many different streams within the ICT environment for women to pursue. There are very technical streams such as sub consultants or MCSEs (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) or customer services streams such as in our Customer Engagement Teams. There are also different levels of seniority. The Account Executives on our 2 biggest accounts are women. They manage contracts of between R200 and R300 million. The first step is for you to know what you want to do and to understand what that role entails. The second step is to do whatever you have to do today, however small or menial you may think it is. This action plus the attitude of doing more than you have to will lead to your next promotion’. On a personal level Mardia wants people
to live a life of purpose. In that context T-Systems South Africa is connecting with employees and the greater ICT community using three very specific programs. Their program ‘From Success to
T-Systems South Africa continues to lead the field in the ICT sector. They are connecting with employees, partners, customers and the larger IT community. They have soul.
and the world. ‘Connecting and associating with these diverse young people so passionate about South Africa has been very positive’, comments Mardia. Part of T-Systems South Africa’s charter
Significance’ revolves around their staff, the continued organisational growth and transformational leadership. Mardia and her management team have visited almost 2,500 employees throughout South Africa and shared with them the ‘Celebrate what’s right with the world’ video by Dewitt Jones. ‘Our message “From Success to Significance” is about saying we want to be the best for the employees who work for us and we want to be the best service provider for our customers. It is about being the best for the world and not just the best in the world’. It is about letting people discover their own life of purpose. ‘It can be difficult in the ICT industry to create purpose for people. We say to staff: “when we are a world-class partner that delivers our services efficiently, our customers can focus on their core business. When we effectively keep a PC running at Eskom, they can focus on generating electricity. The end result is that we contribute to keeping the lights on in South African households”’. T-Systems South Africa annually hosts
is be involved in skills development. They realise that to be able to employ previously disadvantaged individuals they have to take an active role in creating relevant training for selected students. In 2003 they formed a partnership with CIDA (Community and Individual Development Association) City Campus. CIDA is a fully accredited higher education institution and is a blue print for future higher education models in developing countries. They offer a BBA degree (Bachelor’s in Business Administration). Students have access to an accredited 2 stream program through the ICT Academy created in partnership between T-Systems, the MICT Seta, SAP, Cisco, and Sun Micro Systems. Entry to the Academy is by selection based on IT aptitude. The result after 1 year of study is a graduate that has started specializing and that has practical experience. T-Systems South Africa feels this makes these graduates much more valuable than just a pure academic graduate. T-Systems and CIDA have to date jointly skilled more than 760 ICT qualified graduates with this program. The next step in the programme is to
the Brightest Young Minds summit. This initiative, focussing on young, passionate people is all about exploring, demonstrating and implementing ideas and alternative solutions that can affect societal improvement. One Hundred students are selected from different universities in South Africa. These include students busy with pre-grad, post-grad, Master, Phd and MBA studies. Selection criteria for invitation to the conference also include these students wanting to be change agents in South Africa
42 Management Today | August 2011
place some graduates on the Apprentice Program at T-Systems South Africa. The program started out with 12 CIDA graduates on a 2 year learnership. With input from these graduates and other partners T-Systems have moulded the program in to one that now offers a learnership of 1 year for 90 graduates with a similar qualification from many institutions in South Africa. And Mardia stays connected to these Apprentices. Each year she takes on a mentorship role for 1 selected Apprentice. T-Systems South Africa continues to lead the field in the ICT sector. They are connecting with employees, partners, customers and the larger IT community. They have soul.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118