AIEQ Systems is a newly established digital disruptor that offers a wide range of turnkey solutions and products to innovate and connect businesses in the ever-changing digital landscape. It leverages cloud computing, IoT, cyber security and connectivity to help its customers embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The company works together with its parent company Africa Cloud Services to provide cutting-edge technologies that unlock the agility needed by businesses to adapt to and thrive in the marketplace.
The company's solutions and services encompass cyber security, cloud computing, managed services, backup as a service, VOIP and connectivity. It also offers hardware, software, network infrastructure, data centres, facility management and related equipment used to design, test, implement, operate, monitor, manage and support IT services.
Challenges
The past couple of years have seen an uptake of cloud services as companies experience transition, says the company founder Jacques Botha. The pandemic has elevated the need for cloud solutions that enable enterprises to alleviate downtime and be operational. A customer of AIEQ Systems had encountered the following challenges before employing the Huawei Cloud solution:
• A problem of damages to their PABX and the consequent downtime
• Outages affecting the main switchboard and connected networks
• Disruption to their daily operations, affecting their image
• Instability as a result of the downtime
However, Botha explains that by moving to Huawei Cloud, the business saw a return on investment by hosting in the cloud. "One of the biggest challenges organisations face when moving to the cloud is moving their data across, as well as compliance and security concerns. Many considerations will be needed before they start their cloud migration journey. Companies will need to look at their current environment and try and match the same offering in the cloud. With this, the accessibility and speed of the internet is crucial for users to access the data in the cloud."
Why Huawei Cloud
AIEQ Systems decided to partner with Huawei Cloud because the company has a credible reputation in South Africa, and now has two availability zones in the country to ensure efficient delivery.
Steven Lu, co-founder of AIEQ Systems, expands on the partnership:
• Huawei has been in the country for 20 years and has a solid track record of excellent products and solutions.
• The vast technology and portfolio of Huawei make it superior to its competitors and a force to be reckoned with.
• Data centres of Huawei deployed within South Africa meet policy and governance requirements, which are essential for any company's technology policies.
• Low latency and local support encourage AIEQ System to advance with Huawei.
• An impressive data centre process backed up with international certifications was a major factor when choosing the technology conglomerate.
Solution
Huawei Cloud had a professional team to design and implement a solution for AIEQ Systems. Stable, secure and reliable infrastructure was provided for the brand to migrate its customers' business systems to Huawei Cloud. The solution included hosting a PABX in the cloud for the users within country. This means they were no longer locked down to their physical sites. Other benefits are as follows:
• Apps could be run and connected wherever they are in the country.
• If the customer's headoffice went down, they would still be working on Huawei Cloud. With the one client, if they were hit by lightning, the minimum downtime would be two weeks, whereas with Huawei, less downtime and operating as normal ensued.
• If physical outages happened, they could still work elsewhere. The client could connect to the primary switchboard through the phone as long as the network connection is present.
Customer benefit
"With the Huawei Cloud offering, we are able to bring various technologies to customers' doorsteps to assist them in overcoming everyday challenges. By offering the cloud solution, we are able to speed up the turnaround time in terms of delivery of services and decrease their traditional hardware expenditure and operating costs. Huawei Cloud is helping us to innovate in our services to connect people, places and products and to propel businesses and organisations to new heights in the ever-changing digital landscape," Lu says.
