BankservAfrica`s Document Solutions International (DSI) aims to tap into a growing need for information governance solutions, which is becoming more pertinent because of laws such as the pending Protection of Personal Information Bill.

BankservAfrica bought the unit in 2009 for an undisclosed amount. DSI CEO Dan van der Westhuizen says DSI aims to take advantage of a general lack of information governance in the local market.

DSI provides enterprise content management solutions such as document composition, management and processing, and last October moved into offering an information governance layer to manage content.

Growing need

Van der Westhuizen says there is a big buzz internationally around information governance as a way of mitigating risk and complying with legal and governance requirements. However, the local market does not seem to be fully aware of what information governance entails and DSI spends a lot of time educating companies, he says.

Van der Westhuizen says the local market has no understanding of what information governance is and many companies “will be in trouble in the near future”.

The pending Protection of Personal Information Bill, which seems to have been placed on the backburner, aims to protect personal information processed by public and private bodies. It will require corporations to implement systems to ensure information is properly managed, secured or destroyed.

Van der Westhuizen says local firms need to comply with several laws, including the pending privacy Bill, the new Companies Act and governance charters like King III. He says this is a massive challenge.

Growth ambitions

DSI aims to grow organically and through acquisitions, says Van der Westhuizen. He notes that the company is looking at the market for suitable targets and also seeks to create alliances in SA.

Van der Westhuizen says DSI also sees a “huge opportunity” to branch out into Africa and is in the final stages of setting up a reseller business in Rwanda. DSI is in talks with companies in Kenya and is looking at Namibia and Tanzania, he adds.

The African operations will be start-up businesses for the next two to three years and are not expected to contribute meaningfully to the company until they are self-sufficient, comments Van der Westhuizen.

He explains that countries in Africa are becoming more concerned about the need to comply with European regulations because of the continent`s historical ties.