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PROFILEThe company’s main objective isto maximise customers’ businessefficiencies through innovative andbest-of-breed business applications.Core offerings include managedprint services, enterprise documentmanagement solutions, enterprisecommunication and IP (internetprotocol) telephony, and maintenanceand support. Itec’s total print outputmanagement solutions reduce theoutput cost per page, while itscustomised telephony services anddocument management solutionsstreamline operations, resulting inincreased efficiency and higher profitmargins all-round.Itec’s inventive ‘innovation atwork’ philosophy is successful, becauseit asks questions – lots of questions.After all, the right questions askedof the right people result in smartsolutions. Partnerships with someof the world’s leading vendors,together with extensive service andsupport infrastructure and worldclasssystems, enable Itec to delivercomplete solutions to its myriadclients.Itec has a strong supportinfrastructure for its office automationand communications customers. It isa field-service force backed by worldclasssystems, allowing Itec remotelyto manage and monitor customers’equipment, and dispatch techniciansquickly in response to technicalissues. All of Itec’s techniciansare trained in business skills andrelationship management, andinteract with clients in a professionaland courteous manner – something onwhich the company prides itself.The company takes a holistic,solutions-driven approach to eachorganisation’s needs, and is dedicatedto the identification of productivity,cost and technological inefficiencies.Itec enters into long-term strategicrelationships with its clients, costingand then crafting solutions thatperfectly match the requirements ofeach. This process is one of the keydifferentiators between Itec and itscompetitors.The Group is committed to broadbasedblack economic empowerment(BBBEE) and is accredited as a level1 contributor. iKamva Labantu is acommunity-based organisation thatemploys over 100 people, cares for25 000 children, and assists in poorcommunities. Itec has forged a closepartnership with iKamva Labantuas a strategic BBBEE partner. Theorganisation holds a 50,1% stake inItec Holdings.In addition to BBBEE, Itec feelsstrongly about the empowermentof women in the workplace. “Beinga leader is not how you will beremembered after you die,” Ntshinkasays, “but the connections you madewhile you were alive.” He believes thatwomen often find themselves willingto trade a job with a higher salary,for a job with other characteristicsthat they find attractive. In contrast,men seem more willing to accept jobswith less desirable characteristicsin pursuit of a higher salary. “Aswomen progress in their careers,they have come to appreciate andreally value the other attributes thatdefine success beyond the profit andloss in business: great leadership,long-term financial strength, ethicalbusiness practices, evolving businessstrategies, sound governance,powerful brands and value-baseddecision-making,” Ntshinka says. It isall of this, and more, that Itecoffers.Itec’s holistic, solution-drivenmethodology has made it the fastestgrowingand third-largest solutionsprovider in Southern Africa andthe United Kingdom, with annualaggregated revenue of approximatelyR1,7 billion (£150 million). Itec’sinternational footprint from SouthernAfrica to the United Kingdomcomprises 47 regional offices.Wherever you find innovation at work,you’ll find Itec. ✥Progressive women in business 57