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Exactly 12 years later they sold it formillion to the country's
largest publical-technology company, the BusinessGroup (BCG), ln a
cash deal. Bothon board as joint CEOs.
says many high-growth businessestwo people at the heim. "We've
had a verypartnership because we brlng differ-things to the
company, while sharing the
core values of integrity, honesty and hardlt can be extremely
difficult to achieveas we have in such a short time, andwe did it
because of the strength ofpartnership. Business is tough, and to
havewith whom you can share the burdenthe wins makes all the
difference. Whenworking late and travelling all over the
it's great to have a friend by your side."partners have created
hundreds of jobsthe way and generated millions of randsTheir story
is inspiring because it re-exactly how powerful entrepreneurship
is
force for sustained economic development.don't come from wealthy
families," saysan electrical engineer by profession.one gave us
money to start the business,we could not borrow it either. We
scrapeda total of R300 00O and we shared awhlle we were working on
it in the earlyLance is married to my sister, which meansour
families are close. Whenever we trav-to Johannesburg for business,
we would
with family members and borrow their carsaround. We kept our
initial expenses very,low and ran the business extremely lean. Weit
strictly from the ground up, and that initial
was the only personal money we everput into it."business has
been characterlsed by ex-growth since day one. "We re-gearthe
company every few yearsthe next growth spurt and aswe are able to
continue growing," says"With the experience we have gainedthe past
decade, we can scale the business
faster today. lt's critical to place the rightin the right
positions - the most difficulthas always been the people -
technologyahead, the company aims to pen-the public sectol to
continue to grow
into the African continent, and to eventuallyinternationa I
ise."Now, as part of the Business ConnexionGroup, we are listed as
a multi-billion rand en-terprise," says Sussman. The deal with
BusinessConnexion, a Ieading black-owned ICT servicesprovider,
creates a single organisation with7 OOO highly skilled employees
who witt be deliv-ering services from the mid-market corporate
toenterprise space across Africa.
Sussman and Fanaroff have held onto thevarious other businesses
in the IntegrS group- including fax, telecoms, property and asset
fi-nance companies - and will change the name ofthe group now that
the lT business is owned byBusiness Connexion.I Always focus on
innovationI Sussman points out that the business hasII had a strong
focus on innovation from dayone. lt's a claim many business owners
make, butwhat does it actually mean? lnnovation has beendefined as
the process of translating an idea orinvention into a product or
service that createsvalue oT for which customers will pay. The
ideahas to be replicable at an economical cost andmust satisfy a
specific need. In business, innova-tion is usually the result of
ideas being applied bythe company to satisfy the identified needs
andexpectations of its customers. lt's no secret thatinnovation is
synonymous with risk-taking: The
Irrxrrisk is so great because it's about creating a nmarket.
Sussman says that in a rapidly changworld, it's not the biggest
companies thatsucceed, but the fastest. "Constant innovatand change
are required in line with what is hpening outside of the business,"
he says. "Ycan never take your eye off what your comptors are doing
and where the market is movin
He says IntegrS has always had in place a twyear roadmap for the
business, and that the copany tries to obsolete its own model
beforemarket does because lagging behind is fatal."Our people spend
about 1O% of their tilooking at new ideas and new projects. When
thbring these to us, we evaluate them and ifproposition makes
sense, we implement. We dowait for days, weeks or months. We look
at it awe make a decision. Never allow bureaucracystif Ie a great
idea."al Find a killer differentiatorf lt's not the services
IntegrS provides th/f.- differentiate the company, but the
wayprovides them."We are the owners, lnnovators and opetors of the
only'Nerve Centre' on African soSussman says. He describes the
Nerve Centrethe nucleus of Integr8's lT management offerinBased in
Johannesburg, it's a hub built on somof the world's best
technology. lt gives the copany's engineers access to clients' ICT
systemand enables them to conduct running repaisecurity updates and
remote audits to ensuoptimal operations.
"Designing the Nerve Centre was key, ashas allowed the business
to scale. When yobusiness is privately owned and has no
financibacking, you have to be very careful with evebit of money
you make and use it as smartlypossible. As we got more clients, we
needed mopeople. The key question was how to build ocustomeT base
without having to employ mopeople as this would raise our costs.
The solutiowas to put our best people in a purpose built tecnical
hub where each one of them is able to loafter multiple clients over
the Internet.
Instead of placing employees on-site at the cents' premises,
which is far more expensive, wleveraged technology. We needed a
networkmanage clients so we used the lnternet. This hnever been
done before in South Africa, and iwhat allowed us to scale
rapidly.
Sussman says he and Fanaroff knew thcompanles like theirs would
be unable to growithout a platform in place. They had spea Iot of
tlme evaluating the systems and toothat other companies were using,
documentinwhere they were falling short, and then buildintheir
solution on top of that. Today, this digit
rEVE
like to see ourselves like Faeehook or Google -are deeply
serious businesses, but they haveenergy and a carlture that makes
people r$ant toemployed by them."
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"tllith the experience we hase gained cver thepast decade, urre
can scale the husiness a lct fastertoday. It's critical tc place
the right people in theright positions - the most diffiflrlt part
has al-ways been the people - technology is easy.o'
reve rl
&ilp*rurr':,ia*:*-ffi
manages and regulates the ICT environmentmany of the country's
leadinq corporations.
Corporatise the business\rne concepl of corporatisation is a
dirtyone in many entrepreneurial circles, butinsists that
corporatising IntegrS wasprepared the company for growth andfor its
acquisition by the Business
Group.Essentially,it's the process oI structuring anto reflect
the structure of a publi-
owned corporation and giving it the featuresa large commercial
business. ls it possible Loand still maintain entrepreneurial
lair and f lexibility? Sussman says it is. "We grewbusiness from
the ground up, and we have
focused on maintaininq an entrepreneur-culture, but we also knew
thatwas essential to put in place controls, processgood goveTnance
to enable the business'grow up' properly. We don't advise that
an
entrepreneurial business corporatises immediate-ly, but as
additional clients come on board and en-able you to do so as a
result of growth. You can'tcorporatise too qulckly as you risk
hindering thespirit of a start-up."
Corporatising, says Sussman, is quite simple.It's about acting
professionally and havlng thesystems and controls in place that
make businesssen se."That's why, when the Business ConnexionGroup
came to see us, they saw a professional,well managed business that
was structured andorga n i sed."
He's keen to point out, however, that Integr8has a young, fun
culture. "We like to see ourselveslike Facebook or Google - they
are deeply seriousbusinesses, but ihey have an energy and a
culturethat makes people want to be employed by them.I think that's
one of the reasons why we have CVspouring into the business. As an
organisation, wehave a great reputation and people want to be apart
of what we do."
