PwC launches new tech service delivery centre
13/09/23
PwC’s new service delivery centre will deploy cutting-edge digital business solutions and employ an inclusive, diverse and talented workforce
PwC is pleased to announce the launch of the PwC South Africa Technology and Innovation Centre (SATIC). Headquartered at PwC’s Waterfall office in Midrand, Johannesburg, this exciting new technology centre is focused on bringing together the firm’s collective industry expertise and technological capabilities to innovate, build, and deploy digital business solutions.
The new centre is a joint venture between PwC South Africa (SA) and PwC United Kingdom (UK). The firms are collectively investing more than $5 million to develop the centre which will service clients in both SA and the UK in key areas such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, Microsoft, Cloud, Data Analytics, Transformation Enablement Services and Managed Services.
Dilan Radia, PwC SATIC CEO, says: “Our investment in the SATIC is strategic and long term, both for our clients and future workforce. Bringing together highly skilled talent in SA and PwC’s industry expertise enables us to serve our clients' ever-evolving needs in both the South African and UK markets. By combining the best of business innovation and technology, this centre strengthens PwC’s existing offering and will be integral to the country’s accelerating digital economy.”
Solving important problems: youth unemployment
In addition to the centre’s focus on delivering quality outcomes to clients, it aims to contribute towards addressing the challenge of youth unemployment in SA. With the expanded youth unemployment rate currently at 70.1% for those aged 15-24, and 49.1% for those aged 25-34 years, we believe there is a collective responsibility to help address this challenge. Therefore, the SATIC aims to employ more than 1,000 young people by 2027. In the coming months and years, the centre will be running and supporting a number of programmes to help our youth develop better social skills, gain relevant business knowledge and exposure, become future leaders, and establish effective professional networks & relationships.
“Through the establishment of the SATIC, we plan to have a positive impact on youth unemployment in SA. Our recruitment drive has already begun, and with time, we will significantly ramp things up.” Radia says. “The key differentiator with this centre is that it largely focuses on skills development and nurturing young talent, in addition to the focus on delivering solutions to the market. Young talent should know that we are creating a rich learning environment where they will be able to develop new skills, learn from setbacks and have the ability to reimagine the possible.”
Creating a reputable in-house talent pipeline
The SATIC builds on PwC’s existing digital capabilities and offers various opportunities to SA’s workforce. This aligns with the firm’s vision to drive new ways of delivering digital transformation with the right skills and technologies, and enables us to execute our societal purpose strategy.
Shirley Machaba, PwC South Africa CEO, says: “The SATIC supports our societal purpose strategy, which is aligned to seven of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as it has a keen focus on three of these SDGs: quality education, decent work and economic growth, and to reduce inequalities. This new centre demonstrates that while we are a business, we are committed to making a difference and to helping our clients, government, communities and stakeholders to solve some of their most pressing problems.”
Insight from the SATIC’s new recruits
Sanele Tshabalala, a new SATIC employee who has come through the PwC Internship Programme, says that working at the new tech centre offers him a chance to expand his skillset more broadly, and network with a wide range of global clients.
“If more organisations focus on developing young talent who already possess baseline skills, like myself, then we will have a greater future-fit workforce,” Tshabalala says. “Given that this centre also encourages both learning and teaching, it provides those of us who have bold ideas with the opportunity to solve diverse problems, with the necessary support, and to take our ideas even further.”
His colleague, Danelle Naidoo, whose focus is on programme management and business analysis at the centre, says she is most excited about making an impact. “I am currently working on a green cities project that is focused on addressing urban development challenges across multiple countries,” she says. “The best thing about this is knowing that I am being impactful through the work I do. By bringing newcomers on board, who have a similar focus, we will not only help to bridge the country’s skills gap, but make a sustained impact by shaping our world through the solutions we develop.”
Through this new centre, we are seeing PwC’s global strategy, The New Equation, come to life. “The SATIC is the embodiment of seeing a human-led and tech-enabled business which brings the best of PwC to our clients,” Radia says. “By bringing together talented people and technology, we will continue to deepen trust, and create new opportunities and solutions for real, human and business needs.”
