Cisco, HCL build African tech hub
Cisco, HCL build African tech hub
According to a statement by the companies, the Johannesburg GCoE will serve as a local support and training centre for HCL and Cisco`s South African clients as well as local engineers.
The GCoE will be operated by HCL, and will collaborate with the Global Cisco Hub, in India, which HCL has supported for 15 years.
One of the main goals of the GCoE is to address the skills shortage for advanced technologies in both regions. Ashish Gupta, senior Europe, Middle East and Africa VP and head of the HCL infrastructure services division, says the GCoE is a key part of HCL`s strategy to serve its African partners and create talent pools in the emerging markets.
“As more companies in the West look for new avenues of growth, we are increasingly seeing a large demand for leading-edge IT solutions coming in from emerging markets like Africa.”
HCL states it has trained an initial batch of 26 local engineers who have been assigned to key projects in five regional hubs across SA. The company says it plans to train 100 more engineers at the centre over the next 12 months.
Stefano Mattiello, Cisco SA channel director, says this strategy aligns with Cisco`s focus to partner with emerging countries in order to create innovative and inclusive business models enabled by technology.
“We chose to collaborate with HCL in SA because of its innovative, world-class support services. The centres of excellence we operate help us provide a global reach through the use of technology. We lead in the way of adopting Web 2.0 tools that allow us to work virtually and do business anytime, anywhere, with high levels of operational efficiency.”
Some of the sectors the hub will support include financial services, the public sector and the retail and mining industries, as well as telecoms service providers, according to HCL.
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