When it comes to digital transformation, COVID-19 has been a massive accelerant. Businesses with long-term transformation deadlines have been forced to bring them forward dramatically: what was once planned for 18 months’ time, now has to be ready immediately. Consumers are engaging with businesses that are digitally astute now more than ever before. Those that are able to innovate, and to make their products and services available quickly, easily and reliably, are sure to succeed; those that aren’t sufficiently transformed will likely be left behind. This digital transformation drive has far-reaching implications: for how we work, for the tools we use, and for businesses’ long-term relevance. It is shaping the future of our working world. The evolution of office space /* custom css */ .td...
Sourced from Shutterstock. Insurance provider and risk mitigator Aoncyber has published a new report titled “Cyber Risks in Africa.” The report focuses on the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) which is ushering in a new economy and a new form of globalisation, both of which demand new forms of governance to safeguard the public good. This new chapter in human development is enabled by extraordinary technological advancements, and along with this progress comes inherent risks. African states need to equip themselves better when it comes to cyber resilience in order to actively participate in the global economy, by effectively managing and mitigating the effects of data breaches and cybercrime on their economy and citizens. The 4th Industrial Revolution brings many opportunities, as well as in...
An increasing number of businesses are switching to a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), which is a unique approach to wide-area networking because it combines traditional WAN technologies with the Internet and provides more visibility within an organisation. The move to SD-WAN is largely driven by distributed enterprises with multiple remote offices, which are increasingly using business-critical, cloud-based applications and tools that are migrating away from performance-inhibited wide-area networks (WAN). According to Louis Kirstein, DSM Expert for Connectivity Services at T-Systems South Africa, the visibility provided by an SD-WAN enables network administrators to oversee the network and monitor traffic for inconsistencies. From a security perspective, this functionality all...
The Commissioner for Social Affairs, Amira Elfadil Mohammed, today rolled out the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) at the African Union Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In his message to participants in the rollout event, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, says that “We have set four goals for PACT: to scale-up testing for COVID-19, to continue training healthcare workers on the continent, to establish a platform for pooled procurement at Africa CDC, and to deploy one million community workers who will help trace contacts of confirmed cases. PACT is a vital component of the continental response to COVID-19 and it is the key to ensuring that we unlock our economies in a safe manner.” Anchored on the African Union Joint Con...
Sourced from Shutterstock. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Today, business leaders are able to augment their decision-making and problem-solving capabilities through a myriad of capabilities powered by AI. With a continued rise in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Analytics, Machine Learning and Big Data, organisations have access to many data sources across their entire ecosystem, which previously was not always available to them. The tools to digitise analogue data sources and then mine and analyse them for insights are becoming more powerful. Organisational leaders in both developing and developed economies now have access to world-class AI-powered systems, that are able to significantly en...
As organizations look to transform their business operations and revolutionize customer service, Digital Transformation (DX) is at the top of most CXOs’ agendas; in fact, DX spending is expected to approach $7.4 trillion between 2020 and 2023, a CAGR of 17.5%. However, according to the latest industry data released today from Veeam Software, almost half of global organizations are being hindered in their DX journeys due to unreliable, legacy technologies with 44% citing lack of IT skills or expertise as another barrier to success. Moreover, almost every company admitted to experiencing downtime, with 1 out of every 10 servers having unexpected outages each year — problems that last for hours and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – and this points to an urgent need to moderniz...
Sourced from Construction Review Online. Kenya’s oil and gas industry is in a state of transition, as its major oil and gas development — Blocks 10BB and 13T in Turkana — has been put on hold, with Tullow Oil submitting a notice of force majeure to the Kenyan Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, citing complications from COVID-19. Meanwhile, Uganda’s Lake Albert Project is moving ahead, with Total announcing plans to acquire Tullow Oil’s stake in the project. The massive development in Uganda, which is set to include a pipeline and refinery, could easily have an impact on regional oil and gas developments and opportunities. In a webinar, Kenyan energy industry leaders shared strategies and thoughts on how Kenya’s oil and gas sector can deal with the implications caused by COVID-19. According ...