When it was established in 2000, Clickatell became the first company in the world to send an SMS from a website. Since then, the company, which now has offices in South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, and the United States, has established itself as a global pioneer in enabling companies to communicate and transact with their customers with a simple text or chat, making commerce in chat accessible for everyone, everywhere. This might entail enabling a customer to apply for a new bank card via USSD or to purchase a new pair of shoes on WhatsApp. “Many modern consumers don’t want to download yet another app,” explains Nadia Louw, PR and Events Manager at Clickatell. “We make it easier for companies to have their brand listed in people’s contact lists, alongside their friends and family members.” While BUI’s role as a strategic partner has seen them get involved across the business, their biggest contributions have been in the following spheres, according to Thys Janse van Rensburg, the General Manager at BUI: MICROSOFT SUBSCRIPTION LICENSING. BUI manages Clickatell’s entire Microsoft licensing suite. FORMULATION OF THE AZURE ENVIRONMENT. When Clickatell decided to move to Azure, BUI consulted on how best to achieve the move and implement the solution, while also helping Clickatell to save money. LEVERAGING AZURE TO IMPROVE SECURITY. Used correctly, Azure can provide a ton of security services, including identity, data and hybrid infrastructure says Janse van Rensburg. Clickatell leaned heavily on BUI’s understanding of global best practice to deliver a cutting-edge solution that was also cost effective. OPTIMISING HOW CLICKATELL USES OFFICE 365. In recent years, Office 365 has changed from being a classic productivity suite into a secure platform with enhanced capability for compliance. BUI is involved in continually optimising how the company uses Office 365 to drive efficiency and keep costs down by providing Clickatell with a licensing management platform for optimised self-service. “Clickatell works in a Lego block world,” De Wet explains. “BUI is key not only to providing the blocks but also for helping us design how they fit together and building and running the system. In the old days we would have had to create an IT department of 40 people to do what BUI does for us. Now we can purchase it as a service.”