Speaker Interview – Cobus Rossouw, Chief Integration Officer, IMPERIAL Logistics

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One of our headline speakers, Cobus Rossouw, Chief Integration Officer, IMPERIAL Logistics gives us his perspective on the African Enterprise and ICT sector.  He will be presenting “Cloud as a Tool for Enabling Supply Chain & Logistics Integration – or is it the Big Deal?” in the Cloud sessions at Enterprise ICT Africa at 15.20 on day 1.

Q&A – Headline Speaker in the Spotlight

Enterprise ICT Africa (EICT): What are the biggest challenges facing enterprises’ in Africa when it comes to ICT?
Cobus Rossouw (CR): The biggest challenges facing enterprises’ in Africa when it comes to ICT remains to align people and process with technology

EICT: How is IMPERIAL Logistics addressing these challenges?
CR: IMPERIAL Logistics is addressing this alignment challenge by implementing technology in a pragmatic way, extracting benefits along the way

EICT: What will be your defining 2011 ICT ‘moment’, technology or service?
CR: Our defining moment 2011 ICT moment will be when we are confident that the cloud infrastructure and wan connectivity can support our core business applications

EICT: What will IMPERIAL Logistics’ key focus be for 2012?
CR: The key focus for IMPERIAL Logistics is to converge business processes in core areas towards standardised enablers

EICT: Which key message do you want to highlight during your participation at Enterprise ICT Africa in Cape Town later this year?
CR: My key message is that technology for technology sake (whether it is cloud or any other new thing) is actually worthless.

Find out more about the cloud sessions at Enterprise ICT Africa and download the full conference agenda

Don’t miss this brand new event. Attendance is FREE to Enterprise and Operator companies and early booking discounts apply to all others.  Register to attend

About Cobus Rossouw

Cobus Rossouw is the Chief Executive Officer of the Integration Services Division of IMPERIAL Logistics. In this capacity, he is a member of the executive management team of IMPERIAL Logistics, the leading logistics and supply chain management company in Southern Africa with revenue exceeding R15bn and profit approaching R1bn per annum.   He is responsible for strategy & innovation, client & industry solutions, integration services and information technology.  Cobus obtained engineering and commerce qualifications from the University of Pretoria. With his focus on industrial & systems engineering and business logistics, his career was destined for Supply Chain Management.  Cobus also studied towards a MBA at UNISA and qualified as Certified Supply Chain Professional through APICS, the Association for Operations Management in the USA.  Cobus is registered as a Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).  After seven years at Louis Heyl and Associates, Cobus joined the Board of Directors of Cadbury South Africa in 1996, where he was responsible for operations planning, procurement and distribution.  Cobus also led the implementation of end-to-end enterprise systems and the development of value-based strategies.  In 2001 Cobus re-joined the professional services industry and assisted to build Volition to be the largest SCM consulting provider in South Africa (in which  IMPERIAL acquired a majority stake in 2008).  Cobus is a Director and chairman of the EXCO of SAPICS, the Association for Operations Management of Southern Africa.