An interview with Giacomo Avondo, Lleida.net South Africa country manager
We have a very special guest on our interview at our office in Lleida (Spain). He had a lot of very unique things to say. He has a tremendous amount of experience.
Giacomo Carlo Avondo, CEO from Sirex Consortium and a telecommunications business development professional with more than 20 years international experience, knows the market and the needs and applicability of our services. Sirex Consortium is a Group of companies offering specialised telecommunication services to business and organizations in Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Lleida.net: Mr Avondo thanks for being with us on interview.
Mr Avondo: Thank you. Happy to be with you.
Lleida.net: Let me just jump right in to some of the questions I have for you . Could you comment on Lleida.net South Africa achievements highlights over the past 8 months?
Mr Avondo: There has been a phenomenal interest not only in South Africa but also in Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho… regarding the implementation of Lleida.net electronic communication solutions. We need an effective method of communicating in the 21st century, which is the electronics. The problem comes when we are not sure if the other party has received the communication. Therefore using a certificate I can prove not only I have sent it to you but at the same time I can prove that you have received it
They have all displayed their interest to use Lleida.net services for all of the facets within the green movement to save paper, its speed, efficiency, not to forget the legality using the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 2002 and all the parameters of the electronic signature.
Lleida net: Which sorts of companies have indicated interest to use our services?
Mr. Avondo: We are speaking of a broad spectrum of companies, mostly insurance companies. Broadly speaking whether it is a post office, an insurance company, whether it is a hotel for reservations, whether it is an airport confirming they communicate with you, whether it is electronic correspondence of a contract, whether it is a service providers; Call hire, Avis, Bentley, Roll Royce, big companies… they all need to prove their customers and be efficient.
Every company of the Stock Exchange, by law, and over a certain figure, have to communicate with their shareholders and to advise them of any changes .The legality is they must correspond with their shareholders.
And how can they correspond? They can say that they corresponded but if they don´t have a certificate to prove that they corresponded they are open to a lot of legal problems
Lleida.net: What gaps or opportunities do you feel are more relevant within the African Business environment?
Mr. Avondo: All business, African, European, South American, Asian, we all work on the same basis. SMS will work, electronic contracts will work, Dealin9’ will work, the certification of correspondence and of proof of content, because if we just email it can be manipulated through the PDF and PowerPoint, but by Lleida net acting as an independent third party of the content of the email correspondence, the dispute vanishes, disappears.
Lleida.net: Based on your experience, what are the foreseen expectations for businesses using e-registered application?
Mr. Avondo: We believe there will be an explosion, because this is the tool you need for a company to efficiently operate through the whole spectrum, from the ordering department, the service department, the contract department. It’s all about communications, miscommunications. If one translates a message, there can always be a misinterpretation, “I thought you say this, I thought you say that”, but then we have “this is what you said”. All that misconceptions of the internationalization of our global village is eliminated, because we have the original content of what was communicated.
Lleida.net: We see many African utility companies are using sms and emails to send invoice. How do you see Lleida.net services take common good of the electronic communication market?
Mr. Avondo: The whole world is a global village, everybody is aware of the environment, everybody wants to save one tree, and everybody is trying to be more efficient, so without hesitation, the best medium is the electronic one. To send out electronic communications, electronic mail you are more efficient, your business is more efficient, you are saving the cost of taking the letter to the post office, to post the letter, and to wait for the reply. With nowadays electronic communications, the efficiency of a company is important. So a small company can immediately earn up to 40 % in efficiency .The bigger companies will save even more percentage and yet be more efficient.
Electronics is everywhere, so we can all communicate and be efficient.
Even more, Lleida net by being a GSMA associate member , by law has to store all correspondence for 5, 7, or 10 years (depends on legislation), so somebody might say: What happened to my document?, where do I lose my files?. They simply tap on the computer, Lleida please I need the certification from that specific correspondence. Customers technically take the benefit of Lleida.net network around the world just with one email. So that’s fantastic for them. They don´t need to have the data stored. All is available from a simple SMS or email.
And the people we have spoken to, love the idea, they just really do!
Lleida.net: Wonderful. Mr Avondo. Thank you so much for being on the interview with us. I think you’ve shared a lot of really good information with us.
Mr Avondo: Happy to help.