Nigel Sinclair Thomson on Zwana Unicom

In Johannesburg Africa Business Communities met with Nigel Sinclair Thomson, CEO of Zwana Unicom.

Kindly tell us about your company.
'My company Zwana Unicom provides unified communications services/products as well as VoIP services and SIP trunking to companies and individuals. Unified communications is the integration with business processes of collaborative and communications features such as presence, instant messaging, email, shared calendars, contacts, rich media (such as video, photo and music storage), VoIP/IP PBX, video conferencing, white boarding, file sharing, RSS feeds, social networking etc. Because these features can be accessed on the desktop, in a Web browser or on a mobile device through one interface, it assists organisations improve their communications and collaborations with internal staff and external business partners. This improves productivity and business processes, especially where there are mobile workers who need to keep in touch with their office based colleagues. VoIP is often a half way pitstop that companies make on their journey to unified communications since it enables cheaper call costs and the ability for an employee to contact other employees via an internal extension of the company's PBX, regardless of whether the employee being contacted is in the same building or on the other side of the world. It also enables the improvement of some business processes. SIP trunking simply allows companies that have existing PABXs to enjoy some of the benefits of VoIP. Although we are based in Johannesburg South Africa, the nature of our business enables us to provide services throughout Africa. We are also Distributor for Africa for CommuniGate Systems' carrier grade unified communications products.'

What has been the greatest experience setting up a business in South Africa?
'It is relatively easy to set up a business in South Africa. I guess we're blessed in this case because it is very difficult and a long process to set up businesses in some other African countries.'

What do you think makes South Africa a preferred choice for business investment?
'I think the stability of South Africa's political environment, its legal system and its fiscal environment attracts investors to South Africa. But I also feel that in certain areas, South Africa is over regulated. Take for instance its telecommunications environment. We have a lot to learn from many other African countries.'

What do you think about the future of firms such as yours in South Africa and Africa as a whole?
'The telecommunications environment in which we operate is a very dynamic environment. Given the increase in submarine cables linking Africa to the rest of the world, we will see sharp decreases in pricing of Internet access and international telephone calling costs. This is great for Africa and its development but it does mean that companies that have relied on making margin out of services such as these need to reinvent themselves to provide their customers with other value add services.'

How has communicating firms changed the face of business investments in South Africa?
'Apart from making it convenient to contact a family member, friend or colleague, the wide coverage of cell phone voice and data networks has had a profound impact on the economy by reducing the costs of doing business in South Africa. Technologies such as GSM/CDMA and VoIP also make the world much smaller than it was a few years ago. As an example, given that South Africa is in a similar time zone to Europe, technology has enabled it to become a popular destination for outsourcing services such as call/contact centres and thus securing foreign investment. This can only be good for investment. But as I alluded to above, the regulatory environment in South Africa does not always assist in securing investment and hence it faces the risk of losing these investments to other countries in Africa with more liberal regulatory environments.'

As a Communicating firm, what are the challenges you face and how do you deal with them?
'I think the biggest challenge faced by companies in the telecommunications field is the rapid change in technologies and product life cycles. As an example, many telecoms companies generate income from least cost routing (LCR). VoIP is turning this market on its head and the companies offering these services will need to provide a new range of services. A further example is the growth of alternative carriers such as Skype & Google. These companies are having a huge impact on the markets of traditional telecoms companies (Skype already accounts for over 12% of international calling minutes). If this weren't bad enough, traditional carriers and ISPs are providing the data access networks to enable their clients to access these 'over the top' services. And, as I mentioned above, the prices of these access services are dropping so that telecoms companies' won't even be able to make margin out of these services.'

Is there any other thing you wish to share with us?
'I believe that regardless of whether we operate in the business-to-business or business-to-consumer space, a further challenge facing us is how to reach our customers and potential customers. Social networks such as Africa Business Communities are becoming more important and are doing a great job in facilitating this interaction. I commend you for your initiative.'

This article was originally posted on South Africa Business Communities

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