WITH roots in engineering consulting, Pragma, a South African-based enterprise asset management company, is achieving global recognition and growth via its targeted software platform that competes with world-leading firms like SAP.
Its new CEO, Scott Gibson, with a proven track record, led Dimension Data’s global digital practice and served as CEO of the Britehouse Group.
Recently appointed Gibson explains, “Pragma’s roots are in engineering consulting solutions. With over 200 engineers dedicated to enterprise asset management, Pragma’s software competes comfortably with the world’s top brands, such as SAP, Maximo and IFS Ultimo. I plan to use my experience growing software businesses to help Pragma achieve its international expansion goals.”
Pragma is an industrial tech business headquartered in South Africa with enterprise clients in 46 countries. It helps industrial businesses maximise their return on asset investments and support highly functional and reliable operations.
Its specialised, home-grown solutions include consulting services, business process managed services, training and a computerised maintenance management platform.
Pragma’s software platform, On Key, was designed by engineers for engineers. Used by a multinational food packaging and processing company for more than 14 years, On Key has generated over 2.7 million work orders to keep its assets in 172 countries in pristine condition. Other large operations using Pragma’s platform and services include Tetra Pak, Shell, Astron, Bell, Fair Cape Dairies and Massmart.
As a seasoned angel and later-stage investor in niche tech, Gibson used his investment criteria to guide his decision to join Pragma. “The business owns its intellectual property and appeals to a defined niche, and my experience has shown that clients buy business outcomes, not software. On Key delivers against this mandate, and when combined with the deep subject matter expertise within the business, Pragma has a compelling local and global offering. It’s also a particularly agile business with a great client-centric culture,” he adds.
Gibson plans to improve the ratio of people-focused versus platform-based revenue. “While our people will always be a key driver of our success, we are looking for innovative ways to grow revenue using our in-house developed platform.”
Co-founder and outgoing CEO Adriaan Scheeres, who led the Pragma Group for 34 years, will remain a shareholder and member of the board. He believes that Gibson is the ideal person to lead the business into its next growth phase.
