Blog

2020 may have come and gone but COVID-19 has not. Healthcare institutions and officials looking to inject smarter processes and efficiencies into their operations are increasingly turning to emerging technologies to aid their response to the pandemic. South Africa’s COVID-19 Alert app serves as a great example. The app is not a contact tracing platform,Read more

“Necessity is the mother of invention”. This English-language proverb suggests that the primary driving force for new inventions is need. We’ve seen proof of this in 2020 as business leaders scrambled to minimise disruption caused by COVID-19. Not only did the pandemic dramatically accelerate corporate digital transformation, it also accelerated technological innovation in a wayRead more

Few innovations have caused as much excitement and garnered more hype than artificial intelligence (AI). And rightly so. Industry experts suggest that AI will completely revolutionise all aspects of our lives. Despite its potential, there are many misconceptions about AI – from fears of massive job losses to concerns that super computers will take overRead more

For quite some time, Industry 4.0 technologies – like the Internet of Things (IoT), additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual, augmented and mixed reality – have slowly started making their way into factories and transforming how manufacturers operate. Keen to maintain their operations remotely and avoid partial or total shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic,Read more

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are set to transform the banking industry. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the use of these technologies to improve decision making, tailor services and enhance risk management will generate more than $250 billion in value across the sector. In fact, risk management is one of the functions likely toRead more

Africa is falling behind when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). This is according to the 2020 Government AI Readiness Index recently published by Oxford Insights. But this doesn’t mean that every country across the continent isn’t making use of AI. According to the Index, Mauritius was the highest-ranked African country coming in at 45th outRead more

Many South African businesses aren’t able to access the ICT skills they need to succeed in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). This is according to the South African ICT Skills Survey, which was released in September last year and was carried out by the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) at Wits University, in partnershipRead more

In April 2019, president Cyril Ramaphosa set up the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The 30-member presidential commission was put together to assist government in taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the digital industrial revolution; identifying relevant policies, strategies and action plans to position South Africa as a competitive global player.Read more

This week, Standard Chartered Bank and Microsoft announced that they have entered a three-year strategic partnership to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation via a cloud-first strategy. The digital strategy partnership makes the bank’s virtual banking, next-gen payments, open banking and banking-as-a-service plans a reality. This move by Standard Chartered, and similar partnerships/investments by others inRead more

Cloud computing has long been hailed as a technological disruptor like no other, enabling rapid digitalisation across businesses of all sizes and across all industries. 5G is the next evolution in mobile network technology, building on the already significant benefits of the 4G/LTE networks that proceeded it. In fact, the capacity of 5G is soRead more