| Special Report Financial Mail |
| |
| Widening focus |
| It may have started small but the firm is growing and looking for more
|
| |
 Technology company Exponªnt has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the late 1990s.
Back in 2001 it was part of the JSE-listed Brainware, but a management decision to buy out the consulting operation and rename it Exponªnt put it on a lucrative new path.
Brainware has since disappeared and Exponªnt has grown: it employs 250 people and has turnover of R90m/year.
Exponªnt's focus has widened since it was just a consulting business. Among its activities now is maintaining and distributing the enterprise management software of the Dutch-based Agresso group. This software is used in a device that keeps track of prisoners, and it is being tested by the SA department of correctional services.
|
| |
| The company offers specialist services to the telecommunication sector and provides software solutions to administer medical schemes. It also makes specialist skills in enterprise asset management available to the defence and commercial sectors. |
| |
|
WHAT IT MEANS |
| |
|
- |
Consulting still plays an important role
|
| |
|
|
- |
Business with the rest of Africa is increasing
|
|
|
| |
| Exponªnt has built up a sizeable portfolio of offshore customers. It has done work with the UK's Royal Air Force, the Amsterdam-listed KAS Bank, and the Swedish-based industrial group Saab.
|
| |
| Despite its international success, Exponªnt CEO Marius Pels says: "We are not marketing aggressively in Europe."
|
| |
| Exponªnt's main cross-border focus is expansion into the rest of Africa, fuelled by the rapid growth in the continent's mobile telecommunication sector. It has erected and maintained communication towers in partnership with several SA and European companies.
|
| |
| Exponªnt is also transforming itself - 33% of the shares are now in the hands of its black economic empowerment (BEE) partner, Pytron, and it is on a constant lookout for other BEE opportunities. |
| |
| Consulting remains an important part of the group's activities and accounts for about 70% of its business. Products and services account for the balance.
|
| |
| But Exponªnt doesn't bamboozle business leaders with jargon. "We don't speak technology language, we speak business language," says Pels.
|
| |
| Part of Exponªnt's success stems from its positioning: it does not see itself as a technology company but rather as a "people" company. Emphasis is placed on maintaining the existing client base while gaining new clients. Relationships are important, says Pels. |
| |
| Exponªnt believes the business model for technology and consulting firms will change radically over the decade ahead, and that is why it must keep the skills and services it offers up to date.
|
| |
| The focus on customer care has resulted in its contracted employees becoming permanent. It regards its biggest asset as the intellectual capital of its consultants. Making them part of the company means it is in a better position to recognise and reward their contribution than if they remained contract workers. Customer care is further enhanced by the fact that most Exponªnt employees work almost permanently at clients' premises, which means they are always on hand to deal with inquiries.
|
| |
| The absence of a middle management layer in Exponªnt means its top management knows of any problems with clients first-hand. |
| |
| Does Exponªnt's success mean it is ready to be listed on the JSE? Pels says the main reason a company lists is to raise funding to fuel expansion, and he sees no need for Exponªnt to depart from funding its growth internally.
|
| |
| On the other hand, he does not rule out bringing in a partner and listing on the main board at a later stage should the opportunity arise.
|
| |
|
 |
"We don't speak technology language, we speak business language - the game has changed" - MARIUS PELS |
|
| |
