ITNA chooses LoveLife as community partner

 

MEDIA Release

IT Solutions Company ITNA Chooses loveLife as its Community Partner

Centurian-based technology solutions company ITNA has selected loveLife as it community partner, ITNA Chief Executive Officer John Currie announced today.

loveLife is a national HIV and youth development agency registered as a non-profit organisation (NPO). Established in 1999, it has for the past 12 years been promoting healthy, HIV-free living among South African teenagers, and growing a cadre of young leaders in communities across the country.

Currie says the partnership is an important milestone in the company’s development because Our passion is not just technology – our passion is making a difference to business and communities in South Africa.  Without a hands-on commitment from South African business – there will be no change.  

loveLife’s approach is based on addressing the individual, social and structural factors leading to a perception of scant opportunity among teenagers and high risk torance. loveLife combines a sustained nationwide multi-media campaign with community-level outreach and support programmes for youth. A cohort of youth volunteers called groundBREAKERs and mpintshis drive implementation of lovelife’s programmes. “loveLife is about identifying and growing young leaders in South Africa,” Currie says, “and ITNA is about enabling young South Africans to develop into young leaders.”

loveLife CEO Grace Matlhape says that the partnership with ITNA is warmly welcomed. “We are delighted with the opportunity to partner with ITNA. It is significant in that this partnership is founded on a value system and not just funding. Young people in South Africa will definitely benefit from this relationship.”

loveLife currently operates in more than 880 communities around South Africa, including 532 government clinics and 8 000 schools.

The partnership will be cemented with a Memorandum of Understanding.

Issued by: New loveLife Trust and ITNA

Date: 1 December 2011

loveLife Contact: Thandiwe McCloy

Phone: 011 523 1000 /  083 696 6597

Email: tmmcoy@lovelife.org.za

ITNA contact: Nastassja Poorter

Phone: 079 494 9755 / 086 123 4862

Email:  Nastassja.Poorter@itna.co.za

For more information about loveLife, please visit www.lovelife.org.za

For more information about ITNA, please visit www.itna.co.za

Government Digest recognizes ITNA in Municipal Disaster

ITNA tasked with the continuity of the National Library of South Africa

In this age of cheap information, one can easily forget the value of a good book! Books are invaluable, whether you need information on African culture or looking for a biography on Carl Peters.  Imagine the joy of curling up on the couch with the latest page turner by your favorite author. Books also still play a major role in the education of our children, nowhere more so than in rural areas of South Africa where computers and the Internet are a lesser known luxury. Books have been around for centuries and even in the age of digital information they still play an important role.  I suspect that they are going to be around for a while longer.

Marius Richter, head of ITNA’s Business Development, was given the opportunity to showcase ITNA’s immense experience in data backup solutions and consulting services to the National Library of South Africa’s CIO, Lesiba Ledwaba.

ITNA was given the huge challenge of validating that the Library’s mission critical data was backed up and secure as well as evaluating that their backup infrastructure and current solution was suitable to the library’s requirements. This was the first step in testing and improving a practical and reliable Disaster Recovery Plan for the Library.

This task was taken up in November 2011 by ITNA’s Solutions Specialists consisting of Marius Richter,  Dale Buckett (Strategic Consultant) and ITNA’s experienced Operations Team. The Project is currently divided into two phases:

Phase 1 - Scoping and Information gathering

This phase is critical as it creates the base on which the solution will be built.

It starts with an interview of the senior business and technology users in the Library in order to determine the business process flows for each department.  The tools and systems used for every step of the process are identified and the rules and conditions around the data for each tool and system are  established.   Most importantly, ITNA has to understand the business requirement around the data, how important it is to the business and the timing governing it.

The results from Phase 1 will allow us to draft a comprehensive data manual, which will be the basis upon which the rules for backups will be created. This data manual will also form the foundation for future Business Continuity planning.

Phase 2 - Draft policies on data management and protection, including recommendations

This phase starts off with a review of the current policies covering the management and protection of data already in place at the Library. This, in conjunction with the new data gathered in Phase 1, will be the basis of the new policies. The ITNA team will then evaluate the technologies currently available in the market and match it to the gaps identified in the data manual.

A formal recommendation of the way forward is then presented to the CIO, and pending sign-off can be implemented.

Through this project, the National Library can ensure that their data is secure and that their technology is able to cope with future demands from members.  Ensuring the continuity of the Library is just another way in which ITNA brings Trusted Value not only to businesses but also to communities.

ITNA - Trusted IBM Social Partner

1. Social business, as the term is commonly used, was first defined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and is described in his books Creating a world without poverty—Social Business and the future of capitalism and Building Social Business—The new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs.

Social Business is fast becoming a differentiating factor for companies. It is a real game changer! More and more businesses are creating a social presence on the Internet. They are cutting out the middleman and going directly to the user, and the user is responding by going direct to the supplier.

Yes you say, its just another way of Marketing or another way to get feedback from your customers. The power of direct connections with your customer is immense. If a company is in touch with their customers then it can quickly change its strategy to compensate for any issues.  The opposite  is also true for companies not in touch.  The brand may be damaged without the company's knowledge and recovering from these events may be costly if not impossible.

Imagine how powerful it would be if the same kind of collaboration and interaction can be used inside a business.  Now we are not suggesting you post all your sensitive company data on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or any other such public platform.  What if you could do it securely inside your own network. Collaboration with document sharing, conversation streams, blog and post areas. Look up anybody inside your organization who has experience in a specific area or specialty.  Constructively share information across business units in a orderly yet natural manner with full access control and a thorough audit trail in place.  Selectively manage which content is public or private, integrate with other systems and technologies yet keep in control.

This is why ITNA has joined the IBM partner network with a focus on the IBM Social Business Suite (for detailed Product reviews see IBM Social Business).

To cement the partnership IBM will be flying in 2.Chetan Rao, a Social & Collaboration solutions Consultant on the Worldwide IBM Tiger Team, to be our keynote speaker at the upcoming ITNA Launch. Chetan will provide us with some insight into how social business technology can crack the competitive edge.  His experience in providing customers their own Social Business Vision and Road-map and through offerings like customized demonstrations, Executive Briefings, Business Value Assessments (BVA) gives Chetan the insight to help any company gain the advantage. 

Chetan has been a lead presenter on IBM Collaboration Solutions (ICS) at roundtables and conferences across Middle East and Africa (MEA). He has already driven growth in business plus market share, as a result of Social Business deployments, with major clients across MEA.

 Chetan joined IBM UK in 1997 as a Graduate intake. During his 14 years at Lotus / IBM, he has held multiple positions which have focused on the technical & business aspects of Collaboration and Messaging solutions.  3.

IBM Lotus Software South Africa

References:

1. Social Business - Wikipedia
2. Chetan Rao - LinkedIn
3. IBM Lotus Software South Africa 

ITNA Event – “Cracking the Competitive Edge”

The concept -

ITNA is creating the opportunity for both our existing and potential clients to get a feel of what ITNA is all about. We want to showcase who we are, what we do and how ITNA can add value to our client’s competitive advantage through thought leadership including the areas of Data backup solutions, Network security management, High level Support & consulting services as well as our Trusted Partner Networks.

ITNA will also take this opportunity to formally announce the appointment of our new chairman, Mpho Makwana.

Part of ITNA's value system is Empowering businesses and communities. At the event we would like also like to publicize our relationship with LoveLife as our chosen partner in empowering communities.

We want to create the opportunity where like-minded people can meet and discover how ITNA will be the competitive advantage your business may need. The Key note speaker, Chettan Rao of IBM International will take us through the value pillars of Social Business as the game changer.

For further information or should you wish to attend please see the links below:

Info & RSVP