Home About Us Services Projects Press Staff Vacancies Contact us   ::   PARTNERS IN ICT HAVE HELPED UCC GROW By Jude Katende, New Vision Thursday December 03,2009 TO efficiently operate as a regulatory body for the communication industry in Uganda, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) needs partners in some key technical areas. One such partner is Data Fundi. The firm offers information communication technology consultancy, regulatory consultancy and support, ICT systems integration, developing ICT solutions, hardware and software provision, project management services and infrastructure rollout among others. Edward Kasule, Data Fundi’s managing director, says for the last seven years they have partnered with UCC in the data regulatory sector. The regulator needs consultants and that is where Data Fundi comes in. UCC needs independent auditors for thorough project implementation. “We have worked with UCC for long, especially in the technical auditing sector,” Kasule explains. Just like in business auditing, where budgets are scrutinized or verified, technical auditing involves use of infrastructure to assess the time, budget and quality of a project. This can be done either before the start or at the completion of the project in assessing whether what was quoted offers value for money and was done within the specified period and is of the right quality. “We help them pay for value. UCC being a public body, it is accountable. So we help it evaluate its projects professionally and according to agreed terms. We have done many of such projects, some of which were funded by the World Bank and have benefited people in rural areas,” Kasule notes. He adds that the company has delivered quality services through working with clients and customers throughout the project cycle to assess objectives, the project scope, business requirements, user requirements, operational requirements, risk assessment, project structure and project constraints. “We are a consulting and systems integration company that has an experience base consisting of formal academic (registered engineers) and hands-on technical expertise that allows the company to undertake the most involving IT and telecom activities,” says Kasule. The company’s mission is to become a provider of choice for ICT products and services in the Great Lakes region through harnessing business opportunities presented by the global ICT environment, providing cutting edge products and services, building beneficial strategic alliances and getting a visible regional presence, Data Fundi hopes to forge better relationships with other sectors, especially the heavy users of ICT services such as banks, universities and other institutions of higher learning, the tourism sector and multinational corporations. “We intend to have a better and improved web presence, and to conduct more of our client business processes on-line through a revamped web portal. Under our CSR plan, we shall continue to train and empower fresh university graduates in ICT to give them a softer landing in the job market,” Kasule asserts. Some of Data Fundi’s challenges include an influx of foreign firms coming in to make a quick kill with substandard services and no long term view of operating in the market, Kasule notes. Others include high operational and administrative costs of utilities, transportation costs and marketing. The poor state of the public infrastructure is also a big problem. Other challenges include globalisation, lack of economies of scale, weak intellectual property laws, and the weak public sector Author : Datafundi (U) Ltd    Published on : 2009-12-10

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