Support Build Plan - Dimension Data

chairman’s statement
“A stable balance sheet, a drive to enhance efficiencies and a
successful focus on working capital management were highlights
of the period under review.”
Introduction
The year under review has been
characterised by continuing challenging
global trading conditions. Dimension Data
has responded by improving our strategic
and operational focus, enhancing the
management team and delivery
capabilities, and further cutting costs
whilst maintaining investment in the
evolution of our business model.
At the start of fiscal year 2003, Dimension
Data embarked on a programme of
standardising the way we operate across
the globe. The DD Way, our internal
change programme, forced us to examine
and better understand what drives our
organisation internally. It was also the
catalyst for a focus on transitioning the
Group into a more customer-centric,
outward-looking organisation. This has
resulted in a marked improvement in the
way in which Dimension Data engages
with customers, suppliers and staff.
This external focus on our customers,
combined with the standardisation of our
delivery capabilities globally, has
reinforced the Dimension Data brand as
a global provider of managed and
professional services. The growing
recognition of Dimension Data’s brand
and the Group’s capabilities are reflected
in the quality of our business wins over
the past year. These include new contracts
with several well-known global customers,
such as Allianz, Airbus and a leading
global courier company. Enhanced
offerings and strong customer
relationships have also enabled us to
penetrate our existing customer base
further, as evidenced by clients such as
HSBC and a global pharmaceutical
company, where we significantly extended
the scope of existing contracts.
Globalisation has seen many of our
customers evolve from decentralised
regional operations into centralised global
businesses. Customers increasingly prefer
dealing with IT partners who offer global
solutions and services that help maximise
return on their investments. This trend has
contributed to the consolidation we have
seen in the IT industry in the past year. In
this environment, our global footprint is
vital to our customer engagement strategy.
It allows us to service our global
customers locally and to understand and
capitalise on their IT strategies. In
addition, we are increasingly working with
key alliance partners such as Cisco and
EMC to understand the IT requirements of
their global customer base.
Period under review
Convergence of IT environments
continues to fuel our Application Network
vision. Further progress has been made in
improving the competitive position of the
business by refining our solution sets and
tightening our focus on five focused lines
of business – Network Integration,
ANNUAL REPORT 2003 9