Digital Transformation
Why Senior Citizens Should Choose Online Banking
While citizens are encouraged to remain indoors and work from their homes as a result of COVID-19, research around the world also highlights that senior citizens are among the most vulnerable to the pandemic. This is one of the compelling reasons for senior citizens to consider efficient ways of banking to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19. The adoption of digital banking channels over this period empowers consumers of all ages with tools to easily manage their money from anywhere and at any time; allowing them to protect their health at the same time. “As a bank for all, we continue to scale our efforts in educating our customers on the ease and safety of using our digital platforms. To those customers over the age of 55, we want to emphasise the endless benefits such as cost-savi...
INTERVIEW: Driving Digital Transformation for South African Businesses with Logicalis
International IT solutions and managed services provider, Logicalis has announced the availability of its globally renowned Cisco integration expertise in South Africa. This move speaks to how the group has added another string to its bow as the company evolves towards a new brand positioning, as Architects of Change. ITNA’s Jenna Delport chatted to Morne Laubscher, CTO of Logicalis, about how Logicalis and the tech industry as a whole is shifting to achieve digital transformation – here’s what transpired: Logicalis is said to be positioning the company as an architect of change – what exactly does becoming an architect of change mean, especially in such a fast-paced industry? With this fourth industrial revolution, we find ourselves in the exponential growth of innovation and digital serv...
Leading a Remote Workforce: a Success Story
At a time when the whole world has been forced to make drastic changes to the way in which it operates, one has to wonder whether being at the helm of any organisation is an enviable position. As the cumulative effects of South Africa’s recent economic downturn and current world events make themselves felt, the ability to adapt to new models of working has been the fundamental driver of maintaining operations. Canon South Africa MD, David Preston, has been working from his home country in England when lockdown took effect, and when asked what challenges he’s had to overcome in the wake of the lockdown restrictions, being abroad is first on the list. However, he is quick to add that this has proved more of a mental challenge than anything else because, practically, it’s been a matter of usi...
INTERVIEW: How IBM and WITS are Enabling Data-Driven Decisions to Flatten the COVID-19 Curve
With the ongoing battle against the spread of COVID-19, it’s said that timely and accurate data could help governments stay ahead of new transmissions and ultimately flatten the curve. With this in mind, IBM Research Africa, WITS University and the Gauteng provincial government have joined forces to develop a powerful data-driven dashboard to help make data-driven decisions when it comes to halting the spread of the virus. ITNA’s Jenna Delport spoke to Sibusisiwe Makhanya, Data Scientist at IBM Research Africa, about this pioneering tool and how it’s aiding the government during this pandemic. Here’s is what transpired: With the ongoing battle against the spread of COVID-19 in mind, how does timely and accurate data assist government to stay ahead of new transmissions and flatten the curve...
GirlCode to Host Virtual Hackathon Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
GirlCode has announced that its inaugural hackathon will be taking place – this time as a virtual event held in August to coincide with the Women’s Month celebration. The organisation says that COVID-19 has presented a unique opportunity to provide innovative solutions to bridge the digital divide, hence the seventh instalment of the annual hackathon is dubbed “Hack from Home”. GirlCode notes that the global pandemic’s impact on the vulnerable populations of South Africa is unprecedented but with various lockdown restrictions imposed, technology was and still is relevant to allow us to work, transact and to keep us connected. The hackathon’s objective is to entrench and elevate interest in coding and in turn, afford tertiary students eager to join the software industry with an opportunity ...
Are We Facing A Global Skills Crisis?
Sourced from TTEC.com The World Economic Forum believes that business across the globe could be facing a reskilling emergency. According to them by 2022, 42% of core skills required to perform existing jobs are going to change. Technology skills, for example, will be in high demand, making it one of the driving forces behind job transformation. Ntombi Mphokane, e4’s HR and Transformation Executive, says that while business is under pressure to evolve, the people need to be nurtured, developed and grown accordingly. “It is clear that all workforces are under pressure as almost everything is changing. We are squarely in what the United Nations calls the “decade of delivery”, and while it is forcing a focus on sustainable and responsible growth, it is also placing significant pressure on...
eCommerce Activity Reaches Record High – Offering Hope for Local Economy
Sourced from IOL. eCommerce is said to be providing a ray of hope for South Africa’s local economy with transactions hitting a record high in May and June. And, while there will be some levelling off, DPO South Africa says the new love affair with digital commerce is unlikely to fade in coming months, offering some relief in an otherwise grim economy. “The last weekend in May saw transactions per minute hit four times that of the busiest minute experienced during Black Friday last year. June was similar to May and we expect our monthly volumes for the rest of the year to settle at around 40 per cent higher than last year,” explains Peter Harvey, MD of DPO South Africa. According to Harvey, the adoption of eCommerce should be seen as a very positive sign after the depressing financial metri...
HealthTech Startups in Africa Reach All-Time High
Sourced from Getty Images. There are currently 180 actively operating health-tech focussed startups across the African continent, according to the High Tech Health: Exploring the African E-health Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 report, released by Disrupt Africa. According to the report, this number of startups has grown by 56.5 per cent over the last three years and has seen significant investment despite the COVID-19 pandemic as more than half of all funding to have gone into the space in the past five years was transacted in the first half of 2020. So far this year, e-health startups have raised over US$90 million. “Interest in the e-health space in Africa has accelerated in the last 18 months, and with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a sudden spotlight on e-health startups,...
Why Real-time Analytics are Crucial to Online Retail
In the digital age, data is a currency all on its own. The retail sector has lagged in leveraging the value of real-time data, due to a number of factors. However, given the current economic climate, they can no longer afford the luxury of remaining in the dark. The power of data is revealed through near real-time analytics, and it can deliver incredible benefits for the retail sector. Harnessing the power of daily sales and stock on hand data is the missing link in enabling Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing – the panacea where manufacturers produce just the right number of goods that are delivered at the right time to the right place to find their way into the hands of the right consumers. Visibility is the key The daily sales and stock data in retail hold a powerful repository of informat...
Tech is Essential in Developing a Flourishing Agriculture Sector in Africa
Sourced from Getty Images. Africa should be in a great position to feed itself and play a significant role in feeding about nine billion people by 2050. For this to be realised, however, significant reforms have to be made to leverage the current standing optimally. The World Economic Forum reports that the African continent has 65% of the uncultivated arable land left in the world and creates about 60% of the continent’s employment. Africa boasts a wide diversity of agro-ecological zones, heavy rain-forest vegetation with bi-annual rainfall to relatively sparse, dry and arid vegetation with low uni-modal rainfall is positioned to be a World’s supplier of Agricultural produce. With these factors at play, it is difficult to find that Africa is still stuck with the burden of being a net food...
How Rwanda is Encouraging an Entire Generation of Women in Tech
Sourced from Women in Tech Africa. In 2020, Rwanda was the only African country ranked in the top 10 of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. It ranked in the top four in the Report’s political empowerment category, in recognition of the high proportion of Rwandese women lawmakers and ministers. Rwanda, therefore, seemed a natural fit for a 2018 pilot programme of the African Development Bank’s Coding for Employment initiative, with Nigeria, Kenya, the Ivory Coast and Senegal. The Coding for Employment flagship programme is establishing 130 ICT centres for excellence in Africa, training 234,000 youths for employability and entrepreneurship to create over 9 million jobs. Hendrina C. Doroba, Manager in the Education, Human Capital and Employment Division at the Bank, explains ...
Why Augmented Analytics is Evolving in Today’s BI process
Since 2018, Gartner said that augmented analytics was set to change data analysis and business intelligence (BI) processes. Kevin Halkerd, senior IT risk and security analyst at e4, says that while he feels that the change had already begun, augmentation will bring about the change that is required to affect positive change and outcomes of data analysis. “We need to use augmentation rather than automation to not only lighten the load of the analyst but to also enhance cognitive abilities and reduce the cognitive bias of the data analytics. This will ultimately help to address the extreme volumes of information we currently have available as big data continues to grow unwaveringly,” says Halkerd. According to definitions, augmented analytics automates by finding and surfacing the most impor...
