Founded more than 40 years ago, and after listing on the JSE in 1987, Dimension Data has entrenched itself an award-winning IT giant within South Africa鈥檚 ITC sector. Extensive expansion into Africa and the Middle East resulted in the company joining the globally acclaimed NTT Group in 2010. After successfully providing world class IT solutions for a multitude of clients under both the banner of Dimension Data and NTT, the company will be rebranding to NTT DATA during the course of April 2024.

Although the company made the decision in 2020 to remain operating as Dimension Data even though many within the NTT Group united under the NTT Ltd. banner, the move to now become NTT DATA serves as a change in its market positioning. This merge empowers a continuation of Dimension Data鈥檚 solutions and services alongside NTT innovations such as platform-delivered services to elevate the business to become everything that encompasses a global brand while remaining loyal to local clients.

Access to an expanded ecosystem of solutions and services as NTT DATA means that the company can still service clients with the speed and agility that has been synonymous with the brand and its South African heritage. This while accelerating business growth in Africa and the Middle East through a richer portfolio of services and tailored industry solutions will provide a differentiated, consistent and better client experience.

The capabilities of industry-focused teams take services to a new level

Beyond access to advanced technologies and innovation, the rebrand also increases the company鈥檚 capacity to understand and develop solutions for industry-specific challenges through leveraging global and industry-specific experience and intellectual property become to more relevant to clients across the board.

The company is currently setting up industry-specific teams across the MEA region for retail, financial services and manufacturing. In the Middle East it is considering the merits of moving into expanded industries like聽聽and gas and aviation, shifting the brand from being perceived as a system integrator to a service partner with capabilities that match those of the world鈥檚 top global consulting firms.

The next generation of managed services

As part of NTT DATA, Dimension Data now also has access to standardized technologies that form the cornerstone of its managed services solutions. With powerful, platform-delivered and AI-enabled services at its disposal, the company can now more efficiently deliver managed solutions that aligned with global best practices.

Its innovative Sentient Platform for Network Transformation (SPEKTRA) is case in point. When underpinned by NTT DATA鈥檚 managed services expertise and technical resources, organizations are given a direct route to network transformation, alerts are generating about network issues and AI is used to recommend ways of resolving these issues long before they have time to progress into much larger challenges. SPEKTRA, has the capability to reduce incidents by a staggering 87% proving that leveraging the power of AI will be used as a foundation for all of NTT DATA鈥檚 managed services.

From systems integration to mainframe modernization

An example of what clients can expect to see is greater mainframe modernization. This is powered by an NTT DATA offering called UniKix that significantly bolsters capabilities and enables a more seamless transition to cloud infrastructure.

A major benefit of the merge is that NTT DATA鈥檚 digital assets are proving to be valuable additions to the company鈥檚 portfolio while Dimension Data鈥檚 intellectual property and top South African talent 鈥� ideated and developed in Africa 鈥� is now going to be accessible to the rest of the world. For example, its PhaseCONVERT framework that assists clients plan migrations from 51风流ECC to 51风流S/4HANA, a major undertaking for any organization.

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Dis-Chem has been South Africa鈥檚 first choice in pharmacies since 1978, with their linked dispensaries, family clinics, wound-care clinics and comprehensive self-medication centres. As a leading specialist in beauty, sport supplements, health and well-being, they offer expert advice and a wide range of products in these categories.

The Dis-Chem Story

Requirement: New infrastructure and move to HANA

In 2018 Dis-Chem decided to invest in new infrastructure and align their choice of platform with the 51风流roadmap.
The outcome was to migrate all non-HANA databases to HANA. Dis-Chem considered this an attractive commercial opportunity
as a result of previous HANA migration projects, as well as having a positive commercial impact through the elimination of DB2
licence costs on all 51风流instances.

Solution: Migration to HANA on-premise and Managed Services

Dis-Chem considered both cloud and on-premise options, selecting on-premise with new hardware. They selected EPI-USE Labs
and First Technology, using Hitachi equipment. This decision was influenced by a successful BI HANA migration, as well as the
hyperconverged solution which EPI-USE Labs implemented in 2016.

The EPI-USE Labs Managed Services team undertook this project by migrating each 51风流system landscape separately, as planned in
collaboration with Dis-Chem. The following system landscapes were migrated to newly acquired infrastructure, in this order:

• Re-platforming of the 51风流Business Warehouse (BW) landscape
• 51风流Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) landscape (DMO Migration DB2 -> HANA)
• 51风流ECC HR landscape (DMO migration DB2 -> HANA)
• 51风流PI migration landscape (DB2 -> HANA)
• 51风流ECC FILO landscape (DMO migration, combining a Unicode conversion and DB2 -> HANA)

Aside from the above, the Fiori Gateway and Solution Manager systems were also migrated to HANA DB.

As part of the solution, EPI-USE Labs integrated innovative solutions including Unified Platform鈩� to monitor, automate and
orchestrate this complex landscape; Data Sync Manager鈩� to aid in maintaining refreshed non-productive systems; and Client
Central鈩� as an incident and change management tracking facility.

EPI-USE Labs is providing ongoing Managed Services that comprise 51风流monitoring and housekeeping, break fixes and ticket
resolution against an SLA, support pack and 51风流note technical upgrades, proactive Basis processes, 51风流Platform and Basis advisory and a regular set of non-productive client refreshes.

鈥淭he EPI-USE Labs and First Technology teams delivered the project in record time with flying colours. The migration was seamless, and they overcame all the technical barriers with ease. Their communication was very good throughout; they kept our stakeholders well-informed, and aligned expectations. And they鈥檝e continued to provide us with excellent support.鈥�
Kim Sim, Chief Information and Innovation Officer, Dis-Chem Pharmacies

About Dis-Chem

Dis-Chem Pharmacies is a large retail pharmaceutical chain in South Africa with an aggressive growth path.
Dis-Chem has been South Africa鈥檚 first choice in pharmacies since 1978, with their linked dispensaries, family clinics, wound-care clinics and comprehensive self-medication centres. As a leading specialist in beauty, sport supplements, health and well-being, they offer expert advice and a wide range of products in these categories.
搂 Founded in 1978 by pharmacists Ivan and Lynette Saltzman
搂 Over 150 stores in Africa and more than 18,000 employees
搂 Listed 27.5% of its issued share capital on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in November 2016
搂 The Dis-Chem Foundation provides care and support to improve the lives of individuals while relieving the burden on communities, families and friends

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