SPECIAL FOCUS - Integr8 Group

Starting with a mere R300 000 in start-up capital, invested
by joint-CEOs Rob Sussman and Lance Fanaroff, The Integr8
Group houses Integr8 IT, which is today the largest BEE, privately
owned, ICT infrastructure management company in
Africa. “The company was formed in 2001 by Lance and myself,”
says Sussman. “We very rapidly found co-partners Jan
Roux (technical director), Bennie Strydom (sales director)
and Tami Milwidsky (now Sussman, regional director).”
the pain and wins on the client sites,” he says. “It allows us to manage
all our client sites from a central place. We could have put it
anywhere in the world but we decided to put it in Africa. We are a
100 percent African owned and run, so although we provide services
around the world, we have our roots firmly on African soil.”
The Integr8 Group is headquartered in South Africa and has a
presence in the US and UK. It uses these offices to provide services
from Africa.
WORDS Samantha Perry
These entrepreneurs formed Integr8 IT (Pty) Ltd., a company “very rich
in skill and integrity and the delivery aspect around ICT infrastructure and
managed services,” says Sussman. “We sat down in early 2001 to write a
list of what we had, clients, financing and so on, and we had nothing. But
we went out and did it, and picked up some very good minds.”
He adds that they got into the market when everyone else was getting
out, post-Y2k. “The listed companies were taking a hammering,
the bubble had burst,” Sussman notes. “We founded the business with
our own funds, and the company has continued to use its own funds
to grow. It doesn’t have, and has never had, any debt and it hasn’t, and
never has, used an overdraft facility. Our growth has been 100 percent
organic,” he says.
Zero to group
Sussman says the company rapidly built a strong customer profile.
“The market liked the view we had and what we did and saw
us as a young innovation house with the ability to execute. We
landed strong national and multinational brands early on.”
Integr8 IT’s main focus was then, and remains today, the design,
implementation and, most importanty, the management of ICT
infrastructure, in addition to its managed services offering. This
involves managing an organisation’s underlying architecture and
provides Integr8 IT with a healthy, annuity-based revenue stream.
“We had small, medium and large clients in the beginning,” says
Sussman, “but that’s changed. We’ve realised that we are only able
to work with companies that are serious about investing in ICT
in order to make a difference to their business. In the early days
it wasn’t about the reactive model but about roadmaps, where
the client’s business wanted to go and how to use technology to
get there. We’ve always been able to understand business. We’re
business people in the IT world, not the other way around.”
Neural hub
One of Integr8 IT’s underlying assets is its Nerve Centre. Sussman says
Integr8 IT built the first ever Nerve Centre on the African continent.
Running 24/7, it comprises a knowledge centre, connecting Integr8 IT to
all of its clients and includes a call centre, support services, on-demand
support and remote monitoring capabilities, to name but a few.
“It lets us connect to our clients and acts as the digital nervous
system, with our clients being the nerve endings. It lets us feel
Brains trust
People, Sussman states, are
Integr8 Groups’ most important
asset. “We have over 400 full-time,
highly educated, professional and
skilled people who understand
ICT from beginning to end.”
The company’s culture is
critical, Sussman adds, and when
interviewing new candidates,
they are carefully assessed to
ensure they will fit in. “What we
“We want
to be the
Investec
of the ICT
industry.”
Lance Fanaroff
look for, and our success is based on this, is people who can do very
well within a short time frame. We look for a young mindset, which
often but not always comes in a young body, entrepreneurs who can
grow a business within the business, their ability to innovate, and, most
importantly, passion for the brand. They must love what they do.
“We’ve created a great environment too,” he says, noting
the filter coffee that is available to all staff in all of Integr8
Groups’ offices. “It’s the small things that make a difference.
People won’t leave family in a hurry but they will leave a business
quickly, so we’ve created a family environment.”
That said, Sussman says everyone is “deadly serious about work.
It’s about retaining the best minds in the industry, so it’s a fun
environment, but we are deadly serious about hard work.”
Branching out from IT to Group
Sussman says the group has had opportunities to branch into
other IT verticals over the years. Taking advantage of some of
these has seen the company grow to the size it is today. The Integr8
Group has affiliated with it: Integr8 IT, Integr8 Telecoms,
Integr8 Fax, Integr8 IS, Integr8 Rental and Integr8 Property.
Intregr8 IT (Pty) Ltd. is the original business, Integr8 Telecoms
(Pty) Ltd. was set up to take advantage of telecommunications
convergence. Integr8 IS (Pty) Ltd. was originally known as 2Pi (Pty)
Ltd. and founded as a development house focusing on SaaS and
Web 2.0 hosted services. Integr8 Fax (Pty) Ltd. was a company
originally termed Binary Transmssions (Pty) Ltd., which owns and
operates a global platform for fax to mail services. Integr8 Rental
(Pty) Ltd. used to be Arengo (Pty) Ltd., and was born out of the
Integr8 IT - special focus
AUGUST 2008 - 5