PRETORIA, 25 JUNE 2019 – APPSolve has recently launched its internal management app, APPTime, aimed at eradicating challenges in businesses such as revenue leakage, project management inconsistencies, missing timesheets, outstanding quotes, incorrect invoicing, missing expenses, lack of control and dissatisfied customers. Development on the APPTime software application started almost from the inception of APPSolve 17 years ago, and has since evolved as the business has grown to cater for some significant business challenges that they believe are not unique in the South African market.

The product is available on a subscription basis in the hope of sharing lessons learnt and innovative solutions at an affordable price for small businesses. “Although it is important to have effective systems in place, they can prove to be costly in a small business where every cent counts,” explains Maureen Grosvenor, Head of Custom Applications at APPSolve. “We have learnt some tough lessons over the years and have spent time and money on innovative solutions.

We are hoping we can elevate some of the cost pressures by providing a cost-effective scalable business management system for SME’s that can easily grow as your business does. In addition to this, we also offer an efficient team of data capturers and help desk support staff that can help you and your team with all your administrative tasks. So it’s a full end-to-end business management service”.

Key features:

• Cloud Based, built to include field service environment & low bandwidth
• Mobile and Desktop APP versions for Android and iPhone
• Manage suppliers, customers, employees, contractors and applicants including cost to company and payroll
• Manage internal and external resource CV’s and skills matrix
• Manage leads and opportunities
• Manage customer and supplier contracts & multiple projects and resource allocation
• Manage billing types and schedules for example fixed, time and materials, variables, milestone based
• The ability to capture time per project with multiple entries per day
• The ability to capture employee and project expenses
• The ability to on-bill expenses to customer and integrate It with the invoicing
• Option to generate invoices per customer and project
• The ability to book and approve employee and contractor leave applications
• Message board with configurable messages
• Document upload and attachment feature (employee, contracts and expense documents)
• Notification email when time sheets are overdue
• Distance travelled logged per day
• SARS log book extract
• Export data to Excel
• Reporting per resource, project or team
• Visual representation of time captured and days not captured
• Generate PDF reports
• Integration to financial systems
• Integration to project management tools
• Integration to Telegram and Email for notifications and approvals
• Company and project profit and loss.

About APPSolve Organisations often invest in best-of-breed business systems without unlocking their full potential. The systems are underutilised, hampered by complex technical issues, or poorly aligned to business strategy.

APPSolve’s is to ensure our customers enjoy true business value from their IT investments with simplicity and value at its core. APPSolve was established in 2002. We specialise in consulting services across Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Cloud, Custom Software Development, integration and agnostic IT Solutions. We also offer a range of integrated solutions to perform specialised processes.

Our product range includes BeBanking, an end-to-end secure host-to-host banking solution, and AfricaTradeApp, a cloud-based supply chain management system. Our services include Solution Scoping and Design, Software Implementations, Software Support, Training, Help Desk Administration, Technical Development, Database Administration, System Administration, Virtualisation and Engineered Systems.

We also offer Project Management, System Health Checks, Value Added Reseller / License Management, Cloud services (Readiness and Implementation) and Business Process Engineering.

Follow us www.appsolve.co.za Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Media Contact Maria Joubert for APPSolve Purple Word Box PR Tel: 061 441 4920 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Every commercial sector will change more in the next three years than in the past thirty. Digital disruption is undermining the viability of the business models of established companies at an accelerating pace, leading to worldwide closure of brands, companies, and even entire industries.
• With the help of the Own the Future workshop, South African leadership teams are now identifying disruptive opportunities for their business models and brands, and crafting strategies to thrive in the expanding chaos.

Cape Town – South African companies are urgently rethinking how they do business in the digital era.  Digital marketing has produced a growing wave of startup companies who are challenging the overhead-heavy dominance of major established businesses. But, more radical than this, some of these startups are actually disrupting the established way in which whole industries do business. The best known are Uber, Airbnb and Netflix. These have fundamentally changed the very nature of global transportation, hotel accommodation and television as well as a range of related industries.

According to digital transformation expert Godfrey Parkin “Today, every industry has its radical innovators. Their impact is fundamental and unforgiving. To survive disruption and remain relevant, companies often have to rethink their business model and restructure their organisation – not once, but continuously. Company culture usually gets in the way, so getting all your team members and on the same page is absolutely vital to success.”

The CEO of Britefire has launched an initiative to help South African boards and management teams understand disruption, and learn how to actively exploit it. Named “Own the Future”, the one-day workshop demystifies digital, and clarifies scenarios for the immediate future of business. It provides methodologies for identifying disruptive opportunities in your business model, and for creating strategies to exploit them.

Built on work Britefire has done over recent years in a number of South African companies, Own the Future is a high-impact actionable experience which engages top team members across all the disciplines in a company. 

Parkin believes that many South African companies are currently at a point known as the edge of chaos, where the pace of innovation in the competitive environment accelerates upwards just as the company's ability to change plateaus. He says "To survive in this world, you have to be supremely agile. To thrive, you have to be the one creating the chaos.” 

The opportunities for success are tremendous, but without an explicit management commitment to continuous change, businesses are endangered. Own the Future provides business leadership teams with the frameworks, tools and inspiration to identify opportunities, and to manage change with confidence.

Britefire is a future-focused business strategy and digital marketing company based in Cape Town and operating worldwide.

For more information visit britefire.com or phone 021 794 7838.

Contact details
Godfrey Parkin, CEO, and workshop facilitator: 021 794 7838   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

By Michelle Moss*, Director at Signium Africa - www.signium.co.za

Politics was once a dirty word in business. You did not play politics to get ahead. It was just not done. Rubbish! Corporate politics have always been played.

The challenge is to play without deceit and duplicity while boosting the business. Of course, smart political players boost themselves as well.Currently, a corporate politics rethink is underway overseas. International literature confirms it.

A similar reassessment is underway in South Africa.Local indicators include executive search feedback to job candidates that their ‘political’ skills need attention and growing demand in the executive coaching arena for assistance with this aspect of personal development.Stalled careers are a key driver.Long hours and impressive gains should have resulted in career recognition but haven’t.

The individual then asks, ‘What more can I do?’The answer is ‘Learn to play the game’, and that game is corporate politics.

Many newcomers to the game are shamefaced about it.They confuse politics with ‘brown-nosing’ and manipulation.

They believe good people do not network for self-advantage.However, a good executive coach will point out that access, visibility and credibility are essential for personal and corporate success.Good ideas are useless unless they’re shared with decision-makers.

ccess to senior ranks is therefore essential. Once access is gained, the ambitious manager has to be seen as a credible performer making a visible difference.Credibility is rarely an issue. The go-getter usually has the qualifications and experience, has put in the time and achieved success.The challenge relates to access and visibility, but first mindsets must change.This is no problem for those who are aware their career has stalled and change is overdue.

Good coaches also point out that personal values are not compromised by networking and relationship-building. Behaviour might change, ethics remain intact.Behavioural change helps put a name to developments that were previously anonymous.Bosses are swamped by data. Often, they don’t have time to ask ‘who worked on this project?’ or ‘who led that team?

By changing behaviour and creating favourable awareness, players make it easier for superiors to remember a face and name.Once the mindset has been adjusted, it is necessary to identify decision-makers and influencers; external as well as internal. Impress some clients or suppliers and the word may go all the way to the top of your own organisation.Once identities have been established, relationships can be developed. Often, this is through participation in various initiatives or at certain social occasions.Take an interest. Get on to the invitation list.This can be difficult for introverts. They need to become more outgoing. Extroverts face a different challenge. They can come across as pushy and egotistical.One way forward is to tell a story that subtly conveys the contribution of the ambitious manager without bombast. There may be a humorous pay-off line, but the story-teller is positioned as a key actor.These techniques involve no play-acting. Superiors are not being deceived.

They are being alerted to interesting developments and the impact of new role-players.Advancement from this base can be impressive. Stalled careers may go into overdrive.Stellar success like this is not built on a lie. You have to be the real deal to make real progress. Play the political game to win recognition. But remember; real winners always deliver results.

*Michelle Moss is a Director at Signium Africa (previously Talent Africa), a leading South African-based executive search and talent management company servicing sub-Saharan Africa. www.signium.co.za

Inaugural Contact Centre / Business Process Outsourcing Leadership Graduation Ceremony in Cape Town  

On 23rd May 2017 the inaugural TULA graduation ceremony for young leaders in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/ Contact Centre sector was held in Cape Town.  59 students from 4 companies have attended the TULA leadership course over the past 18 months.

TULA Founder and CEO, Gareth Pritchard, explained the relevance of the new leadership programme: “TULA works with OnTrac, an Indian based training and consulting company. The programme aims to give students the tools to develop their leadership skills and improve their respective company’s operational efficiency. More than 60,000 students worldwide have participated in the programme. The programme is unique in that it is able to measure the impact of learning activities against each company’s individual business goals.” 

Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille commended the students who had taken part in the programme: “I would like to congratulate each and every student who successfully completed their course and graduated in the first graduation ceremony of the TULA leadership programme. The BPO / Contact Centre sector is contributing significantly to the development of our economy, with over 4,500 new jobs created in the last year alone. This growth will only continue if we ensure that our leaders are equipped with globally recognised skills.” 

Lufthansa InTouch was one of the participating companies. Their Site Operations Manager, Ian Ohlson commented: “Not only does this program unleash the individual’s leadership potential, it also works towards achieving your organisational goals by allowing employees to take control and influence the bottom-line through individual and group work.”  

Capfin Business Operations Manager, Jacques Loubser agreed: “We see such a positive shift in team and individual performance, purely because the learnings imparted during the leadership programme speak to the cornerstones that make up a successful contact centre and in turn our people are able to positively influence the customer value proposition.” 

Leading global customer experience and business process outsourcing company, Webhelp, who employs over four thousand people in South Africa, also participated in the programme. Chief operating officer for South Africa, Simon Garabette, commented: “The quality and expertise of our people are extremely important to Webhelp. Engaging in training of this nature highlights our commitment to developing our people, which benefits them and our clients.” 

EXL Service is a global provider of decision analytics, operations management, outsourcing, business transformation and IT services. Their country head, Pratap Rao, welcomed the invitation to participate in the programme: “As we continue to grow our teams and to solidify our presence in the industry, the TULA program played a huge role in not just helping the participants understand the importance of building winning teams, but how to build them as well. I can see a program like TULA becoming integral to growth in this industry in any geography. 

TULA has also formed a partnership with the Zoe Incubation Centre in Delft to help establish a skills pipeline in Delft to enable access for township communities into the contact centre sector. 7 of Zoe’s students will also be present at the graduation ceremony. The graduation ceremony was held on 23rd May at 14:00 in Cape Town’s entrepreneurial hub, Workshop17, at the V & A Waterfront where TULA has its offices. 

TULA provides consulting services and training in the area of Operations Management for the Contact Centre / BPO sector.  CEO and founder is Gareth Pritchard email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; cell: 0837030822; website www.tulasa.co.za; Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garethmpritchard Twitter @BPESACT      

On 23rd May 2017 the inaugural TULA graduation ceremony for young leaders in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/ Contact Centre sector will take place in Cape Town.

The ceremony will be attended by Cape Town Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille who will also award the graduation certificates to the students. 59 students from 4 companies have attended the TULA leadership course over the past 18 months. TULA Founder and CEO, Gareth Pritchard, explained the relevance of the new leadership programme: “TULA works with OnTrac , an Indian based training and consulting company. The programme aims to give students the tools to develop their leadership skills and improve their respective company’s operational efficiency. More than 60,000 students worldwide have participated in the programme. The programme is unique in that it is able to measure the impact of learning activities against each company’s individual business goals.” 

Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille commended the students who had taken part in the programme: “I would like to congratulate each and every student who successfully completed their course and graduated in the first graduation ceremony of the TULA leadership programme. The BPO / Contact Centre sector is contributing significantly to the development of our economy, with over 4,500 new jobs created in the last year alone. This growth will only continue if we ensure that our leaders are equipped with globally recognised skills.” 

Lufthansa InTouch was one of the participating companies. Their Site Operations Manager, Ian Ohlson commented: “Not only does this program unleash the individual’s leadership potential, it also works towards achieving your organisational goals by allowing employees to take control and influence the bottom-line through individual and group work.”  

Capfin Business Operations Manager, Jacques Loubser agreed: “We see such a positive shift in team and individual performance, purely because the learnings imparted during the leadership programme speak to the cornerstones that make up a successful contact centre and in turn our people are able to positively influence the customer value proposition.” 

Leading global customer experience and business process outsourcing company, Webhelp, who employs over four thousand people in South Africa, also participated in the programme. Chief operating officer for South Africa, Simon Garabette, commented: “The quality and expertise of our people are extremely important to Webhelp. Our people are our biggest asset and it is crucial for us to be able to offer our best people rewarding and meaningful careers. Engaging in training of this nature highlights our commitment to developing our people, which benefits them and our clients through the enhanced levels of customer experience we can deliver to their customers.” 

EXL Service is a global provider of decision analytics, operations management, outsourcing, business transformation and IT services. Their country head, Pratap Rao, welcomed the invitation to participate in the programme: “As we continue to grow our teams and to solidify our presence in the industry, the TULA program played a huge role in not just helping the participants understand the importance of building winning teams, but how to build them as well. I can see a program like TULA becoming integral to growth in this industry in any geography. 

TULA has also formed a partnership with the Zoe Incubation Centre in Delft to help establish a skills pipeline in Delft to enable access for township communities into the contact centre sector. 7 of Zoe’s students will also be present at the graduation ceremony. 

The graduation ceremony will be held on 23rd May at 14:00 in Cape Town’s entrepreneurial hub, Workshop17, at the V & A Waterfront where TULA has its offices.    

TULA provides consulting services and training in the area of Operations Management for the Contact Centre / BPO sector.  CEO and founder is Gareth Pritchard

email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; cell: 0837030822; website www.tulasa.co.za; Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garethmpritchard Twitter @BPESACT   

Craig Featherby, Group CEO of Carrick, is pleased to announce the promotion of Samantha Taylor-Bowen to Group Director of Training and Development for the Carrick Group of companies, where she will sit on the Board of both the South African and International divisions.

[PHOTO] Sam is the first woman to be appointed to the Board, in an industry that is largely dominated by men.

Her role as Group Director of Training & Development will largely be focused on developing, implementing and monitoring training programmes within the organisation; mentoring new and existing Associates in skills development so that they can continue to excel in the industry, and assisting with development of strategic training for the Group. Her leadership in this area is viewed as being vital to the growth of the business and the professional development of the various teams.

Samantha joined Carrick at inception (8th October 2014), and assumed a management role in Cape Town, having spent seven successful years as a senior Financial Adviser and manager for a large international brokerage. In the two years that she has been with Carrick, her track record as a Senior Adviser has been without par, with the highest income production level in the company. While the Sales division will be minus their most lucrative team member as a result of this promotion, the Group will profit from her leadership and direction in the continued maturation of the various business units, and in the organisation’s expansion plans.

She sees her role on the board as an exemplar to others within the company: that it is possible to work your way to the most senior levels through tenacity, skill, knowledge, experience and self-development. Her promotion is evidence of Craig Featherby’s belief that hard work and personal accomplishment should be rewarded with promotion where deserved, and her appointment to the Board of Directors is the first from within the ranks at company level. Taylor-Bowen will report directly to the Group CEO from 1 January 2017.

Cape Town, South Africa – 6 October 2016  

Carrick Wealth, the leading offshore investment advisory in Africa, is celebrating its second anniversary, and, in the same week, has opened an office in Gaborone that is fully compliant and regulated with the relevant authorities in Botswana.

The new Gaborone office in the Masa Centre is headed by Andrew Mhere, who is both the Managing Director of Carrick Wealth Botswana and Carrick Wealth Zimbabwe. He is supported by a team of diverse, highly qualified advisers.

With its headquarters in Cape Town and fully functioning offices in Johannesburg, Durban, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and now in Gaborone, Carrick Wealth is changing the face of the offshore financial services industry for high-net-worth clients and those starting out on their wealth journey.

[photo] Craig Featherby, Group Chief Executive Officer, says: “We’ve experienced extraordinary growth in such a short period of time and we are geared to extend the Carrick formula further into new markets in Africa.” 

In the 24 months that the Carrick Group of Companies has been in business, its growing team of specialist financial advisers is constantly kept abreast of all the changes regarding regulatory matters in the areas in which the Group operates.

A sophisticated technological platform is in place that keeps live-tracking of all activities connected with the industry, and with the business in particular, giving clients the surety that their investments are completely secure and monitored.  

As Carrick Wealth expands its footprint into Africa, it will be offering clients and advisers in each country the opportunity to experience professional, disciplined, innovative solutions and service. The Carrick team is growing, and now has 152 people working for the company – as against seven when Carrick first opened its doors exactly two years ago.

As the company celebrates its second anniversary, it can report that it has an advisory relationship with 787 clients, has over R2,2 million under management and has assisted in 443 QROPS pension transfers out of the United Kingdom into offshore structures.

Carrick Wealth offers clients in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa various financial and estate planning solutions, including the formation of offshore investment structures, portfolio management, private equity and venture capital asset allocations.        

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lynn Halliday (Group Marketing Manager)

CARRICK WEALTH
T: +27 (0)21 201 1000
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.carrick-wealth.com

I spoke with Prof EN Barkhuizen from the Talent Management Blueprint Conference and asked her for some of the Key Takeout’s from the conference held on 16th and 17th of October which unpacked Talent Management and Organisational Energy and behaviour

‘Are we making a Difference? ’Was her biggest question for Industry Leaders.

‘There are Only about 100 scientific publications on talent management. ‘There are 32, 4 million people aged between 15 and 64 years (working age population) in South Africa.

Of these 13, 1 million (40%) were employed and 4, 5 million (3, 8%) were unemployed.

This report further pointed out that 41, 0% of the unemployed were students

15, 0% were discouraged work seekers.

38 236 doctors and 5 560 dentists.

The doctor-to-population ratio is estimated to be 0.77 per 1 000.

But because the vast majority of GPs – 73% – work in the private sector, there is just one practicing doctor for every 4 219 people.

(Source: RSA.info, 2014)

From the above stats, it is apparent that we clearly need to become more Talent Intelligent.

Other staggering Stats from hashtag Marius Meyer were the following:         

Human Capital is the biggest concern for CEOs (PwC).        

Only 18% of CEOs feel confident that they have the right people in place to execute strategy (CEB).        

Human Capital is the biggest risk in business (HCI Africa).        

Skills crisis is the top obstacle to economic growth.        

Strikes cost SA R 200 million+ per day.        

SA losing R12 billion a year due to absenteeism.        

Only 19% auditors feel they use HR optimally (CG Index – Institute of Internal Auditors)        

Only 5% employees understand business strategy.        

World-wide 13% of employees actively engaged.        

Companies with engaged employees outperform others by 202% (Dale Carnegie).

Companies with good HR Practices outperform others by treating HR as critical business function, these companies are 105% more profitable.

Average ROI on wellness programmes: 300%.

‘So what do we do about all this? ‘I asked like Dr Lynne Derman, who is a renowned expert in the field of organisational energy and whose Doctoral Study was the first to investigate organizational energy in the South African context.’

‘I am passionate about employee well being, in fact managing talent effectively gives business a competitive advantage.

Aligning Talent Management with Business Strategy is imperative. It is equally important to be equipped with the correct tools‘.

For more information on individual and organisational well-being visit goldfish-consulting

Link: http://goldfish-consulting.co.za/services/talent-management

We are thrilled to announce that both the public and private sectors appear to recognize the value of board diversity as BPW SA has been approached in the last month alone, to assist with eleven board vacancies for women on our Register.  Women and men have different interests and perspectives in important areas, and boards are starting to see the importance of utilising these varying experiences to tackle the tremendous challenges. 

BPW SA and the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) want boards of directors to widen the search for talent by looking beyond the traditional pool of executives and bring new potential to light.  It is for this reason that we have joined forces to provide a Women on Boards programme to create a Register of female leaders in South Africa who are excellently trained and, as a result, are highly sought after by Boards.  After all, why on earth would you voluntarily exclude half the smart people?

Our first group of 19 senior women, all thoroughly trained through our 9-month Women on Boards director development programme and certified by the dti, are now available on our register of Board Potential Women Directors and we urge companies to contact us for potential female directors.

Seven of our graduates are in line for board interviews , many have been interviewed by the media – both radio and magazines – and all will be profiled in the KZN Chamber of Commerce Power Book (2015). As an ongoing service to the graduates, BPW SA continues to raise their profile in an effort to access suitable board placements.  We have proven that board diversity is not a supply problem, but rather a demand problem.

BPW SA is proud to announce that we have incorporated an international module into the Women on Boards programme.  Business acumen - incorporating business finance and strategy - a must in today’s complex landscape. Business acumen is a keen understanding of what it takes for an organization to make money.  It combines financial literacy – the ability to interpret numbers on financial statements – with business literacy – recognizing how strategies and decisions impact these numbers.  Call it a sophisticated business simulation. Call it an exercise in experiential learning. Or call it a board game. Whatever you label it, the simple fact is that the training is fun and will gives participants a true competitive edge.

A recent Women on Board graduate, Tebogo Maziya, who holds a Masters degree in Science, a postgraduate diploma in finance and a B Comm degree says the nine-month journey has been fulfilling. “I learnt there’s a risk and that that risk is manageable. So it’s important for the board to be transparent and accountable and for a board member to be aware of decisions made because they will be held accountable.”  Another graduate, Amantha Maharaj, a BSc electrical engineering graduate with an MBA, who works a top management level at an engineering consultancy says of the programme: “It teaches one to know how a board is structured, what to do, and questions one needs to ask when sitting on a board. It also teaches business risk and how one should view business from a higher level. It was certainly value for money.”

For more information about our Women on Boards Programme, please visit our website at www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (011) 794-4991.

With 2014 being the year of Big Data it is essential to stay up to date with all the developments, challenges and laws of big data as well as how to analyse and manage big data. Attending the Big Data Analytics & Management Conference on 30 September is the best way to gain knowledge on all of this. The conference will be held at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, Johannesburg.  

Data experts to address the conference:         

Gary Allemann - Master Data Management
Steven Burnstone - Eighty20 Consulting
Salome Coetsee - Ernst & Young Advisory Services
Stuart Cheverton - Hitachi Data Systems
Werner Coetzee - Hitachi Data Systems
Willem Conradie - PBT Group
Ashleigh Van Kerckhoven - KPMG
Dave Ives - Karabina Solutions  

Gert Botes, Conference Organiser at Alpha Omega Events said: “Professionals dealing with data analytics, business intelligence, customer insights, risk management, fraud & security, data management, marketing, customer relations, strategy development & implementation, operations, product innovation & management, risk & compliance, data engineering and ICT services will benefit greatly from attending this conference.”  

Experts will present on 10 big data myths busted – practical suggestions for starting big data analytics, data analytics: building a competitive culture, explosion of data and how to cope, data protection & POPI, using big data for fraud detection and prevention, cloud computing – an effective big data enabler, social media and big data and more…  

Delegates registration are open and seats are limited so book your asap to avoid disappointment.

Registration form can be downloaded on www.aoevents.co.za and emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Registration fee is R2199.00 per delegate and includes full access to conference and free parking, conference material, speaker presentations, coffee/tea and refreshment, 3 course buffet lunch as well as free shuttle from and to OR Tambo.

Group bookings of 3 or more will receive 15% discount on registration fee.