Last week I was tasked by Grant Byron, our Service Delivery Manager, with putting together a few words on the business strategy for Cytrus going forward … here goes …

During the course of my association with various technology businesses and projects, some more successful than others, I have learned that there are two elements that are critical to the success of any technology business – these are:

• A clearly articulated vision, mission, objectives and a focused business strategy
• Strategy by discovery is as important as strategy by design and often more effective

These two elements may appear, at first glance, to be contradictory – they are not. The vision, mission and high level objectives of a business should be durable. Strategies (and the associated goals and programs) should change as discoveries are made through the process of execution. Incidentally it is Cytrus’ exposure to technology trends and innovation as well as the capability to manage change which means we are well positioned to address the needs of our clients. These two attributes are Cytrus’ biggest strengths, and strengths I would like to see built upon during my tenure as Managing Director.

The business strategy itself is part of our competitive advantage and is information better kept off the “world wide web”! Consequently I will limit the coverage of the business strategy to the philosophy behind its development and definition. On this basis I have chosen to focus instead on our vision, mission and values.

Our Vision

To be the premier web and mobile enterprise professional services and solutions firm in South Africa by June 2014

To originate, engage and invest in information technology based ventures, with the potential to generate exponential financial returns

Our Mission

• To advise, design, build and manage the development and integration of online applications and services which inform, connect and entertain users across multiple platforms and with a specific focus on mobile
• To generate exponential returns from ventures
• To remain small, lean and agile

Values

Cytrus is a commercially focused technology company. Cytrus upholds a culture of excellence, and quality, in everything that it does and at all times. Cytrus is a customer centric company and acts with integrity and professionalism towards its customers. Cytrus exposes itself to cutting edge technology and has a culture of innovative thought and the practical application of that thought.

And on that note it is great to be part of the Cytrus team, and I would like to thank everyone here for the very warm welcome extended to me.

About Andrew Davies:

Andrew began his career as a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers working on ecommerce enabling ERP systems. He subsequently joined startup company Fundamo as a product architect. Fundamo is a mobile payment solutions vendor which was recently acquired by Visa Inc. In 2003 Andrew started a telecommunications business specializing in investing in, deploying and operating niche operator services in Africa. In 2006 Mediaring Limited (now Spicei2i Limited), an SGX listed telecommunications operator acquired a stake in the business. In January 2011 Andrew joined Teim Ventures, the holding company of Cytrus to assist in managing Teim Ventures’ technology portfolio. Andrew Davies joins Cytrus on a permanent basis in the capacity of Managing Director from 1st July 2011.