JD Engelbrecht
Everlytic was founded in 2010 when Sam Hutchinson and Josh Adler built on an earlier venture designed to help publishers better cope with the shift to digital. Rather than restrict themselves, this new solution was built to provide marketers from across all industries with a platform that enabled them to use email and SMS to reach broad audiences.
Everlytic’s rise to being a leading South African provider of multi-channel digital messaging software did not go unnoticed either. In 2016, it was acquired by Vox, an integrated infrastructure and ICT provider, to broaden their portfolio of digital service offerings and open up opportunities for growth.
Progress has not been without its obstacles though, says JD Engelbrecht, who was appointed as MD in May 2019: “Most businesses face similar challenges - building a solution that makes a difference, finding or creating an addressable market, hiring the right type of people to move the business forward, generating liquidity to pay said people and fund growth, developing an agile culture, and re-evaluating and taking some strategic risks along the way – some which work and others that don’t.”
The company’s accolades include being ranked the fastest-growing tech company in South Africa and the third-fastest in Africa by Deloitte in 2014. It was also nominated as a Top 10 finalist in PWC’s 2015 Vision to Reality Awards, and voted one of the Most Promising African Technology Companies by CIO Review in 2020.
Despite the challenges (and restrictions) posed by the pandemic, Engelbrecht says that their company still managed to bring some of the team together for a small-scale celebration of their 10th anniversary. “We are blessed with a phenomenal team, and in celebration of them we had a cake made with all of our employees’ faces in the middle of the tier to showcase how they really are the glue that holds the foundations together - and we obviously love cake!” he says.
Bringing value to marketers
Engelbrecht puts Everlytic’s success down to the talent of its people; being brave and taking measured risks without the fear of failure, while building something that the market needs and is willing to pay for. “Succeeding more often than failing in these pursuits has supported Everlytic in growing into the market-leadership position that it holds in South Africa today. We place the customer front and centre, and focus on bringing a lot of value to marketers and content teams at accessible and fair prices.
“We have built out the product to be a globally competitive multi-channel automation-driven platform, and will continue to make enhancements to it. This will help us maintain our growth trajectory of around 30 percent year-on-year over the next 10 years. In addition, we’re proud to say, 11% of our staff have been here since the beginning, 12% have worked with us for more than eight years, and 40% for more than five years, demonstrating that Everlytic is a really great place to work,” says Engelbrecht.
“From the early days, the founders always encouraged a culture of personal growth, inclusion and transparency where everyone's voices are heard. We always strive to be at the forefront of technology by adopting international standards and processes,” adds Head of Development, Abubakr Snyders, who has been with Everlytic since its inception.
Using smart messaging software to build meaningful relationships is increasingly becoming an essential extension of the communication, news, and media industries. Engelbrecht says that Everlytic is looking to take advantage of this market opportunity over the next 10 years: “We are looking to continue with our current growth trajectory and recruit and train top-class specialists to build a global go-to platform for elite marketers and communicators.”
“We would like to further deepen our channel business through international partnerships. This is so we can offer our products and services in more markets and achieve the same market leadership position that we have in South Africa in at least three other countries,” concludes Engelbrecht.
