iCorp Technologies, is an independent leading South African born distribution company of electronic components that was founded in 2008. Initially, many suppliers to the South African market were mostly American and European based and it was recognised that potential suppliers from Asia and other parts of the world did not feature in the South African Market. Bringing Asian suppliers on board would offer increased competitiveness and variety to the South African supply chain market.
“Our competitive edge is the offering of cutting-edge technology, cost effective connectivity and seamless integrated solutions together with short lead times, an efficient supply chain and effective after sales support,” says Willem Arnold, the companies chief technology officer (CTO). “Our market is extremely price sensitive hence iCorp’s pricing strategy is extremely competitive and aggressive”.
The challenges on start-up
The company faced many challenges during the start-up phase in 2008 which, coincidentally, took place during the global financial crisis. Many start-up companies during that period failed to get off the ground.
Secondly, customers at that time were willing to work with established suppliers only and much time and effort was needed to win over their trust and confidence. To add to this, Asian brands were not well known in the marketplace and were assumed to be of inferior quality. iCorp Technologies forged ahead and established sound relationships with the Asian supply chain, convinced of the quality of the products they were supplying.
On the 1 August 2019, iCorp launched its new IoT slogan “create | connect | communicate”, a very deliberate progression from the company’s previous slogan of “inspire | innovate | implement” which played a paramount role in creating an introduction and brand awareness of our product line technology offerings.
iCorp Technologies today – innovative, creative and reliable
iCorp has emerged as a force to be reckoned with amongst the electronic component distribution players. Since its inception, the company has migrated from being a broad-based supplier to a more focused electronic component distributor. It has a Level 2 Broad Based Black Employment Equity (BBBEE) status.
The Internet of Things is creating a new quantifiable and measurable world, a world where people and businesses can manage their assets in a more informed way, taking both safety and health into consideration. The world is evolving at such a rapid pace, placing huge demand for products in the machine to machine (M2M), wearables, and smart phone sectors. The company, therefore, offers the ‘iCorp of Things’ line card to its customer base, which showcases leading and reliable technologies from a predominantly Asian-based supply chain.
iCorp’s new slogan imbibes and embodies the product technologies which Antonio Pasquallie, iCorp’s regional and marketing manager, likes to refer to as the ‘iCorp of Things’. Our products showcase our IoT, NB-IoT, and IIoT footprint.
Since 2013, iCorp has also strategically partnered with brands that offer cutting edge technologies such as our flagship line, Quectel Wireless, with the company proud to be Quectel’s largest revenue billings distributor in Africa to date.
Expansion
iCorp’s head office is strategically situated in Johannesburg and serves as a base for the bulk of its business, with regional offices situated in Umhlanga, KZN, and Stellenbosch, Western Cape, to service the coastal regions.
Over the years iCorp has established a very dedicated and knowledgeable technical and sales team to provide support to its customers. With the continual update of the Internet of Things available for our market, the ‘iCorp of Things’ line-card provides engineers with leading technologies and reliable products.
iCorp Technologies employs a number of customer-focused design engineers, who are equipped to ensure that specific needs are met when designing a solution.
“A proclivity towards better communication with our customers helps us ensure we were able to plan better as well as manage customer expectations more realistically by finding a common ground between demand vs supply,” says Pasquallie. “Customer centricity and satisfaction are key enablers for the company’s success and growth in the South African space.”
“Our team is assiduous in engaging manufacturers and supply chain stakeholders to ensure continuity of product supply at realistic market related pricing through secure relationships.”
iCorp has also invested heavily on brand awareness campaigns. This has ensured that the customer is constantly reminded of its presence in the South African market amongst competitors. It focuses substantially on e-marketing and mails out a newsletter to its customer base every month called “iCorp in Focus”.
iCorp Technologies has purchased a multi-million-rand office park, which houses its Head Office and Distribution Centre.
Looking to the future
iCorp Technologies has emerged triumphant in winning over business and clawing market share. It has established itself as one of the largest independent leading electronic component distributors in southern Africa displaying initiative, creativity, innovation and reliability in the way it conducts business in the South African emerging economy. Furthermore, during unprecedented times and a huge period of mass disruption, it was strategically agile, dynamic and flexible.
iCorp truly expresses their heartfelt gratitude to their customers, employees and supply chain partners for their contributions to the company’s achievements and success. Here’s to the next decade and beyond.
| Tel: | +27 11 781 2029 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.icorptechnologies.co.za |
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