Company
BitCo Telecommunications
Company Size
> 1000 employees
Industry
Telecommunications
Location
Johannesburg, South Africa
Business Situation

BitCo has partnered with Synatic, a beyond iPass solution, to solve its internal and external multi-system integration challenges. Through Synatic’s powerful integration platform, BitCo was able to solve their complex data challenges with predefined solutions and a simple low code environment without expensive resources or lengthy implementation timelines.

The Challenge

Internally

Each department within BitCo makes use of different systems to manage information. In the past, when data was requested from multiple systems to create in-depth reports, the process of gathering the data was extremely laborious, not to mention time-consuming.

BitCo needed a data integration tool that would gather information from various core systems and convert all the information into intelligent data and reports that would allow them to make important business decisions based on the results of the data received.

Externally

BitCo experienced external challenges when it came to integrating its systems with one of its partners, DFA (Dark Fibre Africa), who requested that BitCo integrate its systems with theirs to gather billing information on link utilisation. BitCo did not have an integration system set up internally or the full skill set required to tackle this integration and automation processes with third parties.

As one of BitCo’s first projects, they partnered with Synatic to integrate their system with that of DFA’s. This enabled BitCo to get a better understanding of how Synatic would operate as the middle layer that would bridge multiple systems.

The Solution

PPT Solutions, a provider of client-centric, performance-based customer experience and business optimisation solutions were responsible for introducing Synatic to BitCo as an integration solution. PPT Solutions were able to act in the role of business analyst to analyse and evaluate BitCo’s current processes and systems through a mapping exercise to discover and suggest alternatives that would transform and improve BitCo’s current performance. They carried out background research and were able to identify that Synatic would be a perfect fit for BitCo to partner with, in developing a proof of concept (PoC) strategically focused on BitCo’s integration with DFA.

Synatic offered a simple, nimble, and powerful solution by providing an effective way of integrating BitCo’s system with DFA’s API, making the collection of billing information on link utilisation quick and easy. Meredith Van Rooyen, head of Solution Architecture and Product Development at BitCo says that the DFA indicated that the integration was so smooth and effortless, making it the most pleasant integration process they had experienced to date. “It was the ease of integration that set us apart from other customers that the DFA has worked with.”

From an internal systems perspective, Synatic played a significant role in integrating BitCo’s CRM and fault ticketing system with Iris Network Management Systems, their network monitoring system.
Acumatica, which BitCo uses as their ERP, is in the process of being integrated with their creditors process. This, in future, will allow BitCo to automate and streamline their third-party billing and email process.

Service Delivery

Meredith said the interaction with the Synatic Team was great from a business needs analysis perspective. Synatic were able to determine exactly what BitCo needed and how their solution was able to fulfill those needs. “The interactions with Synatic have been fantastic. I really think the team spent sufficient time with us to understand and document the business needs and process flows. This ensured that they were able to determine how they would fit into that flow to add value to our organisation.” Synatic not only provided the software needed to build a solution, but also included world-class services along with their offering to make for a satisfying experience.

Proposals and Execution

In terms of execution, Synatic was able to develop test flows that were used to show the development team at BitCo the outcomes of the proposed solutions. “The scoping and alignment of each phase of development were well executed. When it came to showing us the outcomes and deliverables of the test processes, Synatic delivered exceptionally. They stuck to timelines and were on hand at any time to provide our development team with solutions that needed to be run in a test environment before moving into production.”
BitCo was also impressed with how PPT managed the oversight of the entire project. Meredith said that they drove the project to completion and made sure that BitCo, as their client, were satisfied with the implementation and outcome of the project.

The Future

Being extremely pleased with the outcome of this project, BitCo and Synatic’s partnership has grown in leaps and bounds and are currently working together on several other projects that are in various stages of execution. By working side by side with an integration specialist that you trust, resolving complex data challenges becomes soluble, giving businesses time to reflect on the bigger important issues at hand.

They Delivered with Synatic