Digital Transformation
Huawei Collaborates with Geekulcha to Host a Series of Developer Workshops Online
Global tech giant Huawei and local tech entrepreneur Mixo Fortune Ngoveni, Founder and CEO of Geekulcha, have collaborated to host a series of app developer workshops. These are aimed at helping budding developers and students in South Africa to harness Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) Core capabilities for app development skills and to advance innovation. Geekulcha is an organisation that provides ICT skills development and training platforms, as well as events, to drive innovation among young people within the tech ecosystem. Alongside Huawei, Ngoveni will play an active role in assisting developers with integrating HMS Core and HMS Capabilities into their apps in a number of weekly and monthly workshops. A recognised top achiever in the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Yo...
How an Engaged Workforce could Make or Break a Business’s AI Strategy
Employees across the world are concerned about the impact automation could have on them, brought into clear focus as the world navigates one of the greatest periods of uncertainty in history. Data shows that AI has the potential to create more jobs than it takes away, augmenting human ingenuity and removing many of the mundane tasks people don’t enjoy. However, organisations still need to be deliberate around how they address change management if they want their staff to embrace it. The question is what does an effective change management strategy look like? According to Microsoft’s AI Maturity in the Middle East and Africa report, regional leaders in AI have achieved success by focusing on three key areas: 1. An open culture reduces uncertainty /* custom css */ .tdi_3_199.td-a-rec-img{ te...
App Developers Stand a Chance to Win up to R1 000 000 with #HDC2020
Huawei is committed to bringing the latest technology to app developers in order to support them in delivering the best app experience possible. With HUAWEI AppGallery, Huawei has developed more than 50 kits and hundreds of capabilities for developers and is proud to be working with 1.3 million developers and partners globally. As a brand committed to assisting app developers, Huawei is now running two new competitions, which will be running until 30 November. Upload your app onto HUAWEI AppGallery and win Huawei Cloud vouchers To enter this competition, all you need to do is register as a Huawei developer on HUAWEI AppGallery, Huawei’s app store. Once you have signed up, you will receive a Huawei Cloud voucher. This voucher is worth $200 for individual developers, or $600 for enterp...
How Post-Lockdown Shopping Figures Represent Changing Retail Landscape
The impact of COVID-19 on both consumers and retailers is becoming evident. Retailers are under pressure to reimagine and transform their businesses, build-out eCommerce solutions and expand their online offerings. Consumers, having already navigated a difficult year, and still uncertain about what the future holds, are likely to spend more conservatively over the next quarter. New data from Mobicred’s Consumer Spend index reveals some interesting trends as South Africans settle into post-lockdown shopping. While the previous quarter’s figures showed a higher level of eCommerce adoption, this spike was to be expected amid Coronavirus infection fears and consequent limitations on physical shopping during lockdown. Despite adoption rates levelling off, the data shows an increase of 9% i...
How to Effectively Enable a Remote Workforce
While a mobile workforce has long been possible, thanks to the availability of cloud technologies, the COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked the adoption of remote-working practices. And as we move forward, it’s likely that a cloud-based workforce will be the foundation of how organisations operate, compete, and succeed. Leaders in tech will need to embrace the philosophy of remote working, particularly when it comes to rethinking the core concepts of infrastructure, workplace productivity, and business processes. The Migration to the Cloud Webinar will allow you to develop new cloud-collaboration strategies to get the most out of your work-from-anywhere teams. Through this interactive programme, taking place on 22 October 2020, attendees will learn how to manage remote workers while unpacking th...
How Tech Companies have Managed to Stay Relevant during COVID-19
COVID-19 has redefined what we previously deemed as normal in all aspects of our lives. It has thrusted digital transformation to the forefront of the business arena and shown that if you cannot innovate and adapt to this new norm, then the end is imminent. How consumers engage with businesses has also changed dramatically over the last few months, with technology and digital processes being more prevalent than ever. Companies that have been innovative, have made their products and services readily available, and could easily adapt to digital transformation stood a better chance of succeeding. Technology companies are a prime example of this, and they are well positioned to thrive in this new norm. Keeping up with the times The tech companies that continued to thrive throughout the pandemi...
Africa Tech Festival 2020 Speakers Announced
AfricaCom and AfricaTech are anchor events of the new Africa Tech Festival, which will take place – online – from 10-12 November this year. Acknowledged as the world’s largest Africa-focused digital infrastructure and emerging tech event, the Africa Tech Festival has always attracted a stellar line-up of critical thinkers, analysts, futurists, keynote and inspirational speakers. 2020 will more than deliver on that reputation, with a stimulating array of visionary industry presenters, raconteurs and even some sporting greats. The Africa Tech Festival kicks off with an opening keynote address by Abe Wakama, founder and CEO of African Innovator Group, who will chair the keynote sessions on Tuesday 10th November. Below are just some of the more than 200 speakers who will be joining...
Why Reskilling is Critical in a Post-Pandemic World
The world is changing at a rapid speed as new regulations come into play, customer expectations change, and global competition grows – and that’s without considering how COVID-19 is compelling everyone to use digital technology rather than physical processes when they can. As the pandemic forces organisations to put digital transformation on steroids, it is important that they don’t allow their workforces to fall behind. The silver lining amid the devastation of COVID-19 is a new working model. Yet business leaders are asking their people to show extraordinary levels of resilience and flexibility as we all try to come to grips with the changing environment. People and organisations accustomed to face-to-face interaction and manual processes have needed to master digital tools in double-qui...
5 Innovation Driven Predictions in Science and Technology
1. Capturing and transforming CO2 to mitigate climate change In the next five years, we will be able to capture CO2 from the air and transform it from the scourge of the environment into something useful. The goal is to make CO2 capture and reuse efficient enough to scale globally so we can significantly reduce the level of the harmful CO2 in the atmosphere and, ultimately, slow climate change. 2. Modelling Mother Nature to feed a growing citizenry while reducing carbon emissions In the next five years, we will replicate nature’s ability to convert nitrogen in the soil into nitrate-rich fertilizer, feeding the growing world while reducing the environmental impact of fertilizers. We’ll come up with an innovative solution to enable nitrogen fixation at a sustainable scale and help feed the w...
4 Trends Shaping the Healthcare Industry in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has led the headlines in defining the challenge facing our healthcare systems this year – says Dr Ryan Noach, CEO of Discovery Health. “We have closely followed and analysed the local and global trajectory of the pandemic and have identified a tipping point for healthcare consumers to access healthcare differently, revealing opportunities for greater efficiencies in the future.” Four key trends have emerged as currently dominant in shaping the healthcare industry: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted typical healthcare patterns and created discontinuity in the supply and demand of healthcare services. The global focus on patient-centric care is driving demand for improved quality of care and healthcare outcomes. Providers and consumers are increasingly leveraging digit...
3 Digital Transformation Priorities for Healthcare Organisations in Africa
South Africa’s healthcare sector has conducted roughly four million COVID-19 tests with around 650 000 positive cases identified. While infection rates continue to climb in much of the developed and developing world, stringent measures to contain the coronavirus in South Africa have helped flatten the curve to the point where most normal economic activity can resume. While public efforts at hygiene and social distancing have certainly contributed greatly to the decline in daily case numbers, it’s undoubtedly the tireless work of the healthcare sector that has helped the country get through the greatest public health challenge in a century. Efforts to treat infected patients were complicated by a prevailing shortage of medical staff. The World Bank estimates South Africa has only 0.9 medica...
Is Tech Adoption the Key to Rebuilding the Economy?
As the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic subsides, South Africa’s small business leaders must now pick themselves up and begin to rebuild. For many businesses, working remotely and with reduced staff has been incredibly challenging, but technology has played a fundamental role in allowing work to continue. One positive to come from this crisis is that lockdown compelled businesses to adopt more advanced technologies than they may otherwise have considered. Many businesses have spent months focusing on the immediate term and making decisions necessary for their survival. As government restrictions loosen and the community begins to consider medium- and long-term priorities, this is the perfect time to reconsider the technology you use and how it will help you to reach your goals. In...
