by DION HENRICK in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN – THE billing, customer relation management (CRM), voucher and wallet management solutions provider, VAS-X, has announced Craig Palmer as its new chief executive officer.
Craig Palmer
He will be taking over from Mo Firouzabadian, who will be stepping back to his role as the Group Leader within the Lumine Group, VAS-X’s parent company.
As part of Palmer’s new role, he will be working to deliver the strategy for the future of VAS-X, including a brand refresh, improving software delivery and operations for customers, both on-premise and in the cloud, introducing new product capabilities and enhancing the managed services catalogue.
He will also be looking for ways in which to successfully leverage the relationship with the publicly listed Lumine Group, particularly the sharing of best practices and know-how across the 22 telecom businesses within the group.
“VAS-X is a market leader in Southern Africa and is now turning its attention to the rest of Africa as it plans expansion across the continent,” Palmer said.
“This is a really exciting time to join the company as we look to expand our product and service offerings in support of the booming telecoms market in Africa.”
Palmer said VAS-X had been the leading provider of VX-View Billing and CRM OSS/BSS platform, voucher and wallet management solutions and now plans to expand by taking its solutions to the public cloud, reducing time to market and reducing the total cost of ownership for our customers.
“I will be at the helm driving these new solutions and partnerships and building on our product and customer reach across the continent,” he said.
Palmer brings a track record of leadership and innovation, with over 27 years of experience in multiple verticals in the African telecommunications sector.
Prior to joining VAS-X, he held the title of Managed Services Chief Operating Officer for Ericsson South Africa, overseeing the support and management of Charging Systems for MTN across 13 African territories.
Palmer also served as Chief Operations Officer for Africa’s first MVNE provider and was part of the launch team for Virgin Mobile in South Africa, where he spent eight years.
Firouzabadian said the Lumine Group’s agility and ability to remain flexible and provide customised and cost-effective solutions put the company a step ahead of all big corporate segments.
He said operators solve their mission-critical challenges by managing cash-based systems while processing huge volumes of transactions in real-time.
Lumine aims to further evolve its services and reach across Africa as the telecoms market continues to grow.
“Craig has the experience to lead the way and deliver our current and new services to the market. It is going to be a big year for VAS-X,” Firouzabadian said.
– CAJ News
