My Weblog - Pat Ramadass - emediaIT

emediaIT and Dell Breakfasts

emediaIT held joint breakfasts with Dell last week Thursday and Friday in East London and Port Elizabeth respectively. The focus of the breakfasts and presentations was to highlight the joint value proposition that we provide, how the relationship works from a customer point of view and how that relationship can help our customers improve efficiency and provide greater return on investment.

We had Nick Ehrke (Dell Channel Development Manager) present a History of Dell (The global impact of Dell over the last 25 years  (History, Industry Innovations, and current Strategy in South Africa)) and some of the roadmap ahead followed by Kobus de Beer (Dell Enterprise Brand Manager) providing some insight into The Efficient Enterprise (Automated, Dynamic and Self Healing). I then spoke about emediaIT and what we offer, examples of past work as well as some exciting changes coming soon with Nick and myself wrapping up by discussing the relationship between emediaIT and Dell.

We also had Marlize van der Merwe from Drive Control, who are one of the main distributors of Dell within South Africa, at the events and they were kind enough to provide a Dell Mini 10 Netbook as a draw prize.

Below are some pictures from East London (Blue Lagoon Hotel)...

        
 
 ...and from Port Elizabeth (Cherry Place)...

        
 
Both events were a great success and the feedback received was extremely positive.  We will be organising similar events again soon.

Corporate 20/20 Cricket League Opens with a bang!

We had the opening of the 20/20 Corporate Cricket League we are taking part in on Friday. It was generously sponsored by Jack Tarr and largely organised by Andrew Steyn including an awesome spit braai. Quite a few of the players from the 10 different teams in the league attended and it was a great night all round.

 

Saturday morning at 10:00 was emediaIT's first game in the league and we played against the U.C.R.S. Tigers XI side with some of the players visibly tender from the previous night’s event. We know some of the guys in their side so the game had been built up a bit and there were loads of jokes and comments flying around even before we went onto the field which added to the atmosphere. There was a bit of cloud cover early in the morning and the pitch was still a bit damp so we decided to field first after winning the toss in the hope that batting conditions would be easier later in the day.

It really was a great day for cricket with barely any wind and the sun shining brightly. The Tigers got off to a great start with 17 coming off the first over, but lost wickets regularly after that. There was some tight and accurate bowling from our side and this setup some wickets from unlikely sources which was great to see. Three good catches from Gavin Strydom in particular really helped keep the wickets tumbling and well done to Darren du Preez for being the leading wicket taker from our side with his unpredictable bowling style. In the end we managed to contain them to just 85 all out.

We started our chase solidly with some early boundaries and taking advantage of the short boundary on the leg side. Our number 3, Justin Ackerman, scored an aggressive 30 before retiring (one has to retire at 30 in this league, but can come back when the remaining wickets have gone done) and by the time I came in at 4, all the hard work had been done so we were able to bring it home with a 9 wicket win before the end of the 10th over.

All in all it was an awesome first game and we played really well as a team, but it’s early days and there’s still a lot of cricket to come!

     

emediaIT takes Gold again!

We played the final of our Indoor Cricket League yesterday afternoon at 14:00 against Diamond Rush who we had played twice before. The previous games had been quite competitive matches, but we had won both so were positive going into the game. We won the toss and decided to bat first as we had been setting decent totals throughout the season. Our first batting pair got us off to a solid start, our second was a bit shakier (although unlucky), but the third and forth followed through nicely to give us a reasonable total of 108 to defend.

As with the previous encounters, it was in the field that we really applied the pressure and taking regular wickets including through some outstanding fielding kept the run rate low. In the end they were unable to move past the 60s and we won the match and Gold Medal for the league by over 40 runs. This was followed by celebrations and a braai at Indoor which sealed off a great Sunday and end to the season.

Thanks to everyone that was involved in this season's success, the entire squad (including those who could not play in the final), the emediaIT team members who helped with organising and not least of all our friends and families who came through to support us. This is our second overall victory in consecutive indoor seasons so let's hope that we can carry this energy through into the upcoming Corporate 20/20 League at Heatherbank.

emediaIT makes Indoor Cricket Final

For the second season in a row, emediaIT has managed to make it into the final of our Indoor Cricket League. The semi-final took place almost a fortnight ago and although we did not put on our best batting performance, the team really came together in the field to defend what was an average target.

The final is this coming Sunday at 13:45, so if you are in the area and keen to come support us please do come along! We've played well throughout the season and are placed at the top of our log, but we need to perform well during the final and the more support from friends and family the better. Vuvuzelas and loud voices are welcome.

NMMU Careers Fair Today

As I mentioned earlier, emediaIT set up a stall at today's (and tomorrow's) Careers Fair at the NMMU. Overall it was a great day and we were lucky enough to meet some awesome new people and some familiar faces from last year's Careers Fair as well. Other highlights definitely included our Rubik's Cube challenge and marble counting competition.

Looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully finding some new emedians!

     

emediaIT at the NMMU Careers Fair

emediaIT is going to be at the NMMU Careers Fair today and tomorrow. Come down and chat with us at our stall!

emediaIT team building - Bushbuck Ridge

The emediaIT team spent some time away together this weekend. It started off with an Amazing Race (including clue finding, puzzle solving, sand boarding and needing to eat some interesting items) culminating with our arrival at our final destination, Bushbuck Ridge.

Survivor Bushbuck Ridge was next (team and individual challenges and even tribal councils!) followed by an evening Potjie Kos competition after which everyone had some great bonding time around the fire and under a beautiful sky. We even managed to squeeze in watching the rugby.

     

emediaIT helps with donations to the Victim Support Centre

emediaIT helped with donations to the Victim Support Centre in Gelvandale. Thanks to all the other friends who also donated and to the Westenbergs for organising.

emediaIT Cricket - new shirts have arrived!

We've been playing in the current indoor season for a while now, but we've got some outdoor 20/20 cricket coming up in August, so thought it best to get shirts fit for both...

 

emediaIT Customer Satisfaction Surveys - iPods up for Grabs

We recently completed our quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys at emediaIT during which customers who participated were entered into a draw to win iPods which were up for grabs. 

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to provide us with feedback. It is greatly appreciated and we will use it to improve and grow as a whole.