorcycles and four-wheel-drive vehicles used to transport: medicine, vaccines, specimens/results and healthcare, workers who deliver care and conduct educational outreach and disease monitoring.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Rwanda protects and conserves gorillas and their habitats in Africa. Oracle funding supports daily tracking of gorillas and anti-poaching patrols. It has also enabled development of an iOS mobile application for data capture in the field and accurate transfer to the Fossey Fund’s new database in the Oracle Cloud.

Wecyclers, Nigeria helps low-income communities to capture value from waste and clean up their neighbourhoods through incentive-based recycling. Oracle funding supports general operating and the creation of recycling clubs at two schools, which educate 10,000 households on the importance of proper waste management annually.

Co-Creation Hub, Nigeria accelerates the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. Oracle funding supports the Geeks Club, an after-school computing club held weekly for secondary school students ages 13-18.

Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre, Nigeria educates, connects, and empowers women and girls through active engagement in technology training, mentoring, and career counselling. Oracle funding supports the Girls Technology Club, which engages 800 underserved girls from 20 high schools, plus alumnae of the two-week Girls Camp, and deepens their skills through programming classes, tech company excursions, career talks, and mentoring.

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CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: UNIVERSITY OF DJIBOUTI

DJIBOUTI INVESTS TO BECOME EDUCATION LEADER ON HORN OF AFRICA

Dr Nabil Mohamed Ahmed Minister of Higher Education and Research

“This is the perfect platform upon which to build our continuing investment in the youth of this region, for whom world-class education is essential”

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ON THE 15 - 16 June this year, Djibouti will host the first Oracle Africa Higher Education Summit in the country, hosting delegates from much of West, Central Africa, the neighboring country Somalia, and composed of various ministers, university presidents and rectors to showcase on the experience of this small country with great vision.

The capacity building event has been geared towards less developed areas of the continent and, to achieve this goal, the University of Djibouti possessed the foresight to adopt Oracle’s PeopleSoft E-campus solution last year; a decision which acknowledges the Company’s reputation for simplifying IT, tailored to the needs of specific markets.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education, the University of Djibouti e-campus has been designed to help deliver tertiary education to students in countries on the horn of Africa, and was unveiled at a ceremony attended by the Djiboutian President, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and students from the university.

Dr Nabil Mohamed Ahmed, Minister of Higher Education and Research, states that the PeopleSoft system would entrench global best practices in delivering and managing higher education. “This is the perfect platform upon which to build our continuing investment in the youth of this region, for whom world-class education is essential.”

He added that modern technology is a key requirement to advance education in Djibouti and beyond.

“The significance of this implementation lies in the vision of Djibouti’s President, who recognised that modern technology today is a vehicle for progress,” says Alfonso di Ianni, Oracle Senior Vice President, East

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Central Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“This implementation has proved that information technology is a very powerful transformational tool for business and government.”

The long-term goal of the university is to provide degree and post-graduate courses to students in surrounding countries, a service the university believes will be supported by the system.

Implementation was conducted jointly by Mahindra Satyam and Mega Bureautique, a Djibouti-based partner that assisted the University during the project and trained up a team of software engineers to provide support. Oracle provided both servers, storage (Oracle Sun X3-2), and software (PeopleSoft Campus, Oracle Database, Oracle WebLogic and Oracle WebCenter).

Principal of the university, Dr Djama Mohamed Hassan, comments that the software platform constitutes a complete university system delivering teaching, research and administrative management in line with international modern practices: “The University would not have had the skills to implement these processes manually, but the PeopleSoft system already has best practices built into the workflows.”

“Students, academic staff and administration can have a fluid, seamless engagement whether virtual or physical, thus allowing them to address student and academic needs dynamically,” he says.

The University of Djibouti today offers its more than 7,000 students 29 distinct educational channels comprising four faculties: Faculty of Letters, Languages and Social Sciences; Faculty of Law, Economics and Management; Faculty of Sciences; and the Institute of Technology.

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T: 070 63000200 080 87717505 E: sta@stanigeria.com www.stanigeria.com

» Fiber optic and LAN deployment » Deployment of secured networks » Hardware supplies and installation » General I.T. accessories and consumables » Fabrication of Angular Type Lightweight Telecom towers We deploy the best standard solutions to empower service providers’ infrastructure Offering a wide range of Oracle hardware and software products.

www.sistec.co.ao

SISTEC is a case study, integrating Information Systems and Communication, which provides services with high levels of quality, according to the best market practices, in order to increase the value chain of the performance of customers.

Working with important partners as ORACLE and others, merging new technology solutions with existing IT infrastructures, upgrading critical applications, or finding better ways to manage data storage. From strategy development through implementation and management, Sistec Professional Services offers an expert support for every major project phase.

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PARTNER ECOSYSTEM

Engaging, Insightful and Knowledgeable Specialisation

Stefan Diedericks Alliance and Channel Director, South Africa

“Oracle has listened to both its customers and partners in enhancing the Oracle PartnerNetwork programme over the past number of years...”

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MUCH OF Oracle’s success in Africa over the years can be attributed to its unparalleled network of partners, which has increased further still over the past two years.

Accounting for more than 40 percent of Oracle’s global revenue and 80 percent of its global transactions, the Partner Ecosystem that has subsequently been formed is now an integral facet in response to its equally diversifying and expanding customer base, as the Company’s Alliance and Channel Directors in South Africa, Stefan Diedericks and Africa, Donald Thomas explains.

Stefan Diedericks (SD) and Donald Thomas (DT): The Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Programme offers customers a structured approach to differentiate the competencies and capabilities of partners called “Specialisation”.

Specialisation is preceded by a partner obtaining distribution/reseller rights for products within a knowledge zone and thereafter obtaining transactions and references within a given period.

The Programme was launched in 2009 in response to our customers becoming ever more diverse and to ensure customers can rely on a trustworthy programme that drives quality, engagement, skills and excellence.

the defined product or industry area, and able to work with them to develop and implement specific solutions.

Learn more about Oracle’s Specialisation Programme by visiting: http://www.oracle. com/partners/en/partner-with-oracle/getstarted/index.html#cw01step-3

AfO: What feedback has Oracle subsequently received regarding this system?

SD and DT: Oracle has listened to both its customers and partners in enhancing the Oracle PartnerNetwork Programme over the Africa Outlook (AfO): What benefits does past number of years by including incentive the partner ecosystem bring to based programmes that enable our partners customers? to drive their own growth. In addition, OPN SD and DT: OPN’s Specialisation Programme is offers a unique Solutions Catalogue that a trusted status and brand, which allows our showcases our partners based on unique most experienced and committed partners to competitive offerings utilising leading Oracle differentiate themselves in the marketplace Technology, but also gives the customer an and gain a competitive edge by spotlighting easy to use portal to find that ideal partner. their strengths and special skills. Specialised The OPN Solutions Catalogue can be found status provides customers with proof that at: http://www.oracle.com/us/partnerships/ they will be engaging with an insightful, solutions-catalog/specialized-partners/index. knowledgeable partner who is an expert in html

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AfO: How pivotal now is the partner ecosystem in attracting new business, given the extensive benefits it can provide?

SD and DT: The OPN Specialised Programme, status and brand forms a pivotal element in the way in which Oracle goes to market, identifying and highlighting those partners that have differentiated, evaluated and optimised solutions that have been certified and recognised to provide defined value for our customers.

The Programme allows a positive form of differentiation based on a partner’s unique competitive positioning and allows partners to carve out their own niche within the Oracle ecosystem which protects their investment, whilst it allows our customers

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the opportunity to know they’re dealing with a market leading organisation.

AfO: How do you foresee the partner ecosystem progressing further in the future and how does Oracle plan to innovate the process even more moving forward?

SD and DT: The OPN Specialised Programme is advancing and modernising its offerings in support of Oracle’s latest technologies within the cloud and software-as-a-service space and has also launched the Oracle Cloud Marketplace where customers can find thousands of cloud applications and services that extend Oracle’s world leading SaaS and PaaS stack.

“The OPN Specialised Programme is advancing and modernising its offerings in support of Oracle’s latest technologies within the cloud and software-as-aservice space...”

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DBAAS

Providing the Right Tools for Lower Operating Costs MOST COMPANIES have IT “spaghetti” when it comes to applications, and are seeking ways to consolidate them onto a more manageable platform. Customers wanting to move their infrastructure to a private cloud are seeking advice from their IT partners to find ways to further consolidate applications onto a shared infrastructure which they know will also decrease their hardware costs.

Donald Thomas Alliance and Channel Director

DBAAS PROVIDES a tremendous opportunity. By standardising and consolidating on a shared database and middleware platform for as many applications as possible, companies can dramatically increase cost savings and accelerate application development.

KEY CAPABILITIES OF DBAAS INCLUDE • Support for multiple databases efficiently sharing the underlying resources • Catalogue of standard database services to enable rapid, consistent deployment • Self-service to enable end users to rapidly provision, monitor, and manage databases • High degree of security and isolation between databases • Elasticity to support dynamic workloads

‘DBaaS provides a tremendous opportunity. By standardising and consolidating on a shared database and middleware platform for as many applications as possible, companies can dramatically increase cost savings and accelerate application development’ 44

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• Metering to enable chargeback or showback for cost recovery

COMPANIES CAN look to their local Oracle partner to help them: 1. STANDARDISE and consolidate at the database and middleware platform layer, even though some applications may require testing and updates to run on the standardised platform.

2. CONSOLIDATE at the infrastructure layer when it is not practical to standardise on a database and middleware platform. This approach requires a clear vision and solid roadmap.

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3. DEPLOY new projects on such a platform. They can be delivered quickly with measurable ROI, with the longer-term strategy to consolidate proceeding in parallel.

THIS ROUTE can deliver great business value. Organisations that have implemented DBaaS have seen 50 percent lower operating costs, 10 times faster deployment of new databases, and availability to improve to more than 99.95 percent.

ORACLE’S COMPLETE SOLUTION FOR DATABASE AS A SERVICE • Complete, out-of-the-box DBaaS solution: software, hardware and services; integrated and engineered to work together • High-consolidation efficiency and low total cost of ownership with Oracle Database 12c with multitenant architecture featuring pluggable databases and Oracle Exadata Database Machine and Oracle SuperCluster engineered systems • Rapid deployment and complete DBaaS lifecycle management with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c • Standardised DBaaS supporting all database workloads

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BENEFITS TO CUSTOMERS • Self-service provisioning and management means that partners or customers can quickly and easily deploy new applications for the business • Standard service definitions allow customers to understand exactly what capabilities and service levels they should expect from the provider • Metering allows for greater transparency into utilisation and IT costs, allowing consumers to make more-informed decisions about where to spend their time and money

“OUR PARTNER eco system enables our partners to assist customers to maximise their IT investment and take full advantage of a private cloud. Oracle’s DBaaS solution provides a fast path to the cloud, giving them all the tools they need to quickly provision database services in the cloud, helping them to jumpstart their cloud efforts,” says Donald Thomas, Alliances and Channel Manager, African Operations.

FURTHER, BY focusing on a standardised and optimised platform, providers can also offer the possibility of opening up capacity to their consumers through improvements in procurement, capacity planning, and resource management.

“Oracle is 100 percent focused on ensuring that the benefits of DBaaS and Platform-as-a-Service goes beyond multitenancy, standardisation and costoptimisation and extends to including the Oracle Partner Network eco-system in reselling these products as part of their outsourced technology managed service contracts with their end customers which allows increased service value for our joint customers in using these latest technologies to transform their IT architecture” - Stefan Diedericks, Alliance and Channel Director, Oracle South Africa

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ORACLE’S SMART FUTURE

Smart Cities Make for Smarter Citizens In 2015, this forecast for the years to come embraces one of the most exciting tech developments the world over, and the significant role that Oracle will look to play in the advent of the smart city revolution

FOR THE best part of 40 years, Oracle has innovated and adapted its technological services and solutions in-keeping with the continuously evolving global parameters; ensuring it is both ahead of the curve on an international scale, and considerate of more specific, regional conditions and maturities on a local level.

In Africa, cloud adoption acceleration, the development of skills capacities, and an increased saturation of the market has been Oracle’s key drivers over the past 12 months but, as always, one eye is always fixed on what is to come in the future.

In 2015, this forecast for the years to come embraces one of the most exciting tech developments the world over, and the significant role that Oracle will look to play in the advent of the smart city revolution.

This is a hot topic in countries where many economies have shown dramatic growth in recent years. Sharply rising standards of living and increased social mobility have been marked by a demographic shift away from rural areas towards life in urban environment and cities. And associated massive investments in urban development have heightened the opportunity, and indeed the need to focus very sharply on how those cities are designed and built to become liveable urban environments.

Capitalising on the new model of using knowledge as the fundamental element of economic and social change – primarily through the portal of advanced technologies – is a development very much within Oracle’s skill set.

Retro-fitting

Older cities can enter the digital age through the modernisation of their operations, and Oracle has supported this trend with its Oracle Smart City Platform, an integrated set of powerful IT solutions that bring city governance into that aforementioned digital age.

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City operations can now be modernised with advanced back-office systems that make day-to-day operations more efficient and cost effective. Old, isolated legacy systems can be replaced by a harmonised set of processes and applications that are simpler to maintain and update.

That paves the way for collaboration between different city departments and services as their IT systems can now talk to each other and share data more easily. And the integration of arrays of smart sensors within the city infrastructure adds to the capabilities of city governance to better understand usage of key systems such as power and water utilities, and traffic and public transport patterns.

With all these systems in place, cities can now become truly smart with analytic systems that can provide key insights into city operation for more effective planning.

These smarter, more open systems within

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for smarter citizens.

For example, when alerts are sent out about transportation delays, people can react in a smarter way and find alternative routes.

In turn they can also push out the information to their own communities so more people can become smarter.

Going one step further, the community can even be brought into the planning phase, asking people about their opinions for planning changes and next steps for city development. Citizens are no longer just endusers but begin-users; becoming involved in planning and design, as the city benefits from their imagination in a way not possible with purely centralised decision-making.

Equipped for the future

city governance have an inevitable knock-on effect on making the businesses within these cities equally smart, and laying the foundations for enhanced entrepreneurship and flexibility across a range of industrial sectors.

Smarter citizens

Filtering down the value chain even further and Oracle’s Smart City Platform is also set to directly impact the lives of individuals as they become more exposed to advanced technologies and - especially within regions more in need of development - are able to capitalise on digital opportunities previously unthinkable to them.

When local governments open up their data to their citizens, people can make better decisions based on information that’s relevant to them, such as when to use a certain traffic route, where to find a parking space, and how to best regulate their use of electricity to save money. Smart cities make

As is the case in everything that Oracle does, this Smart City Platform provides a digital arena that will no doubt play a key role in bringing data, people, and resources together.

Iemke Idsingh, responsible for Smart City activities at Oracle, emphasises: “A sentient city infrastructure helps cities to almost literally sense, listen, hear, and action upon what is happening in the city. Connectivity and closed loops are key to that end.

“With the Oracle Smart City Platform, cities can establish a city-wide nervous system, enabling the citizens and the city to share responsibilities while offering maximum control at the lowest level in the community.”

Service optimisation, process harmonisation, and legacy modernisation prepares the city to move to the next level.

Open standards link businesses back to cities, the Internet of Things enables closed loop feedback, and social networks allow citizens to engage with their cities as well as each other; all leading to open and connected smart and imaginative cities, with smarter citizens that are better equipped to move ahead into the future.

Oracle’s Smart City Platform Solution Empowering Citizens.

Engaging Business.

Connecting Departments.

Provides a modular solution set for transformation, including technologies and applications that consolidate IT infrastructures, support current and future systems, and improve service delivery

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ORACLE AFRICA Claire Alexander Oracle Corporate Communications Tel: +27 82 352 6173 claire.alexander@oracle.com

www.oracle.com