Sifiso Ndlovu, General Manager, Customer Services, University of Witwatersrand.

This is where an ICT leader needs to have considerable skills in terms of being approachable, a clear communicator and above all, a powerful negotiator.

This sums up Sifiso Ndlovu, general manager, customer services, University of Witwatersrand. It’s a challenging role and Ndlovu has earned recognition both as an ICT thought leader and for being the scale that balances the opinions of all his customers, including students, researchers and academic and administrative staff.

“We have some top-class academics and they are ahead of the technology curve,” explains Ndlovu. “They know what is coming down the pipeline and what the preeminent technologies are to fuel the drive to make this university the best in the global south.

“In the quest to be the best, I have to factor in and overcome hurdles such as load shedding, maintaining always-on communications, and managing a shrinking budget. At the very least, if we can’t provide stable power and communications – the latter being where MTN fits in as our voice and data provider – students and researchers will vote with their feet, choosing another university either locally or globally. Education has become borderless, and higher education is a competitive market. It’s imperative that we deploy worldclass technology services to all our customers, with customer experience as our top priority.

“The economic and political situation is not helping with our biggest source of funding coming from government grants and tuition fees, making it difficult to fund strategic initiatives and demanding that we are extremely creative and innovative. Plus, if we turn a blind eye to our customer recommendations, they will simply go ahead and get what they want, which can undermine cybersecurity both internally and externally.”

Understanding that the old political administration has been in power for 30 years and has a firm grasp on education, Ndlovu is uneasy about what a coalition might bring. He notes that decision-making in a multi-party government can be laboured and antagonistic, with the potential for decisions to be made on the basis of political point scoring.

“My role means prioritising available funding to add the most value, implementing solutions informed by our students and staff (academics, administrative and professional), with a clear understanding of best practice based on demand.

“We are focussing on six pillars: AI, cloud solutions, mobility, connectivity, digitisation and cybersecurity. Cybersecurity – the number one business risk, is an essential pillar and we now have a CISO in the university.” On a personal level, Ndlovu is proud of his contribution to encouraging and mentoring youth to pursue careers in ICT. He is intentional about employment of youth, assisting those less privileged to get a step onto the ICT ladder.

“What I say to those considering a career in technology is that they must do thorough research and not be in an IT discipline that doesn’t interest them or has the potential for redundancy. I urge them to channel their efforts towards data management, data science and AI, but also to seek exposure across the entire landscape. As IT leaders, we need to reach out and help advise our youth,” he concludes.

everywhere you go

www.mtnbusiness.co.za

For more information on how MTN Business can co-create solutions for your business, contact us on MTNBusiness.Marketing@mtn.com