Cisco, Safaricom in collaboration to transform business communications

By Standard Correspondent

Safaricom on Wednesday announced the launch of managed services based on Cisco Solutions to add business value for customers.

Announcing the launch, Cisco Vice President, Africa Levant said Cisco’s managed services is designed to give service providers an edge comes to their customer needs.

Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said the telecommunication company would be launching several managed service offerings based on Cisco solutions, the first being a Managed Office in a Box’ — a solution that includes connectivity, conferencing and collaboration tools, security, and a virtual private network.

The connected office solution will allow firms to exploit Safaricom’s communications expertise to access highly secure site-to-site Internet-based communications; collaborate more to offer better services to customers; share ideas and save costs.

Joseph said through the addition of Cisco managed services, Safaricom intends to maintain its unique position as the one-stop-shop for integrated and converged data and voice communication solutions.

"This deal forms a key plank of our overall strategy, which has seen us invest in the country’s two undersea cable ventures and acquire two WiMAX operators," Joseph said.