Leveraging external opportunities for growth is a sound business practice, and every telecommunications company is seeking to meet a sharply escalating demand for remote communication technology due to the spread of the coronavirus. However, South African Telecoms companies (which include PABX suppliers, VoIP, Fibre and Wireless providers) face serious challenges in expanding their market share.
In a global environment many events (such as tech giant Google who has already converted its upcoming Google Cloud Next conference in April to a fully digital conference), local businesses are scrambling for the technology that will allow them to access this and similar events. On a more mundane level, the higher demand for internet access and communications technology that allows remote work and event attendance is already placing a burden on an industry that relies almost solely on imported technology.
While it is heartening to see South African telecoms companies finally coming into their own, they may not have the same agility as our international counterparts to respond to the challenge, because they import almost every component that is necessary to deliver VoIP.
Tracing out the risks highlights a circular element to risk management:
- Technology imports take place in a notoriously quirky environment.
- Internal company stores staff, and local shipping and logistics divisions are specialists in their fast-paced, mercurial environment. A high infection rate among this group of experts can bring logistics divisions to a standstill.
- Installation and maintenance technicians face a significant risk of exposure and may introduce the virus into office working environments.
- The logistics companies which service the industry also face notable exposure challenges and may become overwhelmed.
Perhaps the most worrying aspect is that this scenario will play out against a backdrop of economic turmoil. The standard buying currency for the industry is the US Dollar. The Rand has already been devastated, and stability is nowhere in sight. This factor could become an insurmountable obstacle to seizing the opportunities inherent in the situation.
Prudent and conservative staff management policies may be the key to managing service delivery. The South African telecommunications industry has an unrivalled opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of their own technology. Let’s take it.
