Altron merges three units in new digital division
Technology Correspondent
Technology group Altron has combined its three business units — Karabina, Systems Integration and Managed Solutions — to create a new IT services unit called Altron Digital Business.
The new division, which formally started doing business on March 1, is headed by Craig Stewart, who was of sales vicepresident at Dimension Data, now known as NTT Data.
“This move makes us a much larger company able to deliver a comprehensive set of enterprise-grade IT services at scale. We have also implemented a simplified, customerfocused operating model which makes it easier for our customers to work with us,” Stewart said in a statement.
Altron, valued at R4.3bn on the JSE, has slimmed down its operations over the years, selling units it no longer considered core.
The creation of Altron Digital Business appears to be part of an effort to reorientate the business, especially after letting Bytes Technology Group go through a London Stock Exchange and JSE unbundling in 2020. That deal created R13bn in value for shareholders.
The group, while stable, has also lost lucrative business, including the implementation of the Gauteng Broadband Network, which put the Altron Nexus business on the chopping block in 2023.
The group, led by former Dimension Data CEO Werner Kapp, sees this latest effort as a way to gain more market share in SA’s IT services market, which is projected to be valued at about R130bn by 2026.
According to Stewart, Altron Digital Business has already notched up some successes.
The business worked with fast-food business Hungry Lion to reduce overtime 22%. “The workforce management solution implemented allows Hungry Lion to reduce staff scheduling time from four hours to one hour and optimise their shift patterns. This enables the chain to keep people costs static despite an increase in the number of stores,” said the company.
Another case involved saving one of SA’s top five retail banks 15,000 hours a month by using artificial intelligence.
The unit has also developed a solution for a telecom provider to reduce customer churn, which saved the provider R1bn in potentially lost annual revenue.
Altron said last week its headline earnings per share from continuing operations, which strip out the effects of one-off financial events, for the year to end-February were estimated to be 99c-105c, an increase of 16%-24% compared with a year ago.
ANOTHER CASE INVOLVED SAVING ONE OF SA’S TOP FIVE RETAIL BANKS 15,000 HOURS A MONTH BY USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE