New York-listed Computer Science Corporation (CSC) has announced a black economic empowerment (BEE) alliance with two of South Africa’s leading black-owned SAP implementation specialist companies, Cornastone Technology Holdings and Nokusa Consulting.
In terms of the agreement, the BEE firms will focus on the SAP services market and there will be no hierarchical model with one company playing the dominant role in the alliance.
The information technology firms will work together on an “open book, exclusive relationship” basis. This means that each company’s business operations will be transparent to the others. No new relationships with additional service providers can be formed without permission of other alliance partners.
The agreement brings to the South African market a dynamic, black-empowered offering that will challenge large and established players competing for a share of the considerable SAP application implementation and service market, the companies said.
“This is the first empowerment alliance where each member will share the risks and rewards of their aspect of client engagements, while retaining corporate independence. Unlike most alliances, the members will not sell or exchange equity, and the alliance will not be a registered entity in terms of the Companies Act.”
The company that acts as the prime contractor with each new client deal will take the legal responsibility for the relationship between the client and the alliance and manage the project.
According to CSC global transformation solutions director Jim Kleyn the pact is the combination of the firms’ local skills, experience and knowledge combined with world-class resources.
Kleyn added that the companies will jointly seek new business opportunities where the combination of expertise, international best practice in implementation and customer relationships ensures a powerful package for customers needing to engage with a BEE-accredited service provider.
“The risks and rewards will be equally shared between the alliance members. For CSC, this is the first of the innovative ways in which we will contribute to the enterprise development pillar of the draft ICT Empowerment Charter,” Kleyn continued.
Cornastone CEO Hamilton Ratshefola said the deal is a breakthrough approach towards BEE and capacity-building for the company. He expects an increase in its SAP resource capacity by 30 to 50 resources in the next 12 to 18 months.
“We viewed this association with a global leader as an opportunity for Cornastone to build its capacity, develop critical intellectual property and develop a long-term sustainable business model,” Ratshefola continued.
According to Nokusa CEO Moses Hadebe the pact is the beginning of a committed BEE relationship with the foremost global industry player. Nokusa and CSC have been involved in creating and delivering work for large international companies.
“This opportunity will enable Nokusa to build requisite SAP skills very quickly, focusing primarily on previously disadvantaged individuals,” he said. — I-Net Bridge