Category: News

Vox has announced an extension of its investment into the development of IT support skills for previously disadvantaged disabled learners at the Protea Glen College in Soweto.

The company was the first to roll out fibre-to-the-home infrastructure in this part of South Africa’s largest township.

“Our existing investment into Fibre infrastructure will create a growing requirement for IT support services within the area, and this allows us to contribute to the upliftment of local residents in a sustainable manner.

We worked with Protea Glen College to identify locally-based disabled students, who they can then equip with the skills and knowledge required to take advantage of these opportunities,” says Pam McLeod, Head of HR at Vox.

McLeod adds that student support goes beyond just a financial sponsorship, with a locally-based skills development facilitator from Vox providing students with constant guidance, providing them with support, tracking their academic progress, and interacting with college lecturers to gauge the progress of the project.

Related: Enhancing education

According to McLeod, the project was started in July 2019 with the sponsorship of 18 students, who are now awaiting their SETA accredited qualifications and highly anticipated graduation ceremony. The Protea Glen College was selected as it offered a NQF level 4 qualification in Technical Support, and the ability to train students with disabilities. Due to the positive experience, Vox has continued working with the college, and even upped the student intake to 20, with the current batch set to complete their training in July 2021.

“We looked for positive, motivated individuals who had a keen interest in IT. This initiative helps combat the stigma around disability and the ability of the disabled to carry out jobs to a required standard. This initiative gives them the opportunity they need to rise above their challenges, and build a career in the local IT industry,” says McLeod.

Given that transportation can be a major challenge for disabled people, the initiative looked to source students from within the Protea Glen community, and turned to college students and even civic and religious organisations to identify previously disadvantaged community members, aged between 20 and 35, who could be potential beneficiaries.

Disabilities range from students that are wheelchair-bound to 7 of which are deaf.

They will attend classes around twice a week, depending on their disability needs.

“Having a successful corporate social initiative, especially one related to education, requires more than just money in order to work, and we have taken a far more hands-on approach with this project. We are invested in ensuring these students are given the necessary support they need to pass the technical training course,” says McLeod.

While this project is primarily aimed at developing entrepreneurs in the IT space, Vox is looking at eventually taking on between three and five of these students to join the company’s internship programme, which will give them more exposure and industry experience. The company often hires many of the interns after their internship period is over.

Related: Vox partners with CTU to drive employment opportunity with learners

“We thank Vox for the opportunity they have given us, as well as the community of Protea Glen and surroundings. It has been our greatest honour meeting and working with such a pleasant company and working with people who value our principles (the Batho Bele principles) as much as we do.

They invited us to visit their headquarters with the students and we valued the spirit of Ubuntu which is also a value we live by – umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. We are proud that we are an organisation that not only teaches individuals, but nurtures those that need to be nurtured, and with a company like Vox, says Theo Mtolo, MD at Protea Glen.

 Vox gave Protea Glen College a breakthrough during these times.

“I doubt we could have made it without them, especially during Covid-19 pandemic era.”

McLeod adds that Vox has had a lengthy involvement in corporate social investment initiatives, especially those that are involved with people with disabilities, with one of the other benefactors of the companies spend being eDeaf. Overall, Vox’s investment in these two initiatives has increased from over R700 000 in 2019 to R1.3 million this year.

“We want to have a long-term and sustainable initiative when it comes to empowering and employing disabled people. Projects such as this can provide them with legitimate jobs where they have to interact with, and service our customers just like any other employee, while we as an employer are able to accommodate their disability and related healthcare needs,” says McLeod.

16 April 2020, Johannesburg: Braintree, the consulting and integration division of Vox, has co-developed a Crisis Communication Management App, which South African organisations can use to tackle Covid-19 – including keeping track of employees’ health status, and their movements to help with contact tracing should someone begin showing symptoms.

“The Braintree Crisis Communications App is a two-way communications platform that enables employers to monitor health, wellbeing, physical location and workflow of employees, and provides companies with data to keep track of when and where their employees are working during the Covid-19 pandemic. This provides critical information for HR and operations departments so that they can maintain service delivery while ensuring the health and wellbeing of their staff and the broader public,” says Heath Huxtable, Executive Head of Braintree.

The crisis communications app supports Microsoft Teams

Built using Microsoft’s Office 365 and Power Apps platform, the application integrates with Teams to provide employees with an easily accessible single point, where organisations can share Coronavirus related news and updates from reputable sources, changes to internal policy and procedures, updates on government regulation, tips and wellness updates for employees, and FAQs. It can even be used to advise workers of customers’ crisis policy changes, which may need to be taken into account before they can carry on with their work.

“As essential services companies continue working and organisations in other sectors resume in a phased approach post lockdown, everyone will be expected to take precautionary measures to combat the virus. While more people are aware of guidelines around social distancing, hand-washing and sanitising work environments; a vital tool in this fight against the global pandemic, is to be able to be able to track and trace employees if they begin to show symptoms,” says Huxtable.

The Braintree Crisis Communications App is a two-way communications platform.

To help manage this process, the Braintree Crisis Communications App relies on two sets of checks: health status and location. Organisations can have employees report on their health status on a daily basis, allowing managers to get a better understanding of how the pandemic is affecting their own workforce, and to ensure that medical treatment can be provided to those who require it.

“The location check meanwhile is especially useful for those organisations who still have field workers or a mobile workforce, giving them an accurate and reliable way of keeping track of the places workers have been, using GPS positioning and a map overlay. Should an employee begin to show symptoms, or be confirmed as having Covid-19; the app helps with contact tracing, and in ensuring that screening or testing carried out among people they might have been in contact with,” explains Huxtable.

Remote work made simpler

Remote working has seen employees turn to a myriad of applications to get their work done – all of which is likely to result in information overload. Having a single location where employees can share their details and get the latest updates helps prevent this and provides rich data back to HR. Data collected is presented to business decision-makers in the form of visual dashboards that are easy to understand. These include dashboards for employee roll call, location tracking, health checks, departmental reviews, and health status by department.

Given that the application is built on the PowerApps platform, it can be fully customised to become a full two-way communication and management tool that better empowers employees as they look to implement a new way of working; engaging with and taking care of employees to maintain productivity, and enhancing the effectiveness of their social responsibility programmes.

“Even as the lockdown in South Africa and around the world [is] eventually lifted, and practicing social distancing comes to an end, there will still be a shift toward remote working wherever possible. The restrictions brought about by the spread of Covid-19 have merely helped demonstrate to many organisations that employees can continue working if they are safe, empowered and enabled, and this trend is set to accelerate,” says Huxtable.

21 January 2020, Johannesburg: Integrated ICT and infrastructure provider, Vox, has entered into a business partner agreement with Ellies Holdings, as part of a commitment by both companies to actively work together in expanding their respective product and solutions portfolios.

Ellies is a well-known South African brand established in 1979 specialising in the manufacturing, importing, wholesale and distribution of lighting, electrical and signal distribution products and solutions to both residential and commercial sectors.

This partnership will allow Vox access to over 4000 satellite installers who will be able to promote and install Vox’s satellite service. This will also give Vox reach in areas where they do not have offices. As a trusted household brand, the partnership will also allow Ellies to be able to extend their offering to include the entire Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stack.

“We’re excited to welcome Ellies as a business partner, we feel there to be strong synergies between our organisations, and we look forward to a long and prosperous working relationship with the Ellies team,” says Jacques Du Toit, Vox CEO.

Ellies CEO, Dr Shaun Prithivirajh indicated, “We at Ellies are excited about the partnership with Vox as it allows both new and existing customers to experience products and services from two well-known brands. This mutually beneficial partnership will drive the connectivity agenda that continues to exclude so many of our fellow South Africans. Our store footprint, together with the ICT and infrastructure expertise of Vox will ensure that we have a suitable offering for all customers.”