Yvette Mulder – Solutions Development Manager at Alteram Solutions is a female force to be reckoned with. Having joined the company in 2014, Mulder is responsible for the development of solutions, applications and systems needed to operate the business successfully.  Mulder has added to the Alteram Solutions base of successful individuals that have made the company a force to be reckoned with. 

“There was no specific development environment at Alteram Solutions when I joined the company” explains Mulder.   She started doing research on contact centres and when the company got awarded the Department of Water and Sanitation contact centre project, she was primarily responsible for its development.  Mulder now has her own development team and Business Analysts that cover the whole system development life cycle.  For the last couple of years, Mulder has been focusing on software development related projects and tenders. 

“An important part of my presence in the company is to grow our employees and to share my skills and experience that I have obtained in my over 30 years’ experience in the industry – it is a vital component of our business and will only serve to grow the strength of our people and our business in the years to come.”

“I am not scared to really stretch myself, to learn new things, to experience new ways of doing business and to extend the boundaries of what we as a society have always been comfortable with – I want to reach, I want to teach, and I want to approach the entire industry with a new look and feel, while teaching my younger sprouts to grow within their professions”. 

A project that Mulder is currently involved in making smarter and more efficient is the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) contact centre project.  This project is made up of many work streams, challenging Mulder and her team to constantly find new ways to optimise the process.  “I am inspired by Alteram Solutions because I can contribute in growing the business as well as bring my skills and experience to what we do and deliver on a daily basis.  I get bored with routines, so I am constantly looking for new opportunities.  These are the things that give me natural energy and keep me going,” adds Mulder.

Mulder began her career as programme manager, but quickly climbed the corporate ladder acquiring programmer roles which allowed her to gain a wider perspective on how clients think, what their individual needs are and how different programmes work. She then branched into business analysis and project management obtaining a TOGAF (high level approach to design) certificate.

Looking at where she is now, Mulder has done development, system design, business analysis, project management and architecture projects from all domains. 

Outside of Alteram Solutions, Mulder is a mother of two daughters and tends to her mother.

During her free time, Mulder enjoys reading. She will also be completing her Cloud for Customer (C4C) certification this year which Alteram Solutions enrolled her for as part of its internal skills development programme.

“If you value your clients and your employees, training is an essential, not a nice to have,” says Didi Ndlovu – Human Resources Manager at Alteram Solutions.  This is why the organisation took one and a half years to develop an extensive training programme that is now available to all the staff within this truly homegrown ICT company. 

Internationally, companies that offer comprehensive training programmes enjoy up to a 24% higher profit margin compared to companies that don’t offer training. ₁ Employee productivity is driven by the skills advancements made possible through employee skills development programmes. ₂ To thrive, companies need to do whatever is necessary to help their employees do their jobs effectively.  A recent study shows that companies with a high level of employee engagement outperform those with lower levels of engagement. ₃

With this understanding in mind, Alteram Solutions launched an extensive skills development programme for its employees as part of the business plan to improve, assist and enhance the way in which its employees do their jobs.  “Every single person in the organisation has equal access to training - this was key in our implementation,” adds Didi.

Alteram Solutions has grown rapidly since its inception in 2013 and now employs over 180 employees across the country.  “As a services company, our employees are the only asset we have to sell. We are thus always looking for ways to improve our skills and service offerings.  Growing a successful business is all about having a good business mind, combined with a strong skill set in a particular area of expertise,” says Garth Madella – Chief Technology Officer at Alteram Solutions.

“We believe that Alteram Solutions’ growth has been strengthened by employee development as new ideas, solutions, techniques and strategies are continuously being developed in the business. If Alteram Solutions does not regularly train its employees on these new developments, the risk of falling behind from its competitors as well as losing touch with its clients’ needs is very high,” says Didi.

The Human Resources department at Alteram Solutions spent a year and a half designing and developing an effective skills development and training plan.  Significant research aimed at the integration of the development of employees as individuals and their performance as teams in order to grow the business was conducted.  This included the following:

• Setting goals that support the business strategy.
• Assessing the skills and tools needed for effective job performance (skills gap analysis).
• Establishing appropriate training resources to facilitate the skills development and training programme.
• Establishing applicable policies and procedures for the skills development and training programme.

“So far, the implementation of the skills development and training programme has brought a huge change in the mindset of the employees at Alteram Solutions and has helped them feel motivated, more engaged and confident in the importance and value of what they add to the business. Furthermore, this initiative adds value to the company as once employees are trained – they will be able to do their jobs more effectively.  Alteram Solutions views its employees as its most valuable asset and making sure that they are trained with the knowledge and skills they need is an investment,” concludes Didi.

For more information on Alteram Solutions visit:  http://www.alteram.co.za

Tel: (010) 900 4075

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: http://www.alteram.co.za

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alteramsolutions/

Event organiser Kinetic has confirmed that industry-giant Performanta has signed on as platinum sponsors for this year’s anticipated 6th edition of their successful flagship event; the IT Leaders Africa Summit.

The event, taking place from 18 - 19 March 2015 at The Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg, is set to go beyond your usual routine business conference, evolving to deliver on a more exciting, topical, trendy and current platform, utilising both the latest technologies coupled with the latest in conference trends internationally.

Together with Performanta, the event aims to deliver an expert-lead agenda that features an educational conference program backed by the latest in technology workshops and demonstrations. 

Performanta’s workshop; Safeguard your organisation now, your wallet will thank you later; focuses on measuring your organisation against the industry on 10 information security and privacy measures, derived from real-world assessments.

Performanta Consulting was established by Anthony Olivier 4 years ago, aligning information security consulting services to the Performanta Technology & Services stable. Performanta Consulting has provided services to primary South African banks, insurance companies, brokers, mining companies, service and retail organisations. Their key differentiator: senior, qualified, experienced consultants, integrated frameworks and fair pricing. Furthermore, the team has assisted in addressing security problems in seventeen African countries and has a thorough understanding of the continental landscape.

As thought-leaders in the industry, they are amongst the most active South African participants in industry conferences, blogs and podcasts.An expert-led advisory panel will lead the summit with industry giants Robert Sussman, co-founder and joint-CEO of Integr8; Hugo Timmerman, Head of IT Southern Africa at British American Tobacco; and Tunde Coker, MD of Rack Centre (A Jagal Group Company).

The event also features over 35 speakers, keynotes, panel discussions and numerous educational workshop sessions hosted by key industry providers, all sessions led by some of today’s most notable individuals who are shaping the IT landscape in South Africa and beyond.

Speakers, just to name a few, include; David Visser, CIO of Coca-Cola Southern Africa; Anthony Hlungwane, Group IT Director of Mr Price Group; Sal Laher, CIO Eskom; Rocky Gwewera, Global Head of Infrastructure Architecture at Sasol; Stephan Ekbergh, CEO and founder of Travelstart; and Sunil Joshi, MD and CEO of Neotel.

Some sponsors and partners include; Telkom Business, HP, Performanta and Blue Coat Systems, SITA, Airwatch, Kofax, Dimension Data, Neotel, Meso Systems, Sage Pastel Accounting and ERP Africa, and Blackberry.

For more information on the event to register to attend or to sponsor, visit www.itleaders.co.za or contact the event organisers Kinetic on +27 21 180 4700.Follow the event and stay up to date on Twitter. @ITLeadersAfrica and join in on the conversation using #ITLAfrica.

As the pace of digital transformation increases, so does the frequency of high profile security incidents and information leaks. This often prompts complex and costly responses, as those who have suffered security breaches – and those who are trying to avoid them – seek ways to manage their exposures and comply with a plethora of industry standards, best practices and government regulations.

Joint silver sponsors at the 6th IT Leaders Africa Summit, SLVA and Ubusha will explore the mechanisms you could use to ensure a secure information-processing environment during their workshop presented by Kris Budnik, Managing Director for SLVA Information Security.

Attendees will hear how they can maximise existing capabilities and leverage the emerging wave of enterprise security technologies that tip the balance away from cyber-criminals and dishonest employees.

SLVA and Ubusha’s holistic response to minimising information security risks requires the ability to:

-Understand and manage who has access to information and systems within your environment and what they are able to do with such access

-Track and have the capability to influence the way that data is accessed, processed and shared within your environment

-Maintain oversight over that environment – ensuring that it remains reliable and free from vulnerabilities which may be exploited to bypass your access control and data governance policies  

Please note that the cut off date for applications to present a workshop at the IT Leaders Africa Summit is the 27th of February 2015.  

During these 60 minute educational workshops, leading industry vendors present their solutions and services in case study format to attending CIOs and IT Heads. Each session is limited to 15 delegates in order to encourage debate and discussion. The workshops are scheduled in advance as the topics are marketed to CIOs and business leaders during the build up to the Summit.  

For IT Leaders Africa Summit brochure advertising opportunities, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   The 6th IT Leaders Africa Summit takes place on 18 & 19 March 2015 at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Neotel, South Africa’s renowned converged communications and network operator have just confirmed that they will be sponsoring a panel discussion at the 6th IT Leaders Africa Summit, produced and hosted by Kinetic.

MD and CEO, Sunil Joshi will be taking part in this panel discussion on enterprise technology in Africa during an agenda track focussing on business connectivity alongside CIOs David Visser from Coca-Cola Southern Africa and Mike Davies from Royal Bafokeng Platinum. 

In this session, they will discuss 4G supporting the real time transmission of voice, data and video and whether the technology is sufficient to improve connectivity for unified communications in organisations. Other featured speakers on this track includes Hollard Group Services CTO, Anthony Hlungwane who will focus on the new social and mobile collaboration tools that connect people inside and outside the enterprise, in a way that provides real time communications and access to supporting systems.

Also hear case studies of the alternative strategies taking shape within organisations located in areas with limited bandwidth during a panel discussion with Chandima Miyanadeniya, CIO for Aon; Johan Pistorius, CIO for African Rainbow Minerals; Potlaki Maine, Executive Head IT for Sentech ; Nkosana Mbokane, General Manager of ICT for Perishable Products Export Control Board  and Rocky Gwewera, Group Head of Infrastructure Architecture for Sasol.

The IT Leaders Africa Summit is now in its 6th year, and has for the first time been produced in conjunction with an official advisory panel of industry experts.  This advisory panel includes Rob Sussman, Co-founder and joint CEO of Integr8; Hugo Timmerman, Head of IT Southern Africa for British American Tobacco and Tunde Coker, Managing Director for Rack Centre (A Jagal Group Company)

Dimension Data, established as a world leader in ICT solutions, who serves 73% of the Fortune 100 and 59% of the Fortune 500 companies will also be powering a panel discussion.  Grant Morgan, General Manager: Cloud for Dimension data will be joined by Fundile Ntuli, CIO for ubank; Peter Oeschger, ‎Group CIO for Finbond Mutual Bank and Heinrich Kukkuk, Group Information Technology Manager for Aveng Group in a discussion on the role of the CIO in the age of the cloud. 

This session will answer questions about where the CIO features in an age when decisions to use the cloud are being made by marketing and other functions both within and outside the organisation  

Join us to hear the experts at the 6th edition of IT Leaders Africa Summit on the 18-19 March 2015 at the Maslow hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.   For the latest ITLA Summit news on speakers, industry providers and content, visit  www.itleaders.co.za  or contact Marcia van Jaarsveld on +27 21 180 7105 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.     

South African Airways has begun the process of adding additional flights between Johannesburg and popular African destinations. This increase in flight capacity has increased frequencies by 17%.

Johannesburg, South Africa –South African Airways (SAA) has announced that it has begun the process of adding additional frequencies to its network which will substantially increase air services to some of its key African routes.

The additional capacity injection answers the commercial mandate of the Long-Term Turnaround Strategy (LTTS), and is in response to positive market growth and demand.  As of yesterday, Harare (Zimbabwe) and Maputo (Mozambique) have included additional frequencies, with Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Mauritius to follow.“

The strengthening of these routes comes in the wake of positive load factors and increased traffic between the countries,” says SAA Acting Chief Executive Officer Nico Bezuidenhout. Presently, GDP growth in Mozambique (7% - African Development Bank) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (8.1%- African Development Bank) exceed World Bank growth statistics for the continent (4.7%-2013) while South Africa’s trade and demand for leisure and business travel to Mauritius is growing at a steady pace. “Air lift services traditionally lead GDP in all markets and also track the rate of increased leisure travel, investment and business engagement between South Africa and its continental peers.”

Operative from 1 December, SAA increased frequencies between Johannesburg and Maputo by 19%. The flights increased from 17 to 21 weekly frequencies while flights between Johannesburg and Harare increased from 18 to 19 every week (5%). From  4 December, flights between Johannesburg and Kinshasa will increase in capacity from 6 to 7 a week (6%) and, flights between Johannesburg and Mauritius from 9 to 10 weekly frequencies (9%). Updated schedules are available across all SAA distribution channels, including the website www.flysaa.com.

  For more information contact: SAA Spokesperson, Tlali Tlali  +27 82 333 3880 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

About South African Airways South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.   

Big data has opened marketers’ eyes to large volumes of intelligence that can help them improve their campaigns and eventually gain an edge against the competition. One of the branches of intelligence that is currently growing in popularity is social intelligence.

With marketers mining through social media to learn about the thoughts and behaviours of their target audiences, they are expected to overcome the limitations of traditional intelligence gathering. As a result, they no longer have to depend on public and proprietary resources or depend on time-exhausting tests and costly analytic methods.

By accessing the data collected via social platforms, more accurate decisions can be made. This is possible since marketers can create more advanced models that help them understand their customers and predict their future actions via past transactional performance, real-time online and social sentiment, and the current market conditions. For instance, marketers using advanced social intelligence can tap into the interests, hobbies and media consumption of consumers, identifying the best marketing channels and customising messages that have a large impact on them.

Social intelligence can also help businesses tap into trends in real-time and capitalise on them right away. A good example of this is Charlie Sheen’s #winning hashtag, which created a major trend that touched all industries. As the trend grew popular, McDonald’s suggested a new menu item called McWinning. While the item was suggested as a joke, McDonald was able to generate more than 15 000 retweets including one by Sheen himself and generate public relations worth over USD20 million in impressions. This comes to prove how important social intelligence can be when used wisely.

McDonald’s tweet also highlights how monitoring social media activity has become the norm. Also known as social listening, this process assists marketers in identifying opportunities and determining a path for their future endeavors. According to Julian Ardagh, CEO of Effective Intelligence, professional listening tools can enhance the effectiveness of marketer-consumer social engagement and ultimately ensure results.

He comments: “Marketers who aspire to gain the most from social intelligence need to embrace social listening processes in order to uncover content ideas, connect with potential buyers online and offline, and discover true brand advocates. Content ideas help embellish marketers’ messages, while the second and third ensure that these messages find their audience and go beyond them to others who may share the same need.”

Currently, social media data is collected to ensure that customers’ negative message are neutralised through smart responses and to come up with insights that help improve overall service problem areas. However, the future of social intelligence will not be limited to these as marketers plan to utilise its findings to form automated campaigns that satisfy the queries and needs of different consumers within their target market. The question you should ask yourself is: “How do you align your strategy to be part of social intelligence when it dominates the world of marketing?”

{pp}Misconceptions about Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems underlie consistent criticisms that they do not deliver on expectations, says Mike McGrath, Red Man Technologies’ strategy enablement executive.