SYSPRO's marketing director for the Africa region, Meryl Malcomess, has been honoured for her role of supporting the educational development of the IT industry’s future leaders at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU).
The university awarded Malcomess with the Industry Ambassador Award as recognition for her work with SYSPRO to ensure the importance of collaborations between tertiary institutions and the private sector.
"It's not just about selling ERP in Africa, we have a responsibility to educate," Malcomess said.
And according to Malcomess her work with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) firm has ensured that ERP is taught at universities, with SYSPRO software as part of the course material.
Commenting about her award she said, "Receiving this award was a fantastic acknowledgement of our commitment to deliver training across Africa, at a fraction of the usual cost, as well as encouraging the use of new technologies in innovative ways in order to meet the growing demand for IT skills in South Africa."
She added, "We must increase momentum at tertiary institutions and equally in businesses to actively address the skills shortage in our country – especially in the ERP field. It is incredibly heartening to see real action and students being empowered through technology."
SYSPRO launched the academic alliance partnership with NMMU back in 2010 as a way of encouraging the use of new technologies and meeting the growing demand for IT skills in South Africa.
This in turn the partnership resulted in the introduction of a new ERP module into the newly created BCom Information Systems degree programme at NMMU, it has been revealed.
"Throughout my career in the ERP industry, I have been fortunate enough to develop insights into the challenges that organisations face in implementing small and large-scale business solutions – particularly throughout Africa," Malcomess said.
According to a statement the core focus of SYSPRO’s NMMU Alliance is two-fold: it aids in teaching the SYSPRO solution to students as an example of ERP for businesses and it allows students to use SYSPRO as a basis for postgraduate research purposes.
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