-- Leveraging competitive intelligence and a customer-centric strategy, the company has rapidly grown its market share and brand value in South Africa

LONDON, Aug. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent research on the data centre services market, Frost & Sullivan presents T-Systems South Africa with the 2013 South Africa Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Leadership Award for its impressive performance in 2012 and its commitment to offering superior products and solutions to businesses and public entities. This subsidiary of T-Systems International leverages its competitive intelligence and robust strategy to anticipate changing market conditions and responds accordingly.

"T-Systems South Africa has differentiated itself in the highly competitive IT services market, particularly in the data centre segment, through a combination of superior solutions and strong customer service and retention rates," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Mervin Miemoukanda. "Taking advantage of its parent company's centralized competitive intelligence team in Germany, T-Systems South Africa has demonstrated excellence in its implementation of strategies including customer-centric portfolio expansion and focus on high end-user satisfaction."

The nature of the company's delivery models ensure that there is regular reporting to clients as well as consistent communications in terms of customer feedback and service/application upgrades. This allows T-Systems South Africa to offer superior services and solutions that are vertical specific. For instance, it is currently introducing innovative solutions and services to the education, transport and utility sectors. This has been made possible by its in-depth customer requirement and needs analysis.

With its finger on the pulse of the market, T-Systems South Africa is the first service provider in South Africa to offer cloud-based services for SAP solutions. "T-Systems South Africa is championing cloud services for SAP solutions for large enterprises," noted Miemoukanda. "Its Dynamic Services for SAP solutions, which has been well-received in the market, is a SAP-hosted offering to help businesses reduce their SAP operating costs."

Given that the company is already recognized as a consistent leader with significant resources devoted to development activities, T-Systems South Africa is likely to witness further growth in the short term. It is already amongst the top 3 in the data centre space in South Africa.

"Customer-centric focus is a key ingredient in T-Systems' impressive growth," said Miemoukanda. "In addition to the high perceived value for clients in terms of technically advanced solutions, T-Systems South Africa has put in place various ways to optimise customer feedback and maximize satisfaction. The company's strong escalation process in terms of dealing with customer issues enables it to have a negligible number of unsatisfied customers. In fact, the company saw the renewal of almost all outsourcing contracts this year."

In recognition of its successful implementation of competitive strategies, resulting in higher renewal outsourcing contracts, T-Systems South Africa is the worthy recipient of the Frost & Sullivan 2013 South Africa Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Leadership Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has leveraged competitive intelligence to successfully execute a competitive strategy that results in stronger market share, competitive brand positioning, and customer satisfaction.

Gert Schoonbee, Managing Director of T-Systems in South Africa, expressed his delight at receiving the accolade saying; "Choosing an ICT service provider is a critical decision, as it is vital to have a trusted relationship with a proven provider that will enhance the agility and competitiveness of an organisation. This recognition confirms to our customers that we have the expertise, as well as the commitment to meet their needs."

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with more than 128 million mobile customers, about 35 million fixed-network lines and approximately 17 million broadband lines (as of September 30, 2011). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in over 50 countries and has around 238,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 62.4 billion in the 2010 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2010).

About T-Systems

Drawing on a global infrastructure of data centers and networks, T-Systems operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions. T-Systems provides integrated solutions for the networked future of business and society. The company's some 47,600 employees combine industry expertise and ICT innovations to add significant value to customers' core business all over the world.
T-Systems generated revenue of around EUR 9.1 billion in the 2010 financial year.

Since the inception of T-Systems in South Africa in 1997, the company has cemented its position as one of the most successful T-Systems companies outside of Europe. A leading ICT outsourcing service provider locally, T-Systems offers end-to-end ICT solutions in both the ICT Operations and Systems Integration markets. Their extensive portfolio of services covers the vertical, horizontal, IT and TC space. T-Systems South Africa's head office is located in Midrand with another major office in Cape Town, and 20 further representative offices in locations throughout southern Africa.

About Frost & Sullivan

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Contact:

Ronell Stutzer
Head of Marketing & Communications
T-Systems South Africa
T: +27(11)254-7400
E: Ronell.Stutzer@t-systems.co.za

Kristina Menzefricke
Best Practices Group
Frost & Sullivan
T: +44 (0) 207 9157862
E: Kristina.Menzefricke@Frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan