COVID-19 has forced businesses to take a long hard look at their capability and technology resources, and subsequently there is a renewed focus on enterprise software to leverage cloud, AI, analytics and Internet of Things (IOT) – something businesses like global enterprise applications provider IFS are acutely aware of and ready to capitalise on.

IFS was founded in 1983 and currently has a workforce of over 4,000 employees and supports over 10,000 customers worldwide.

Its focus is on field service management, mobile workforce management and reverse logistics, and its applications business software addresses ERP functionality requirements including CRM, SCM, enterprise asset management and MRO.

The company recently announced the appointment of Emma Murray as Managing Director for the Africa market.

Prior to this appointment, Murray served as sales director at Microsoft and before that as VP for MEA region at Software AG.

Murray said under the leadership of Darren Roos, who took over from Alastair Sorbie as CEO in 2018, the company has evolved from being consultancy-driven and over the past few years has been steered towards a more sales-centric model.

“…in recognition of the fact that the company has got so much more potential than its actually realising in terms of market penetration. So what we are finding here locally is an echo of that … so getting more sales-centric, building up a channel to support that approach, both from a selling component as well as developing their ability to do deliveries so that it is less dependent on us and that we’ve got a broader support infrastructure in the country.”

Murray acknowledged the company has some work to do to secure more brand recognition and awareness.

IFS dominates in the international aerospace and defence sector, but is also focused on several mainly asset-intensive industries including energy, utilities, resourcing, mining, infrastructure & construction and manufacturing.

It targets its field management and enterprise asset management at the field service industries, including telecommunications and logistics.

Murray said the pandemic and lockdown situation has forced businesses to review their strategies.

“I think COVID-19 has certainly realigned some priorities for customers. They are going to be looking more for material gains at the business as opposed to replacement strategies. Not seeing too many new ERPs around the corner, but certainly the opportunity to be more capital intensive and to realise the better value from your capital assets, improved maintenance costs and management thereof, better enablement of your technicians out in the field so that they are fixing the job first time, every time with the right tools and equipment. Those are all value propositions which I think speak to the current economy as well.”

International data and analytics firm GlobalData predicts companies will axe IT projects throughout the remainder of 2020 and into 2021 as the recession bites.

The company’s latest report, ‘COVID-19 Impact on IT infrastructure Equipment’, reveals that there will be a long-term need for IT infrastructure such as datacentres, cloud IT and networking to support changing business practices, but companies’ short-term focus will be on saving, not spending.

In a statement released to the media, David Bicknell, Principal Analyst in the Thematic Research Team at GlobalData, said: “Despite a positive long-term picture for IT infrastructure spending, the immediate future looks bleak. Companies will aggressively cut costs throughout the remainder of 2020 and into 2021. IT projects will be axed and adoption of some technologies - such as edge computing and Internet of Things - will be slower than expected.”

Bicknell continued: “Although IT infrastructure has so far survived the COVID-19 test, customers and vendors should carry out a post-pandemic review to identify and correct any infrastructure failings. The risk is that, with all companies in survival mode, any necessary fixes will be forgotten until the next crisis comes along. Vendors may want customers to adhere to a lifecycle of planned retirements and upgrades but, in the aftermath of COVID-19, customers will cut costs and rely on what they have. Any vendors whose supply chains were overly reliant on China should take steps to minimise future disruption by adopting a multi-location approach.”

Post-COVID-19

But while COVID-19 has impacted most industries and sectors and forced businesses to reconsider their strategies, Murray said the pandemic has not stifled activity or interest in infrastructure.

IFS has seen a high level of response from the market, she added.

“The response seems to be born out of some awareness that when the market resumes, the rules may have changed fundamentally and companies need to be thinking ‘so what is this going to mean for my business?’. I think the digital strategy and digital disruption agenda going get moved up significantly, because that need to be more agile and more dynamic is there.”

In terms of its Africa strategy going forward, the company has an established client base of current legacy customers on the continent including MTN opcos, mobile companies in Namibia, petroleum companies in Seychelles, as well as energy utilities further up in Africa.

The footprint is not limited to South Africa and includes seven countries on the continent.

“That part of the business will be a lot stronger in terms of ‘partner first’, whereas locally (South Africa) we will have a hands=on account management account team strategy as well,” Murray continued.

Going forward IFS will lean on its Swedish technology, its market penetration and its customer relationship strategy (based on insight from customers polled, its customer advisory council and input on emerging trends and business requirements), along with a price point and turnaround time on software implementation that is believes is market-leading.