If ever you want an example of a company that successfully pivoted to a different business model, you need look no further than RJ Connect. Perhaps best known today as the official Moxa distributor in South Africa, the company in fact began life as a system integrator (SI) called RJ Programmable Techniques in 1997. With a particular focus on the wastewater and automotive industries, the company soon found itself in a ‘feast or famine’ scenario due to the unknown, oftentimes unknowable, nature of project wins and implementation timelines.
Wasting no time in assessing the situation, founder and managing director, Robert Wright, set about building relationships and exploring opportunities to build a portfolio of products that would complement the company’s automotive offering, and that its existing customers could make use of. His efforts paid off in a big way with the securing of the Moxa agency in 1999, which triggered a complete shift in focus from SI to value-added distributor. This was subsequently reflected by the name change from RJ Programmable Techniques to RJ Connect in 2006.
Growing up together
Itself only 12 years old in 1999, Moxa was looking to build a name for itself as a leading global provider of industrial networking, computing and automation solutions. Its faith in the young RJ has proved to be well founded, as evidenced by year-on-year sales growth throughout the history of the companies’ relationship. “Moxa was not a name in South Africa at that time,” Wright points out. “The local footprint it enjoys today was achieved with a dedicated and focused organisation that spent years growing the brand and being a recognised, premium industrial communications vendor. One of the guiding principles we follow is ‘Good quality and good service is not expensive – it’s priceless’.”
Wright says this success is built on a dedication to offer the best solution that matches any particular customer’s needs. “We offer support to all our customers, SIs and end users alike, and are always willing to put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. To this end, we created an industrial training course to help our customers upskill themselves and gain CPD points. We have also increased our Moxa stockholding to prevent shortages. This holistic approach to the Moxa brand has been key to our joint success in the local market.”
Is it a server? Is it a router? No, it is (or rather, it was) a cake!
Back in the groove and raring to go
This year’s Electra Mining Africa exhibition proved to be the perfect time and place to celebrate RJ Connect’s 25th anniversary, the so-called silver jubilee. “RJ Connect has attended Electra Mining for many years, and has always found it to be beneficial, and a great opportunity to showcase our ever-expanding array of products and solutions. This year’s show was definitely a great success,” Wright adds.
Never content to rest on its laurels, the company is excited about its prospects for the future. Having moved premises five years ago to accommodate its increase in staff headcount and inventory, it is already considering the possibility of acquiring a new property across the road from its current home in the near future.
“With our existing portfolio of products, we are ideally positioned to benefit from new and upcoming technologies in the industrial sector. Industry 4.0, TSN, 5G version 6/7, etc. are still in their infancy, but will play a large role in the future of industrialisation. All the brands we have partnered with are working on these emerging technologies, so the future looks bright for the next five to ten years as we are ready, constantly developing and eager to grow,” Wright concludes.
| Tel: | +27 11 781 0777 |
| Email: | info@rjconnect.co.za |
| www: | www.rjconnect.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about RJ Connect |
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