Building technology relationships for the long term

Building technology relationships for the long term

TCS’s emphasis on long-term relationships has facilitated it to build a significant legacy and play a crucial role in shaping South Africa’s future as a valued partner and driver of change.

Langa Dube, Country Head and Director at TCS South Africa and Rest of Africa

Businesses are always looking to expand their client base and to grow their income streams. But to make a lasting impact in a market, enterprises must look to build long-term relationships; to work with clients over several years to achieve goals together. 

With this long-term approach, businesses go beyond financial success – they build a legacy. 

In the tech and IT sector, there are significant opportunities for organisations to build such a legacy, by establishing deep, long-term client relationships and by playing a role in shaping South Africa’s future. 

The long-term approach

“As a global IT business-consulting and services company operating in South Africa for more than 15 years, we’ve made a point of understanding the needs of our clients,” said Langa Dube, Country Head and Director at TCS South Africa and Rest of Africa. 

“This has allowed us to establish a legacy through partnering with them in their growth and transformation journeys whilst building our country’s economy.”

Dube says this long-term approach has given TCS a presence across telecoms, retail, banking, insurance, healthcare, transportation and other sectors, as a valued partner and driver of change.

“We began as an organisation committed to helping our customers ‘experience certainty’ – taking pride in putting their needs first,” said Dube. “This has helped us evolve with our clients and become growth and transformation partners of choice while building-on-belief.”

TCS has taken a long-term view in developing local talent, recruiting and training young people from South African universities, and investing in growing STEM education at school level.

Transforming the telecoms consumer journey

TCS is immensely proud of its business relationships. It is now part of South African heritage, something precious to be nurtured and protected.

Its 10-year relationship with a major telecommunications company is one example. It developed a digital twin, transformed their CX and boosted lifetime customer value. 

TCS fast-tracked adoption of a new solution for more than 4,000 sales users, 1,000-plus service-management users and hundreds of back-office users. The solution achieved 99% accuracy in migrating 1.7 million postpaid lines.

Clicks pandemic delivery

During the global pandemic, major national retailer Clicks had to ensure that only essential products were available for online purchase.  It also wanted web and mobile platforms to meet industry-leading response-time benchmarks. 

While lockdown restrictions led to inconvenience the world over, TCS and Clicks ensured that access to medicines was one less headache.

Implementing virtual banking solutions

TCS also helped steer Digital Transformation for a top five South African bank.

TCS rolled out an end-to-end onboarding platform to more than 500 branches in record time. It was also able to do this without a single service disruption – even during the pandemic.

Boosting insurance time to market

TCS’s relationship with an insurance and financial-services client has become another part of the rich TCS heritage. 

Together, they achieved 50% faster time-to-market, a 45% increase in productivity, 60% defect reduction and happier, more motivated employees. 

These achievements are now part of TCS’s legacy in South Africa – built not so much on individuals or brands, but on relationships. 

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