MMS Africa, a provider of media management software solutions to broadcasters across Africa, has partnered with inq., a Convergence Partners company, to host its infrastructure, support its IT requirements and assist it with the software customisation on its broadcast solution.

“Since we opened our doors in 2017, the focus has always been on enabling the integration of multiple back-end software solutions for broadcasters who relied on these complex environments to fulfil their mandates,” says Abdul Mathee, Founder of MMS Africa.

“At the time, we partnered with international software vendors to deliver a solution, but it was still price prohibitive for many of the growing broadcasters across the continent.”

This was the catalyst for MMS Africa to begin developing its own software that would initially take four linear back-end broadcast processes to deliver a complete virtualisation solution. The company started working with several television and radio stations by taking care of their broadcasting software requirements for them to focus on the content.

“One of our first major contracts was that of the Namibian public broadcaster. With this deal in place, we had to invest more in infrastructure and wound up on the Teraco back-end. This enabled us to more effectively scale up to meet the demands of broadcasters as they began transitioning to a digital environment,” says Mathee.

It was at the end of November 2022 when MMS Africa approached inq. to assist it with its infrastructure and IT functions.

“Inq. did everything for us that was IT-focused. Inq. began with the hosting and supply of our infrastructure and the required support, as well as assisting us with the development and customisation of our software,” adds Mathee.

This comprehensive support was essential, given how the Namibian broadcaster was still heavily reliant on legacy systems and manual processes, which had not changed much since it split from the SABC in the early 90s.

“With the assistance of inq., we sit down with broadcasters like the one in Namibia, analyse their environment and identify the ways to improve workflows. It is about creating an ideal balance between people, systems and processes. Our focus is about relationships and using technology to automate, enhance and transition African broadcasters into a digital age,” says Mathee.

With the work done on creating a digital-first environment for the Namibian broadcaster, MMS Africa can now approach any broadcaster or media house in Africa and apply their learnings to customise the MMS’s platform to deliver on any requirement.

Assisting in the customisation of the MMS environment, the inq. team played a crucial role in enabling MMS Africa to take its solution to the next level.

“There was a significant amount of customisation required, but our team went the extra mile to assist MMS Africa to deliver on everything they needed,” says Ralph Berndt, Sales and Marketing Director at inq. SA.

According to Mathee, inq.’s presence across Africa contributed to the growth of their partnership.

“Thanks to inq., we are strongly positioned to expand into other markets and provide a complete multimedia solution without needing to spend years customising and adjusting anything. Much like Netflix can launch in 180 countries in one day, the work inq. has done with our team means we can effectively switch on broadcasters across the continent on our platform almost at the click of a button.

This has been an incredibly beneficial partnership for us and one we will look at enhancing even further in the coming months,” concludes Mathee.