2015 will likely be seen as the year when enterprises pushed aside their fears of cloud computing. Over 70% of companies now utilise cloud-based applications and services, according to Gartner and the Harvard Business Review, although these companies still keep some critical systems and information stored in the data centre. The widespread adoption of this hybrid IT infrastructure model will lead to 2016 becoming the year when the branch office ends its relationship with an old friend – the router. Technology is finally in a place that enables IT to help the business how it wants to be helped, not...
Are we on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution? Before answering the question, it’s worth reminding ourselves of what the first three did. The first brought us steam power and early mechanisation, the second specialisation and mass production and the third revolutionised the work place by introducing computers. The fourth is about the introduction of wireless internet onto the factory floor so that machines can talk to each other and the use of artificial intelligence to allow them to re-configure themselves to produce tailor made products but on a mass production line. We’ve become accustomed to robots capable of...
By the time the Internet of Things takes over, home won’t just be where the heart is; it will be where the brain is, too. Consider June, a provider of IoT-enabled ovens. By incorporating imaging features along with temperature sensors into the oven, June can identify the type of food being cooked and what the optimal temperature is to heat it at. While many non-IoT ovens have similar capabilities, June notifies chefs and home cooks when food is fully done; they don’t have to rely on a recipe-instructed timer to tell them. This means food comes out as desired...
As the saying goes, change is the only constant. In the BI technology space, that rings especially true. But even with technology ever changing and data users’ demands morphing, we learned that some factors of our industry have remained status quo. BI and analytics were still the “#1 investment priority for CIOs” in 2015, according to Gartner. Broader use of predictive analytics remains an aspirational goal for most companies. Suboptimal data quality continues to be problematic. The requirement for information governance is high, but maturity is lower than it needs to be. These are a few items that didn’t...
Technology is forever changing; and change has become so constant and prevalent in the technology world that we sometimes don’t really appreciate the possible impact of these changes on our current and future business landscape. What is even more surprising is that the architects of these changing landscapes also sometimes don’t realise all the implications of the momentum they are creating. It is like a proverbial snowball effect where the process is started and then creates a momentum and direction of its own. The current satellite industry as a whole and in particular in Africa, is at the brink of...
The digital revolution is transforming the way businesses operate, and its effects will be most keenly felt in developing markets. Businesses in emerging markets like in all the rest of the world need to embrace the automation opportunities brought by new technologies, like Internet of Things and cognitive systems, as it is destroying traditional business models and lowering the barriers to entry from competitors in other parts of the globe. Almost every industry stands to be affected by these developments and those who do not adopt new technology early will become irrelevant Is yours one of the 5 jobs ripe...
Human Resources Management… Isn’t it strange to still use a 20th century phrase to describe the complex and delicate art of trying to get the best from the people who drive our businesses? The terminology is rooted in industrial age thinking - leftover from a time that organisations thought of their workers as commodities, at worst and as assets, at best. It reflects a bureaucratic mindset of enforcing policies and shuffling paperwork. It’s furthermore out of line with the dynamic modern working world where leading companies see their employees as stakeholders, even as partners, in their success. This is why we are...
Over the past 50 years, Internet technology has rapidly and profoundly changed the way people work, live, play and learn. The power of the Internet is allowing African citizens to do more things, from more places, faster and better. Computers, mobile devices, homes, cars, clothes, businesses and even cities are all being connected to the global network. Today’s pace of technology change is akin to a vortex, relentlessly sweeping everything into its spiral path, demanding digitization. The force of this change is too strong to ignore, and anything that fails to adapt, such as outdated business models, will break apart...
Story is the organizing principle of reality. The world around us is made of atoms - protons, neutrons and electrons – but it is with story that we give them their shape and their meaning. Story is the primary tool of self-awareness and as such the basis of our humanity. From the creation myths that form the foundation of every civilization, to the rich mythologies that define our culture, story sits at the heart of what it means to be human. Aristotle to Artificial Intelligence Two and half thousand years ago, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle added structure to...
By 2020, more than seven billion people and businesses, and at least 30 billion devices, will be connected to the Internet.* Predictions on the future of digital consumption no longer shock me and as an enterprise leader, it shouldn’t shock you either. Business IT professionals own a minimum of three devices connected to the internet viz. mobile, tablet and laptop – it’s not a statistic I pulled from a survey, but rather my own observation at every ICT conference I’ve attended in the last 12 months, including AfricaCom 2014 and VAS Africa 2015. At the VAS Africa 2015 conference, Nevo Hadas,...
A year in cybersecurity can seem like an eternity. But despite the rapid changes, many things remain constant. Check Point’s top three predicted security threats for 2015 were the rapid growth in unknown malware, in mobile threats, and in critical vulnerabilities in commonly used platforms (Android, iOS and others). These were fully realised, and are likely to remain a significant threat. The cat-and-mouse game that has typified cybersecurity in recent years continues, with hackers constantly finding new ways in which to attack networks – as this year’s high-profile breaches at Anthem, Experian, Carphone Warehouse, Ashley Madison...
Michael Fichardt recently spent 10 weeks at Singularity University. Located in Silicon Valley, the institution is part university, part think-tank, and part business-incubator, which aims is to "educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges." In a series of five articles, Fichardt details his experiences at Singularity University, ranging from the ideas and technologies he saw to the lessons he learned there. In this, the fourth article in the series, he outlines the "moonshot" mentality that's changing the future of technology and humanity as a whole. On 12 September 1962, in a famous...
The first electronic computer was a massive device. The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, 1945) measured 30 meters long, contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, and weighed 27 metric tonnes. The ENIAC’s computational power was put to practical use in a calculation that would decide the fate of the human race. During development of the hydrogen bomb, the ENIAC determined that a thermonuclear fusion device would be 1 000 times more powerful than an atomic fission bomb and also assured physicists that testing such a weapon would NOT incinerate the Earth’s entire atmosphere. Today, the processing power of the ENIAC...
Michael Fichardt recently spent 10 weeks at Singularity University. Located in Silicon Valley, the institution is part university, part think-tank, and part business-incubator, which aims is to "educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges." In a series of five articles, Fichardt details his experiences at Singularity University, ranging from the ideas and technologies he saw to the lessons he learned there. In this, the third article in the series, he outlines some of the exponential technologies changing our world. In their book Bold, co-authors Peter Diamandis and Stephen Kotler, highlight the exponential...
As marketers today, many of us already feel a bit overwhelmed by all the new things going on – after all, how many of us have a SnapChat content strategy, know how to advertise with programmatic buying, or have a plan for when Instagram ads roll out? The pace of change is not slowing, and we need to start looking ahead at upcoming marketing trends if we want to have any chance of capitalising on them for our brands and strategies. Here are four interesting new trends – which are just emerging now, but are likely to be a...
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