Deutsche Telekom information technology (IT) business T-Systems South Africa acquired local enterprise information management (EIM) specialist company Intervate to boost its growth in new market segments and its capabilities in various IT areas, says T-Systems South Africa systems integration VP Collin Govender.

These IT capabilities include business communications, EIM, application development and unified business collaboration systems. Intervate will fall within T-Systems South Africa’s systems integration (SI) busi- ness and form the newly created EIM business unit.

T-Systems aims to improve and broaden the use of business IT systems, specifically EIM, converged communications and corporate document and information management, as well as the capability to deploy business IT systems across all devices and channels.

The acquisition forms part of T-Systems’ strategy to capture growth from existing and new customers seeking to integrate, improve and optimise the capabilities and performance of their IT systems, he says.

The major drivers affecting the information and communication technology (ICT) industry currently are mobility, mobile business applications, new strategies regarding ICT devices, social networking and enterprise collaboration.

Areas of Synergy

These are also some of the areas of synergy between Intervate and T-Systems that will be pursued to provide more functionality for corporate ICT systems, he highlights.

“The acquisition of Intervate is in line with T-Systems’ strategy of Zero Distance – enabling companies to provide services to their customers in a cloud ecosystem. “This is achieved with information manage-ment, integration, collaboration and mobility,” says Govender.

Intervate is well known as a top South African business EIM specialist, which is a key reason for the acquisition, he adds.

“EIM will also improve information sharing and reporting times, enabling companies to be more responsive and address issues within days instead of after lengthy reporting cycles. This will enable companies to capture opportunities, while mitigating risks and maintaining centralised corporate control over business information.”

Intervate is recognised for its enterprise information, document and record management capabilities, and is a global software giant Microsoft SharePoint gold award South Africa winner, says Intervate MD Lionel Moyal.

“Even Microsoft, a software-focused company, is increasingly focusing on devices and services, while hardware companies are increas- ingly incorporating the development and deployment of applications for the business community,” he notes.