Once this was obtained, each employee's profile was benchmarked against their job requirements to identify potential areas for development as well as areas of excellence. This, ultimately, has allowed the public service to start identifying 'fit-for-purpose' training initiatives, which results in a better return on investment on overall education and training spend.

“IT Aware has undertaken this task to ensure that the correct skills development questionnaire is sent to the correct employee, and in so doing, allowing accurate goals to be established. This process has become compulsory for every department, with the ultimate goal of contributing towards service delivery improvement,” explains IT Aware Director, Kuben Naicker.

Due to the sheer scale of the project - IT Aware admits that it was not geared up to print the high volumes of documents, and found that before signing a deal with Oce towards the end of 2009, many unsuitable printers purchased by the company were being burnt out within weeks of being put into operation.

IT Aware Manager for IT Solutions, Vilen Naiker, notes that the after-sales service from Oce has exceeded the company's expectations. “The level of service from Oce has been outstanding. In the past, we would use up the five-year lifespan of a printer within three months – and would receive little customer support from previous suppliers,” he says. “Oce provides us with an excellent level of service, and the after-sales team is dedicated to providing us with any technical solution as and when we require it, regardless of the hours.”

Oce South Africa Sales Manager Craig Webster pinpoints the success of the partnership down to the mutual respect and understanding between both companies. He says: “A successful customer services strategy can only work if both parties are willing to co-operate, and this is the case with IT Aware. Oce is committed to providing unrivalled customer services, and, as a result, we set ourselves a four-hour turnaround target to ensure that that they can meet all customer needs as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The scale of IT Aware's success has resulted in the company upgrading from the Vario Print 2110 model to the top-of-the-range Vario Print 6250 printer – capable of producing 250 pages per minute, with plans to purchase even more equipment in the future. The superior production capacity of the Oce printers has allowed IT Aware to offer any excess capacity available to the print market at extremely competitive rates.

Oce South Africa Installation and Maintenance Manager Wayne Scott notes that supplying a large printer to a relatively small office space was not without its challenges. “Getting the printers into the office was no easy task, as the machines can weigh more than 1.5-tons, and getting them up the stairs proved to be a major challenge. We managed to get all the components to the office, except for the engine modules, which we had to organise a forklift for,” he concludes.

Kuben Naicker says the future prospects for IT Aware are looking positive, and he anticipates that with the signing of future contracts, the partnership between the two companies is set to grow from strength to strength.