Johannesburg, 19 Feb 2015
Technology has existed for a very long time, but the volume of people who are connected online and are digitally-enabled now dwarfs traditional channels. To take advantage of the latest "digital" environment, technology plays a big part, but more importantly, it's about changing your business and operating model in order to take advantage of this new channel.
Digital describes new technologies that allow us to do things that were not possible in the past. Digital is about the automation of any process or activity; about networking people and companies through social channels; about optimising the cost of infrastructure and applications; and about being able to access and interpret myriad data to understand customers, optimise business operations and become more predictive in everyday life. The underlying technologies that have facilitated this include mobile, cloud, social channels, analytics and in-memory computing.
Britehouse has created a Digital division that will provide the full spectrum of consulting, mobility, marketing, social media, and application development capabilities organisations need to remain competitive, by digitising their products, services and business models.
Britehouse Digital has industrial strength credentials, via its well-established Microsoft and SAP practices, to provide a holistic digital offering that will enable large and medium-sized enterprises to convert the data in their ecosystem into bottom line value.
"Gartner predicts that every industry will be digitally remastered and organisations that don't will die out within a matter of years," says Britehouse CEO, Scott Gibson.
"The writing has been on the wall since high street music shops disappeared very quickly after the first iPod came to market and the digitisation trend has been accelerating ever since, with digital cameras, e-books and now, even e-cigarettes becoming commonplace items.
"These new products are not just extensions or revisions of older concepts, they're eradicating entire industries. They are transformative. They call for a new way of thinking about data, about technology, about consumers, and about products and services.
"Very few organisations that are not already steeped in digital thinking and implementation capabilities can navigate those rapids without help. Britehouse is that help - and at an enterprise scale."
Recently appointed MD of Britehouse Digital, Graham Parker, has brought more than a decade of experience in Dimension Data's solutions and services business - and therefore of identifying and enabling new market opportunities for clients - to the task of creating a single interface for clients to the Britehouse divisions that have specialist digital capabilities.
"We have digital marketing and social media specialists, strategy consultants, mobility specialists, knowledge management specialists and application development experts, all offering specific facets of a customer-centric digital approach.
"Our typical engagement begins with our Digital consulting team taking the lead and thereafter underpinning this with powerful application development and implementation resources. We are also able to integrate to our customers SAP environments where necessary.
"Via the umbrella of Britehouse Digital, clients can access any combination of our end-to-end digital capabilities that suits their needs. At the same time, each of our individual units can tap into the experience and expertise of the others in helping a client with a point project. So, the client gets more than the value of a single business unit.
"And, together, all our specialists will continuously scan the digital landscape, creating an ever deepening knowledge and experience resource that will save clients from reinventing the wheel and keep us well ahead of the digital curve."
Britehouse Products MD, Tal Nathan, says although most organisations would think they have been digitising their systems and platforms by using technology to automate what they have always done, true digitisation goes beyond enhancing existing infrastructure and processes.
"The era of heavy assets, in the form of bricks and mortar, equipment, machinery, and high capital cost is under threat. Uber is a case in point. Its use of Google maps, smartphones, and e-payments has disrupted the taxi industry in more than 30 countries around the world. It has no heavy assets because the drivers are the owners of the vehicles that transport passengers. All Uber needs is vehicle and passenger locations to provide drivers and passengers with information about one another. Uber's "capital infrastructure" is its scalable data-driven business model.
"Digital companies like Uber, Amazon, Google, and Apple have understood what Gartner points out: that people spend more time in the digital world than they do sleeping, and that customers will spend time with your organisation digitally before they encounter it physically.
"It is no longer enough to automate business processes. It is now essential to transform your organisation into a digital entity that interacts with the world in digital terms. Britehouse Digital can show you how."
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