In recognition of the Government's vision to improve service competition and labour productivity in the country, a local communications systems distributor, Intelligent Business Solutions (IBS) is stepping to the forefront as an advocate of that goal.
Speaking to persons in attendance at a recent seminar hosted by IBS on communications solutions for the new customer economy, Vice President of Corporate Sales & Services at IBS Terrance Knowles, said because the business environment is changing globally, the Government is making it paramount and bringing to the forefront an awareness that The Bahamas is not just competing regionally, but with the world.
Likewise, he said, they (Government) are not only driving this force from the tourism side, but the financial side and it is trickling down to the rest of the economy.
"IBS' whole approach to that realisation is that in order to improve our productivity and efficiency, our drive should be to eradicate unnecessary costs from our businesses to make us more competitive and to enhance our competitive ability," he said. "We provide those technologies that can make those objectives a reality and that is the role of IBS."
Giving an example of this, Mr. Knowles said once the productivity of working people increase, it can offset inflation or any other form of rising costs. Productivity increases with technology, he added.
Additionally, he said organisation information technology will get people working faster, better, more efficiently, therefore their productivity level will grow.
Stating that the competition out there is formidable, Mr. Knowles said, they have very good organisation for whom they represent and their manufacturer representation is very good, but his company's key differentiation is the fact that IBS has superior service, support for the customer and that they provide solutions and not just equipment. What ever the solution is for the customer, they want to provide from a communications standpoint.
"With Avaya whom we represent, they have more of a broader portfolio of products and solutions with their background" he said. "We as solutions providers have so much more to offer our customers and are able to look across the product portfolio and see what is best for the client."
He said the great thing about IBS' relationship with Avaya is when they establish a distributor, in whatever territory they are from, that distributor more than anything else, is an extension of that organisation. He said IBS has the full resources that Avaya has and it is made available to them. "And we can bring that whole gamut of people, services and support from a multi-billion dollar company in The Bahamas," he added.
A good example of services offered by IBS depending on what the customer wants, for example, employee collaboration, if they have a customer and there are few people within the organisation that work together putting solutions of services for the customer and if they want to improve how they work, we can implement solutions to allow them to work more efficiently.
Stating that the communication system is such a mission to critical application, Mr. Knowles said all private information about client is kept confidential.
"We want to be the predominant communication systems provider for The Bahamas that is mainly driven by the fact that we believe we know the Bahamian market," he said. "We understand the vision the Government has for The Bahamas and in saying this, we also believe that we have a manufacturer that provides a small part of that vision that can be implemented in The Bahamas that can assist and take the country where we as Bahamians and the Government wants us to be in the future.
In 1998, IBS became an authorised communications systems distributor of Avaya Communication, formerly the Enterprise Networking Group of Lucent Technologies. As a division of Flameless Electrical, IBS has steadily risen to become one of the market leaders in converged voice and data solutions. Their primary focus is on voice enabled applications and mapping solutions to meet the customer's corporate objectives.
Dominique Gaitor, Senior Account Executive & Design Specialist at IBS, said IBS is now offering technology solutions for the business community. He said their business partner Avaya talks about technology as it evolves around the global economy. What IBS do is they leverage that into the Bahamian economy because they have to make sure the infrastructure is in place through Batelco and Cable Bahamas. All of these services will enable them to implement such solutions.
"So what we do from a unified communication and multi servicing means with the data infrastructure is take all this technology and show you how this can benefit your organisation, how it can increase productivity, increase revenue etc."
In any business community, the customer is usually the main focus, said Mr. Kowles, adding that one of the most difficult things for any business is the ability to retain customers.
"This should always be your core focal point," he said. "Then we show you how this infrastructure and these processes that we put in place can help you retain customers and also gain new customers."
Likewise he said once the proper infrastructure from a technology perspective in place you can gain customer retention. You can also gain new profits, increase market share etc.
He said they could take their solutions from IP connecting, and utilise the existing world-wide web and data infrastructure that is ubiquitous and putting voice application on top of that. That is how he said, they take their solutions and map it out to give their customers. "We first listen to them and understand what they are trying to accomplish, we then map it according to their business objectives or goals," he said. "At the end of the day, we give them the support and empowerment of administering their system, this promotes a level savings from excess costs so being able to manage their systems is very important.
"We carry Avaya products, so we try to get an appreciation for what is needed because we know that Avaya will give us the solutions necessary to meet your business requirements."
Avaya offers award-winning performance in a wide range of flexible, intelligent, mobile and easy-to-use communications devices to meet the unique needs of a company. Because Avaya Multi-Vantage software is extensible to IP, digital and analog telephones, and wireless business solutions, the spectrum is covered, regardless of your environment. They help enterprises be more productive by providing anytime, anywhere access to maximise business continuity.
By Lisa Albury, The Nassau Guardian
