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Wilhelm Heinrich Heesen

Technology executive · CTO and CIO experience · Board-level delivery · hands-on systems leader

Chief technology and information officer profile with 20+ years in South African telecoms, VoIP, cloud, IoT product development, and high-trust operational systems.

Heinrich Heesen

Professional summary

Entrepreneurial technology executive and engineer with a sustained track record in shaping South Africa’s internet and voice services landscape, from large-scale hosted PBX and ISP platforms through to edge IoT products and AWS connected systems. Strength at the interface of strategy, architecture, compliance, and the teams that run production: board-level technology leadership, operational ownership, and hands-on depth across networks, applications, and billing that must stay up under real customer load.

A pioneer in the VoIP and fibre adoption story in South Africa: helping to drive the shift from costlier legacy voice to scalable hosted platforms, and enabling broader access to high-quality data services through FTTH/FTTB-era thinking and execution. Patent-holding inventor of PoolSense, a field-deployed water-quality monitoring system, with full product, manufacturing, and go-to-market experience—not abstract “innovation theatre”, but shipping hardware, apps, and cloud together.

Complements traditional telecoms depth with modern cloud, automation, and AI-era tooling: AWS IoT Core, telemetry, dashboards, workflow automation, ERP and Classic ASP system evolution, and the discipline of secure, observable operations. Genuinely excited by machine learning and generative AI, applied where workflows and data quality can carry business value. Operates with calm, high-accountability style suited to founder-led businesses, service-heavy scale-ups, and high-trust technical review.

Select achievements and recognition

  • Scaled a startup to become one of South Africa’s largest hosted PABX providers, with multimillion-rand impact and 99.9% SLA-class voice quality focus.
  • Patent for IoT water-quality monitoring; Innovation Hub GAP ICT Award (2017) for product viability and execution.
  • ZA-INX (Internet exchange) committee — budgets, pricing, and governance supporting South Africa’s peering ecosystem (see professional experience).
  • Speaker at iWeek on industry direction; profile in the SA ISP and business press around IoT and product credibility.
  • Rolled out Holacracy and Agile/Scrum inside technology departments; improved decision velocity and cross-team clarity.

Professional experience

Co-Founder, consultant

Red Olive (technology consulting) · South Africa & international clients

  • Co-founded a technology consulting firm with emphasis on IoT, water and environmental use cases, and connected operations.
  • Leads AWS IoT Core design: sensor management, ThingsBoard and time-series data paths, and reliable ingestion into custom stacks.
  • Owns visualisation and app delivery — PWAs, WordPress and headless integration points, and mobile-friendly operator workflows.
  • Manages installation and field coordination, including networks and Hikvision CCTV in larger delivery programmes.
  • Integrations across Machforms and other business forms; dashboarding and stakeholder communication for non-technical buyers.

General business manager

Unifier CCTV · access control, CCTV, and large installation projects

  • End-to-end leadership across sales, operations, procurement, and technical project management in security and access systems.
  • Drove a strong reputation and review profile (70+ five-star customer reviews) and targeted Google Ads growth.
  • Re-architected and extended a legacy ERP in Classic ASP with modern AI-assisted development to accelerate safe change in production.
  • Automation: WhatsApp and email customer comms, quoting, supplier and bundle management, Office 365 scheduling, warranty and post-sale workflows.
  • Delivered complex warehouse and industrial fit-outs, including 128+ camera and integrated access control programmes.
  • Leads a cross-functional team and cultivates a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and on-site quality.

Founder and technical advisor

Pro Automation (Pty) Ltd — PoolSense IoT product

  • Founded the company and invented PoolSense, a patented pool water quality monitor with Sigfox / Helium / LoRa and cloud connectivity (see public product and press coverage).
  • Owned manufacturing standards, finance, and go-to-market, including a crowdfunding campaign (Indiegogo) and B2B conversations.
  • Awarded Innovation Hub GAP ICT; public narrative on expanding from residential pools to industrial and utility water monitoring.

CTO / CIO, director, shareholder

iConnect SA (Pty) Ltd

  • Technology and information leadership for a major South African hosted-voice and ISP business (growth to 130+ staff, board exposure).
  • Built a competitive ISP network and interconnect strategy; strategic peering and carrier relationships; carrier-grade call recording and monitoring.
  • Deployed and operated Class 4 / Class 5 open-source voice infrastructure; second-largest hosted PABX footprint in South Africa in period.
  • Conceived, built, and maintained a Scrum-driven voice billing platform integrated with product and support workflows.
  • End-to-end compliance, security, and BCP thinking for a regulated, customer-visible operator.
  • Introduced Vibe and quality programmes that materially improved voice quality and 99.9% uptime SLAs; integration layers between voice, billing, and network data.
  • Championed Holacracy in technology departments; supported data-driven ERP and internal app decisions.
  • Public thought leadership (e.g. on cloud and SME adoption) and industry speaking.

Management committee

ZA-INX (ISPA-supervised South African internet exchange work)

  • Policy and operational oversight delegated from ISPA’s board for internet exchange services; annual pricing and budget work.
  • Strengthening stability, transparency, and growth of national peering infrastructure; aligned to broader ISP community interest.

Technical director

ClearVoice (Pty) Ltd (merged with iConnect trajectory) · VoIP and support

  • Directed VoIP architecture, CRM and network design, and support team quality.
  • Mentored support engineering; input to call pricing, billing, and vendor economics.
  • 14+ years in leading-edge VoIP and ISP work referenced in iWeek public material during iConnect period.

Systems engineer

Skycom Technologies

  • Long-range wireless, VoIP, and hosting (mail, web) delivery; microcontroller-based healthcare product exploration.

Radio planning engineer

Vodacom

  • Radio coverage, capacity, and performance analysis; frequency and growth planning.

Tutor (part-time during studies)

University of Pretoria — Faculty of Engineering

  • Tutored computer and IT subjects for engineering students; strengthened communication and mentoring early in career.

Education and development

BEng, Computer Engineering — University of Pretoria, 2002–2005. Vodacom bursary (2 years) and performance bursaries (3 consecutive years). Golden Key International Honour Society membership.

Matric — Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool, 2001. Distinctions in Mathematics, Physical Science, Computer Studies; additional higher-grade subjects in Afrikaans (first), English, and Accounting.

Technical and leadership skills

Telecoms and networks

Core IP networking, TCP/IP, VoIP, hosted PBX at scale, RADIUS, unified comms, wireless, carrier interconnection, monitoring, compliance.

Cloud and IoT

AWS — IoT Core, Lambda, DynamoDB, Timestream, CloudFront, CloudWatch, SES; ThingsBoard; MQTT and time-series; LPWAN (Sigfox, Helium, LoRa); PWA and mobile; WordPress; Azure (limited). Docker, Kubernetes in delivery contexts.

Software and data

Python, C#, C++, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node, Angular, ASP, ASP.NET, SQL Server, MySQL, MongoDB; TDD; integration and billing systems.

Leadership and method

Board and committee exposure; Scrum, Agile, Holacracy; budget and hiring; mentoring and high-trust team cultures; business analysis and architecture-to-delivery translation.

References and inquiries

Character and commercial references are available on request. For Barberry Labs consulting enquiries: hello@barberrylabs.com — or use this page’s Download PDF to export this CV.