Davies takes full control at ContinuitySA

Michael Davies has been appointed CEO of ContinuitySA, southern Africa's leading provider of business continuity services. The post of managing director was created for Davies in July 2011 as part of a phased succession plan to prepare the company for the retirement of former CEO, Allen Smith. Smith now assumes the position of chairman.

As managing director, Davies was responsible for ContinuitySA's core operations. This new move sees him assume responsibility for the entire group, including Globility and Triple4.

Globility provides call centre infrastructure to a range of long- and short-term clients, and is essentially an extension of ContinuitySA's existing business, which includes providing workplace-recovery solutions for call centres. ContinuitySA acquired 50% of Triple4 in June 2011. Triple4 provides leading-edge network infrastructure solutions, giving ContinuitySA the ability to deliver hosted virtualised business continuity solutions.

Davies says the change has not affected ContinuitySA's overall strategy to continue to be the leading supplier of business continuity management services in Africa.

"The growing availability of affordable bandwidth is changing the face of business continuity management, making it a key contributor to organisational resilience and becoming more operationally relevant to organisations," Davies observes. "Combined with bandwidth, virtualisation is helping to create a pool of resources that can be used for testing and other services within the IT department. The resulting move towards the hosting of business continuity management is driving ContinuitySA's growth in the local market."

Davies says client interest in business continuity across Africa is also growing, in part fuelled by increased activity by multinationals, which typically have the legal obligation to ensure business continuity. ContinuitySA has permanent facilities in Botswana, Mauritius and Mozambique, and is aiming to grow by partnering with local companies across the continent.

"Demand for our consulting services is rising noticeably in South Africa and beyond," Davies says. "This trend is being driven by the growing realisation by all industry sectors that business continuity is a strategic necessity now that IT and the business are indistinguishable."