Since my first visit to South Africa in 2004, I have developed a special relationship with this country. It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited, having fully enjoyed it as a tourist. Over the years, I have developed precious friendships and valuable business relationships. I usually travel to South Africa to present at the Schneider-Electric Wonderware X-Change Conference and their separate dedicated Maximyse System Integrator Conference at various sites around South Africa. In addition to promoting our company, I have always found a way to promote CSIA as well.
This year, I had the opportunity to present about CSIA and its Certification program. Alwyn Rautenbach, CEO of Iritron, a local SI client and CSIA member, teamed up with me to also share with the audience about his experience attending the CSIA Executive Conference for the first time earlier this year in Ft. Lauderdale. There was a lot of interest. One of the topics from the presentation that resonated with him was succession planning. It was interesting to notice that there were other SIs in the meeting that expressed similar interests.
Iritron is familiar with ISO9001, as they are currently certified (recertified twice). Alwyn wishes that he had known about the CSIA Best Practices when he was getting started. He said: “Wow, I wish we had these back then, instead of having to make all our own systems and processes. Having the Best Practices guide makes this so much easier, and you get to tap into the more than 20 years of experience CSIA membership has put into creating the Best Practices and Benchmarking Manual.” His perspective is that the CSIA Best Practices provides a system that is SI specific and that can accelerate gaining the ISO 9001 certification later on.
I know from experience that the cost to attend the CSIA Executive Conference can be somewhat challenging for South Africans and it may be hard to make it an annual trip. That said, even coming once will surely generate a return in the knowledge and insights gained. Then while back in South Africa, the membership benefit of being able to extract value from other CSIA offers such as the e-Newsletter, the resource library, the webinars and the all the past recorded sessions, along with the ability to connect with other members through the Open Forum and the Exchange discussions and postings, can serve to reinforce that single trip to the Executive Conference and provide ongoing knowledge and access to resources.
