Johann Coetzee, newly appointed executive VP of NEC XON.

Seasoned ICT industry executive Johann Coetzee has joined NEC XON as executive VP of the ICT solutions company, taking over from Eugene le Roux.

Coetzee, who was at hybrid IT systems integrator Datacentrix for over 18 years, will support NEC XON’s growth strategy throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and activities to broaden the company’s market sector penetration.

NEC XON is the combination of XON, a systems integrator providing custom ICT and security services and solutions in Southern Africa, and NEC Africa, the African business of global technology giant NEC Corporation.

The Gauteng-headquartered company has a footprint that covers all provinces in SA and 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides smart solutions, such as renewable energy, safety and security products, to companies operating in the energy, telecommunications, enterprise, retail, financial, mining, telecommunications and pharmaceutical sectors.

“Our business today predominantly focuses on delivering advanced solutions to telecommunications, mobile network operators and network service providers,” says Carel Coetzee, CEO of NEC XON.

“Johann will strengthen our position by supporting our solution clusters and enhancing our carrier-grade solutions packaged for enterprise, supported by services at levels those customers require to minimise business disruption and improve qualities of experience.”

Johann Coetzee’s most recent role was as MD of commercial and technology at Datacentrix. Prior to that, he spent more than five years at systems integrator and managed services provider Dimension Data, where he was MD of integration services. He has also worked for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, as sales manager of the American multinational enterprise IT company.

According to NEC XON, African organisations are a key future global growth market for the company, as it sets its sights on exploring opportunities for safe cities, cyber security, managed services, cyber defence services and cloud, on the continent.

Johann Coetzee’s goal will be to assume responsibility for sales engagement and solutions across NEC XON’s regional head offices in East, West and South Africa.

“NEC XON delivers a highly integrated solution set across infrastructure, safety, communication and digital clusters, with enterprise-grade service levels to support them,” he says.

“The business partnership with NEC global aligns with NEC XON’s systems integration skills and expertise. We draw on the expertise of NEC’s more than 110 000 global employees, over 49 000 patents, and a history of serving African organisations since 1963. We have a compelling value proposition for carriers, mobile operators, service providers and enterprises.”

Le Roux joins NEC XON’s global partner, NEC, taking up a position with NEC America in the US. He currently remains in SA, transferring knowledge and integrating into the US team.

Once he relocates to the US, he will continue to work closely with NEC XON in his role of heading up international operations for automated recognition systems, as part of the team developing NEC’s global digital identity capabilities, notes NEC XON.