Ignition x Netsurit: Driving Business Continuity Through Strategic IT

Background 

Ignition Group is a Durban-founded customer experience and contact centre services business established in 2002. Serving both local and international clients, the organisation supports a wide range of CX delivery models — from customer service and sales to risk-based and seat-based operations — in an environment where uptime, governance and speed of execution directly impact revenue. 

As Ignition’s international footprint accelerated over the past few years, the business needed an IT operating model that could scale at pace, maintain strict compliance requirements, and support a 24/7 operation across multiple geographies. 

“If I look back over the last three to four years, our international business has grown about 200%. With that, we needed additional support that we could scale — and we needed a highly redundant environment sitting at 99.99% uptime.” — Daryl Firmani, CX IT Director, Ignition Group. 

Challenges 

Ignition’s CX environment runs around the clock — and when systems slow down or go offline, the impact is immediate and measurable. The business faced several challenges as it expanded: 

• Scaling beyond in-house capacity: Ignition had an internal IT function covering infrastructure, administration, L1/L2 support and service desk capabilities, but higher-level specialist skills were increasingly difficult to recruit and retain. 

• High availability expectations: The organisation required a resilient, highly redundant environment to support near-continuous operations and client commitments. 

• Security and compliance demands: Operating a DCI-compliant contact centre floor required strict governance over user access, controls, and policy configuration — with significant risk if implemented incorrectly. 

• Speed of execution for growth events: Expansion into new geographies and the integration of new teams demanded a partner that could deploy and standardise quickly. 

“In our business, time is money — literally. When our contact centre isn’t running, we aren’t generating revenue. We’re losing revenue because we’re paying people to sit idle.” — Ferdi Gribb, Chief Information Security Officer, Ignition Group. 

Solution 

Ignition partnered with Netsurit after being introduced through its former CTO, who was seeking deep Microsoft expertise and the ability to scale support alongside a fast-growing business. Netsurit’s breadth of Microsoft capability and access to a larger pool of specialist resources became a key differentiator — alongside the ability to support both South African and US operations. 

Netsurit delivered a managed services model designed to keep Ignition operational, secure and scalable, including: 

• Microsoft-aligned expertise at scale: Access to a broader depth of specialist skills for Microsoft platforms, infrastructure and governance. 

• A resilient, high-availability environment: Support for a highly redundant setup aligned to Ignition’s uptime requirements. 

• 24/7 support readiness: A support approach aligned to the realities of a continuous operation, including rapid escalation and hands-on leadership engagement when required. 

• Security and compliance governance: Policy, configuration and control management suitable for DCI-compliant environments and strict operational oversight. 

• Support for international growth: Operational capability to assist with expansion and integration, including supporting the US portion of Ignition’s business. 

“Netsurit’s depth of skill set means if the team on site can’t solve something immediately, they can pull on a bigger resource pool and get to the bottom of the issue faster.” — Ferdi Gribb, Chief Information Security Officer, Ignition Group. 

Results 

With Netsurit supporting day-to-day operations and providing access to deeper technical skills, Ignition strengthened operational continuity while gaining the flexibility required for growth. 

Key outcomes included: 

• Faster deployment during international expansion: When Ignition acquired a US business with a work-from-home team of roughly 140–150 people, Netsurit enabled a significantly faster takeover and rollout than would have been possible using only internal resources. 

• Improved continuity and responsiveness: The business benefited from a support model built for urgency, where escalation and response aligned to the reality of peak operational demands. 

• Stronger governance for compliance environments: Ignition improved confidence that critical policies and controls were being configured correctly, reducing risk associated with compliance breaches. 

• A more collaborative operating rhythm: Teams worked in a shared problem-solving model, with visibility, feedback loops and alignment on direction — rather than a “ticket-only” experience. 

“When we procured a business in the US, we were able to deploy and take over that organisation and the staff in a much shorter period than we would have been able to do otherwise. Furthermore, we run a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week business. If there’s a problem, it’s good to know I can pick up the phone — even at one in the morning — and the Netsurit team will rally and get services back up.” — Daryl Formani, Ignition Group. 

Conclusion 

Ignition Group’s experience highlights what becomes possible when a high-performance CX environment is supported by a managed services partner built for scale, security and speed. By pairing Ignition’s operational maturity with Netsurit’s Microsoft expertise, governance capability and always-on support approach, the organisation has strengthened resilience while enabling continued international growth. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is business continuity in a contact centre environment?
   Business continuity in a contact centre ensures that systems, teams, and operations remain active without disruption, even during outages or technical failures. It directly impacts revenue, customer experience, and service delivery.
2. Why is 24 7 IT support critical for contact centres?
   Contact centres operate continuously, so any downtime leads to immediate revenue loss. 24 7 IT support ensures rapid response, minimal disruption, and consistent service availability across all time zones.
3. How does managed IT services improve uptime?
   Managed IT services provide proactive monitoring, rapid issue resolution, and access to specialist expertise. This helps maintain high availability environments and achieve uptime targets close to 99.99 percent.
4. What role does Microsoft expertise play in IT scalability?
   Microsoft expertise supports cloud infrastructure, security, and governance at scale. It enables businesses to expand operations globally while maintaining performance, compliance, and system reliability.
5. How can IT support help with international expansion?
   A scalable IT partner can quickly deploy infrastructure, onboard teams, and standardise systems across regions. This ensures faster integration during acquisitions or global growth phases.
6. What are the key IT challenges for growing contact centres?
   Common challenges include scaling infrastructure, maintaining uptime, managing compliance requirements, securing systems, and accessing high level technical expertise.
7. How does strong IT governance support compliance?
   IT governance ensures that access controls, policies, and configurations are correctly implemented. This reduces the risk of compliance breaches and protects sensitive customer and business data.
8. What benefits do businesses gain from a managed services partner?
   Businesses gain access to a broader skill set, faster issue resolution, improved system reliability, better security, and the ability to scale operations without increasing internal IT complexity.