Business Day Focus 4.0 2020

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Dear Colleagues, The fourth industrial revolution is here! While conversations around 4IR have been in the ether for numerous years, it’s increasingly clear that the time for words is over…now is the time for action. This is why Business Day and Cold Press Media, are delighted to partner with the inaugural Business Day Focus 4.0 Conference, Exhibition and Publication, brought to you by MTN, We are showcasing what some of the country’s leading enterprises are doing to make the most of what 4IR technology already has to offer their businesses.

Most importantly, we are here to take a look at the human story in a digitally disrupted and technologically transformed age, and what 4IR means for the future of our economy, and the 50+ million people supported by it.

How ready are South African businesses to embrace the fourth industrial revolution? What role will 4IR play in how organisations redefine their future? What does 4IR mean for the requirements of an employable, skilled South African workforce? And what about the ethical implications of the use of 4IR technologies, and how they will be legislated?

For our country to reform the current economy and take the lead in Africa when it comes to skills readiness and tech leadership, the solutions to these questions need to be actioned sooner rather than later. If businesses don’t commit now, they‘ll get left behind.

We certainly hope this publication highlights how business leaders can adopt 4IR technology, while also considering the critical issues they need to attend to immediately. It’s a roadmap for what to expect in the coming months, and we’re excited to be part of your 4IR journey.

A note of thanks to our Headline partner, MTN Group, as well as all our Platinum, Gold and Silver partners who have collaborated with us to ensure we create a platform that drives conversations around the fourth industrial revolution.

Enjoy the read.

Cold Press Media Director: Jennifer Potter

Arena Holdings Head of Events: Taryb Westoby

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It All Starts with Data

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Upskilling for Success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Get Educated for Industry 4.0

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The Wave of Disruption

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Creativity in a 4IR World

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What Skils Are Required in Your Organisation’s Wokrplace of the Future?

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How Should We Prepare for the Future World of Work?

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Should We Be Af raid of the Impact of Robotics?

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How Business Schools Can Prepare Students for Employability

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Art, Humanities & the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Re-inventing Higher Education Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era

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4IR Requires Authenticity

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Competence in an Ever Changing Asset Environment

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Using Technology to Stay Ahead of the Competition

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The Future of Waste Management in South Af rica

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The Crypto Conundrum: What Will It Take for Crypto to Go Mainstream?

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The Future of Payments Using Tokens

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SA Business & 4IR: A New Conversation

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Digital Future Citizens: A Forecast for International Travel

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Technology to Shift South Af rica’s Access to Healthcare Challenge

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Why Remote No Longer Has To Be Impoverished

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What You Need To Know When Starting A Tech Business

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Overcoming Inf rastructure Challenges is Key to 4IR Success

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Embracing the Benef its of Change

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Fourth Industrial Revolution: Opportunity or Threat?

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How to Prevent a Cyber Attack?

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The Impact of Artif icial Intelligence on the Insurance Industry

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The Rise of Future Jobs

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Skills Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era

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Realising the Benef its of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

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Do You Still Have Ownership of Your Data

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AI: 6 Legal Considerations You Ought to be Aware of

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Everything as a Service (XAAS): Changing How We Used to Operate

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Sowing the Seeds of (R)evolution

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Communication & Employee Empowerment

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Innovative Thinking is the Key to Leveraging 4IR Technologies

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Pan-Af rican Trade & Logistics

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IRP (2019) and a Just Transition for Coal?

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5G Faster Connectivity: Intensif ied Collaborations

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If South Af ricans Embraced IR4.0: A Call for Early Adoption

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How Smart is Your Security Programme?

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Can 4IR Re-energise the Mining Sector

COPYRIGHT © Business Day Focus 4.0 is published by Cold Press Media (Pty) Ltd for Arena Holdings. Copyright Cold Press Media and Arena Holdings 2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without prior permision of the Publisher. Opinions expressed do not necessarilty reflect those of the Board of Management or Arena Holdings. All correspondence about Business Day Focus 4.0 should be directed to Cold Press Media.

Contents 01 Advertising Advertising Agency ..................................................................................................... 9

Artif icial Intelligence Data Science . . ................................................................................................................. 11

Automation Automation .............................................................................................................. 12, 13

Education Business Schools .. .................................................... 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 121 Business Schools & Universities ................................................. 28, 29, 32, 33 Universities . . ..................................................................................... 35, 37, 39, 40, 41

Engineering Engineering .. .................................................................................................................. 47 Enterprise Asset Management and Condition Monitoring .............................................................................................. 43

Environmental Sector Waste Management ................................................................................................. 49

Finance Finance ...................................................................................................................... 50, 51 Financial Services . . ............................................................................................. 56, 57 Investment Planning ........................................................................................ 60, 61

Health Healthcare .. ............................................................................................................. 62, 63

ICT Communication, Connectivity CyberSecurity and Cloud ...................................................................................... 69 Converged Communications Solutions ......................................................... 73 Data, Voice and IP Provider . . ........................................................................ 66, 67 Fibre Inf rastructure and Connectivity .................................................... 70, 71 THE DIGITAL PUBLICATION Business Day Focus 4.0 is available as a digital publication on: www.businessessentials.co.za

Information and Data Communications Technology . . ................................... 1, 2, 7, 74, 75, 125, 126 Technology Expense Mangement Solutions .............................................. 77

Contents 02 IT Custom Software Development and Cloud Enablement. . ........................................................................................... 79 Cyber Security and Data Management Services. . ..................................... 81 Data Integration, Transformation and Transportation Solutions............................................................................... 83 Information Management Systems. . ................................................................. 85 Information Technology ......................................................................... 87, 88, 89 Internet of Things . . ..................................................................................................... 93 Software Solutions............................................................................................. 94, 95

Legal Legal .................................................................................................................................. 99

Logistics Courier Services . . ......................................................................................................... 97 Supply Chain .. ............................................................................................................... 101

Manufacturing Electronic Equipment ............................................................................................ 103

Mining Mining .. ............................................................................................................................ 123

Oil, Gas & Petroleum Gas ..................................................................................................................................... 105 Mining .. .................................................................................................................. 107, 109 Oil, Gas & Marine ......................................................................................................... 111

Retail Food & Beverages ............................................................................................. 112, 113

Security Cyber Security ..................................................................................................... 82, 119

Skills Development & Systems Integration THE DIGITAL PUBLICATION Business Day Focus 4.0 is available as a digital publication on: www.businessessentials.co.za

Industrial Automation Training .. .............................................................. 116, 117 .

Growth. It’s the only evidence of life.

It’s personal. It’s profitable.

It’s the true value of what we have to offer.

When we grow ourselves, we grow our clients.

Culture. It evolves us.

It’s embracing humanity.

It’s understanding people and their data.

Because when we do, the doors to communication open, and we start to tell better stories.

Creativity. It’s our oxygen.

It’s drives our thinking.

Defines our purpose.

It’s uncompromising.

It’s what makes us stand out.

Growth. Culture. Creativity.

These are ingredients that make us, the Make It Mean Something Company.

To add meaning and value to your brands, contact: Masego Motsogi on +27 11 502 4600

It All Starts With Data How to Create and Execute a Comprehensive Data Strategy

By Takalani Madzhadzhi, CEO of Ashanti AI and Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Af rica

At the core of industry 4.0 is data.

WHAT BUSINESS OBJECTIVE IS THE DATA GOING TO BE USED FOR?

ccording to the PWC South African Industry 4.0 report, 83% of respondents believe that data will be fundamental to any of their decisions.

We cannot talk about artificial intelligence, data driven strategies or setting up enterprise to take advantage of industry 4.0 without a clear data strategy. In addition, the volume of data and the increased complexity of data means that companies with a clear data strategy will be able to handle and exploit the data.

A data strategy is not a standalone strategy.

It exists to serve the broader objectives of the business. These objects could range from improving efficiency and understanding customer needs to creating additional revenue streams.

There are various considerations when developing a data strategy, chiefly among them should be the following components:

WHERE WILL THE DATA BE COLLECTED FROM? From understanding the business needs, the data that is required can be identified. The data strategy should define where the data can be sourced from.

The strategy should note all the data that could be sourced internally and externally.

The strategy should also note the level of details that the data should have and how frequently it should be collected.

WHERE AND HOW IS THE DATA GOING TO BE STORED? There are various technologies and tools that can be used to store or manipulate data.

However, instead of focusing on the actual technology, the strategy should address challenges such as current data capability versus future data requirement, or how data will be consumed and stored.

The strategy can define whether a cloud solution or inhouse storage solution is required.

Careful thought needs to be placed on this decision as going cloud is not always the best decision for every business.

THE ANALYTICS THAT SHOULD BE PERFORMED FROM THE DATA Some have argued that this is the most important part of a data strategy. It is

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Takalani Madzhadzhi

the extraction of insights and the building of algorithms turns ensures that value is extracted from the data. There must be an alignment with what analytics are required to meet the business objectives, the availability of data and the business objectives.

DATA GOVERNANCE AND SECURITY Given the increased value of data and increased threats of cyber security, it is important for the company’s data strategy to define security standards. This could be by means of tools, who should access the data, when should it be distributed and monitoring standards of the data.

“Given the increased value of data and increased threats of cyber security, it is important for the company’s data strategy to def ine security standards.”

Over the years, a number of roles (such as Chief Data Officer) have become prominent and have been tasked with being tasked with implementing the data strategy. However, to effectively implement a data strategy, a clear road map is required - one that is linked to the business’ KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

More importantly, the culture of the business should be changed to embrace the value of data. Without data, industry 4.0 is simply a distant concept.

ASHANTI AI

www.ashanti.ai | info@ashanti.ai | +27 11 712 1300

OUR AI SOLUTIONS

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE A tool that combines the power of IoT and predictive analytics to assist asset owners in predicting when a particular machine will fail. This helps reduce unplanned maintenance costs.

We are Ashanti AI and we believe in doing things a little differently.

Artificial Intelligence may be the new kid on the block (like we are) and may still be years from ubiquity that pundits talk about. But we are here to create new solutions to the old problems our clients have now (as well as some fresh ones).

OUR STORY We founded Ashanti AI in 2018 to make data science accessible to every business. Serving industries in finance, education, mining and more, we provide data-driven solutions that increase revenue and efficiency.

We are proudly black-owned and blackmanaged B-BBEE Level 2 company, with data scientists, an actuary, statistician, physicist and mining engineer on our staff. Through our partnerships with Explore Data Science Academy and several data consulting firms, we empower you with cutting-edge data science tools and techniques.

Our name comes from the Ashanti, a Ghanaian

tribe that embodies our values. These include the spirit of ‘ubuntu’ and innovation as we share our success with our team members, clients and partners. Rather than replacing people, we use technology to make people more efficient.

WHAT WE DO?

Our team of data scientists use an assessment of skills, a variety of viewpoints and a tool box of techniques to drive value for our clients.

These tools include: • • • • •

Machine learning Predictive analytics Big data analytics Natural language processing Computer vision

OUR PURPOSE

Our purpose is to use AI and data science to help our clients: 1.

2.

3.

Make better decisions, faster Destroy inefficiencies Discover new revenue streams

“Our name comes f rom the Ashanti, a Ghanaian tribe that embodies our values. These include the spirit of ‘ubuntu’ and innovation as we share our success with our team members, clients and partners.”

@ashanti_ai

@Ashanti-AI

WAREHOUSE LABOUR MANAGEMENT We analyse your business processes to determine when and which labour you need for your warehouse. Through smart allocation of warehouse labour, you can fulfil orders on time and curb unnecessary cost. We also assist you with increasing labour productivity and accurately incentivising labour through gamification.

VERNACULAR SENTIMENT ANALYSIS Every wondered what people are saying about your company? We use AI to find out what the general sentiment about your company is on social media, whether positive or negative.

By analysing vernacular sentiment in English, Afrikaans, Sotho, Zulu and Swahili, we can zone in on specific demographics to determine how you can better serve your diverse customer base.

@AshantiAI

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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ABB SA (PTY) LTD

Writing the Digital Future with ABB Ability™ ABB is a global technology leader with a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years. ABB is driving the digital transformation of industries by realizing value working closely with utilities, industry, transportation and infrastructure customers.

ABB ABILITY™ ABB Ability™ - launched in 2017 - offers more than 200 digital solutions which enable enterprises to increase productivity and safety at lower costs. With ABB Ability™, ABB taps into the rapidly growing market of automation for industrial companies.

THE USE OF ANALYTICS TO INCREASE CUSTOMER VALUE These tailored digital solutions drive customer

@abbsouthernaf rica

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@ABBSouthAf rica

Business Day - Focus 4.0

value in each business while capturing synergies through a common platform. The ABB Ability™ solutions help customers assess, automate, optimize and collaborate to ultimately turn raw data into analytical insights and direct action.

Across all industries, the ABB Ability™ digital

offering is well positioned to take advanced automation technologies towards autonomous technologies. ABB Ability™ solutions draw upon data from smart sensors and apply sophisticated software to continually assess the state of systems and to provide predictive warnings. These capabilities are a key enabler of autonomous industrial systems.

“The growing global network of ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations Centers points the way to the future by providing data-driven decision support – making action recommendations that people sign off on – which is the f irst step towards fully autonomous operations.”

@ABB

@ABB

www.new.abb.com

ABB ABILITY™ COLLABORATIVE OPERATIONS CENTERS The growing global network of ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations Centers points the way to the future by providing data-driven decision support – making action recommendations that people sign off on – which is the first step towards fully autonomous operations.

Smart sensors and operation-critical systems located on site transmit data on the health and performance of equipment to the Collaborative Operations Center. There, software performs advanced data analytics. The results are assessed by ABB domain experts in collaboration with customers, resulting in recommendations that uncover potential problems, advise on preventive maintenance, and determine ways to improve performance. This provides valuable input towards the development of systems capable of greater autonomy, all delivered safely, securely and sustainably.

AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY TO AMPLIFY HUMAN POTENTIAL Autonomous systems and industrial artificial intelligence are revolutionizing work not by replacing humans, but by augmenting human cognitive capabilities to amplify potential. The future can already be envisioned from what is seen today: Leading-edge automation systems

“Autonomous systems and industrial artif icial intelligence are revolutionizing work not by replacing humans, but by augmenting human cognitive capabilities to amplify potential.” already enable many operations and processes to run without human intervention under normal conditions. This has allowed people to effectively “up-skill,” by shifting their focus to the more complex and unstructured tasks.

Smart Sensors Optimize Condition-based Maintenance for Yara International For Yara International, a global manufacturer of nitrogen-based fertilizer and other agricultural and environmental supporting products, natural gas is the main feedstock of their ammonia production feedstock of Hydrogen.

Given the CO2 emission and a need to become greener, the company needs to maintain a high level of efficiency in every area of production.

If motors fail due to inadequate maintenance, overall costs increase exponentially due to downtime and loss of production.

Maximum uptime at every level was a concern for Yara until it collaborated with ABB to have an option to install ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor conditioning monitoring solution on its electric motors.

ABB facilitated a pilot program that involved giving Yara free samples of the smart sensors to test at six of their sites.

The process was a co-development partnership where Yara could provide feedback that ABB used to further develop the ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor conditioning monitoring solution.

Based on the success of the pilot project, Yara included the ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor in its global motor frame agreement with ABB. The ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor can be selected as an option; either premounted on new motors or for installation on existing motors across Yara’s production sites.

as vibration, temperature, and speed, then relay this data via smartphone, tablet, or Bluetooth gateway to a secure cloud-based server. The data is then analyzed to produce easy-to-read diagnostic reports and alerts, which can be accessed via in-app display or an online dashboard.

Data-driven insight into the condition of plant assets allows operators to take proper action before a breakdown occurs and saves on trips to the plant – another factor that impacts operational efficiency.

The smart sensors allowed Yara to shift from time-based maintenance to condition-based and predictive maintenance. Whereas in the past, Yara would not assess the condition of their motors and run equipment until it failed, maintenance can now be planned according to actual real-time needs.

The ultimate benefit for Yara has been higher productivity and efficiency, increased energy savings, and a higher-quality product for their customers.

Yara provides crop nutrition solutions to 20 million farmers worldwide and this solution was about giving them a vision and value for the future.

The development of the ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor is based on ABB’s decades of expertise of building motors. It converts traditional motors into smart, wirelessly connected devices. Installation requires no wiring or machining. The sensors read key “health” indicators from the motor such

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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Upskilling for Success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Shiven Sukraj, Country Managing Director, ABB South Af rica

quarter of 2019 with the youth being the most affected. Approximately 8.2 million (40.1%) of South Africa’s 20.4 million young people aged 15 to 34 are unemployed, uneducated and are not a part of any training programmes.

This serves as an understandable fear for the employed and unemployed workforce that new, digital technologies are displacing people in the workplace. To allay these fears, it is necessary to unpack what is actually required in the workplace.

Over the past decade in particular, there has been a growing demand for cleaner, smarter, and more sustainable power generation across the globe, and it’s changing the way we think about and approach power generation solutions. he advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought with it a wealth of new, advanced technologies which have allowed us to build on our long history of innovation and technological leadership. By continuing to evolve, and to embrace these new technologies, we continue to lead the way with cutting-edge robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation-led automation.

One of the challenges that every business is facing in this era is how to ensure that employees – who are an organisation’s most valuable assets – are not left behind.

Data published by Statistics South Africa in February 2020 shows that the country’s unemployment rate remained at 29.1% during the fourth

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In power generation, it is crucial to recognise that because of the advanced automation solutions being deployed at the power stations, there is a need for an even more highly-skilled generation of engineers, operators, technologists, artisans and even managers, without whom, these technologies would be white elephants. Our technologies therefore catalyse the need for a more digital enabled and trained workforce on these sites. So, people are still desperately needed and as leaders, we need to focus on upskilling these valuable assets and enabling our workforce to handle more complex and unstructured tasks.

The first step on this journey is to ensure that we demystify technology for them. One way of doing this is by looking at global best practises-based training that integrates employees in the evolution

of the business. We can also ensure that with every digitally enabled solution we deploy actively engages the workforce to use, maintain and integrate it with the rest of the business.

Another way of demystifying the technology is by implementing innovative means of drawing the workforce into using new technologies, such as business-specific social media apps, facilitating online basic coding courses, demonstrating new technologies to all staff in the workplace, encouraging digital innovation and recognising advancements/achievements in a digital workplace.

By reskilling or upskilling each team member, we can bridge the gaps between the technologies that need to operate with precision and those that help our teams achieve critical levels of performance.

We must also create the opportunities for the youth by driving graduate programs and employment training platforms that encourage the uptake of new and relevant skills to collectively decrease the levels of unemployment.

The upside of this diversification and inclusion strategy (as shown by research globally) is that business performance increases!

“Another way of demystifying the technology is by implementing innovative means of drawing the workforce into using new technologies, such as business-specif ic social media apps, facilitating online basic coding courses, demonstrating new technologies to all staff in the workplace, encouraging digital innovation and recognising advancements in a digital workplace.”

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEADERSHIP FOR AFRICA

Break the gender stereotype in business.

The Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Africa Programme (WELA) is a practical, hands-on programme that examines the issues, challenges and opportunities women face in creating, managing and leading companies in Africa.

The programme is specially designed for women entrepreneurs and is focused on enabling them to identify business opportunities as well as maintain viable and sustainable enterprises.

This Programme is offered in partnership with CEIBS, with study blocks delivered in Johannesburg and Shanghai.

CEIBS creates a supportive and participatory learning environment for the exchange of best practices and experiences, strategy development and skills building, working within the context of women’s economic development issues and priorities 2020 intake starts end of March 2019

In partnership with

www.jbs.ac.za

Get Educated for Industry 4.0

By Professor Pieter Steyn, Cranef ield College

leads to improved organisational performance and competitiveness. In partnering, organisations must first seek local partners closest to them before moving on to regional, national or global. A profound advantage is that it stimulates growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as job creation.

Organisational aspects most affected by the Industry 4.0 economy are customer expectations, product and service enhancement, collaborative innovation and organisational forms. he post-globalisation Industry 4.0 economy demands a complete rethink of current organisational leadership, management and governance issues, as well as the business models employed. This requires developing ‘collaboratist’ leaders and cross-functional organisational and virtual networks of partners.

In collaborating with partners in virtual networks, organisations focus on their core competencies, while partners perform non-core activities. This constitutes a collaborative form of capitalism. It

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While Industry 3.0 was known for its participative servant-leaders, the future requires supertransformational collaboratist leaders who look beyond the immediate to make decisions for the greater good. Such leaders intuitively know why things are happening, how to proceed dealing with matters, what the remedies are, who should do it, and when, in order to mitigate risk and achieve optimal performance. A strong organisational value system and consistently sound ethical behaviour are crucial. Achieving this requires role-modelling trustworthy supportiveness and not over-controlling team members, including those in virtual networks. Moreover, the Industry 4.0 economy fundamentally demands transformation and change of organisational behaviours, structures and processes.

Collaboratist leaders are the guardians of the organisation’s value system, acting as role models who motivate employees and encourage positive mindsets of collaboration and team-based success. Innovative governance and creative organisational structures led by collaboratist leaders must be combined with virtual networks of partners to ensure synergy. While the new brand of Industry 4.0 leaders and managers need not be technology experts, they must possess a good understanding of what key enabling technologies (such as IOT, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence) can do for their organisations.

As a technology-enhanced distance learning private higher education institution, Cranefield

“While the new brand of Industry 4.0 leaders and managers need not be technology experts, they must possess a good understanding of what key enabling technologies (such as IoT, Robotics and Artif icial Intelligence) can do for their organisations.”

College teaches its students how to develop the mindset and behaviour to be a collaboratist leader and how to address strategic organisational transformation and change. Students are taught how to achieve organisational performance excellence through programme-managing inter-organisational activities. This includes all value chain, supply chain and project work. Qualifications offered include an Advanced Certificate, Bachelor of Business Administration, Advanced Diploma, Postgraduate Diploma, Master of Commerce and, at the highest level of attainment, the Cranefield PhD. Classes are conducted at and streamed live online from Cranefield’s auditorium in Midrand, Gauteng, allowing local and international students to interact with lecturers in real time, regardless of their geographic location. Those that are unable to participate in live sessions can view online recordings thereof. To quote our students: “The nice thing about Cranefield is that we can apply what we learn from them today right away in our job tomorrow”.

The Wave of Disruption

By Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean and Director of Henley Business School Af rica

continue to feed our prejudices.

In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary named ‘Post-truth’ as its word of the year, defining the phenomenon as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. The philosophical parents of this post-truth era might be Frederick Nietzsche, Max Weber and Hannah Arendt, but its greatest proponents are Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.

It is the greatest irony of modern times - we have never been more connected and yet never more disconnected. e float upon a tsunami of information, as emotions are weaponised at the expense of common sense – and perhaps common humanity – in the pursuit of downright dishonesty.

The question is how do we balance this ying and the yang, these inseparable 21st century contradictions? Perhaps more pertinently, how do we inoculate ourselves from deception in this post-truth world, a place where the leader of the free world can blithely and brazenly lie, even contradicting himself, with no fear of consequence despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

How do we liberate ourselves in a world of 7.7-billion people spending dramatically more time on different platforms and devices? Social media has disrupted us in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago, from how we find romantic partners and how we access news, to how we shop and even how we engage with each other.

As Virtual Reality pioneer and Silicon Valley savant Jaron Lanier describes it, we have voluntarily subjected ourselves to a state of constant observation and surveillance, in which we are permanently receiving information that is being dynamically adjusted to find new ways to influence us, in which meaning is decontextualised and shredded into algorithmic ready soundbites, which

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Cambridge Analytica has now entered the annals of legend, but here at home we are still dealing with the fallout from Bell Pottinger and its White Monopoly Capital (WMC) epithet, now joined by ‘Stratcom’. The WMC campaign, described by the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR) as the “first large-scale fake news propaganda war in South Africa”, saw the establishment of more than 100 fake Twitter accounts retweeting approximately 220 000 tweets following the global trend of organisations and political parties using communications consultants to create bot or troll armies to push disinformation, drown out legitimate media voices and sway public opinion.

But it’s not just the pseudo-leftists of the Radical Economic Transformation lobby who use social media successfully. South Africa’s right wing do the same by trying to create narratives around “white genocide” internationally, while domestically ensuring they still receive a disproportionate share of media voice.

Whether it’s an existential battle for the self-determination of minorities or to avoid culpability in the aftermath of a decade of state capture, the axiom attributed to Aeschylus in 5BCE still rings true: “In war, the first casualty is the truth”.

Legacy media is its own worst enemy. Most seem to be racing towards the bottom, disorientated and fearful of the challenges posed by social media and the democratisation of the space, by copying the worst excesses in the hopes of staving off

the precipitous drop in audiences and advertising. The drop in revenue is matched in many cases by the concomitant drop in journalistic standards, leading to situations where opinion masquerades as fact; wrong and downright fake news is published as real and curated Twitter lynch mobs are legitimated.

This is extremely dangerous for social cohesion, especially in a society such as South Africa. Left unchecked, as we saw in Rwanda and before that in Nazi Germany, we can end up with genocide.

So how do we inoculate ourselves from this new virus that infects our thinking? We start by adopting the principles of what business schools call divergent and convergent thinking, tools to find solutions to what might appear to be intractable problems. We have to defer judgment while we actively listen to other views, even if – especially if - it challenges our own views, prejudices and biases.

We have to explore the world with curiosity, not just look to satiate our cravings. We have to develop a tolerance for ambiguity, because the traditional way of thinking - coming up with the right answers – no longer holds true, now we need to be asking the right questions – and not be afraid of the answers.

Yuval Noah Harari reminds us that, throughout history, truth has often been trumped by the quest for a narrative that sustains power elites. If we are to truly equip ourselves for what lies ahead though, we need to develop a brutal honesty. Our most important weapon of all in learning to cope with the incredible wave of disruption promised by the 4th industrial revolution that is still to wash over us will be the ability to think away from the herd – if we can prevent the demagogues and the sleepwalkers from destroying the planet in the meantime.

Maybe the first step is to take a leaf out of Harari’s book and go cold turkey on our social media addictions.

Creativity in a 4IR World

By Yatish Narsi, Chief Experience Off icer, Grid Worldwide

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) - def ined as a fusion of technologies and a blurring of the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres - has been dominating headlines and debates in recent years.

Not only has it given rise to an unprecedented pace of innovation, causing widespread disruption in every conceivable industry, but as technologies fuse, it is also transforming the way we work.

4IR’S IMPACT ON ADVERTISING The advertising and design industries will be no exception to this disruption. which will impact creativity in two primary ways.

The first concerns how people consume creative assets, including the distinctive assets – which the advertising industry has long created for traditional mediums.

The brand experience is no longer focused around what we used to create around – which has had a fundamental impact on how brands are designed.

Take Amazon Alexa for example. Colour, form, typography and all the other distinctive brand assets we traditionally employ are now redundant on account of voice interaction.

As brands seek to become more and more integrated and seamless, their need to stand out becomes secondary to their need to fit in.

We’re moving to a world that is less about the design you can see, to one that is driven by design you can’t see.

The second impact of the 4IR relates to the tools that the industry will use to create. The role of creative industries is already being redefined as technology encroaches on spaces that have traditionally been inhabited by human creativity.

AI-powered logo generators, copywriters and illustrators are starting to make their way out

of innovation labs and into the mainstream.

Brand agencies risk becoming defunct as these autonomous creative platforms make their way into the hands of consumers.

Software is already in place to produce royalty-free soundtracks using artificial intelligence (AI). There is little doubt that this will significantly disrupt the music industry and its royalty income stream.

CORRECT INTEGRATION = NEW POTENTIAL There is little doubt that these tools will continue to advance at a rapid rate. However, if integrated correctly, they offer radically new potential for the creative disciplines.

Despite the fact that the African continent is characterised by an inconsistent supply of electricity, low internet penetration and where not all the continent’s citizens have access to education and healthcare, let alone to clean water, the impact of the 4IR will be felt as much here as anywhere in the world.

Another factor in its favour is a large youth population – which will make it likely that 4IR technologies will be adopted even faster than in some of its more developed global counterparts.

Those working in branding, advertising and other creative fields have traditionally considered creativity through a fairly limited lens.

While there probably is not a future in banner ad designs, the principles behind creative disciplines will continue to be relevant as long as we’re solving problems and addressing realworld issues. While technology will make certain jobs redundant, it’s likely to force the industry to become even more creative.

Technology has democratised creativity, and while this will no doubt threaten some people, with more people focusing on creative solutions, the world can only be a better place given that the chances of finding great ideas increases exponentially the more ideas that are produced.

Despite the plethora of technologies now available, the one critical skill that will continue to be sought after, along with problem-solving and critical-thinking, is creativity. And while there is little doubt that technology will replace much of what we currently do, this will allow us to evolve our role in the creative process and enable us to do more.

The impact of the 4IR will be felt across every brand we service but, perhaps more importantly, it will dramatically impact how and what we create.

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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What Skills Are Required

in your Organisation’s Workplace of the Future?

By Dr Cobus Oosthuizen, Dean, Milpark Business School

Over the past couple of years, we have been inundated with news, views, commentarties, predictions and research publications on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and how disruptive technologies will disrupt society as a whole, and perhaps even reshape essential elements of the human experience. ront and centre in these considerations is the future of work - what the digital workplace of the future will look like and what skills will be required? Some commentators believe that expert judgement and timeline predictions prove to be mostly unreliable, generally containing little useful information.

David Ben-Gurion’s words seem quite apt in this instance: “All the experts are experts on what was. There is no expert on what will be.

To become an ‘expert’ on the future, vision must replace experience.”

Further complicating matters is that alongside the much-emphasised technology uprising, a set of broader socio-economic, geopolitical and demographic developments is also unfolding.

Without negating the impact of extreme automation and connectivity, it can be argued that the disruption does not stem solely from technology, but is also influenced by demographic shifts, globalisation and macroeconomic trends.

Against that backdrop, let’s consider the latter part of Ben-Gurion’s quote, i.e. “To become an ‘expert’ on the future, vision must replace experience.”

Vision implies thinking about the future in an imaginative way to construct what organisations would ultimately want to achieve, and giving purpose to their existence. My problem is that most organisations are yet to figure out what future they want in this 4IR theatre. Max Tegmark from MIT contends that we shouldn’t passively ask “what will happen?” as if the future is predetermined, but instead ask what we want to happen and then attempt to create that future.

Subsequently, when organisations strategically consider the future of work, digitalisation, and skills requirements from its unique industry or context, they should firstly determine what future they want. This will set the scene for creating vision and for organisational leaders to become experts of their future which could spawn what their ‘digital workplace’ would look like, and what skills would be required by them. Be instrumental in the determination of the future you want.

“Vision implies thinking about the future in an imaginative way to construct what organisations would ultimately want to achieve, and giving purpose to their existence.

My problem is that most organisations are yet to f igure out what future they want in this 4IR theatre.”

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www.milpark.ac.za/business-school 086 999 0001

The old truths suggest that to lead, leaders must have foresight, and they must lead by example; they must motivate and inspire on a moral basis, through aspiration as well as recognition and reward. It is precisely this calm, considered, and ethical leadership, required to lead and inspire large numbers of people that seems in short supply today...

Cognisant of the drivers of change and megatrends impacting on society, we are aware of the responsibility and trust that we as a business school of the next generation of leaders bear.

Hence, ethical and sustainable business practices is at the heart of our teaching and research philosophy. To this end we have embraced the notion of “phronesis”, meaning practical wisdom, based on an intellectual virtue that implies ethics and involves deliberation based on values, concerned with practical judgement and informed by reflection. It is pragmatic, variable, context-

MILPARK BUSINESS SCHOOL

dependent, and oriented toward action while driven by the pursuit of the #commongood. In demonstrably making MBS’s philosophy manifest, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will serve to inform the way we think, reason and act in relation to teaching, research, and engagement with industry.

As a business school, we, our students and alumni will endeavour to be generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable economy – for our country, our continent, and the world at large. Tomorrow is beautiful… MBS develops ethical leaders for the #commongood.

WHY STUDY AT MILPARK BUSINESS SCHOOL? Milpark’s flexible study options let you choose between contact or distance learning online and all our qualifications are registered and accredited

with the relevant authorities.

Milpark’s flagship qualification, the MBA, received AMBA accreditation in 2018, and is the only AMBA accredited MBA in Africa for both contact and online distance learning. With this accreditation, Milpark’s MBA has joined the top 2% of global business schools in over 70 countries.

Our highly qualified academic staff have extensive industry experience, which ensures a learning environment that promotes growth-producing experiences for students. Our course content is relevant, contemporary and updated regularly.

Milpark Business School also boasts excellent utilisation of technology, enabling easy online registration, administrative processes (results, documentation, etc.), academic support (including study plans, extra articles, exam guidelines and self-assessment questions) and tutor support.

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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WITS BUSINESS SCHOOL

ABOUT WITS BUSINESS SCHOOL

Business Schools and the Adaption to the Fourth Industrial Revolution Are business schools doing enough to adapt to the changing needs of organisations in the 4IR? If not, what could they be doing differently? its Business School did some introspection, and in 2016, along with funding partner Telkom, established a Chair (or research centre) focusing purely on digital business. “Despite all the hype around digitilisation in the media, there was no substantial body of knowledge based on solid academic research into digital transformation,” says Professor Brian Armstrong, Head of the Chair in Digital Business at WBS. That has all changed now with cutting-edge academic and executive programmes being developed at WBS that have turned digital business into a formal area of study. These programmes are the first of their kind in Africa, and the school will soon be graduating the first Master’s and postgraduate diploma students in digital business.

WBS rolled out its first executive education short courses during 2018, for digital solutions company BCX. “We are excited to be pioneers in the field of academic research into digital business and to help equip people to be able to rise to, and

manage, the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution,” says Armstrong. “Our vision is ultimately for South African companies to thrive in this era of rapid development.”

“Our vision is ultimately for South Af rican companies to thrive in this era of rapid development.”

The digital revolution is not just about technology, Armstrong notes. General business education married with contextual digital understanding can play an important role in identifying how we, as humans, can shape and manage the transformation.

“Working in the digital world means not only understanding the tech, it also means how, fundamentally, we and our customers remain human...”

“Working in the digital world means not only understanding the tech, it also means how, fundamentally, we and our customers remain human, how we anticipate and mitigate social consequences of digitisation, and how we understand the environmental costs and benefits of the digital world,” says Armstrong.

“We need to ask: where do we see ourselves going as businesses and as individuals? We need the courage to do new things, learn new skills and acquire new capabilities using the attributes of hard work, problem solving, communication and critical thinking as the platform. This is where a business school, if agile and forwardthinking, can play a pivotal role.”

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Professor Brian Armstrong, Head of the Chair in Digital Business at WBS

Wits Business School, part of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at Wits University, was founded in 1968 and is one of the most well-known and respected business schools on the continent.

Apart from its flagship MBA and PDM programmes, WBS offers the widest range of specialist Master of Management programmes in South Africa. The school is also the first on the continent to establish research chairs in digital business, African energy leadership, and African philanthropy and social investment, and is developing cutting-edge programmes in all these fields.

QUICK FACTS To date, a total of 242 students have registered for WBS’s academic offerings in the field of Digital Busines. Another 100 students are doing online offerings.

A further 200 people have gone through the executive education short courses.

FOR MORE INFORMATION http://wbsdigital.co.za/

www.wbs.ac.za

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES Master of Management in the field of Digital Business • One year block-release • Core courses, electives + research report

Focusing on the Future In 2017 Ravi Pillay, like many people working in the tech space, was feeling somewhat nervous about the future. Things were changing fast.

“Digitilisation” and “disruption” were the watchwords, in the media, and in the workplace, and he knew that if he, as a manager, didn’t keep on top of his game, he would be left behind.

Postgraduate Diploma in the field of Digital Business • One year full-time • 12 core courses

“What was scary was sensing this groundswell of change but feeling ‘at sea’ – how to manage and harness the rapid change that was taking place? I was managing a team of people with little certainty that we were going to succeed,” he recalls.

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION SHORT COURSES Emerging Leaders in Digital Business • 21 days spread over six weeks • Includes: digital technology fundamentals, customer experience management, digital marketing, business accounting and project leadership Accelerated Leaders in Digital Business • 24 days spread over seven weeks • Includes: digital technology fundamentals, customer experience management, digital marketing, digital transformation and change management, business finance and strategy in the digital age Transformational Executive Leaders in Digital Business • 28 days spread over eight weeks • Includes: as above, but with business strategy for a digital world, innovation and corporate entrepreneurship, policy, governance and ethics, and key sectors on the digital threshold Digital Transformation and Development • 5 days • Includes an understanding of the application of digital technology within business • Explores the effects of digitalisation on business strategy • Provides an overview of digital transformation & change within organisations Digital Technology Fundamentals • 5 days • This short course is for anyone who wants to gain an understanding of the application of digital technology within business

Ravi was one of 200 BCX employees who were offered the opportunity in 2018 to attend Wits Business School’s new digital leadership development programme: Future Leaders in Digital Business. Pillay relished the chance to interact with seasoned lecturers, and listening to industry experts share their ‘real life’ experiences of how they successfully applied exponential technology to their own businesses.

Does he feel better equipped for the future?

“I definitely have a much firmer grasp of the business imperatives necessary to succeed in the digital era. I also feel more confident about leading my team, based on new learnings in aspects such as emotional intelligence, team-building and motivational skills,” says Pillay.

The year-long block-release course has infused Pillay with a deep sense of excitement about the new digital era.

“Some people may worry about the future of their jobs, and perhaps with good reason. But there is no doubt that exponential technologies will add unimagined benefits to humankind. Technology is going to shape the future in a dynamic and positive way, creating endless opportunities,” he says. “We need not fear the changes but embrace them, and digital literacy should be a universal imperative so we can all participate in this exciting future.”

Ravi Pillay (pictured right)

Wits Business School also offers customised programmes to suit an organisation’s specific needs, as well as online modules.

@Wits.Business.School

@witsbschool

@witsbusinessschool

@WITS Business School

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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How Should We Prepare for the Future World of Work?

By Professor Brian Armstrong, Director of the Chair in Digital Business, Wits Business School

Professor Brian Armstrong

“Many of the predictions that we read about will happen, some won’t. And those that do may happen sooner or later than expected. Plan for the future - but live in the present. ” SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT, CORE CAPABILITIES ARE EVEN MORE SO These include good old-fashioned virtues like being a great collaborator or team player, communicating effectively, taking the initiative, being persistent, dependable and resilient, creativity and of course working hard will become even more central to career success.

THE ‘STEM’ SKILLS

Technology will continue to change the world of work as we know it. So what can we, as individuals, do to prepare?

Here are ten tips that you may find useful: BEWARE OF PREDICTIONS Technological and social change happens unevenly, in fits and starts. Many of the predictions that we read about will happen, some won’t. And those that do may happen sooner or later than expected. Plan for the future – but live in the present.

LEARN HOW TO LEARN In times of change our ability to keep learning to stay current and refresh our capabilities is perhaps even more important than the particular things we learn. We need to harness the ability to reinvent ourselves over and over, thereby staying relevant. And this starts with a conscious choice to keep learning.

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For the next several years, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths will remain vitally important skills and are at the heart of many growing job categories. People who master these skills will never want for work.

GET TECH SAVVY It’s really important to be able to use the tools that we have at our disposal, as well as the new ones that are constantly becoming available, to enhance our own productivity and effectiveness at work.

DIVERSIFY We are living in the so-called gig economy which requires the balancing act of diversifying our skills with a determination to succeed in whatever we put our minds to. That said, we need to be careful of not being mediocre at many things at the expense of excelling at a few.

DO MEANINGFUL WORK Even if we perceive our careers to be risky or poorly paid, or if we feel we have stagnated

or are being under-appreciated, if we find our work to be meaningful and purposeful, it is a source of motivation and ultimately, success.

UNDERSTAND FUTURE DEMAND Research suggests that jobs that are less likely to be performed by a machine in the short to medium term are high in three dimensions: social or relational intelligence; creative intelligence; and manual dexterity. Careers that emphasise these will be less vulnerable to automation and may well see a growth in demand in the future.

BE HUMAN The customers we serve are people who make decisions based more on how they feel than on what they know. To be effective in the workplace, we need to be able to engage the hearts, minds and souls of those around us. Ultimately, it is our humanness that will define and differentiate us.

BE HEARD Finally, the digital world is exposing new frontiers in ethics, policies, and governance. How do we respond? We need to make our voices heard so that we are not just victims in a sea of change, that we do have the ability to shape our future.

But having said all that – we have to be wary of ten point plans! These tips are not definitive by any means – they are simply meant to open up the conversation.

Digital and technological transformation has provided us with many benefits and better way of doing business.

Everything from how we do business to our personal lives are controlled/stored in the digital sphere. As much as this is a huge advantage it does have its risks in the form of cyber attacks which expose our private information.

MALWARE ATTACKS have increased by 22% in South Africa with 9 attempted attacks occuring every second.

OF CYBERATTACKS target small businesses

OF MALWARE ARE from infected emails

CYBER SECURITY TIPS 01 PASSWORD MANAGEMENT

02 KEEP APPLICATIONS UP-TO-DATE

Password management and updating should be practiced on both a personal and enterprise level to ensure safety.

Application updates are important and a function of these updates is to improve performance and security.

03 ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

04 BACKUPS

Anti-virus software is one way of creating a barrier between you and potential attackers.

Businesses can suffer greatly from loss of information from attacks. Create backups of all your important files.

05 SENSITIVE BROWSING

06 CONTROL SOCIAL MEDIA POSTING

When it comes to sensitive browsing (shopping or financial transactions) only use these platforms on your own computer.

Since we live in a digital age what we post tends to remain in the digital world. Be careful about what you post online.

TYPES OF CYBER ATTACKS

Malware

Phishing

Man-in-the-Middle

DDoS

SQL Injection

Zero-day Exploit

References: https://www.itgovernanceusa.com/blog/six-most-common-cyber-attacks https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/category/enterprise/securityawareness/security-awareness-fundamentals/top-20-security-awareness-tips-tricks/#gref https://techcentral.co.za/south-africas-vulnerability-to-cyberattacks/90051/

IE UNIVERSITY

Unlocking Af rica’s Business Potential

From the IE Af rica Centre to Business Day Focus 4.0 and beyond, IE University is proud to lead the way in revolutionizing the continent’s role in the international business world. or more than 40 years, IE University has been a global leader in shaping tomorrow’s top entrepreneurs. By bringing technology and innovation together with the humanities, our students are provided with the tools needed for success in today’s changing and dynamic world. Our faculty not only consists of world-class educators, but also sector leading experts who guide students as they gain the necessary real-world experience to create lasting success.

The IE Africa Centre has been essential in fostering student involvement in the globalizing world of entrepreneurship. IE University and the Africa-America Institute have joined forces to create a series of specially designed humanities courses in which students reshape their understanding of Africa. This collaboration features unique programming and networking opportunities, including an annual lecture titled “Africa Unlimited.”

In order to tap into Africa’s potential for entrepreneurship, innovation and social growth, this year the IE Africa Centre introduced the Social Innovators Retreat. This event brought together social entrepreneurs from Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. With all participants providing important insights on how to tackle today’s most pressing issues from an entrepreneurial perspective, the event celebrated the values which Africa’s most cutting-edge social innovators and IE both share.

In addition to the Centre’s programs and events, the Kistefos Young Talented Leaders Scholarship allows young and talented African business innovators to unleash their entrepreneurial vision without having to worry about financial limita-

tions. The Kistefos Foundation in partnership with IE University awards several scholarships over a period of 4 years, 24 of these scholarships are designated for students from Ethiopia, Liberia and South Africa. These scholarships will be awarded to individuals with strong academic and leadership skills, who strive to bring about disruption back in their home countries.

With two locations in Africa, our 30 international offices serve the growing number of IE University alumni working around the world while providing our global student body with the support needed to fulfil their professional and personal ambitions.

At IE University, we take pride in the space for innovation and entrepreneurship which our current students, alumni and faculty have created. Unique events, such as Business Day Focus 4.0 in South Africa, allow us to explore the human side of technological disruption. After all, it is initiatives like these that help us to continue fostering IE’s pillars of entrepreneurship, innovation, academic rigor and the humanities—all of which bring diverse people and ideas together, in both Africa and beyond.

“With two locations in Af rica, our 30 international off ices serve the growing number of IE University alumni working around the world while providing our global student body with the support needed to fulf ill their professional and personal ambitions.”

In line with our commitment to encouraging diversity and innovative entrepreneurship, we are continuously developing initiatives and graduate programs which form connections with talented and motivated individuals all over the world.

@IE School of Human Sciences and Technology

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@IE School of Human Sciences and Technology

@ieHST

@iehst

www.ie.edu

[ IN THE NEWS ] Presenting Rewire Mag: A roadmap for lasting, real-world success https://rewire.ie.edu/

For many professionals, the best way to stay on the cutting-edge of success in today’s fast-paced world is to approach it with an action plan. With this in mind, IE’s School of Human Sciences and Technology has created Rewire Mag, a roadmap to help students navigate their careers. Whether students are interested in technological and digital innovation, marketing and communications, or talent and leadership, this magazine acts as a tool for developing essential skills for tomorrow’s business ecosystem.

In line with its mission of staying at the forefront of innovation, IE is proud to be the first European university to launch a tech-focused MBA. The Tech MBA is designed to help professionals adapt to the dynamic technological revolution. With a faculty of sector leading experts who are also top-notch educators, participants gain on how to leverage business and tech strategy and create real lasting success.

For more than 40 years, IE University has been a world leader in innovation, and it plans to continue driving innovation and tackling new technological trends in the business world and beyond.

IE School of Human Science and Technology At IE’s School of Human Science and Technology (HST), we are committed to guiding you on your journey to reach your professional and personal goals. Our cutting-edge programs bring together technology and the humanities, helping you unleash your potential to disrupt the future. Human Sciences enables technology to be smart. Technology enables humans to work and live better.

We offer 19 pioneering Masters based on IE HST’s three worlds: • • •

Marketing, Communication, & The Customer Digital Tech & Data Science for Business, People, Behavior, & Transformation

Whether your dream is to discover how to connect customers and companies, spark new relationships between tech and business, or to lift and empower the people around you, we provide visionaries with the tools to lead the new skills economy.

Join the next generation of change-makers in our transformational programs. At IE’s School of Human Sciences and Technology, you’ll learn how to shape your own competitive professional profile as you prepare for real success in today’s disruptive global ecosystem. The world isn’t slowing down, and neither are we.

Brenda Zikonda, Master in Cybersecurity She is now working at Deloitte España After earning my Bachelor’s degree in computer and information sciences from Monash University my career journey began at Microsoft where I gained experience in business process development, project management and cyber consulting. My keen interest in cybersecurity lead me to pursue a Master in Cybersecurity at IE’s School of Human Sciences and Technology in Madrid, Spain This program allowed me to discover how to bridge the gap between the C-suite and the technical team within my organization. What’s more, the new perspectives and strategies I gained have helped me to effectively communicate cyber risks to company decision makers and stakeholders.

This is especially important since data has become the new currency in an increasingly digitized world that is leading us into the fourth industrial revolution.

I am currently working as a Business Development and Project Manager at Deloitte España looking after managed security services for South Africa and Nigeria. Going forward, I’ll be using what I’ve learned at IE to increase local cyber capabilities in Africa.

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Should We Be Afraid of the Impact of Robotics?

By Borja Gonzalez del Regueral, Vice-Dean, Data Science & Technology, IE School of Human Sciences & Technology

Borja Gonzalez del Regueral

“Automation takes us to the essence of what it means to be human. Eliminating repetitive, or boring jobs provides us with an opportunity to be more creative and explore new forms of collaboration.” which have worked in their countries of origin, but instead by adapting them to solving the problems that these societies face. Moreover, it allows these societies to propose new solutions that transcend the barriers of previous technologies.

Societies have been undergoing change for thousands of years, but the technological revolution is evolving rapidly and we need to be ready for it. outine tasks are becoming increasingly automated - not just in business but throughout society. Unsurprisingly, this change is influenced more by social and cultural realities than by technology per se. For example, Society 5.0 is more important than Industry 4.0, while more than 50% of the software for humanoid robot Sophia was developed in Ethiopia, while companies like Facebook and Google are working on improving our tech knowhow.

In these cases, we see that implementation does not happen simply by replicating technologies

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We are already hearing reports that automation levels are 30% or higher in six out of 10 jobs. It is widely accepted that the disappearance of some jobs points to a bleak future. Additionally, and as part of our negative bias toward technology and the change it produces, we tend to overprotect ourselves, when in fact this ‘re-evolution’ is no more hostile than others in the past (the industrial and agricultural revolutions, the use of technology in agriculture, etc.), but simply faster.

All these previous revolutions involved a paradigm shift. On the one hand, certain jobs disappeared, while at the same time, we generated new ones and adapted to the new reality. Although, it is also true that ‘the rules of the game’ changed much more slowly and out of necessity, rather than proactively. That being said, it’s also true that there is a difference in the speed between technological change and that of our abilities.

Automation takes us to the essence of what it means to be human. Eliminating repetitive, or boring jobs provides us with an opportunity to be more creative and explore new forms of collaboration. We tend to think of accessing technology

as difficult, but it’s worth remembering how the use of mobile phones has evolved: from designs focused on technology to the smartphone, designed to facilitate human-computer interaction.

Nevertheless, at the societal level, we will need to readjust our skill levels to avoid excluding large groups of people from the benefits of automation. It won’t be enough to ask what will happen to those lacking the skills; instead we’ll have to take large-scale measures to update the skill sets being consigned to history to match those needed today and tomorrow (as we know it) in order to improve their employability.

New technology is continuosly shaping the way that we conduct business. Big data when used effectively can transform your business and allow insights into successful operations.

of data has been created in the last 2 years

IoT will save consumers $1 trillion a year by 2022

AI looks to grow to $40 billion in marketing by 2025

Companies only analyze 12% of the data available.

03 FOCUS EXACT QUESTIONS Before merging all data together it is important to clean out the previous data in order to simplify the entire process

Colloborate with dedicated data companies, they can share insight into analysis that you would not know yourself.

Identifying priorities for your business will add maximum value to the organisation.

Look at what you want to enhance.

Ask yourself what type of information are you looking for, what type of information is going to benefit your business.

05 CHECK BEFORE REORDER

06 IMPACTFUL UPGRADE

Before you start reordering your data you want to check it before as without checking it can be more time-consuming.

Upgrading data analytics programs and applications can free up some time devoted to control of data.

REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL

construction, and iteration. Consequently, the interdisciplinary, collaborative and empowering natures of these makerspaces help prepare students for a future that one cannot imagine.

Makerspaces Offer Authentic Student-Centred Learning and Skills for Employability in the 21st Century

Makerspaces provide powerful contexts and opportunities for students to learn and develop new skills and draws upon the innately human desire to make things using our hands and our brains.

They provide this necessary outlet for students, fuelling engagement, creativity and curiosity.

Student-centred learning in a Makerspace can also empower students, helping them to shift from being passive consumers of information and products to active creators and innovators. It allows students to take control of their lives, be more active, and be responsible for their own learning. Furthermore, it is the ‘process of making’ that emerges as a powerful experience for students, not necessarily the completion of a final project.

By Professor Ahmed Shaikh, Managing Director, REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL

Education within a Makerspace fosters curiosity, tinkering, and iterative learning, which in turn leads to better thinking through better questioning. This learning environment fosters enthusiasm for learning, student confidence, and natural collaboration. Ultimately the outcome of maker education and academic makerspaces leads to determination, independent and creative problem solving.

A few weeks ago, discussions at the World Economic Forum (WEF) have highlighted how society finds itself in a time of accelerated change and disruption, with increasing pressure to evolve societal systems and processes to meet the demands of the 21st century and beyond.

Within this perspective education is the most sophisticated social technology of societal transformation for co-creating and contributing to sustainable, regenerative and thriving futures.

However, the global Higher Education (HE) sector finds itself at a critical juncture in this period: The profound impact of disruptive and exponential technologies, shifting labour market dynamics coupled within dramatically-new needs for skills in the creative economy are all challenging the

@RegentBusinessSchool

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very raison de etre of HE. Vexing questions are being asked as to whether HE is able to adapt quickly enough to match the rate of evolution of new types of jobs, professions and occupations that require a new set of skills for agile and collaborative work teams.

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a crucial element for business and educational leaders is to align workplace needs with higher education preparation systems to promote student success in careers after graduation, rather than simply focusing on traditional academic achievements.

Academic Makerspaces are therefore increasingly being looked to as a method for engaging learners in creative, higher-order problem-solving and active learning skills through hands-on design,

@REGENT_ BSchool

regent-business-school

REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL, a South African business school has established its academic makerspace under the auspices of the iLeadLAB. The iLeadLAB provides its students, alumni communities and business partners opportunities to bridge the gap between learning and work through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) immersion, work-related learning and internship bootcamps, thus reducing the education-job mismatch and increasing employability competencies of its graduates.

Through these new innovations, the institution is challenging the idea of a traditional classroom by exploring how new physical and virtual learning environments can affect and improve not only learning outcomes but empower the students and unemployed individuals to become innovative entrepreneurs and productive members of an inclusive economy.

REGENT Business School

www.regent.ac.za

[ IN THE NEWS ]

ABOUT PROGRAMMES REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL (RBS) is a leading distance learning institution in Africa and a member Institution of the Pan-African and Global Honoris United Universities Network.

RBS is committed to excellence in teaching, learning and research to provide students and organisations with the management competencies and critical skills.

Our degrees are locally accredited and internationally recognised.

We offer an array of study choices, ranging from short courses and Higher Certificate programmes to Diplomas, Degrees and Postgraduate Degrees. RBS was recently accredited by The Department of Higher Education with the Doctorate Degree, Diploma in Public Relations Management, Bachelor of Commerce in Law and the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting is also accredited by the South African Institution of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). RBS’s programmes cover the areas of Business Administration, Commerce, Management and Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Local Government, Educational Management, Finance, Human Resource Management and Healthcare Management. RBS programmes are designed to offer fantastic articulation possibilities to students.

One of our main objectives is to embrace the emerging potential in Information Technology to drive RBS into a digital future using the Employability unit (iLeadLAB) of the institution to bridge the gap between education and the demands of the 21st century workplace.

Enthusiatic and Spirited Learner: Kaiden Naidoo

ILeadLAB: Embracing 4IR with Innovation LABs The world today is characterised by the staggering pace of technological change , and the speed of current breakthroughs is unprecedented when compared to the other industrial revolutions.

The growth in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things (IoT), and nanotechnology has become the new norm of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) . The 4IR will be driven by four disruptions: rise in data volumes, computational power, connectivity; and the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities. Employees and employers will need to adapt and innovate in response to new demands and changing circumstances of the 21st century.

REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL has embraced 4IR by investing in Innovation LABs called the ILeadLAB in Cape Town , Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, which focuses on robotics, coding, Laser Cutting and 3-D printing as well as employability skills, which allows students to develop themselves and their careers and igniting their entrepreneurial spirit.

The ultimate aim to enhance employment opportunities and create “plug and play “ graduates.

design files, shared cloud storage, and the plethora of business functionality built in the Microsoft Office suite of applications.

The iLeadlab at REGENT recently had the privilege to host some of the brightest young learners in one the immensely popular innovation and technology bootcamps held around the country. Kaiden Naidoo, an enthusiastic and spirited learner rose to the occasion in participating voraciously in the activities on offer. He gained valuable insight and bedded a solid foundation in computer proficiency through the teaching and learning practical exercises in file management, creation of

Bringing action to knowledge, he was able to design and produce his own products using state of art laser cutting equipment, conduct market research and pilot test his product to the public. Using the business acumen skills he acquired, he was able to assess the effectiveness and marketability of his product which has built his confidence as an entrepreneur. A success story unfolding, he has now been hired by firm ready to utilise these workplace skills.

At REGENT, we feel proud to have given an opportunity to this amazing youth who is well on his way to success in this technologically driven world.

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How Business Schools Can Prepare Students for Employability

By Professor Ahmed Shaikh, Managing Director, REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL

Business schools have an important role in preparing young people for the 21st-century workplace. t is no longer news that disruptive technologies will be the driving force behind the fourth industrial revolution. The reality is that the estimate of global economic returns on this revolution is $16-trillion. Given the sluggish growth in the global economy and recent threats of trade wars among major economies, this projection is big news.

However, given the scale of investment in programmes to prepare students for employability, “graduates will need sufficient skills to ‘de-risk’ new enterprise development initiatives in Africa”, as African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina has said.

A cursory glance at the history of global economic development shows us that these revolutions have always been accompanied by job losses, followed by a period of recovery. The challenge with the fourth industrial revolution is that the prognosis for job creation is bleak. The hollowing out of the middle segment of the labour market is the most serious threat.

Research indicates that, on average, a third of the skills required to perform today’s jobs will be wholly new by 2020. Education and training systems, postschool education in particular, have been static and underinvested in for decades. They are considered largely inadequate for new labour market needs.

Criticism that higher education is obsessed with

disciplinary knowledge acquisition rather than preparing graduates to be ready to “plug in and play” in the workplace has become more acute in recent years.

Globally, it is estimated that 75 million people are unemployed and 50% of young people aren’t convinced their higher education has improved their chances of finding a job. A recent McKinsey report indicates that by 2020 there will be a shortfall of 85 million high-and middle-skilled workers.

Employers demand new standards for what graduates should be able to do, how they’re able to adapt and innovate in response to changing circumstances. The key shift in industry expectations is for graduates to move from “discipline-specific” expertise to a broad range of skills applicable in different work contexts.

These competencies are difficult to find among recent university graduates, and this is where business schools can come in. They can be engaged in the development of innovative training and education in transferable skills, and can help bridge the gap between learning and work, and improve graduate job readiness. This goes some way to reducing the shortage of skills in the workplace and the frequent education-job mismatch.

To meet these challenges, business education must be transformed in ways that will enable students to acquire the creative thinking, flexible problemsolving, collaboration and innovation skills they need to be successful in work and life.

“Research indicates that, on average, a third of the skills required to perform today’s jobs will be wholly new by 2020.

Educating and training systems, post-school education in particular, have been static and underinvested in for decades.”

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Currently, schools are affected by a larger system that often reinforces the status quo instead of encouraging innovation and change. Most education systems are based on models put in place over a century ago. Fragmented attempts at reform and modernisation have failed, in most cases, to address the growing gap between conventional education systems and the demands of modern life and new labour markets.

Business and management qualifications should provide a range of contexts, ensuring that graduates leave not only with theoretical knowledge but also the ability to apply it across a range of situations.

Students should be involved in shaping the future.

This type of pedagogy will require students and teachers to consider how current events affect business and how it can respond.

Klaus Schwab, executive chair of the World Economic Forum, constantly reminds us that the fourth industrial revolution will be far more comprehensive than any previous industrial revolution, because of the speed of society’s acceptance and implementation of its concepts, as well as the meaningful changes that will occur on a societal and individual level.

Digital skills alone are not enough. Students must understand what to do with them, and the new curriculum will help learners apply and innovate with technology so they can play an active role in shaping the tools of the future. Economies are entering a period in which artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to overcome physical limitations and open up new sources of value and growth.

These capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills and behaviours that, together with curriculum content, will help students to live and work successfully in the 21st century.

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

AT THE FOREFRONT OF

INNOVATION UP transforms lives and communities, using knowledge to pursue economic advancement and social justice.

Forging connections across disciplines and borders can spark critical new knowledge and innovation,s and so we have launched four key transdisciplinary hubs.

JAVETT-UP

UP - A WORLD OF ANSWERS

ART CENTRE

A centre for the arts of Africa that explores what makes us human and traces the story of who we are, where we come from and the importance of Africa in the world.

ENGINEERING 4.0 COMPLEX

In partnership with SANRAL and the CSIR, we will use cutting-edge technologies for research, testing and training in everything from road surfaces to smart cars and smart public transport systems.

INNOVATION AFRICA @ UP

Focusing on smart agriculture, we will be collaborating with government, the agricultural sector and industry to advance agricultural production systems that are resilient to climate change, environmentally-friendly, sustainable and easy to implement.

FUTURE AFRICA

INSTITUTE AND CAMPUS A continental asset with research and innovation programmes dedicated to solving Africa’s complex problems as well as addressing global challenges underpinned by sustainability, diversity and equity.

Make today matter

learn more at www.up.ac.za/research-matters

Art, Humanities & the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Prof Tawana Kupe, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Pretoria

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is more than a buzzword. It’s the rapid rate at which the world is evolving towards an interconnected, automated system of being. s a society, our dependency on technology has reached unprecedented levels. whether it’s the need to post a selfie online or remotely working through a cloud server, we are rapidly becoming one with technology.

Our devices are smart and our gadgets and appliances are equipped with the Internet of Things, which gives us more information than we’ve ever had and the ability to make informed decisions from the data sets we’re fed.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms are set to make many jobs obsolete in the future because these jobs could be entirely automated.

Some companies might rub their hands together in glee at the potential for decreasing the size of their workforce and labour cost, but therein lies the catch.

“In order for the 4IR to succeed, we need people - and we need the arts an humanities. Humans have a unique range of attributes which include critical thinking, emotional intelligence, empathy, and humaneness which should guide how technology transforms and benef its society.”

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In order for the 4IR to succeed, we need people – and we need the arts and humanities. Humans have a unique range of attributes which include critical thinking, emotional intelligence, empathy, and humaneness which should guide how technology transforms and benefits society.

While accountancy may be replaced by an automated spreadsheet, it is people with human qualities who will be needed to verify and understand nuances. 3D-printers could be programmed to print bricks or a computer could work out how to engineer a bridge. But will the bricks or bridge be aesthetically pleasing if it’s just left to a programme or AI to design?

Humans need not be fearful of technology replacing us because technology cannot do or replicate everything we can do. It need not be the robot apocalypse; our humanity can save us from the jobless dystopia of a technological Armageddon.

Rock art shows us that from time immemorial, human beings have had a desire to beautify, preserve and celebrate their culture. It is innate to us and this makes us essentially human. As society hurtles forward in terms of technology, the work and the world of the arts and humanities can never be underestimated.

Humans should be at the centre of everything that we do, from user-centred design interfaces to having the ethical oversight necessary to verify data. The rise of online platforms have seen an increase in digital entertainment. Storytelling is key to the human experience. AI is not writing the scripts to our favourite television shows, people are. We’re just watching them on new platforms.

Computers and AI are not yet and might never be able to create - this is what sets us apart. The

humanities teach people how to think in terms of the big picture, while not losing the minutiae.

These are valuable skills because it allows one to understand and absorb large sets of data.

This, combined with the ability to be creative and think out of the box mean that in the 4IR, it may be students from the humanities and arts who will excel in the workplace.

The guiding forces behind the humanities rational thinking, ethical living, compassion, storytelling, communication, empathy, creativity and the human spirit’s quest for justice and fairness - will be unlikely to be replicated

by AI in the 4IR. While the future of technology is here and now, the reigns of technology will still firmly be in human hands.

www.up.ac.za | ssc@up.ac.za | +27 (012) 420 3111

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

skills to start up, grow and empower informal traders. Through this social entrepreneurship initiative, many people have gone from being unemployed to being able to formally trade and access the economy through skills development and training.

Redef ining Our Business in the Fourth Industrial Revolution The University of Pretoria (UP) believes that our excellence in knowledge creation, impactful, innovative and relevant research, high-quality academic programmes, cutting-edge teaching and learning, social responsiveness and engagement makes a decisive difference in transforming Africa.

These efforts have a sustainable, long-term impact that will transform and benefit society and amplify Africa’s research impact. Universities have a critical role to play in achieving sustainable and inclusive development, and UP has been exemplary in this regard.

“We have invested in the inf rastructure required to create sustainable research hubs to meet these needs within the context of the 4IR.” UP manages key programmes aimed at meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. We have invested in the infrastructure required to create sustainable research hubs to meet these needs within the context of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). These innovation hubs include our Future Africa campus, Javett-UP Art Centre, and the forthcoming

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@UPTuks

Engineering 4.0 complex and Innovation Africa @ UP programme.

Within the context of redefining our work from purely academic to a strong focus on harnessing the potential of innovation and entrepreneurship, we believe that empowering our students with the skill and ability to start their own business is key to unlocking social and economic development in South Africa.

We help aspiring entrepreneurs build companies that will shape the future by equipping students with the tools, skills and connections they need to turn that dream into a tangible reality. We grow and develop student businesses through innovation so that the businesses of the future are defined by disruption, sustainability, social upliftment and technology.

According to Prof Alex Antonites, head of the Department of Business Management, “We’ve been developing and formalising micro-entrepreneurs at the MBC as a township incubator for the past 11 years. One of the outstanding success stories is a women cooperative in textiles, consisting of 25 members, who exported their first products in 2019. They now have a design section, a MakerSpace, and marketing display area. This entrepreneurial approach, coupled with our support incubation system, propelled their business to immense socio-economic impact, like sustainable financial support for their families and communities. We believe that a number of role models have been created by the MBC, inspiring youth in these communities to follow their route to entrepreneurial success.

“We believe entrepreneurship could be the key driver in harnessing the 4IR. Our approach is pragmatic and embraces more than just technology skills transfer. The MBC is setting up 10 smart factories that will follow the lean-start-up principle and also apply technologies that refine efficiencies for the entrepreneur with a township incubation set-up. Innovation will drive these new ventures. We believe the socio-economic impact in this community will be a best practice.

Students studying at our campuses will be incorporated as co-creators, coaches and strategic partners in these businesses”.

This starts with our professional online development course, which covers the basics of entrepreneurship and progresses to business incubators, which feed into our Entrepreneurship Hub, including TuksNovation (for tech-based start-ups), the MakerSpace (for prototyping and idea sharing), and the UP Business Incubator (for general start-up businesses). The Mamelodi Business Clinic (MBC) is key to sharing business knowledge and

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universityof pretoria

University of Pretoria

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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Re-inventing Higher Education Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era

By Professor Saurabh Sinha, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, University of Johannesburg

Phrases such as white monopoly capital, radical economic transformation and imperialist forces were thrown around randomly from one side, while the other countered this narrative.

It was at that point that I was left to ponder if universities – let alone UJ, for all its acclaimed stature as a leading 4IR institution of higher learning in the country – were doing enough to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow and the concomitant technological advancements.

Professor Saurabh Sinha

I recently walked into a heated conversation among a group of young people in the foyer at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Kingsway campus. mid the raucous debate, names such as MultiChoice, Standard Bank, Goldfields and Business Connexion were being mentioned.

It dawned on me that the talk was about the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and the job bloodbaths across many sectors.

“These companies are using the fourth industrial revolution as an excuse to maximise profits at the expense of the working class,” rang a voice from one teenager. “Some of the branches they shut down were busier, and these banks are merely deceiving us. They are just too hasty to retrench, and are hiding their real motive behind 4IR.” This sentiment, a reference to Standard Bank’s decision to lay off 1500 workers, sparked clapping and cheering. As the debate grew fiercer, it oscillated between hysterical and logical reasoning – testing the students’ emotional intelligence.

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Universities like UJ aspire to “dynamically shape the future,” and 4IR provides a perfect segue for this to the available cloud computing and big data explosion. Aside from thought leadership, UJ’s approach to the 4IR is also guided by a formalised catalytic or strategic initiative that allows the institution to produce students who are able to think differently and distinguish themselves in this way. In particular, the institution has striven for learning that encompasses a blend of teaching, research and innovation in an era where even the fundamentals are shifting.

Through a process lasting nearly one year, UJ decided to contextualise its 2025 strategy for global excellence and stature for 4IR. The quest is to graduate students who are able to access and define new economic zones. In addition to the physical or urban economy endeavour, South Africa, through Operation Phakisa (“hurry up”), has added the oceans economy; the digital economy has also been defined.

While the digital economy brings about an opportunity for creating jobs in a virtual environment and to combat poverty in a new way, it has, however, been around for some time. The digital economy has data, but we have not been able to access most of this data meaningfully –

as computing and communication technologies have yet to converge in a sophisticated way.

Using these technologies in a multifaceted way would allow for accessing and utilising data beyond the offerings of the “traditional” digital economy.

However, the digital economy has the potential for deepening inequality, unless the aspect of digital equity and equality is included as an “initial specification” to the 4IR education and economic scenario.

Fortunately, the generation of millennials and beyond is a majority in the “Global South” and their energy, combined with 4IR, could bring about a new kind of global renewal to achieve equality. Government must play a role in re-defining taxation and through economic stimulus, for instance, by incentivising 4IR as an economic stimulus with productivity gains gradually being taxed. As initiatives progress in parallel, education-economic thinking for inclusiveness would need to be central to the graduate’s paradigm of thinking.

University graduates therefore have to be trained with a new level of digital astuteness, accessing multiple thought domains and in such a way that their mindset can aspire beyond the ordinary; 4IR provides a perfect platform for this.

Prof Saurabh Sinha is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg, and is a former Vice-President: Educational Activities, IEEE.

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

www.uj.ac.za

FUTURISTIC: UJ in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

ABOUT PROGRAMMES EMBRACING 4IR: UPSKILLING ACCOUNTANTS FOR THE 21CENTURY UJ now offers online courses aimed at equipping chartered accountants (CAs) with essential 4IR knowledge and skills.

The courses are offered in partnership with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

The continuing education programmes provide an introduction to 4IR, and explore key topics such as artificial intelligence and accounting, machine learning, natural language processing, blockchain and ethics. They are run 100% online for eight weeks. Key focus areas include value creation, digital acumen, judgement and decision-making, business strategy and ethics, and values and attitudes.

A University marching into the future with Global Excellence and Stature strategy.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) recognises the extraordinary technological advances of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and the changes in the world of work and how humans

“4IR is about more than just technological changes; and that provides an opportunity to help our employees, students and society to adapt to and harness the converging technologies.” live and interact. At UJ, we are alert to the disruptions of Industry 4.0, and the opportunities it offers. For this reason, UJ has adopted the Global Excellence and Stature (GES) 4.0 initiate to position the University for the Contemporary Global Trends catapulting the world further into ‘digital’, for its sustainability and to remain competent on the world stage. This is because we also recognise

@go2uj

@go2uj

the role that universities play in developing skills for future generations, with academia navigating technological directions for the future.

Our GES4.0 is guided by an understanding that 4IR is about more than just technological changes; and that provides an opportunity to help and society to adapt to and harness the converging technologies. This will help towards our efforts to create an inclusive future, because the real opportunity is to look beyond technology. In response to digital trends, we will engage as well as support our staff members across all functions and faculties, and institutes and our College of Business and Economics develop new skills and ways of doing business that are relevant to their domains. A number of catalytic instruments in the areas of Research and Innovation, Teaching and Learning, Infrastructure development and Communication will be supported. Our efforts will be geared towards transformation, inclusiveness and excellence.

@university_of_ johannesburg

At the end of the course, candidates will be able to develop a business strategy aligned to business objectives in respect of 4IR; identify and assess key challenges to the widespread application of blockchain; and identify and assess key concerns with regard to the future of AI systems. The programme is in addition to various other online courses that have been rolled out at UJ in recent times.

For more information, visit www.uj.ac.za

UJ DESIGNS 4IR MOBILE LAB TO AID IN WATER CONTAMINATION TESTING UJ has created a mobile lab for water testing, amid various sewage spills, which cause waterborne diseases such dysentery, typhoid fever and severe diarrhoea. The lab can operate off-grid, has high road clearance and is towed by a 4 x 4 vehicle. It can be parked on site, meaning some staff can work while others go to collect the water samples. “You can do science on site, continuously, 24 hours a day,” says UJ Water and Health Research Centre director Professor TG Barnard.

The lab was built in compliance to the SA national standards for drinking water quality tests. It was built to do the basic tests, which includes E. coli testing as an indicator of faecal pollution. A critical component of 4IR is cutting out the middle man and taking a sophisticated high-tech service directly to the people who most need it.

@university-of-johannesburg

@f ilmdivision1

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TSHIMOLOGONG PRECINCT

Tshimologong Precinct Offers Enabling Space for Tech Entrepreneurs Statistics SA’s October 2019 release of its Labour Force Survey report, pegged the country’s unemployment figures at 29%, the highest since 2008. In the decade between 2009 and 2019, the number of people without employment rose f rom 4,5million to 6,7million, a staggering 49% increase.

With youth unemployment in South Africa hovering just short of 60% of our population, it is amongst the highest rates in the world.

The advent of the “4th Industrial Revolution” has the potential to either hasten the slide into economic disaster, deepening unemployment and inequality; or it could provide the necessary push for the country to create the economic and industrial systems that allow for greater inclusivity, higher productivity and a reversal of the negative growth of the country’s economy.

What is certain is that with the increased reliance on technological innovation in the workplace, the displacement of workers, and subsequent increase in unemployment are threatening to become the face of the 4th Industrial Revolution in South Africa. While economists and social scientists in the West welcome the replacement of workers by machines in their respective economies as a release of the ‘creative human potential and an increase in safe and fulfilling jobs’, the net experience to date in South Africa has been much less rewarding.

The situation is not hopeless, though. The 4IR wave washing over the world is still relatively fresh on the continent and in South Africa in particular. Built on technological advances in computing power, learning algorithms and

@TshimologongPrecinct

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@TshimologongIT

connectivity pioneered and developed in the West, 4IR as a concept and a way of life is still new to many in South Africa across the sectors and society at large.

What has become apparent is that inherent in the ethos adopted by the early adopters the innovative technologists, software developers and designers who make up the core of 4IR practitioners is adaptability, out-the-box thinking and collaboration across verticals and technologies. Central to the collaboration have been the hubs that have sprung up everywhere.

According to Entrepreneur.com, an online publication, in 2019 there were already 58 hubs dedicated to incubating and accelerating the development of businesses in the country.

Set against the backdrop of a larger count of 158 tech and innovation hubs across the continent, these centres infuse training, mentoring and coaching in business practices modelled on the most successful tech startups from Silicone Valley and the likes. Mutual access to networks of funders and potential clients is also facilitated through these hubs, like the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct.

Positioned as a digital innovation ecosystem in Braamfontein, the Precinct’s focus is to propel

@tshimologongprecinct

entrepreneurship and grow the skills pipeline for the digital economy through collaboration with Wits University, its parent body; corporates; government and entrepreneurs.

While the core focus of the hubs is entrepreneur support and growth, there is also a need for it keep the lights on. Across Africa, of the 158 tech hubs recorded as operational at the beginning of 2019, 20 have shut their doors in the year since then. A report released in August 2019

by International Trade Centre(ITC) confirms that Tech Hubs on the continent struggle with earning revenue and financial viability. While growing its internal capabilities to self-funding is important, external funding is as important now as the industry matures as it was when the first hubs started springing up on the continent.

With that boost, hubs can then focus on their mandate of upskilling and empowering entrepreneurs with the tools they need to become viable entities.

Even though it is clear that with South Africa’s systemic challenges like its race-based inequality, leading to high levels of poverty and crime, entrepreneurship is not the silver bullet to our economic woes. As we look ahead to the future, it is imperative that we take in hand the global outlook and map out how we as South Africa react to it positively even as we navigate our very own unique challenges.

Hubs like the Tshimologong Precinct act as ecosystem players within the bigger picture, moving the needle on the digitization of the economy, assimilating technopreneurs along the way. Get involved with creating an enabling environment for 4IR tech and digital entrepreneurs Tshimologong by mailing us on partners@ tshimologong.joburg.

tshimologong-precinct

Tshimologong Precinct

www.tshimologong.joburg

The Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct(Tshimologong Precinct) was established by Wits University with the aim of commercializing world-class African digital innovation.

Tshimologong Precinct further acts as a catalyst for the development of a hightechnology digital cluster in the Braamfontein of Johannesburg.

Success Story: Conlog Reapele Programme Leading smart metering solutions provider, Conlog partnered with Wits University’s Tshimologong Precinct to launch an innovative technology programme. With a strong focus on blockchain and smart city solutions, the newly established Reapele Programme was designed to assist in developing and promoting innovation, skills development and entrepreneurship.

The seven-phase programme including blockchain & smart metering training, a 3-day hackathon, design sprint training and a pitch day helped nurture a technology business with a digital product - turning them into a viable business.

After coming to a successful end in June of 2019, the beneficiaries of the programme have gone on to further the development of their Minimum Viable Product with the support of Conlog’s internal resources and network.

Animation Academy On the 1st of February 2019, Tshimologong Precinct launched its first year of the Animation Development Studio in partnership with Agence Francaise de D’eveloppement (AFD) and the French Institute of South Africa.

will take the interns through intensive training in storyboarding and visual development.

The objective of the programme is to inject talent that had time to develop the intricacies required to weave authenticity into the visual look and feel of animation into the local market.

With an overarching studio theme being Africanisation of Imagery in Animation, the first year of the programme focused on building up the capacity of 20 students in preproduction, The 2nd year of the studio, which commenced on the 3rd of February 2020, will build on the previous year’s work by training a cohort of 15 graduates in Producing two high-end 2D Animated short films.

Startup Guide Johannesburg Monday, 9th September 2019 saw Tshimologong’s partnership between Berlin and Lisbon-based publishing and media company, Startup Guide come to life as we launched the first edition of Startup Guide Johannesburg, supported by SAP and Amazon Web Services.

Highlighting impact startup communities from Johannesburg - the entrepreneur’s handbook curated by Tshimologong Precinct features startups, founders, programmes, investors and schools which make up our city’s local ecosystem.

ABOUT TSHIMOLOGONG PRECINCT Established by Wits University, Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct aims to commercialize world class African digital innovation. Helping our youth solve local problems with global appeal, Tshimologong Precinct acts as a catalyst for the development of a high-technology digital cluster in the Braamfontein area of Johannesburg.

Tshimologong Precinct’s service offering is a response to the evolving requirements of developing a productive and dynamic tech and digital sector in Johannesburg. We focus on addressing a shortage of talent, increasing connectivity between entrepreneur and industry and creating linkages to a mix of mentors and investors that support tech and digital startups to scale.

Several business units have been created to this end. Firstly, we have a Coworking Space which allows tech and digital entrepreneurs to work in an environment conducive their interests as well as to peer to peer mentoring. Then we have an Incubator through which we coach and mentor entrepreneurs in the skills they need to create viable enterprises.

A Skills Academy where we teach entry level ICT skills and programming languages is another important part of our service offering. This department includes an Animation development Academy where Animation graduates are upskilled to better prepare them for industry. A Makerspace where we do rapid prototyping, teach robotics and IOT rounds off what one can find at the precinct.

In all this we offer a response to the evolving requirements of developing a productive, dynamic and impactful tech and digital sector in Johannesburg.

Through a carefully crafted curriculum and working closely with top Animation school, the Paris based academy, Gobelins, the Animation Studio aims to address a foundational skills gap in the South African industry. The paid internship

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4IR Requires Authenticity

By Lesley Donna Williams, CEO, Tshimologong Precinct

On a daily basis, I get invited to conferences and workshops that promise insight or skills to prepare for the future.

While the practice of Design Thinking has been around for decades, it has only been adopted as a widespread practice in the past five years in South Africa due to an increase in multiple training providers and consulting firms offering the process.

Ideo co-founder Tim Brown defines Design Thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Other trending training and literature topics include Empathy, Collaboration, the Future of Work and Industry 4.0.

While knowledge of all of these topics is essential for preparing for an uncertain future, they are also interconnected but will be meaningless if we stop at knowledge and treat it as a linear process. Each one of us are designers of our own future, the organisations we create and society at large that we live in. Our ability to be master designers will require a rewiring of heart and mind as we engage with customers, staff and industry associations.

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Incubators drill their startups to fall in love with the problem and be detached from their solution.

One step before that is the ability to immerse yourself in the context of your end-user, truly understand their reality and empathise with them.

The trouble with many of these formulaic training solutions on teaching empathy - the foundation of design thinking - is that it can easily blur the lines of authenticity and manipulation for profit only.

Not only can customers detect when companies are being disingenuous but innovation is stunted when the solution provider does not enter the relationship authentically, this requires an open heart which is a stretch to how most companies operate. As Bill O’Brien said, “The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.”

President Ramaphosa in his 2020 State of the Nation Address reinforced his priority of transitioning South Africa to Industry 4.0. Companies are rapidly trying to adopt new technologies and processes like robotics, artificial intelligence and immersive realities as part of their transition plan. To accelerate the process at a national level, corporates, government, academia and civil society need to learn to collaborate beyond their individual interests. This is often countercultural to how we operate institutionally and it would do these stakeholders well to spend time in hubs and maker spaces to see the extent to which entrepreneurs go to build each other’s businesses.

This also makes a mutually beneficial relationship as corporates go beyond BBB-EE compliance transactions with incubators to building great strategic partners for innovation and staff capabilities to thrive in the future of work.

“The trouble with many of these formulaic training solutions on teaching empathy - the foundation of design thinking - is that it can easily blur the lines of authenticity and manipulation for prof it only.”

CT (+27) 21 943 3900 | Midrand (+27) 11 848 6940 | DBN (+27) 31 266 8283 | PE (+27) 41 392 7400

PRAGMA

IIoT: Your Endgame Is Your First Step We are bombarded with headlines urging organisations to adopt IIoT technologies or risk becoming obsolete. While the most significant push comes from abroad, many South Africa business are considering the benefits of these technologies offer. ith a plethora of technologies and gadgets promising the “ultimate” solution, the challenge organisations face is where to start. Our advice is to start with the endgame in mind. A sound, long-term digital transformation strategy serves as the central beacon on which all your future-focused decisions should be based. Be it your preferred strategic partners or a simple sensor.

IIoT enablement is not the end goal but has a unique role to play when it comes to unleashing the potential of your operational equipment. To gain access to this value now, and in the long term, you need the right data at the right time and place.

This data utopia is best achieved if you understand what information you need in support of your end goal. Step one towards the design of your

DO YOU NEED TO REPLACE OR EXTEND THE LIFE OF A CRITICAL ASSET? One of our manufacturing clients were placed in a difficult position when one of their critical assets, a transformer, started acting up.

Although the transformer was nearing end of life, it could not immediately be replaced and the delay of its decommissioning increased their risk of more unplanned downtime production losses and unwanted maintenance costs. We were tasked to devise a cost-effective IIoT solution to address the situation.

By connecting the asset with the appropriate sensors and creating a digital twin, we gave them a digital representation of the physical asset with access to dashboards informed by real-time data. This allows them to view trends and identify anomalies. Through proactive maintenance interventions we have already prevented unplanned downtime.

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@pragmaholdings

IIoT stack is a strategic analysis of your business objectives, asset management maturity, asset performance and current technologies. Associated with this is identifying the critical assets that will impact on the set goals.

“A sound, long-term digital transformation strategy serves as the central beacon on which all your future-focused decisions should be based. Be it your preferred strategic partners or a simple sensor.”

Next is selecting the right combination of IIoT technologies to manage your assets, carefully considering aspects like technology redundancy, obsolescence, system expansion, maintenance and service.

Successfully designing your endgame and selecting your IIoT technologies might require help from an experienced physical asset management partner with a deep understanding of IIoT. Pragma is such a partner.

WHAT CAN IIoT DO FOR ME? Employing sensors and technologies to gather and send electronic data relating to plant equipment, perform predictive maintenance and calculating the remaining life of equipment, is well known.

So why then the hype about IIoT? It’s all about centralised data.

Although many asset owners have sensors, SCADA systems and PLCs to collect data, they receive siloed data sets. IIoT technologies break down the data silos arising from different equipment OEM vendors, sensor providers and other IT systems competing for exclusive access to data. It provides sophistication by combining data from these different sensor technologies into one place where we can apply analytics and business intelligence solutions.

Asset managers and owners now have an integrated view of their asset management data. They also inherit a ‘digital twin’ of the physical world that informs decision-making and support automation processes.

Speak to Pragma about your specific IIoT requirements.

Yes, a building can support your strategy As a services organisation, we’re highly invested in the comfort of our people.

technologies to monitor rooms, electrical energy and water usage.

Pragma’s headquarters houses call centres, meeting rooms, a server room, canteen and general offices. We tasked our R&D team to design an intelligent solution to improve our facilities management practices.

The project resulted in energy savings, improved air quality and reduced costs for the measurement of CO2 and luminance levels. It also increased operational efficiency through the use of automated generated work orders. The growing database, enables us to establish usage trends and identify more improvement opportunities and address wastage based on human errors.

R&D assisted with the digital transformation of various business processes and implemented

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Competence In an Ever Changing Asset Environment

By Tim Beavon, Academy Operations, Manager, Pragma

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Typically, we think of assets as items of value to an organisation. But without people, the value of physical assets is seldom realised.

The modern learner is constantly looking for integration between their learning and their work – they want the learning to be as relevant and practical to their work situation as possible.

We need to take a look at the impact of Industry 4.0, and the spread of technology and its effect on people, how we train and drive competence within them in order to realise the true potential of our assets.

THE PROBLEMS OF TODAY AND THE PROBLEMS OF TOMORROW

CLOSING THE COMPETENCE GAP Every organisation faces the challenge of having an aging, skilled and experienced workforce working alongside young newcomers, who lack knowledge and experience but are enthusiastic and tech-savvy. Now, add another ingredient to this situation – incompetence.

The best response to overcoming incompetence is through learning and development. Research shows that learning is the main reason why people will join your organisation – or leave it. So while we can agree that learning is important, the traditional way of learning is more likely to result in an increase in unconscious incompetence.

The solution ensures that those who recognise that they are incompetent are provided with the training and learning material that allows them to find the knowledge they need to improve their competence.

Formal training is necessary to push the boundaries of learning and to create the awareness of unconscious incompetence, but it must be reinforced with smaller learning interventions that are both informal and supportive.

THE MODERN LEARNER Modern learners are keen to expand their skill sets and if their employer won’t help them, they will leave. They are untethered – frequently working remotely, and they access information on demand via their smartphone, collaboratively from peers and colleagues, and seldom from traditional training content because the learning content has to be useful and relevant to them in their immediate situation. The average modern learner gives a page of content around seven seconds of attention before deciding if it’s relevant to them – with 70% of them leaving if it’s not.

As job roles become more fluid and their lifestyle expectations more flexible, they look out for skills that will serve them well into the future.

Given these challenges, we need to satisfy the short-term goal of providing our employees with the skills and competence to meet demands while also considering the long term - creating a rich and positive work environment that prides learning and knowledge. How do we do this?

SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF TODAY Companies need appropriate organisational design and structural clarity. Organisational systems must be aligned with the purpose and objectives of the organisation. Roles and responsibilities must be defined according to a RACI matrix (responsibility, accountability, consulted, informed) that clearly lists the relevant organisational management practices and the impact of the role.

Why? Because this will highlight competence gaps which can then be used to manage career expectations and set targets for personal development.

“An enabling ecosystem must be in place for learning and development in the organisation: access to learning material via smartphones, and technology that enables employees to get information that is relevant and available instantly when needed.”

SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF TOMORROW WITH CAPABILITIES What’s becoming increasingly important is not skills themselves, but capabilities. These are essential for learning new skills, applying skills and adapting to a rapidly changing world. The following capabilities underlie individual effort: •

•

•

• •

•

Emotional intelligence: Understanding other people’s emotions and experiences and how they shape human interactions Teaming: Collaborating effectively across spatial, organisational and cultural boundaries Social intelligence: Understanding interpersonal dynamics and behavioural impacts of human interactions Sense-making: Creating awareness and meaning out of collective experiences Critical thinking: Analysing, evaluating, synthesising and reconstructing information Adaptive thinking: Recognising new patterns and applying patterns in new contexts

So the sustainable way forward is to develop and emphasise capabilities – they are more fundamental and enduring than skills and will give a workforce a strategic advantage.

TAKING STOCK Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence and all the recent advances in technology will change the way we recruit, develop and retain skills and competence in the future. What we need most is people with the skills and capabilities to be flexible and adaptable.

Tim Beavon (pictured below)

An enabling ecosystem must be in place for learning and development in the organisation: access to learning material via smartphones, and technology that enables employees to get information that is relevant and available instantly when needed.

The content must be effectively curated so that it retains the user beyond those all-important first seven seconds. Technology plays a huge role here – use it to set up communities of practice that will enable learning through on the job experience, mentorship programmes, and collaboration and knowledge sharing between peers.

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Using Technology to Stay Ahead of the Competition

By Monique Strauss, CFO, Lesedi Nuclear Services

During my time working in the energy industry over the past eight years, the one recurring theme is not necessarily only having the best technology, but also having the most cost-effective solution. Having information at your f ingertips in real time helps to make better decisions, more quickly and accurately, saving both time and money. or instance, the rise in digital has made it possible to always remain in a virtual office and stay efficiently involved in operations anytime, from anywhere.

Having a good ERP system is important to process large volumes of data. Today we are bombarded with information and it is imperative to be able to extract exactly what you require. It’s no secret that being agile gives us the competitive advantage.

In October 2017 I attended the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, Russia. The main theme was the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how AI and machine learning will change our reality. I am very excited to see how this is going to affect current accounting processing and practices. This will definitely lead to cost reductions and providing opportunities for employees to be more productively used, instead of capturing data in large volumes.

However, the value of good people cannot be overemphasised. Employing the right people with the right blend of work ethic and technical competence is key. Technology and the 4th Industrial revolution is an enabler for all. However human networking and interaction are here to stay.

Monique Strauss

“For instance, the rise in digital has made it possible to always remain in a virtual off ice and stay eff iciently involved in operations anytime, f rom anywhere.”

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www.lesedins.co.za | 021 545 1300 Lesedi House, Century Gate, 12 Edison Way, Century City, Cape Town

The Lesedi Skills Academy Adressing the Skills Shortage in the Engineering Industry Technical training and skills development are one of the fundamental keys to individual empowerment and economic growth.

The Lesedi Skills Academy was established in September 2015 by Lesedi Nuclear Services.

Lesedi Nuclear Services (a majority shareholder) is a leading African engineering and maintenance procurement and construction (EPC) company with a long history in nuclear, industrial power, mining, oil and gas industries.

“Because of our proven ability to provide technical skills training and development of the highest quality, the Lesedi Skills Academy has extended its training programmes to other industry partners across the country.”

level 2 compliant. To date the academy has trained over 100 learners of whom the majority are resident in Atlantis, 40km north of Cape Town. Our ongoing programmes in Mechanical Fitting and Boiler-making has also assisted the Atlantis community to tap into opportunities provided by the ASEZ (Atlantis Special Economic Zone). Because of our proven ability to provide technical skills training and development of the highest quality, the Lesedi Skills Academy has extended its training programmes to other industry partners across the country. As part of our mission and vision, we are hoping to add the Electrical discipline to our portfolio of offerings as we continuously strive towards building our Nation by affecting change in the lives of others.

LESEDI

HEINRICH ADAMS & TYRONE VA ROOI Heinrich and Tyrone started their careers in 2006, diligently working as General Workers during nuclear outages. For 9 years they assisted artisans and technicians performing mechanical maintenance work but did not have the qualifications to take their careers any further. Both Heinrich and Tyrone decided to pursue a career as Mechanical Fitters and enrolled with the Lesedi Skills Academy when an opportunity became available for a 3- year Learnership programme. During this time, the Lesedi Skills Academy identified these 2 individuals as having considerable plant knowledge and experience; and it would be a waste of their time to go through the full three and a half years of training. Heinrich and Tyrone took on the challenge posed to them of enrolling for ARPL (Artisan Recognition of Prior Learning) and with the assistance of Lesedi Skills Academy were able to successfully complete their trade test in January 2019 qualifying them as Mechanical Fitters.

In order to ensure that Lesedi Nuclear Services was able to meet their technical human resource requirements ranging from semi-skilled workers, artisans, technicians and team leaders-locally and internationally, the academy was established to proactively address these challenges.

The Lesedi Skills Academy is merSETA and QCTO accredited. It is registered with Department of Higher Education and Training and is B-BBEE

ABOUT LESEDI Quality & Safety In preparation for every Outage, Lesedi Nuclear Services sends all its Mechanical Fitters to the Lesedi Skills Academy for refresher training in the Mechanical Fitter discipline.

With safety is as a core value, we do not assume Artisan readiness and make a point of ensuring every Fitter is sufficiently geared-up for the challenges that await them. Not only have we seen significant success of Fitters meeting plant entry requirements, but also a significant increase in the quality and safety of the work performed.

@LesediNS

@Lesedi_ NS

Leaders in the South African Power Generation, Mining, Oil and Gas Industry

Lesedi is firmly established as an engineering, project management and maintenance solutions house that conceptualises, manages, and implements its own engineering projects.

@Lesedi Nuclear Services

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The Future of Waste Management in South Africa 2020 Set to Bring Further Innovation

By Kate Stubbs, Director Business Development and Marketing, Interwaste

The South Af rican waste management industry is evolving and is one of the most effecient on the continent. owever, the country is still generating large amounts of waste annually, with 108 million tonnes being disposed to landfills - fast approaching full capacity – equating to about R25.2 billion.

deal with valuable waste in a more efficient manner – and 2020 will be the year of rapid change in this space.

will be more than double, alternative solutions are critical in meeting demand and development in this space over the next year will be crucial.

DIGITISATION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

The waste sector provides room for not only environmental effectiveness but large-scale innovation. In 2020, waste producers and managers working together have an opportunity to reduce waste to landfill, drive a circular economy and increase waste profitability. Some real focus and a change of mindset towards waste will drive this sector into 2020 – a sector that is ripe for the taking!

These statistics reflect an urgent focus on diversion from landfill, finding alternative uses and revenue streams, and a commitment to adhering to legislative frameworks.

Digital disruption has the potential to reshape South Africa. Those organisations that do not drive their own digital business transformation will be left behind. The same applies for the waste sector, where the industry will see digitisation of waste collection coming to the fore, providing important benefits given that complex industrial processes can now be automated.

ZERO WASTE TO LANDFILL

WASTE TO ENERGY

SA is recycling only 10% of its waste – making the zero waste to landfill goal by 2020 ambitious.

While nuclear power remains debated, there are alternative solutions, such as the conversion of waste to energy through repurposing waste that can’t be recycled or reused into an alternative energy source.

However, by recycling, reuse and recovery of waste (as well as beneficiation technologies), we will be able to build a circular economy with the potential to create numerous environmental, social and economic opportunities. Central to this is the diversion of 90% of waste from landfills.

The key to this is creating facilities that can

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Think of the benefit: 500-tonnes of waste being converted to 12.6-megawatts of energy. This goes a long way to reducing reliance on landfill and helping solve South Africa’s energy crisis. If we consider that by 2050 the country’s energy needs

“If we consider that by 2050 the country’s energy needs will be more than double, alternative solutions are critical in meeting demand and development in this space over the next year will be crucial.”

INVESTEC PRIVATE BANKING

WHAT IS BIONIC BANKING?

By Lyndon Subroyen, Global head of Investec Digital

As the finance industry adapts to a world that is increasingly informed by technology and the digital age, the concept of ‘Bionic Banking’ is moving to the forefront. his does conjure up images of a Steve Austin or Tony Stark, who attain superhuman powers after being infused with special technology.

For bankers, this imagery can be quite appealing - clients clearly want a more digital experience, which inevitably places cost savings within reach of a bionically-augmented hand.

Who doesn’t believe that it’s more efficient to have clients use online platforms and mobile apps?

And therein lies the rub, because technology certainly does have the power to drive efficiencies and ease of use. But it’s not a silver bullet that makes all client service headaches disappear.

In fact, reliance on trends and analytics from client behaviour are more likely to blur rather than illuminate individual preferences.

Despite this, the concept of a Bionic Bank is one that financial institutions need to heed if they want to remain relevant in a digitally-focused world. The concept was first put forward by

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and proposed that retail banks need to combine digital technology with a human touch in order to thrive.

BCG proposed six key elements to achieve this: • • • • • •

A clear vision A multi-channel delivery model Client centricity Technology and operational excellence Organisational vitality Financial and risk control

The consultants went so far as predicting higher income and lower costs if banks adopted this model.

As anyone associated with the financial services sector knows, income and cost per client are vitally important metrics when measuring efficiency.

As a concept, BCG has certainly hit the nail on the head in terms of banks globally needing to find ways to remain relevant. Where our view differs from this, is that these guidelines place undue focus on internal processes, at the cost of the client experience. In the private banking context, this is a serious oversight.

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Regardless of how efficient banks become, they become immediately irrelevant unless they’re able to provide a high-touch, personal experience. High touch in no way detracts from a digitally-focused banking experience.

“Regardless of how eff icient banks become, they become immediately irrelevant unless they’re able to provide a hightouch personal experience.

High touch in no way detracts f rom a digitally-focused banking experience.”

We believe in, and use, data analytics as much as any other financial institution, but never at the cost of clients’ individual needs. The power of technology in this context is a guiding tool rather than a crutch used to prop up our ability to respond to client needs.

The only way that organisations can truly know their clients with real certainty is to have a very human relationship with them. No-one has yet managed to programme empathy and understanding into an algorithm. And the reason for that is obvious.

www.investec.com

How AI and Robotics Are Transforming Heal thcare The world of science fiction is fast becoming science fact. At an Investec Private Banking In Conversation event, specifically for medical professionals, Adam Pantanowitz presented on how medical technology has made the leap from reactive to proactive, and even predictive, healthcare possible.

In this article, Adam, a fanatical technologist who enjoys solving seemingly unsolvable problems, particularly with the help of cloud computing and machine learning, shares his views on how technology is the healthcare industry with its potential for easy accessibility, affordability and increased procedural proficiency.

Adam’s initial interest in AI and robotics was cultivated through his childhood when he became more intrigued with technology. “Biomedical engineering uses engineering principles to solve both medical and health-related problems. For me, this was interesting because I had been struggling with a medical condition. I was motivated by the idea that I could use technologies to help others.”

AI and robotics are two connected disciplines.

AI is an encompassing field that consists of a number of different subset fields, such as machine learning. In AI, we’re looking at how to replicate functionality of the human brain in the technological domain. Machine learning is all about how a machine can learn, without necessary human intervention, to replicate a task that a human would do ordinarily.

Robotics is more about the ability to create something that acts in a world. It could be the real world or an alternative world (like a simulation), but robotics is doing some activity or action that fulfils a purpose in the real world.

AI and robotics are having a massive impact on healthcare. There’s no doubt that the technology interventions in this field will not only be impactful for individual patients, but also for practitioners and how they engage in their daily work.

Individual patients have become much more empowered, in terms of having access to their

@InvestecBank

@Investec

data and having access to information online.

From a healthcare perspective, this is a doubleedged sword. On the one hand, patients are more empowered and in control of their healthcare trajectory. On the other, it’s causing great distress to patients and potentially to clinicians, because patients may be misdiagnosing themselves with information they read online.

“AI and robotics are having a massive impact on healthcare.

There’s no doubt that the technology interventions in this f ield will not only be impactful for individual patients, but also for practitioners and how they engage in their daily work.”

their fingertips, but they have other augmentation. The DaVinci robot allows a surgeon to operate, quite seamlessly, on something as small and delicate as a grape. This is a great augmentation of a surgeon’s inherent ability.

“As human beings, we perceive this frontier of technology to be external to us, but the strange thing is that actually we participate greatly in this frontier. We are the very people bringing about this change with technology. It’s somewhat ironic that we are so afraid of technology, when actually we are in control of it. We are bringing it about, and it actually should serve us. I think that applies greatly in healthcare.”

The very specialist knowledge encapsulated in the current professional can be, potentially, leveraged into a system to achieve healthcare at better scale and improve health outcomes.

With new technologies on the rise, healthcare professionals do feel a level of anxiety. But it can make them better at what they do and scale their abilities.

“For example, there’s a great shortage of radiology services in many countries. Through the onset of telemedicine, we can leverage these types of remote systems, to allow a radiologist to diagnose a patient that they may never have actually met. This can happen at some level of scale, and a radiologist could then be overseeing a number of simultaneous diagnoses.”

Another example is Adam’s belief that clinicians are now more augmented than they’ve ever been before - not only do they have augmentation on their knowledge, where they can look online and find all of this information at

@investec

@investec

@Investec

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The Crypto Conundrum: What will it take for crypto to go mainstream?

By Chris Becker, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Expert, Investec

For cryptocurrencies to gain widespread acceptance, people need to see value in participating in the underlying economies of the blockchain technologies.

Chris Becker, blockchain and cryptocurrency expert at Investec, explains why cryptocurrencies are so volatile and what it will take for them to go mainstream.

A volatile asset Cryptocurrencies’ volatility is a function of their illiquidity, which is, in turn, a function of the still low levels of adoption of blockchain technology.

Just as ordinary currencies provide access to the economies of the countries that issue them, so cryptocurrencies provide access to the economies

“When we talk strictly about blockchains, the currency is a critical component, as it incentivises the provision of security, which is at the heart of the technology.”

of the technologies that underpin them, namely the specific blockchain technology of each.

However, as Becker points out, about 0.2% of the world’s population uses blockchain technology presently, putting it on a par with some of the world’s most illiquid currencies. One would expect these currencies to be volatile, so it should not be a surprise that cryptocurrencies have been such a rollercoaster ride.

“When we talk strictly about blockchains, the currency is a critical component, as it incen-

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tivises the provision of security, which is at the heart of the technology.”

How can cryptocurrencies become accepted?

Cryptocurrencies have no borders, so one application could be in countries suffering from a financial or monetary crisis (like Venezuela or Zimbabwe), where there is a loss of confidence in the local currency and a lack of access to foreign currency.

Cryptocurrency (or tokens) could step in as a way to borrow or raise dollars in exchange for cryptocurrency. The widespread application of this in these situations is probably a few years away though, argues Becker.

In time, Becker believes, it will disrupt any centralised, closed-loop financial system, in the same way that the internet disrupted older closed-loop communication and content distribution systems.

Blockchain without cryptocurrency?

Experiments to take cryptocurrency out of blockchain applications (through a distributed ledger system) have been suboptimal, argues Becker. “This moves away from the decentralised, unrestricted nature of blockchains. When we talk strictly about blockchains, the currency is a critical component, as it incentivises the provision of security,

which is at the heart of the technology.”

What Investec is doing?

Becker and his team are researching blockchain technology to see how its application can change the “plumbing” of the financial system.

“We’re analysing trends and developments with a view to positioning ourselves to offer value for our clients, should the technology become more mainstream,” he says.

What do I need to know if I want to get involved in cryptocurrencies for the first time?

Aside from recognising how volatile cryptocurrencies can be, Becker highlights the fact that there are few proven and trusted custodians of these assets and no legal recourse to technology failures. Your asset is secured only by your password – if someone gets access to it, you risk losing the asset for good. And you have no recourse to your funds, as you might have when you are the victim of fraud on a traditional bank account.

Smart City Systems Our future cities are going to become smart, cities that help us live more secure, comfortable lives.

However, when technology has total control over our city what does that mean for privacy as well as the vulnerability of cyber attacks which could shut down an entire city system.

Let’s look at some of the benefits and downfalls of a smart city.

What is a smart city?

“A smart city is a designation given to a city that incorporates information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance the quality and performance of urban services such as energy, transportation and utilities in order to reduce resource consumption, wastage and overall costs. The overarching aim for a smart city is to enhance the quality of living for its citizens through smart technology.”

Quote from: www.techopedia.com

Dealing with data

Sensored

An open data policy would be crucial in creating smarter, more effecient cities.

Data allows for the creation of new systems and technologies based on how people live and interact in a city.

Smart cities are smart because they make our lives easier, our waiting times shorter and our time better managed. The future of our cities will use sensors to know when to change traffic lights. These traffic lights won’t use a timebased system as it does currently but a smarter, more integrated system to allow the free flow of traffic in our cities.

Trash talk

Spotting shots

A future city means a city focused on services such as trash collection.

Technology will enable us to streamline this process by having sensors letting the databases know when the trash needs to be collected either because the trash cans are full or because trash is foul smelling.

A spot shotter is technology that allows law enforcement to successfully track and navigate areas where a gun was fired.

This allows for a smaller search area and a greater chance of solving a crime quicker.

Public protection The technology behind a smart city is intended to make our lives easier and simpler. A great deal of security and protection also needs to accompany the innovations we are being presented with. Cyber attacks are a real threat in this modern age especially considering that in the future city services will be run by collected data and vulnerable to manipulation if people with the wrong intentions get a hold of this information. With innovation comes high security.

Information source: Wall Street Journal - The Future of Everything - Smart Cities: Safer Living or Cyber Attacks?

The Future of Payments Using Tokens

By Jabu Basopo, General Manager, Visa Southern Af rica

Today, a vast, evolving ecosystem of connected devices is already revolutionising commerce. he Internet of Things (IoT) payments give us an opportunity to extend payments into an ever-growing array of devices that don’t require the traditional card and terminal.

To enable IoT payments, a security technology called “tokenisation” is used to replace sensitive account information, such as the 16-digit account number on a debit or credit card, with a unique digital identifier called a token. The token allows payments to be processed without exposing actual account details that could be compromised.

Tokenisation has digitised the card, and introduced a new era in payment capabilities. Many of us are already making tokenized payments using our mobile wallets. In addition to mobile solutions, other IoT categories will drive tokenized payments, including the Smart Home, and Connected Car. IOT PAYMENTS SOLVE CONSUMER PAIN POINTS Consider your average trip to the petrol station: you need to locate a station, pick your petrol (or diesel) grade, and swipe your card or pay with cash.

Those pain points can be alleviated by connecting your car to a digital payment credential (called a “token”), have the car find the nearest gas station and select the petrol grade, so that the only thing left for the petrol attendant to do is pump.

Or, in a smart city, a connected car can locate an available parking meter. After you park, the car “handshakes” with the parking meter and initiates the meter, and when you drive away you’re billed for the duration you were parked.

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BIOMETRICS WILL PLAY A VITAL ROLE AS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS CONTINUE TO EVOLVE

technologies to every Olympic Games, often trialling technology not yet commercially available.

If you make payments with a mobile wallet, you’re already using biometrics when you use your fingerprint to authenticate your identity.

For Tokyo 2020, Visa is exploring payment innovations ranging from biometric payment authentication and wearables to new mobile applications which will include digitally-issued cards.

IoT payments rely on biometrics in a variety of ways.

For instance, a connected watch could be bound to both a unique token and your voice, using specific data to authorize payments that only your body can provide. Without that data, all payment transactions are halted. In the near future, you’ll be able to swipe your hand and connect to a cloud-based token without the need for a watch or any other device.

TOKENIZATION FUNDAMENTAL TO IOT PAYMENTS Tokenization is essential to all IoT payments, but the only constraint in developing IoT payment solutions will be our collective imagination.

Eventually, IoT payments will dramatically transform our concept of what it means to “own” something. Imagine a world in which you could take an appliance out of a store without paying. Instead, you would pay on a per-usage basis. The manufacturer would therefore be incentivised to deliver more value so that you use the appliance more.

The same goes for cars, televisions or any other connected device.

As the IoT payments ecosystem continues to evolve, the need for a seamless and secure digital payment experience becomes crucial.

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Visa offered a payment-enabled ring to its Team Visa athletes. As the exclusive payment technology sponsor, Visa is in a unique position to bring cutting-edge payment

Tokenisation enables frictionless, card-free payments with connected devices, including mobile phones and wearables, which leads to richer customer insights and thereby creating more tailored experiences for consumers.

It’s these types of frictionless experiences that make IoT payment solutions so compelling from a consumer perspective. It’s not that consumers’ needs are changing, but rather that the world’s best technology and applications are meeting them with enhanced convenience and greater security.

Travelling for business can often times make a job more enjoyable. Being able to enjoy the benef its of travelling such as experiencing new cultures and place when otherwise they would not have been had the opportunity doing so out of their personal capacity.

Graphic sources: www.f reepik.com | www.flaticon.com Information source: https://www.icas.com/ca-today-news/f ive-apps-and-devices-to-improve-business-travel

Below are a few technological tips to make business travel as simple as possible:

RELAXATION

TRACKING EXPENSES

Nervous travellers may benef it f rom devices like Doppel, a ‘mood changing’ wristband that reduces stress and keeps you alert by vibrating at a f requency you control f rom your phone.

Ref resh your knowledge of your company’s expense claiming processes before you go and make use of apps like Expensify and TravelBank to record all of your receipts.

Tracking expenses saves money.

SMART PACKING

SELF-UPDATING ITINERARY

Avoid lost cases, bag weight disputes and dead phone batteries by investing in some smart luggage. Bluesmart and Raden carryons self-weigh as you pack, let you track their location and feature internal USB chargers, all while f itting into the average overhead locker.

Use apps like TripIt and WorldMate to centralise all your travel information and Google Calendar appointments. Regular reminders of meeting times and alerts to travel delays will prove highly useful.

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DELOITTE

Business’s Preparedness

For A Connected Era Deloitte has released its third annual Readiness Report, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution: At the intersection of readiness and responsibility,” which surveyed more than 2,000 C-suite executives across 19 countries including South Africa. The report found that: Companies with comprehensive strategies focused on Industry 4.0 believe they are performing better on several factors including financial returns, societal impact, talent, and technology investments.

However, only 10% of executives said they have made a great deal of progress in understanding what skills will be needed in the future, and only one-fifth completely agreed their organisations are ready.

“Only 17% of executives said making effective industry 4.0 technology investments was an organisational priority, ranking lowest among 12 other priorities.”

Two-thirds said they have no formal strategy to address Industry 4.0, and only 10% overall said they have comprehensive strategies that integrate a focus on Industry 4.0 throughout their organisations.

Only 17% of executives said making effective Industry 4.0 technology investments was an organisational priority, ranking lowest among 12 other priorities.

@DeloitteSA

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@Deloitte

Ecosystems of a New Digital Era The world of work and business is changing - right now, fundamentally and faster possibly than at any time since the industrial revolution.

Valter Adão, Deloitte Africa’s chief digital and innovation officer, says organisations don’t need to fear the brave new world of disruptive

business models – they just need to acquire the skills and understanding needed to effectively transition their workforces. Which is

www2.deloitte.com

why Deloitte has developed a set of digital ecosystems to bridge traditional industry silos and help companies evolve to entirely new ways of working.

“All our service offerings: Audit & Assurance, Tax & Legal, Risk Advisory, Consulting and Financial Advisory have digitised. They have augmented existing solutions or created new solutions leveraging digital thinking and digital technologies.

“We have created a number of digital ecosystems that brings skills across all our service lines to create a comprehensive digital solution. For example, deploying an ecommerce platform is not just about the technology; a clear digital and customer strategy needs to be created, and tax implications need to be understood. Cyber and analytics are also critical, and every effective ecommerce solution requires a digital supply network.

Transitioning the workforce into a new way of doing business is also important,” says Adão.

The Deloitte ecosystems cover digital transformation, which speaks to developing a corporate strategy for the digital economy and customer transformation. The latter requires the use of digital technology to better understand and engage with the customer, and eliminate the negative attributes of customer touchpoints.

Ecosystems – in which Deloitte experts offer extremely practical, applicable guidance include:

“Organisations don’t need to fear the brave new world of disruptive business models - they just need to acquire the skills and understanding needed to effectively transition their workforces.”

• • • • • • • •

Digital supply networks Intelligent operations Future of Work Finance in a digital world Analytics Digital financial services (Fintech) Connected retail Intelligent mine

Diagnosing Your Digital Maturity Digital transformation is a complex and intimidating undertaking for a large business. Many enterprise executives misunderstand the true nature of digitalisation, and struggle to link it with business outcomes. Therefore, investment is often piecemeal and technology-led.

To help companies assess their digital maturity effectively, Deloitte Africa created a 3D digital diagnostic tool that provides a high-level check across a number of dimensions, giving an indicative view of what areas require attention.

3D as it became known, has been embedded as an accelerator in digital projects, and is a standalone offering in the Deloitte Africa consulting storefront. The assessment uses a unique data collection methodology, leveraging the power of a crowd of 75,000 people to analyse millions of publicly available unstructured data points on social media, processed through the BrandsEye’s platform.

“Once we have a view on what is trending in the broader industry, and the state of readiness to embark on a broader digital transformational journey, we are able to define a core set of business design principles that will guide the transformation journey,” says Heidi Custers, Digital Transformation Strategy Lead at Deloitte Africa.

To all of these ecosystems, Deloitte brings its wealth of expertise in aspects of business leadership: strategy, change management, tax and risk, marketing and IT.

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SA Business & 4IR A New Conversation

By Valter Adão, Chief Digital and Innovation Off icer, Deloitte Af rica

Over the last two years there’s been a profound mindset change happening within the leadership ranks of South Af rican business. ntil recently, most executives and boards had heard about the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), but put it on their strategy backburner. 4IR was either perceived as a technological imperative, much like the once-dreaded and overhyped Y2K bug, or dismissed as a new way of engaging with customers.

“4IR was either perceived as a technology imperative, much like the once-dreaded and overhyped Y2K bug, or dismissed as a new way of engaging with customers.”

However, concepts such as AI, blockchain, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) have shifted from incoherent concepts to what executives are curious about now. Still, there are legitimate questions. Executives realise that digital is not about technology, but rather an economic or business construct in which they have the opportunity to re-imagine their business. They are keen to understand what it will cost and the payback period.

In reality, the end state to be achieved through digital solutions must be one in which the overall CapEx of the new investment is lower than the OpEx of running the business as it was. When considering this, the organisation needs to be clear on why it would be deploying new digital solutions.

In other words, can one clearly define and evidence the digital dividends of the proposed solutions? Digital dividends can be split into three categories: accelerated business growth and revenues, significant improvement in productivity and cost efficiencies, and a notable improvement in the experience your customers and staff have when interacting with your business.

Here’s a simple question-based formula to quickly consider whether a digital intervention has the potential to add real value: •

•

•

Can we use these technologies to unlock innovation within our business, to create new products and services that generate new revenue?

Can we use this technology to reduce costs? Most companies are using digital technologies like AI, IOT, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to reduce the cost of doing business. This is a good strategy, as the lowest cost producer, in tough economic times, will almost always be the winner One can also look externally to that allimportant stakeholder, the customer: Can we plausibly use digital technologies to better service our customers and provide

“However, concepts such as AI, blockchain, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) have shifted f rom incoherent concepts to what executives are curious about now. Still, there are legitimate questions.”

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them with a frictionless experience which will get them to come back, stay longer and spend more responsibly?

If you can clearly identify one or more of the digital dividends, and determine that the CapEx of the new solution is less than the accumulative OpEx of how things were done before, there’s sufficient evidence to invest into the digital solution and future-proof your business.

The next important action point is to find an advisor you can trust - someone you can put through the wringer over a real cost/benefit discussion.

Digital Future Citizens A Forecast for International Travel

By Amanda Smit, Managing Partner, Henley & Partners South Af rica

When looking into the field of investment migration, countries with ‘high-quality’ citizenship attract investment f rom wealthy individuals who wish to become permanent members of those countries. or better or worse, it is clear that we live in an era in which many people’s understanding of citizenship is antiquated at best and downright draconian at worst.

The massive growth of investment migration in recent years shows how the notion of haplessly belonging to the nation of one’s birth, regardless of the quality of citizenship offered by that nation is, in a nutshell, the structural anachronism that this industry has risen to contest.

As we settle into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, I see our understanding of mobility, citizenship, and global identity needing to transform into something completely different to anything we have known before.

Blockchain, digital identity and digital government Traditionally, citizenship entails the bestowal of certain rights and duties on an individual at birth. This assignment of rights, enshrined in a passport, determines the access an individual has to the world for the rest of their life. With blockchain, however, there’s the possibility of doing away with passports and visas altogether. This is because passports, which only tell national authorities’ basic information such

as where an individual comes from, cannot compete with the potentially limitless quota of information that can be stored on a digital ledger, such as blockchain.

happen for a long time. However, when it does happen, all travel services and migration-based systems will need to adapt in order to remain useful and relevant.

As your national identity alone is an insufficient proxy for your character, the more important question for immigration officers to ask in the future will be “who are you?” as opposed to merely “where are you from?” With more detail available to authorities about each individual, there will be less impetus to impose blanket visa restrictions on all citizens from a given country. For citizens originating from countries with passports that inhibit their global mobility, blockchain ushers in the possibility for prioritizing the individual again.

The future holds unimaginable possibilities that are barely conceivable from today’s vantage point. From the perspective of investment migration, we might be looking at a time when all transactions are made via cryptocurrency, due diligence and CRS checks can take place reliably and almost instantaneously. When processing times are cut to zero, the entire landscape of citizenship will look radically different from how it appears today.

Amanda Smit (pictured below)

Imagine an incorruptible way to exchange a person’s complete personal data between states. This would render a person’s natural born citizenship irrelevant. Passports, as travel documents, are incredibly outdated. They tell us very little about an individual — essentially only where they were born, where they have come from and where they are going to. In an era where global travel is the norm, blockchain potentially offers a much more cutting-edge way of storing personal information. Moreover, it is virtually immune from traditional problems like fraud or forgery.

Acknowledge, embrace, adapt If the development of blockchain technology spells the end of passports, this probably won’t

“Passports, as travel documents, are incredibly outdated.

They tell us very little about the individual - essentially only where they were born, where they have come f rom and where they are going to.”

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HENLEY & PARTNERS

Weal th Managers Take Note: Investment Migration Is Here To Stay Wealth has long served as a safety net for professionals and their families, but the current global economic and geopolitical climate means that wealth alone is no longer enough when it comes to ensuring safety, security, and travel freedom. n an era where it is increasingly common to be educated abroad and have roots, connections, and residences in a number of countries, more and more people are exploring the dynamic concept of investment migration.

Investment migration programs, which offer a facility whereby individuals can acquire alternative residence or citizenship in exchange for a significant economic contribution to another country, are fundamentally designed to manage the combination of risk and opportunity.

@Henley&Partners

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@HenleyPartners

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@Henley&Partners

www.henleyglobal.com

CITIZENSHIP PLANNING: AN ASSET CLASS OF ITS OWN Today, residence-by-investment (RBI) and citizenship-by-investment (CBI) have become a crucial part of the financial planning model, from legacy and estate planning through to liquidity events. One reason that wealth managers are taking investment migration so seriously is that it is no longer a fringe phenomenon but one of the most reliable forms of future-proofing available.

“Investment migration programs, which offer a facility whereby individuals can acquire alternative residence or citizenship in exchange for a signif icant economic contribution to another country, are fundamentally designed to manage the combination of risk and opportunity.”

Acquiring alternative residence and/or citizenship is a proactive means of expanding one’s corporate footprint and market reach, resulting in greater influence, more opportunities, and a

potential for growth that is exponentially greater than if one is restricted to a single country and a single market. RBI and CBI programs also offer myriad possibilities for attractive real estate purchases and business investments with good capital value retention, as well as providing a reliable hedge against currency-related risks.

A PROPERTY INVESTMENT WITH A TWIST Over two thirds of EU member states now have residence programs, most linked to some form of property investment. These programs are popular because they allow EU residence and freedom of travel within Europe’s Schengen Area. Currently, RBI and CBI programs in Cyprus, Greece, Malta, and Portugal are seeing the most interest from outside investors.

THE CITIZENSHIP MODEL OF THE FUTURE In short, we have come to a point where any well-rounded, integrated, holistic global investment strategy for high-net-worth individuals is lacking if it does not include citizenship or residence planning. The strategic logic of investment migration is so strong that the justification for not including it alongside more traditional wealth management products is becoming increasingly weak.

Investment Migration is More Prevalent Than You Think Over two thirds of EU member states operate active investment migration programs. For instance, at EUR 350,000, the Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program allows applicants to invest in real estate and gain Portuguese residence to boot. Deeper into the Mediterranean, Greece also offers a residence option, known as the Greece Golden Visa Program. Starting at EUR 250,000, applicants can secure an indefinitely renewable residence permit that can lead to full citizenship after seven years.

Other attractive options are available on the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus, thanks to their respective investment migration programs. For the Malta Residence and Visa Program, the minimum property investment begins at EUR 330,000, while the most affordable qualifying investment for the Cyprus Permanent Residence Program starts at EUR 300,000. Both Cyprus and Malta also offer citizenship-byinvestment, albeit at a significantly higher price point.

[ IN THE NEWS ] Australia’s Business Talent Program One of the most interesting prospects to have recently emerged in the world of investment migration is Australia’s Business Talent Visa, or the ‘132A Visa’. While the Australian government offers a suite of different investment opportunities that appeal to various types of investors, the 132A Visa is specifically designed for high-calibre business owners who have a proven, successful business history and seek to maintain a hands-on role with conducting business in the country.

Global residence and citizenship planning firm Henley & Partners has partnered with a number of Australian based property development companies to make it even easier for investors to partake in the Business Talent Program.

To qualify for the 132A Visa, applicants must be under 55 years of age and own or part-own an existing business (with at least a 30% stake). The business must be able to demonstrate turnover of at least AUD 3 million for two of the last four financial years. Finally, applicants must have at least AUD 1.5 million in transferrable assets, of which at least AUD 400,000 must be business assets.

Contact Details

Amanda Smit, Head of South, East and Central Af rica amanda.smit@henleyglobal.com | 021 850 0524

Tony Le Nevez, Director: Australia tony.lenevez@henleyglobal.com | +61 3 8680 2525

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Enabling technology to empower adaptable, innovative, decisive and insight-driven provision of healthcare.

As an international healthcare organisation, Life Healthcare Group focuses on clinical excellence through building an analytics-led, technologyenabled healthcare environment – key to ensuring a continuous clientcentric, quality service to those entrusted to our care.

We are the first SA hospital to provide real-time, patient experience scores and annual quality measures to our communities on-line.

Reporting on our quality measures not only drives us to continuously improve and uphold the highest clinical standard; it provides our communities with the necessary insight to be at the centre of their care process.

Life Healthcare Group offers access to specialist focused, multi-disciplinary hospital, diagnostic imaging and related healthcare services. We operate a network of facilities in southern Africa and Alliance Medical across the United Kingdom, Italy and Ireland – with participation in 10 geographies.

For more information visit: lifehealthcare.group / lifehealthcare.co.za

Technology to Shift South Af rica’s Access to Healthcare Challenge

By Suren Govender, Group Chief Digital Off icer, Life Healthcare

country’s ability to provide access to quality, affordable healthcare is frequently used as a proxy for its overall progress and growth – and there can be no denying that South Africa faces multiple challenges here, which range from incongruous costs to a lack of modern infrastructure and a shortage of qualified professionals.

However, this status is not only unique to South Africa. Globally, healthcare has become unaffordable and there is little doubt that we need to adopt low-cost and value-based models. The big question is, how do we overcome these industry challenges in such a disparate country? Moreover, how do we, as the private sector, complement what government has initiated through the National Health Insurance (NHI) and ensure every South African has access to quality healthcare services?

Healthcare has almost been immune to disruptive technologies, until now. A successful rollout of NHI will not only need more doctors and nurses, but also more technologists. There are immense opportunities for both public and private healthcare providers to improve access to care and the service they provide to patients – with data and technology offering the greatest potential to make a tangible difference. Smart sensors, devices and machines increase our insight into, and control over, the physical world. More than just an “Internet of Things,” it’s a new layer of connected intelligence that augments our employees, automates processes, and incorporates technology into our lives, enabling machines and humans to act and react faster, and more intelligently.

Emerging technologies have the power to enable greater access to care. In fact, the most recent Future Health Index (FHI) by Philips Healthcare indicates that

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technology and accessibility are two of the top priorities for South Africa’s health system – and that technological advancements have the ability to help deliver long-term, quality care.

Healthcare has a constant data stream from medical records, sensors, devices, claims, biology and more.

Good and timely data complements delivery of quality healthcare with personalised patient insights based on a data-driven understanding of patients’ history, behaviours and diagnostics. By delivering personalised recommendations based on a data-driven understanding of customers’ history, behaviours, reviews, personalised attributes, companies across industries can stand apart from their competitors. Developments and progress in telehealth and virtual consult platforms – such as Babylon Health and My-Doc and South Africa’s My House Doctor offering telemedicine and house calls - make quality healthcare more accessible and affordable by combining patient data with a remote-based doctor allowing patients to access medical expertise instantly, at the touch of a button.

This removes barriers to access, particularly for patients who live in remote or rural areas and who have had to travel long distances to access any form of healthcare in the past. The experience is differentiated and enhanced with the patient having a better understanding and becoming more involved in the execution of their treatment plan.

LEAPFROGGING HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES THROUGH TECHNOLOGYDRIVEN ACCESS TO CARE There is little doubt that access to healthcare is going to be increasingly technology-driven globally.

This will be much the same in South Africa as technology evolves and the cost of providing services powered by technology falls, which allows the country to leapfrog traditional challenges and facilitate greater access to life-changing care.

Diagnostic imaging is an area that benefits from

Suren Govender, Group Chief Digital Officer, Life Healthcare Business Day - Focus 4.0

continuous technological advancements as innovations in AI mean that healthcare providers can detect diseases faster and more efficiently through algorithms. Wearables, gene therapy, artificial organs, robotic prosthetics and connected monitoring also give us vast options to monitor and manage our health.

Robotics present opportunities to improve access to care, precision surgery, and supply chain with examples of being used successfully in South Africa. The Steve Biko Academic Hospital, for instance, has the largest in-pharmacy automation system in the country, with four automated units that can dispense medicine rapidly and effectively.

It aids efficiency by reducing the waiting times of up to 700 patients every day - which can boost access to care. At Life Kingsbury Hospital, the da Vinci X robotic surgery system was introduced at the end of 2018 to offer minimally invasive surgery that lowers the risk of diagnosis errors and speeds up the provision of care as well as recovery time.

A new breed of healthcare technologist continues to exploit the intersection between healthcare and technology, and contribute immensely to prioritising clinical outcomes as key to patient care. As we explore Public-Private Partnerships, new funding models, AI, automation and open-access data we also need to create new jobs and new roles immersed in technology.

The use of technology will continue to be more entrenched in the provision of healthcare services, both in the public and private sectors – and as newer, more innovative solutions are implemented, there will be a simultaneous increase in access to healthcare, as well as an overall improvement in the type of care that South African healthcare providers can offer citizens. Our goal must be to use technology to augment healthcare professionals in delivering timely, accurate and quality healthcare.

Why Remote No Longer Has To Be Impoverished

By Reshaad Sha, CEO, Liquid Telecom South Af rica

Connectivity may hold the key to economic prosperity in the most out-of-the-way places. he Thorn Tree Café in Nairobi, Kenya, is an ordinary pavement café with an extraordinary past. A thorn tree, once famous for its message board, now in its third generation, grows in the centre of the café and still holds letters, notices and announcements left there by passing travellers. Although mostly symbolic nowadays, the tree in the 1900’s, functioned as a makeshift post box for travellers who left mail pinned onto its trunk, and a meeting point for backpackers in Africa.

This legendary landmark, at one time a watering hole for British royalty, writers and celebrities alike (including Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, and Winston Churchill), may well be one of the first and most illustrious examples of niche tourism in Africa.

Today, travellers can log on to travel guide book publisher, Lonely Planet’s own online Thorn Tree travel forum for up-to-the-minute listings.

The progression of communication from treemail to email is a clear example of how the tentacles of technology have penetrated every aspect of our daily lives. It also contains two important warnings that tourism industry stakeholders would be wise to heed: • •

A solid technology infrastructure foundation is critical for business success Modern day travellers are tech-savvy and demand the kind of services that are enabled by high speed connectivity.

Niche tourism - defined as the tailoring of specific tourism products to meet the needs of a particular audience/market segment - is on the rise throughout Africa. From an economic development perspective, niche tourism also presents several lucrative prospects. These range from helping to diversify the tourism industry by creating new markets, and stimulating the creation of quality jobs requiring specialised skills, to producing higher yields per visitor in terms of foreign exchange earnings and consumer spending.

The small but noteworthy economic hubs that are springing up in the most out-of-the-way places, as a result of niche tourism, should be taken seriously as steady contributors to the GDP. For them to grow and prosper, entrepreneurship should be encouraged and supported, but even more importantly, the technological building blocks to enable this growth, including high speed connectivity, should be firmly in place.

“What we are still getting our head around is understanding the signif icance of connectivity as the enabler of other technologies.”

What we are still getting our head around is understanding the significance of connectivity as the enabler of other technologies. Acknowledging the value of secure, reliable connectivity, is the first step to overcoming the digital divide.

The availability of technologically advanced services, such as satellite services and fibre networks, means that access to internet connectivity is bringing about digital transformation in many areas across the African continent. This includes the niche tourism sector, an industry that still has the potential to grow exponentially, creating employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Access to high-speed internet and cloud-based services can support the growth and economic prosperity of all individuals and business who derive their income from tourism activities.

Pictured Left: Reshaad Sha CEO, Liquid Telecom South Africa

“The small but noteworthy economic hubs that are springing up in the most out-of-the-way places, as a result of niche tourism, should be taken seriously as steady contributors to the GDP.”

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The Next Generation Network for Next Generation Enterprises Drive your continued success with the fibre network that’s built for business growth.

Liquid Telecom’s Network empowers you to capitalise on all the benefits of cloud-based, high-bandwidth business applications.

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Building Africa’s digital future

What You Need Know When Starting A Tech Business

By Damian Michael, Managing Director, Innovo Networks

• • •

•

Managing your intellectual capital starts with finding, identifying and classifying your most important human and intellectual assets. nce you know what you are looking for, you can determine whether you have the rights you need over those assets. If you don’t, you can secure those rights and select the best methods of protecting them.

TERMINOLOGY Intellectual Capital, Intellectual Assets and Intellectual Property In the industrial and manufacturing industries, the conventional forms of capital needed to start and grow a business were real estate, factories, plants and equipment. But in today’s knowledge economy, these physical assets have largely been replaced by ideas knowledge and creativity as the new drivers of value.

This new type of information and knowledgebased capital is known as intellectual capital, which is made up of the following:

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Your ideas, insights, knowledge and creativity (intellectual assets) The talent, skills and capabilities of your team (human capital) Your contractual relationships and connections with investors, customers and other stakeholders (relationship assets) Your unique brand and the reputation and goodwill you have built around it (brand assets)

In the same way that we as individuals possess knowledge and ideas (some useful others useless), your business’s intellectual capital can also be categorised according to its uniqueness, usefulness or value.

These special assets, commonly referred to as intellectual property, are bestowed with rights and protections which give the owner a period of time (limited) to commercialise or exploit them without any undue or unfair interference from others. The trade-off is that after that period of time expires, the asset becomes part of the public domain for anyone and everyone to use.

Discovering What Intellectual Capital You Have and Need For the tech entrepreneur, the majority of your intellectual capital will reside in your software, code, databases, websites or mobile appli-

cations. Copyright law without the need to register rights or comply with any further formalities automatically protects most of these assets. However, it is still necessary to identify and categorise those assets, because the ownership rights and the ways to protect them may differ between the different types of asset.

At the same time, there may also be a wealth of other intellectual assets tucked away in your filing cabinets or hard drives, just waiting to be discovered. These may include valuable trade secrets, know-how, methodologies, customer learning and market research.

Once you have linked the value drivers and competitive advantages in your business with the assets that produce them, list those assets and classify them according to the structure that they take. Are they people-based or embedded in technology or documentation.

Do any of them qualify for statutory protection?

The outcome should be an inventory of all your intellectual capital, classified according to the different levels of protection available, as well as their importance to your business.

You probably don’t have the time, energy or budget to protect everything, so taking the time to do this exercise will ensure that you separate the wheat from the chaff which will save you in the long run.

“For the tech entrepreneur, the majority of your intellectual capital will reside in your software, code, databases, websites or mobile applications.”

INNOVO NETWORKS

www.innovonet.co.za info@innovonet.co.za | (+27) 21 811 3333

Communication & Connectivity Innovo Networks is a leading Communications Service Provider, and together with our partners we strive to offer a superior client service experience for client and partner organisations.

Innovo Networks can provide the most stable, resilient and redundant network available and the widest and most innovative scope of service offerings encompassing the following: OUR SOLUTIONS Connectivity Connectivity is not the physical infrastructure required to connect a network but the optimal use of expertise in the Internet Protocol to facilitate logical connectivity with high reli-

ability, security, appropriate performance to meet differentiated business requirements, and superior proactive and reactive service provisioning, restoration and maintenance. Current connectivity solutions include corporate Internet access, virtual private networks, communitybased connectivity services and fixed and mobile broadband.

Communications Communications refers to the use of an Internettechnology enabled network to facilitate humanto-human communications, whether peer-topeer or server-mediated. Services include voice, messaging, facsimile, mobility, and fixed-mobile convergence services.

Cloud Cloud services involve moving both physical computing infrastructure and applications into the cloud, primarily through the use of data centre-based services such as lodging, hosting , and visualization of servers, storage and back office applications.

Carrier Last mile physical connectivity services, including last mile agency relationships with providers and selective self-provisioning, the latter where Innovo Networks is unable to source last mile services at a competitive price or where attractive niche opportunities exist. Current solutions include DD, IS, MTN, Vodacom and Neotel agency relationships, selfprovisioning wireless, reselling GSM-based data connectivity services, satellite and fibre optic local loop services.

Focus on our key segments provides differentiation Enterprise and Business Market Within this market, there are certain segments that are specific to our definition of clients segments that Innovo Networks is addressing.

These are: • •

•

•

Large, medium and small organisations A large number of consumer focused service providers that do not own their own networks and Innovo Networks provides them with the underlying infrastructure Business-to-business companies built on internet technologies, run on Tier 1 Networks backbone and essentially unable to exist without it.

Geographically diverse clients into Africa and the rest of the globe

delivery across the three spheres of government , demonstrates our commitment as a South African Corporate citizen to ensure that our vision to be the people connecting Africa, resonates with our government’s intent to bridge the digital divide and make ICT an enabler, not only for the government but for its citizens as well.

To ensure that these segments of clients are supported, Innovo Networks believes that everyone in the organisation has an impact on the Client service. To ensure that there are areas in the business that focus primarily on the service experience from Innovo Networks, the heart of our client services and support, the award winning Global Service Centre (GSC) is the front-end operational base and primary contact point.

Public Sector Clients across National, Provincial and Local Government Innovo Networks track record of enabling government to meet its mandate of service

@Innovonetworks

@innovo_networks

@innovo-networks

@innovo_networks

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Overcoming infrastructure challenges is key to 4IR success

“T

he technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution hold the potential to solve some of the most critical socioeconomic needs of South Africa and its citizens.” This is according to Vino Govender, Executive for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Innovation at DFA. Govender cautions, however, that these benefits cannot be extended to all South Africans without connectivity. And without higher levels of collaboration, coordination, and cooperation among industry stakeholders, the connectivity-infrastructure goals cannot be achieved at enough speed and scale.

Connectivity-reliant technologies, such as virtual and

skills transfer, the benefits of the technology are already being proven through a growing number of use cases.

Artificial intelligence applications range from predictive health and environmental monitoring (for example, to proactively manage threats of natural disasters or pandemics) to education and training (for example, to provide customized learning that takes into account individual needs and experience with the subject matter), and this revolutionary technology is still in its infancy in terms of deployment in South Africa.

Ubiquitous connectivity is vital to enabling the Internet of Things. Using drones to deliver much needed medical

augmented reality, can deliver high-quality health, education, and other services to residents, businesses, and institutions who typically would not have access to them. From applications such as telepresence to expand the reach of various kinds of expertise to collaborative technologies to enhance

supplies to hard-to-reach rural areas is well-documented.

IoT also plays a role in improving farming and supporting emergency services, among many other applications.

“Connectivity infrastructure is a foundational requirement for 4IR-digital technologies and services,” explains Govender.

The last study conducted by DFA in partnership with World Wide Worx found that, while Internet connectivity was increasing in metros, penetration in provinces with large rural areas and low income was as low as 25%. Govender says that, compared to metropolitan and urban areas which have a significantly higher level of infrastructure deployment and densification, deployment of infrastructure in non-urban areas remains a challenge.

Govender believes that the answer lies in aggregating common demand on common infrastructure, which is the principle upon which the DFA open-access model is based.

“This delivers efficient input-cost structures to participants along the value chain, enabling them to deliver connectivity and services to non-urban areas in an economically viable way,” he says.

Wireless last-mile access is an efficient and appropriate medium to deliver services in non-urban areas. One of the models that could be considered is active Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing, since this model eliminates duplicating infrastructure up to the RAN level, driving down the associated costs. “The aggregated backhaul demand on a single

site supports the economic case for fibre-backhaul rollout at price points that are economically viable in non-urban areas,” explains Govender. Govender further highlights that policies that support the above-mentioned approach should address the opportunity of spectrum pooling and sharing to deliver shared RAN services that provide the data capacity that is required to deliver 4IR-technology-based services in these areas.

He says that these could be in the form of subsidizing network infrastructure or implementing incentives, such as tax concessions on premises and resources that are required to extend networks in non-urban areas. “We should seriously consider these measures because they have proven successful in other markets where they needed to extend their network coverage,” he adds.

“As an enabler of the 4IR, DFA remains committed to exploring and contributing to solutions that will make the 4IR a reality in a manner that supports economic and social inclusion,” Govender concludes.

About DFA DFA is the premier open-access fibre infrastructure and connectivity provider in South Africa. We finance, build, install, manage, and maintain a world-class fibre network to transmit metro and long-haul telecommunications traffic. We started rolling out our fibre network in 2007, and to date, we have deployed over 14,000 km of ducting infrastructure in major metros, secondary cities, and smaller towns. We have now also expanded our operations

into Zimbabwe. Our network runs with an industry-leading uptime of 99.98%. We lease our secure transmission and backbone fibre infrastructure and provide associated connectivity services to telecommunications operators, Internet service providers, media conglomerates, tertiary educational institutions, municipalities, government organizations, and other businesses, large and small, on equal terms.

For more information on our state-of-the-art wholesale connectivity, visit www.dfafrica.co.za.

Overcoming Infrastructure Challenges is Key to 4IR Success

By Vino Govender, Executive for Strategy, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Innovation, DFA

“The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution hold the potential to solve some of the most critical socio-economic issues of South Af rica and its citizens.” his is according to Vino Govender, Executive for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Innovation at DFA. However, Govender cautions that these benefits cannot be extended to all South Africans without connectivity. And without higher levels of collaboration, coordination and cooperation among industry stakeholders, the connectivity-infrastructure goals cannot be achieved at enough speed and scale.

Connectivity-reliant technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, can deliver high quality health, education and other services to residents, businesses and institutions who typically would not have access to them. From applications such as telepresence to expand the reach of various kinds of expertise to collaborative technologies to enhance skills transfer, the benefits of the technology are already being proven through a growing number of use cases.

Artificial intelligence applications range from predictive health and environmental monitoring (for example, to proactively manage threats of natural disasters or pandemics) to education and training (providing customised learning that takes into account individual needs and experience with the subject matter). In terms of deployment in South Africa, this revolutionary technology is still in its infancy.

Ubiquitous connectivity is vital to enabling the Internet of Things.

The use of drones to

deliver crucial medical supplies to remote rural areas is well-documented. IoT also plays a role in improving farming and supporting emergency services, among many other applications.

“Connectivity infrastructure is a foundational requirement for 4IR-digital technologies and services,” explains Govender. The last study conducted by DFA in partnership with World Wide Worx found that, while Internet connectivity was increasing in metros, penetration in provinces with large rural areas and low income was as low as 25%. Compared with metropolitan and urban areas, which have a significantly higher level of infrastructure deployment and densification, deployment of infrastructure in non-urban areas remains a challenge.

Govender believes that the answer lies in aggregating common demand on common infrastructure, which is the principle upon which the DFA open-access model is based. “This delivers efficient input cost structures to participants along the value chain, enabling them to deliver connectivity and services to non-urban areas in an economically viable way,” he says.

Wireless last-mile access is an efficient and appropriate medium to deliver services in nonurban areas. One of the models that could be considered is active Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing, since this model eliminates duplicating infrastructure up to the RAN level, driving down the associated costs. The aggregated backhaul demand on a single site supports the economic case for fibre-backhaul rollout at price points that are economically viable in non-urban areas.

Govender further highlights that policies which support this approach should address the opportunity of spectrum pooling and sharing to deliver shared RAN services that provide the data capacity that is required to deliver 4IR-technologybased services in these areas.

These could come in the form of subsidising network infrastructure or implementing incentives, such as tax concessions on premises and resources that are required to extend networks in non-urban areas. “We should seriously consider these measures because they have proven successful in other markets where they needed to extend their network coverage,” he adds.

As an enabler of the 4IR, DFA remains committed to exploring and contributing to solutions that will make the 4IR a reality in a manner that supports economic and social inclusion.

THUSANO GROUP

www.thusanogroup.co.za | 2 Roos Street, Fourways, Johannesburg

THUSANO GROUP www.thusanogroup.co.za JHB: 2 Roos Street, Fourways, Johannesburg

ABOUT THUSANO Thusano was established in 2009 and has since become the leader in telecommunications in South Africa. Thusano Group has over 3000 satisfied clients, with over 78 staff members in 3 branches (JHB, KZN and CT). Thusano specializes in 5 telecommunication products providing the best possible business solutions to our clients.

Do you require more reliable, cost-effective communications & surveillance solutions? husano Group has 10 years of experience in providing solutions to customers both big and small. This gives us a broad depth of experience to draw from in giving you the best possible staff management systems, communication and security solutions for your business.

As the only certified Double-Diamond NEC Partner in South Africa, your business is assured of the best products and services available, even by international standards. Operating from our Johannesburg, Durban & Cape Town offices,

we have over 78 passionate, qualified staff members, ranging from technicians to account managers, thereby assuring you of personal and professional attention to your every need.

ARE YOU STRUGGLING WITH CABLE THEFT? IS THE DOWN TIME OF YOUR TELEPHONE LINES COSTING YOUR BUSINESS MONEY? Thusano can now port your number away from problematic copper. Your numbers will stay the same, less down time = more business.

JADE WASTE AND A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH THUSANO GROUP OVER 8 YEARS Over the last 15 years we have grown our business and continuously needed new technology to maintain and manage our business on a day-to-day basis.

We had our first dealings with Thusano group November 2011, they upgraded our phone system and reduced our call charges from Telkom. Over the next 8 years we have upgraded our business systems with Thusano Group.

• • • • • •

Installed IP CCTV to reduce theft and manage our business even when we are not on site Installed bank up power, assisting our business to still function when there is a power cut Installed New Server to manage our admin and backup all our important information securely Installed Wifi and Internet in our premises, giving access to faster internet speeds at the business Installed Printers which have a service agreement were the technician actually service the machines Completely ported our numbers away from Telkom copper, reducing downtime with better service

Thusano Group has assisted our business with all our technology needs and made sure we keep our business running over the years. We at Jade Waste would recommend Thusano Group to any business in South Africa

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Reducing Costs for Webco

As Webco grew as a company we were continually approached by many office Automation suppliers. Over the years the cost of maintaining, upgrading and servicing this function in our business became exorbitant.

Fortunately in 2015 we were introduced to the Thusano Group who immediately understood our Business requirements and embarked in reducing our monthly billing from R45 000 to R23 000, a huge reduction. This came with the exact same benefits and fantastic THUSANO service.

Recently THUSANO approached us and indicated that they would like to assist us with further financial savings. Obviously in these difficult economic times we jumped at the opportunity and within a few days TEAM THUSANO had reduced our monthly spend down to R12 800.

In the space of 4 years we went from spending R45 000 per month to R12 800 per month, that is an enormous amount of money saved over and above the monetary savings. We can highly recommend THUSANO who pride themselves on wonderful personal service.

Craig Webster Managing Director WEBCO PTY LTD

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Create valuable conversations with every connection.

In today’s business environment, customers demand simple yet effective channels to communicate with your organisation.

At BCX, we put the customer at the heart of your business with our Next-generation Voice solution suite, which brings simplicity and powerful functionality to digitally transform how your employees meet your customer’s expecations.

Scan the QR code to learn more about BCX Voice and find the right solution to take your business to the next generation of communication.

Our most important customer, is yours.

Proud level 1 B-BBEE Contributor.

www.bcx.co.za

Embracing the Benefits of Change

By Julian Liebenberg, Chief of Telecommunication Solutions, BCX

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is quoted as saying, ‘the only constant is change’. When it comes to the role of digital transformation in our lives, nothing could be more accurate. e’re living and working with so many new technologies to choose from, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Sometimes, it feels as though the easiest way to deal with something potentially uncomfortable is to simply just ignore it.

The problem with avoidance in business is that it leads to missed opportunities. If you’re avoiding a problem, you’re not trying to solve it. The business landscape is littered with cautionary tales of huge companies that failed due to the lack of innovation. A delay to innovate could put any organisation at risk.

Peter F. Drucker said, “If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” For most companies who were in business before the internet and who are still in business today, it’s highly likely that the something old is your connectivity infrastructure.

Many organisations are still operating old analogue telephone systems, despite newer technologies like VOIP being available since 1999; and they continue to maintain these systems at great expense, and difficulty when something goes wrong, rather than transitioning to digital.

costs drop, employees are more productive, and customers become happier.

We live in a fully connected world, and the way we communicate outside of the workplace has influenced the way people want to connect at work too. What was once a simple phone call along a copper line has evolved into a range of converged services delivered over any digital platform.

With more than three decades of experience in the ICT sector, Julian has a profound understanding

One of the biggest reasons people fear change is because of all the unknowns, specifically around technology. However, help is always available to you. Connect with a service provider that can assess your environment, learn which areas of the business could be positively impacted by digital technology, and then start small. Do test cases to see whether a smallscale change can have a positive impact, and when that case is successful, look to other areas in the business to see where you can make a difference by transitioning to digital.

of customer needs, and is a high-energy, results-

The key is to start somewhere – start by becoming aware of the possibilities, of the technologies, and how they will benefit your enterprise. All indications are that by using integrated communications, your operational

tional. Before joining BCX, he held several exec-

oriented leader with an entrepreneurial attitude.

He brings to the role his ability to lead and coach business development teams across the African continent, an excellent general knowledge of business, taking strategy from mere planned activities to implementation.

Julian joined Business Connexion in 2005 as a Divisional Executive in Sales and Marketing and has since held several positions in different sections of the business, including Chief Revenue Officer: Mid-Market and Managing Executive: Internautive management positions, including Divisional Executive at Bidvest and Managing Director of ASI South Africa.

“The key is to start somewhere - start by becoming aware of the possibilities, of the technologies, and how they will benef it your enterprise. All indications are that by using integrated communications, your operational costs drop, employees are more productive and customers become happier. ”

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APEX BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

www.apexbi.co.za kerryvj@apexbi.co.za | (+27) 11 795 9800

VIRGIN ACTIVE KICKS TECHNOLOGY EXPENDITURE INTO TOUCH WITH APEX BI

“We drive our members to strive for a healthy and balanced way of life – there is no reason why exactly the same attitudes cannot be implemented in the running of a business which, as with all companies today, is hugely dependent on technology,” says Chad Rodinis, Head of IT Service at Virgin Active South Africa. “In addition to yielding direct financial benefits which included reducing our direct and indirect costs by several million Rands – the Apex BI solution also revealed and enabled the reimbursement of sizeable credits due. We have also experienced increased operational and infrastructure efficiencies,” confirms Rodinis.

The Power of Knowing Apex Business Intelligence (BI) is all about the Power of Knowing. We understand, simplify and automate your complex data and present it in a single software platform. proactively, as well as gain highly accurate and granular BI and reporting capability.

While our roots are in technology expense management, our SaaS platform, Clarity, goes far beyond just cost savings. Clarity supports strategic planning and financial forecasting and enables organisations to benchmark performance versus expense across all business units.

Clarity supports business continuity by providing the CXO with an at-a-glance overview of the entire technology environment.

The single view it provides means enterprises are empowered to create policies, rules and alerts to manage and control the environment

Speak to us about how Clarity can seamlessly integrate your multiple systems and sources of data to deliver a single view of your environment.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.apexbi.co.za

Apex BI helps MiX Telematics track their IoT expenditure issued by a number of different mobile network providers across the continent. The platform helped eliminate manual processing and made automated analysis attainable – providing critical operational and financial insights.

MiX Telematics, a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions, deployed Clarity to aggregate the data from the total universe of MiX Telematics SIM cards

@ApexBI_TEM

“We have been using Apex BI’s Clarity platform for more than four years, and for me the greatest benefit is not just the ability to control and manage our sizeable and increasing number of

@apex-business-intelligence

#ApexBI

#clarity

#thepowerofknowing

SIM cards, but also that we have the capability to retain that control into the future,” says Gert Pretorius, Managing Director of MiX Telematics Africa. “Clarity is helping us to drive down costs while delivering a better and more cost-effective service to our clients.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.apexbi.co.za

#technologyexpensemanagement

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Fourth Industrial Revolution Opportunity or Threat?

By Brad Ward & Rob Jackson, Directors, Symbiotics Application Services

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is not an event, outcome or a point in time. Rather, it is a set of opportunities created as a result of exciting innovations becoming accessible to all businesses. he fourth industrial revolution is the current and developing environment in which disruptive technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the way we live and work. The previous three revolutions (the steam engine, mass production, and digital technology) have impacted our world dramatically. And right now, it’s happening again.

The opportunities afforded by the advanced, mature technologies are available to be leveraged by all businesses, irrespective of being a large corporate, early or mid-stage business, or even a start-up.

HOW WILL IT AFFECT MY BUSINESS? Our personal and business lives are affected by the rapid evolution of technology. One example that we can all identify with is the effect of technology on education. Teaching methods and subjects are undergoing significant change driven by technological advances, with the result that tomorrow’s consumer will be innately techno-literate.

We have moved beyond the “one-size-fits-all” enterprise software solution. Organisations can now adjust the size and scale of their infrastructure at will and in real time, enabling cost-effective experimentation and innovation.

Companies can use technology to expand their value proposition, whether through faster time to market at a lower cost, or through more direct engagement with clients.

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WHO IS BEST EQUIPPED TO PARTICIPATE IN 4IR? The exploitation of new technologies is less about having the hard, technical skills, and more about the soft skills. It is vital to understand people, the market, our employees and their willingness to adopt new ways of working.

Managing resistance to change is as important as introducing the change.

The best-equipped companies are agile in their thinking: those that are prepared to try, make mistakes, learn and try again. Hierarchical structures may need to be dismantled in favour of flat structures to facilitate decision-making. Be prepared to partner with companies experienced in the application, and exploitation, of the everadvancing technologies.

The ability to rapidly create a new product or enhanced capability, then measure the efficacy thereof, and adapt accordingly, is now readily and cost-effectively available to virtually everyone.

Make sure that you partner with someone who brings the right skills with them to help you ride the wave of 4IR opportunities.

WHERE DO I START? Focus on product-oriented engagements rather than project-oriented ones. Technologies like cloud enablement and machine learning offer the opportunities to leverage existing investments and deliver enhanced value. Use the metrics and insights surfaced by these approaches to adapt even more effectively.

The key is to build long-term partnerships in order to identify and rapidly realise significant, incremental value. Whether this value is based on cost reduction, scalable system stability, or the frequent addition of useful functionality, the ultimate contribution of the possibilities created by 4IR is in building affinity through a positive customer experience.

The best choice for this type of partnership is a company whose very livelihood is technology, where keeping abreast of technological advancements is a core value.

www.symbiotics.co.za | info@symbiotics.co.za | +27 11 700 3560

Seize the 4IR Opportunity The ethical collection, maintenance, and usage of data is the cornerstone of future market expansion. Therein simultaneously lie the greatest challenges and opportunities waiting to be unlocked in your business.

SYMBIOTICS

ABOUT SYMBIOTICS Within the rapid pace of innovation, driving the need to scale quickly and cost effectively, delivering focused software solutions is a critical capability for your business. Symbiotics is your partner to realising the base demands and opportunities when technology enhances your product offering and customer experience.

Symbiotics’ focus is on building fit-forpurpose, tailored software solutions that leverage the potential enabled by the scale and cost-effectiveness of cloud computing, a deep understanding of technology, and an innovation mindset.

“No problem, we will just use machine learning and artificial intelligence … this 4IR thing is easy.” – anonymous executive utterance As 4IR technologies mature at a rapid rate and in many ways do provide enhanced accessibility and simplicity, to the point where even small start-ups and SMEs are able to gain access, the challenge is no longer how to economically gain access to and implement the technology. The challenge rather lies in that the technologies commonly bucketed into the 4IR label are grounded in an ever-growing, and often seemingly insatiable, need for data.

This understanding is leading to many data related questions being posed in everyday business design and planning activities. Typically, these take the form of: • • • •

How do I ethically source the data?

What data protection and good-care expectations are there of my business?

For what purpose may we use this data?

I am being blinded by all the data collected and available; where are the insights?

@SymbioticsApplicationServices

“Every business strives to differentiate their product and service offering, uniquely positions the enabling processes and ultimately achieving a differentiated customer engagement. So then why do we accept a one-size-f its-all approach to technology underpinning and enabled these?”

At Symbiotics, we believe the most important question driving decisions in modern business positioning should be of the form: “How do I deliver value in the customer experience as a return for being allowed access to your data and through you engaging with my products?”

Every business strives to differentiate their product and service offering, uniquely position the enabling processes, and ultimately to achieve a differentiated customer engagement.

Why do we accept a one-size-fits-all approach to technologies underpinning and enabling these?

And even more damaging, allow this approach to limit our customer experience innovation?

4IR presents an opportunity to take ownership and control of the key differentiators, bringing

@SymbioticsApps

software-based solutions into play where the critical focus is on customer-product engagement, while understanding and respecting that your customer expects value from both the product itself and the engagement experiences. Throughout these experiences, the customer is increasingly demanding that your business is ethical and responsible in the collection, maintenance and usage of data.

“Embrace the opportunity: partner with Symbiotics. The possibilities presented by 4IR are exciting and enriching.”

Embrace the opportunity: partner with Symbiotics. The possibilities presented by 4IR are exciting and enriching.

Symbiotics Application Services

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How to Prevent a Cyber Attack?

By Steven Cohen, Business Development and Strategy Director, IronTree

Here’s a staggering thought: Cybercrime worldwide has accounted for $2 trillion in 2019. uniper Research predicts this number will increase to $6 trillion by 2021. The bottom line is that cybercrime is rife and every business needs a strategy to avoid becoming a victim of a cyber attack.

“People are the weakest link in a security chain and an educated staff cuts down the chance of a cyber attack by up to 90%.

Training can be as simple as registering each employee for an online course and following up with weekly discussions.”

It may come as a relief to know that cyber security isn’t actually a complicated task. There are some straightforward steps you can take to protect your business on a day to day basis and comprehensive online solutions that give you extra security.

The first thing your cyber security strategy must do is to raise your employees’ awareness of cyber principles. People are the weakest link in a security chain and an educated staff cuts down the chance of a cyber attack by up to 90%.

Training can be as simple as registering each employee for an online course and following up with weekly discussions.

The second step is to implement or revise existing processes that protect your business’s systems. This will include a firewall to protect your network, software to detect viruses and malware, a scanning system to monitor all the devices that your employees use (desktop computers, laptops, printers, mobile phones and

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tablets) and a patch management process to ensure patches are installed as soon as they’re available. Your systems and your software also need to be upgraded across all devices as soon as upgrades are issued.

Thirdly, automating your backup system is an important part of your strategy. Automation means you’ll never lose more work than your last successful backup so it’s a failsafe way of ensuring your business data is safe in a remote environment. It’s wise to simulate a restoration of your backup a few times a year so that you can be confident it’ll work if you’re hit by a cyber attack.

Lastly, the most complete and comprehensive way to prepare for a cyber attack is to have a recovery plan in place that’ll keep your business operations running while the disruption is sorted out. Typically, a disaster recovery plan will kick in to give you a near-zero recovery time.

This way your business will be covered no matter what kind of attack hits you.

IRONTREE

www.irontree.co.za

Data Management & Business Continuity You’ve heard it before, “data is the lifeblood of a business”. Without continuous access to your business data, it’s difficult to transact and make business decisions.

ABOUT IRONTREE

So without effective data management, business continuity is at risk.

IronTree provides data management services including cloud backup, disaster recovery and specialised server hosting in a private cloud.

We also offer cyber-crime and ransomware prevention, ongoing privacy law compliance management, and business continuity planning services. These services enable our clients to prevent disasters that could impact their organisations and to manage their systems and data effectively within a legal framework.

You can guarantee data availability and transactional continuity by migrating your server infrastructure to a secure hosted environment. This simplifies your entire IT infrastructure and minimises the risk of power outages, data corruption, physical theft and cybercrime.

It’s vital to choose a hosting partner who offers cyber security, disaster recovery and data backup. Many don’t, and cybercriminals continuously target vulnerable environments such as these.

We do this by offering great products hosted in South Africa, priced correctly and with unbelievable support.

OUR SOLUTIONS • • • • • • • •

ELMAR ACCOUNTING AND THE CLOUD Although a metropolitan city, Bloemfontein isn’t exactly a leader in digital transformation.

Its businesses are largely traditional and rely on legacy technology for their expanding business needs.

So when Elmar Accounting introduced IronTree’s cloud hosting solutions to its clients, that seemed to be a revolutionary idea.

David Malan saw how these solutions would enable his clients to keep up with trends in business continuity technology and create a sustainable platform for their businesses to grow into the future.

The results have been astonishing. Many of these clients have now streamlined their business operations, ensured core skills remain inside the company and created a redundancy platform incase disaster strikes.

If you have a secure hosted server and backup, in the event of a disruption your server can then be recovered to an alternate virtual environment with no loss of data or break in continuity.

Cloud / VPS Hosting Cloud Backup Advanced Data Management Solutions Office365 Cyber Security POPI and GDPR Compliance Plan4Continuity IronTree Reseller Programme

No new applications are required, and there’s no data migration or staff retraining. Remote employees and auditors can access books of account and process required transactions wherever they are.

Geared 4 Business At Geared 4 Business our core service is taking care of our clients’ stressful and time-consuming accounting tasks and tax issues so they can focus on running their businesses.

THE GOAL When our server was stolen from our premises we realised we needed a different kind of data

@irontreeZA

@irontree_sa

security plan because, although we could restore our backup with IronTree, we lost a lot of scanned documentation.

THE PLAN By installing a virtual private server (VPS) we could 1) eliminate the need for a physical server on our premises, 2) access our accounting system and additional services from multiple

@irontree-internet-services

locations, and 3) have the benefit of safety, cyber security and disaster recovery.

THE RESULT With IronTree’s efficient support our business was up and running with a VPS in no time, with the accounting system, server, security and disaster recovery infrastructure that we need.

@IronTreeSA

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REDSHIFT CYBER SECURITY

customer success stories in financial services, insurance, retail, logistics, mining, hospitality and healthcare.

Identifying & mitigating risk Redshift is a South African cyber security company and we assist our customers in identifying and mitigating risk as part of a robust strategy for building resilience against modern cyber-attacks.

At Redshift, we believe that true defense comes from an understanding of attack. This reflects in our approach to research, training of our staff and delivery to our customers, honed by cutting edge research into malware, threat actors and attack techniques. Redshift performs deep research into attacker behaviour internationally as well as locally to provide our customers with powerful insight into the risks they face as organisations move into the cloud, AI and digitisation.

Redshift began as a technology start-up in 2015 and has grown significantly in terms of our expert team, capabilities and market reach.

We now service customers in South Africa, the United States, Europe and Africa with

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The Redshift team consists of expert penetration testers and cyber security consultants with experience across all industry sectors and in many different technologies. Our team has assisted South African and global organisations in discovering subtle and complex technical weaknesses in their systems, application and networks while translating those into an actionable strategy for building defense against data breaches and compromise.

“True defense comes f rom an understanding of attack.

This reflects in our approach to research, training or our staff and delivery to our customers, honed by cutting edge research into malware, threat actors and attack techniques.”

Redshift believes that the best way to properly defend against modern cyber threats is to accurately simulate real world scenarios using the same tools and techniques as the attackers.

Redshift assists organisations with increasing their resilience, to drive improvements in security maturity and provide direction to a cyber security strategy.

FOR MORE INFORMATION info@redshiftcybersecurity.co.za

redshift.co.za | 010 141 5565 info@redshiftcybersecurity.co.za

ABOUT PROGRAMMES PENETRATION TESTING For specific risks Penetration testing involves the testers taking the perspective of an opportunistic attacker or malicious employee to identify vulnerabilities in a target system or application. Penetration tests provide a deep analysis of security flaws within a defined and focussed scope. The result provides insight into the business risks of various vulnerabilities by showing how an attacker can compromise the target and gain access to sensitive information, functionality or otherwise cause damage.

RED TEAM ASSESSMENTS To test your capabilities A red team assessment is based on an attacker goal such as “steal money”, “gain access to confidential customer information” or “destroy the factory”. Red team assessments are open scope, goal driven assessments that help an organisation determine how well prepared they are for a sophisticated, targeted cyber-attack.

A red team assessment maps out the pathways an attacker will take through the organisation and assesses the maturity of detection and response capabilities along that path. In this way, the assessment is much more about providing insight into a strategy for building resilience against a collection of threat actors, their tools and tactics.

www.cqsa.co.za www.cqsa.co.za | sales@symbiotics.co.za | +27 11 447 4701 sales@cqsa.co.za | (+27) 11 447 4701

COMMERCEQUEST SA

ABOUT

Empowerment & Growth

CommerceQuest South Africa (Pty) Limited (CQSA) in operation since 1997, is an IT software solutions and services company that provides personalized, effective data solutions to companies.

CQSA is very proud of our attainment of a BBB-EE Level 2 status. One of the fundamental reasons for our long standing lifespan as a company (in operation now for 22 years) and commitment to the local SA IT industry has been our IT Learnership and Graduates program for young candidates, who without financial support, would be unable to do their studies at Colleges and obtain their degree. he learnership program was started in 2012 by CQSA with just two candidates and has grown year on year. The purpose of the program is to take keen young adults, who have a passion for IT and technology, who do not have the capability to pay for their studies.

CQSA sponsors their college education costs, books etc. throughout their studies. We currently have 3 students taking IT courses at College and have a further 3 graduates who have joined the company in 2019 and are being taught through a mentorship program.

On completion of College the young graduates join the CQSA technical team and are mentored by our experienced technical teams. Not only is it a way of giving back, but also supplies the company with fresh, passionate IT graduates in times when local IT skills are hard to find and grow.

“The purpose purposeof ofthe theprogram programisistoto take keen young adults, who have take keen young adults, who have a a passion IT and technology, who not have the capability to pay passion for for IT and technology, who do notdo have the capability to pay their their studies.

CQSA sponsors their college education books etc. studies.

CQSA sponsors their college education costs, bookscosts, etc. throughout throughout their studies.”their studies.”

CQSA provides a range of software products and technologies to enable the transformation, integration and transportation of critical data, safely, securely, reliably and protected.

In addition to being a top IBM Software Business Partner providing data integration and data transportation, we also provide hosted cloud solutions and hosted Disaster Recovery and SyncVault File sharing, a fully featured cloud storage solution. To complete the offering CQSA provides a full range of data protection solutions for companies to combat the ever-increasing threat of security breaches, phishing and malware scams, with full network security using a central web-based console to manage security from the Firewall right through to Endpoint protection.

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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Insurance Industry

By Xola Ndlendle and Clinton Phoku, Marketing Team, Rikatec

Currently one of the big discussions within the insurance industry is about AI and how it can improve business operations through data analysis.

AI is a computer intelligence that performs tasks through machine learning based on advanced algorithms that analyses data in real-time. This provides insights on data collected to assist in decision-making processes for companies in numerous industries such as: automotive, telecommunication, engineering and insurance.

“The advancement of AI goes as far as allowing the use of remote diagnostics and analysis on vehicles to predict and detect minor and major breakdowns in real-time, which allows insurers to be proactive when dealing with a client’s vehicle and related claims.”

Some vehicle insurance companies are already using AI and enhancing operations by taking advantage of telematics, big data and machine learning. Technologies like Rikatec enhance insurance companies to create insights relating to how their clients behave on the road and the vehicle’s overall health status, to benefit the vehicle owners. Data can be analysed in realtime to provide vehicle wear and tear, predictive maintenance, vehicle tracking and recovery. The advancement of AI goes as far as allowing the use of remote diagnostics and analysis on vehicles to predict and detect minor and major breakdowns in real-time, which allows insurers to

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be proactive when dealing with a client’s vehicle and related claims.

AI also allows insurers to learn more about their customers’ behaviour and risks, this enhances dynamic pricing and creates more personalised products based on each client’s specific needs and risk level. It can analyse vast amounts of data and recognise patterns that could have been missed by humans in a fraction of the time, reducing the overall turnaround time when processing claims.

AI allows Insurers to be more proactive, using complex algorithms to manage costs and risks, mitigate losses and reduces fraudulent claims by comparing available information with vast pools of cloud data to assist in decision making.

Developments in technology have raised expectations from customers who now expect much more advanced services and products more frequently. This has not only increased pressure on some businesses but also made the environment they operate in to be more competitive.

With the involvement of Artificial Intelligence, staff can accomplish more tasks easier and more efficiently. Through deep learning, insurance companies can pick up trends and increase the accuracy of client rating factors.

RIKATEC

www.rikatec.co.za (+27) 11 886 1737 | support@rikatec.co.za

Connecting you and your vehicle like never before Rikatec is a technology company that focuses on information management systems for vehicles.

The business was founded by two South African young entrepreneurs whilst studying at the University of Cape Town in 2013. Rikatec uses big data and machine learning to predict

“Once a fault is detected, Rikatec can communicate which part of the vehicle is at fault and what went wrong. and detect vehicle breakdowns in less than 5 minutes, predictive maintenance, vehicle wear & tear, vehicle resale value and driver profiling and driving ratings. This is done through remote diagnostics performed by a Rikatec device on the vehicle every 5 seconds sending the big data received in real time to back-end systems for advanced analytics on the data. Once a fault is detected, Rikatec can communicate which part of the vehicle is at fault and what went wrong. In addition, Rikatec will link vehicle owners to the nearest registered help option within a 10-km radius of the fault. Furthermore, Rikatec prides itself in new ways of working

@Rikatec4IR

@RikatecJHB

through its ability of creating and digitizing current traditional systems.

The vision behind Rikatec’s information management systems is to leverage Artificial Intelligence and become the dominant player in the internet of things (IOT) when it comes to vehicles.

Rikatec prides itself with its young and energetic culture, where stakeholders are free to make their dreams a reality. We believe in dreamers and empowering our stakeholders to achieve in all they do. Making the “impossible” possible through technology is our primary mandate.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BIG DATA AND ADVANCED ANALYTICS •

• • • •

Monitor and Modify driver behaviour, which assists in improving driver safety and vehicle health status Reduce the overall operational costs of the fleet Predict and detect vehicle breakdowns Accurate wear and tear analysis Be proactive though Predictive Maintenance and plan operationally

•

Keep the vehicle on the road at all times

Track and monitor vehicle health status, location, activity and driver safety and security by predicting and detecting vehicle breakdowns Rikatec informs vehicle owners through a reliable source of accurate real-time information about their fleet’s usage and optimal ways to reduce usage costs.

Rikatec technology is able to monitor driver behaviours, such as speed, harsh braking, harsh acceleration, throttle position and engine pressure. These parameters are important due to the implications they have on safety, maintenance, wear & tear, operating standards and costs Rikatec will provide you with periodic reports of your vehicle data which will assist when making corrective measures on your daily driving and vehicle health.

Rikatec uses GPS technology to assist vehicle and fleet owners with route optimization and region geo-fencing.

@Rikatec

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The Rise of Future Jobs

By Teddy Daka, Group Chief Executive Off icer, Etion

Whenever I listen to people share their visions for the Internet of Things, there has been a tendency to worry about its impact on jobs.

more. We are simply not training enough people for these new roles and until we make fundamental changes to the way we prepare learners we will continue to struggle to fill the gap.

he fear of automation (driven by big data, AI and advanced robotics) is especially worrying in a country where youth unemployment runs higher than 50%.

Today, we are over-reliant on the tertiary education system for engineers. Universities do a fantastic job with basic skills and research, but institutionally it’s impossible for them to keep up with the evolving demands of the workplace. We need corporate and academic bodies to build more – and more available – short courses so that people can develop skills on the job. We need to understand how to accredit new positions in the

What hope is there for learners today, pessimists cry, if the few job opportunities they have now will be gone by tomorrow?

During the Second Industrial Revolution, the age of mass production and artisan trades – such as shoemaking, pot throwing, glass blowing – were threatened by the new, more efficient factory process. Ultimately, however, mass production created a virtuous circle – fewer people were needed to produce one pot, but by increasing productivity and driving down prices, the demand for crockery grew.

The result? More factories employing more people than ever practised as artisans.

We saw similar things happening in the Third Industrial Revolution. Desktop computers eliminated the need for typing pools, but the growth in higher skilled knowledge worker jobs provided ample opportunities for replacement employment.

Today, in the 4IR world, there are three key forces at work. Firstly, the danger of automation is likely to have been over-hyped. Elon Musk admitted that he’d overestimated the potential for replacing humans on the assembly line.

Tesla has repeatedly failed to meet production targets for its electric vehicles, and as a result changes are underway on the factory floor.

The second force is the way in which new jobs are evolving. There is massive, unfulfilled demand for network engineers, cybersecurity specialists in a wide variety of specialist fields, application developers, data scientists and

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“Improving automation and analytics in the cab of a train doesn’t mean there will be no drivers, but rather drivers will require a new set of skills.”

fields of security and IoT engineering, in the same way that vendors have developed their certification schemes for network engineers.

The third force at work is that all of these new technologies can be viewed as augmenting human capacity, not replacing it. Improving automation and analytics in the cab of a train doesn’t mean there will be no drivers, but rather that drivers will require a new set of skills. IoT sensors that enable predictive maintenance don’t replace skilled mechanics, they just make them more efficient.

It’s vitally important that, as an industry, we don’t just understand these issues at the level of strategic management. We must do more to engage with workers and communicate an inclusive vision of the future, and highlight success stories where new technology is driving employment. People’s fears are genuine and, if left unaddressed, dangerous. Those of us on the cutting edge of technology must do more to explain its benefits.

Create I Digitise I Connect I Secure

Create | Digitise | Connect | Secure

Digital Solutions for a new Age

The Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping the way organisations do business today and will continue to do so going forward.

Through our market-leading IoT capabilities and the dissemination of critical information at the edge, data orchestration is not only possible, but will give you the power to enhance your business efficiencies and result in measurable savings and increased productivity.

At Etion we understand that technology disruption and the associated security concerns should not inhibit your ability to drive your organisation’s digital transformation.

Security is at the forefront of our technology advancements and with our encryption and authentication solutions you can navigate your digital journey knowing your business is guarded from cyber threats.

We advance humanity through technology. Talk to us today for an obligation free needs assessment.

www.etion.co.za enquiries@etion.co.za 012 749 1800

Advancing humanity through technology

ALTRON KARABINA

TRANSFORMING THE SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS FOR 4IR

By Dave Ives, Digital Advisory Executive, Altron Karabina

Even though the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) offers massive opportunities for businesses and consumers in South Af rica, the country is not adequately prepared to fully embrace it yet. The reality is that more must be done to adopt technology at a rate that is acceptable to the requirements of the 4IR environment. erhaps counter-intuitively, 4IR as a concept is not that new to the local market. Companies have been exploring aspects like automation and changing job profiles for many years already. It is the natural progression of things.

And despite concerns that ‘the robots will be coming’ to replace people’s jobs, operators are still working in manufacturing plants decades after automation was first introduced.

The concern is that the policy environment and people’s attitudes towards 4IR is not where it should be when compared to more developed markets. It is about taking innovative technology and looking at how best to embrace it and educate people on doing things differently as we head into the next decade.

Another example is how robotic process automation has been transforming environments such as banking. And despite how automating processes have become the natural order of things, there will always be a need to have a relationship with someone in the bank. The key to making 4IR successful in South Africa is to

@AltronKarabina

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determine where the technology can be used to make the biggest impact for the country. This will revolve around people’s ability to understand how best to adopt technology in the most effective ways possible to deliver value.

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES Irrespective of industry sector, technology can help drive growth. However, it must be done through the lens of the customer and how to make their lives easier. The operating model has continually shifted to one where companies are looking to produce quality items faster and more cost-effectively, source it better, and even operate more environmentally responsibly.

For example, in the food and beverage sector, business leaders will adopt technology that shows they are doing the right thing when it comes to manufacturing processes. And for its part, the financial services sector is welcoming new mechanisms as a result of the increased number of connected devices in the market today. So, even though technology has been around for years, it is only now where more unique use cases are starting to emerge.

Inevitably, much of this revolves around using technology in smarter ways to bring value for

the customer and enhance their experience.

The primary goal for most organisations is to deliver value in the best ways possible. They do not set out to cut jobs but to be more efficient. In turn, this will result in the labour force needing to reskill and upskill to deliver more strategic value. But for this to happen, there needs to be reliable access to infrastructure. Sophisticated technology becomes just a precursor to delivering a better customer experience whilst driving a need for new skills in the market.

SKILLING UP, MANAGING SECURITY The reality is that companies are no longer operating in a world where servers are built and shipped to premises. Instead, cloud services

“The concern is that the policy environment and people’s attitudes towards 4IR is not where it should be when compared to more developed markets. It is about taking innovative technology and looking at how best to embrace it and educate people on doing things differently as we head into the next decade.”

@AltronKarabina

@AltronKarabina

“Firstly, business leaders must understand the technology and buy into its use.

With business and technology leadership, the shift to 4IR can become a reality.” have grown in relevance with people requiring different skills to deliver differentiation.

And while automation does provide a degree of assistance, a person will always be needed to interpret things at a highly cognitive level.

Throughout this, and the increasing number of devices connecting to the cloud and the corporate environment, cyber security must always be a business priority.

Part of this evolving skills environment, interpreting, reading, and using data will be essential to address the big data explosion which has not yet been solved. Decision-makers must realise that the value is not in how much data you have, but what you do with it.

Moreover, immediate organisational priorities must still be addressed. Technology must fit in with the business and be used appropriately.

Sure, a company can have a sophisticated solution (think robotics) but it needs to fulfil a need within the business. Firstly, business leaders must understand the technology and buy into its use. With business and technology leadership, the shift to 4IR can become a reality.

AZURE, ONE YEAR ON This is where the arrival of Azure data centres in the country can be considered quite significant in the adoption of more innovative technologies.

As an organisation, Altron is one of the largest consumers of the Azure technology set in the country. Our customers have come to rely on these services for many of the things they would have done in-house, this could be basic services such as disaster recovery and business continuity.

Not much has changed for those companies who have been using Azure before it officially arrived here. It is merely giving them a sense of comfort when it comes to regulatory aspects of data sovereignty. And yet, many businesses are ticking the proverbial box to move their Office 365 implementations to local servers.

Altron has consolidated close on 70 of its offices to Azure. This means employees can now work from anywhere and at any time. For us, the 4IR promise of work being what you do and not where you go is made possible through the Azure infrastructure.

TRANSFORMATION However, the most important issue as we head towards 4IR is for business leaders to understand the technology and educating employees to shift their roles into ones that can better fit the needs of a connected environment.

“Employee roles must also evolve to serve customers better, continue innovating, and delivering solutions to the market faster at lower costs.

In this world, it is also about technologists understanding the business case and not trying to simply sell a ‘cool’ solution.”

Already, our customers are continuing their investments to prepare for 4IR by optimising and modernising operations through modern enterprise resource planning platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365.

But the business case for the technology must make sense. Employee roles must also evolve to serve customers better, continue innovating, and delivering solutions to the market faster at lower costs. In this world, it is also about technologists understanding the business case and not

trying to simply sell a ‘cool’ solution. Therefore, a mutual level of understanding, education, and application of technology must permeate every aspect of the organisation.

We ensure that the innovation we deliver matters to our customers. All told, our solutions are enabling our customers to embrace the digital business environment necessary for 4IR.

ABOUT ALTRON KARABINA Altron Karabina’s purpose is to deliver innovation that matters, to our customers.

Through partnering with our customers we have developed an understanding of the issues they experience that are inherent in the digital transformation journey.

We love what we do, are passionate about innovating on the Microsoft platform and most importantly the impact we can make in our customers businesses and lives.

Our experts understand the business challenges that come with digital transformation, the changes that need to take place, and the best way to achieve this.

Built on the trusted Microsoft cloud platform, the solutions we offer include application infrastructure, data, artificial intelligence, productivity and collaboration, and business applications. Our solutions are built on the Microsoft clouds of Azure, Dynamics 365 and Office 365.

It is with these solutions that we enable organisations to compete and grow.

Contact Details: www.altronkarabina.com connect@altronkarabina.com CPT 021 001 1044 JHB 011 463 8155

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Skills Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era

By Dave Ives, Digital Advisory Executive, Altron Karabina

Even before murmurings started that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will replace jobs with automated technologies, career security for those unwilling to adapt to a technology-rich environment has never been guarenteed. nd with the push towards digital transformation reaching fever-pitch, companies are intensifying their focus on becoming more efficient to better serve customers.

This puts South Africa in a difficult predicament.

Even though it should be a priority, skills development has stagnated. The dire shortages in several areas reflect the need to have the right skills in place at the right levels. For its part, government can embrace a policy dedicated to building a labour force as opposed to simply outsourcing all its requirements to companies with the requisite skills. Building our own labour force involves more than just putting people into jobs. It requires management to help guide the direction of the people and their growth.

Given that unmanaged and misdirected labour can quickly become problematic, leadership is as important as before. Therefore, management capacity must be built into skills development for people to be used more effectively.

Careful consideration must be paid to focusing on the skills the country requires for a 4IR world. This is where automation, optimisation and process innovation become essential. The

skillset is shifting from people ‘pushing buttons’ to harnessing the opportunities for them to deliver higher cognitive value to the organisation.

REFOCUS EFFORTS There is still plenty of confusion in the market about digitisation, as there was in the era of factory automation. But it does not have to be the case. Instead, businesses can position change to show it entails reskilling for the upliftment of all. If people have better skills, they will get better jobs. Just look at the number of mobile devices field workers have access to. If they are adequately trained on how to better feed remote data back into the organisation, the value add will be significant.

Fundamentally, every employee can now add value through data. The days of people sitting in non-cognitive jobs are quickly disappearing. Even blue-collar workers are using mobile devices to gather data and deliver value back into the organisation. It revolves around enhancing skills through technology and applying a different way of thinking.

“The push towards reskilling is something that transcends all industry sectors. An example, farming in South Africa has become completely technology-enabled.” product at cost effective rates and survive in a volatile environment. Using digital technologies enables them to do this and we see technology being adopted by many farmers today. Very few farmers have not adopted technology to enhance visibility and provide data to improve the management of all the elements, from livestock and machinery to produce.

In 2020, this digitalisation of skills will see much attention placed on the cloud, security, data and the management of devices. Digital workers must therefore be able to connect to cloud services seamlessly, understand the impact of security and manage the influx of data from connected devices.

INDUSTRY-WIDE CHANGES The push towards reskilling is something that transcends all industry sectors. For example, farming in South Africa has become completely technology-enabled. The focus here is on ensuring resources are used optimally whether that be water for irrigation, fertilisation or crop management. Farmers need to make a quality

Much of this revolves around understanding, interpreting, and reading data effectively. So, even though bots could potentially resolve issues better than a human and could potentially code faster than developers, the human touch will always be needed to apply things in different and unique ways to add high cognitive value.

“Careful consideration must be paid to focusing on the skills the country requires for a 4IR world. This is where automation, optimisation and process innovation become essential. The skillset is shifting f rom people pushing buttons’ to harnessing the opportunities for them to deliver higher cognitive value to the organisation.”

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Information source: www.i-scoop.eu/internet-of-things-guide/facility-management-iot-smart-buildings/ Image sources: www.freepik.com

of Facility Managers predict IoT will impact building and maintenance policies within the year.

of Facility Managers plan to increase building capital expenses in 2019

15%

52%

18%

74%

of Facility Managers uzilize predictive maintenance tools to assess and target equipment maintenance

of Facility Managers are largely or very reactive when it comes to maintaining buildings

of Facility Managers are using continuous/real-time information from their energy management systems to configure facility equipment

of Facility Managers uzilize predictive maintenance tools to assess and target equipment maintenance

Lack of internal resources available

of Facility Managers anticipate increased investment in connected services such as remote analytics - there is a strong appetite to grow capabilities in this area

Lack of resources and investment rank as top challenges to interpreting building datsa

The level investment required

of Facility Managers report plans of adoption. In the next three years, facility managers are most likely to implement automated equipment fault detection

Realising the Benefits of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

By Andrew Yates, Solutions Director, Quill (Pty) Ltd

This article is aimed at demystifying the hype surrounding Digital Transformation and looking at how the Internet of Things can deliver real benef its to the manufacturing sector. have mostly been bespoke systems, expensive to commission and to evolve over time. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) this scenario is changing fast.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW POSSIBILITIES

STATE OF PLAY he pace of technological innovation and its trickle-down effect is ever increasing.

Examples are all around us, from the high-tech world of Formula 1 where new technologies find their way into our family sedans, to everyday examples like digital photography where our smartphones now possess state of the art image capturing ability, a domain once occupied only by powerful DSLR cameras.

For the manufacturing sector, having an end-toend digital view of the business to support critical decision making has historically been the preserve of very large manufacturers as these technologies

The Internet of Things, and more specifically in the manufacturing context, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), is one of the key technologies disrupting the manufacturing world for the better.

Through the application of digital sensor technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, previously ‘dumb’ machines on the factory floor can now self-diagnose and digitally converse in real-time with the outside world, providing critical information about their operating state and performance health, as well as sending advance warning of potential problems.

Additionally, Cloud Computing provides the ideal platform to centralise storage and analytics of this machine data, as well as integrate it with other systems such as ERP applications, providing users with data-driven decision making capability, wherever they are.

TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACH Digital transformation is as much about the business as it is about technology. It starts with a deep understanding of the business’s challenges and then identifying how technology can enable

“Digital transformation can bring immense competitive value to a business, but for it to be successful, it needs to be aligned to the business’ objectives and it should inform decision-makers across all areas of the business.”

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the business to transform its operations and become more agile, client centric, efficient and ultimately more profitable.

Digital transformation can bring immense competitive value to a business, but for it to be successful, it needs to be aligned to the business’ objectives and it should inform decision-makers across all areas of the business. A truly effective digital transformation strategy will impact the business holistically enabling the business with insights to aid better decision making and more agile operations.

WHERE TO START Spending time analysing each area of the business provides the necessary insights to understand what information and improvements are going to be beneficial to different areas of the business, while also providing the strategic lens through which to evaluate these opportunities.

Educating the business about the potential of IIoT will further help identify possibilities and additional transformation opportunities.

Opportunities can be classified into three categories: 1) opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce costs, 2) opportunities to reduce risk, 3) opportunities to achieve competitive advantage.

Once you have an understanding of where these opportunities exist, you can begin to prioritise them and set about building your strategy and execution plan. As with any strategy, it’s important to recognise that Digital Transformation is a journey. Done right it has the potential to positively impact and accelerate your business for many years to come.

Industrial IOT Condition Monitoring Solution for the new era of manufacturing

The Reality Manufacturers are exposed to various operational risks relating to the performance of their critical production equipment, all of which can directly impact the bottom line Unplanned production downtime due to

Inefficient maintenance programs (under or

unforeseen machine outages

over-servicing) due to lack of machine health insight

Reputational damage due to missed deadlines.

Equipment damage caused by operator misuse

Wastage and spoilt goods due to interrupted production runs

R

High cost to repair and time to repair

The Solution

To help you manage these risks and maximise production

Quill

uptime, as well as optimise preventative maintenance of

Monitoring solution for manufacturers of all sizes, which

critical factory equipment, we developed Quill - a

collects and analyses machine data, providing you with

dynamic, real-time Condition Monitoring solution that

real time visibility, dynamic alerting and actionable

combines

insights into machine health and performance, enabling

the

latest

Industrial

Internet

of

Things

technologies with the power of Cloud Computing.

Failure Prediction

is

a

comprehensive,

cost-effective

Condition

you to take preventative action before production is impacted.

Using statistical analysis and machine learning from

Service Optimization

volumes of accumulated machine data, Quill can predict

Our customisable dashboarding tools provide you with

equipment failure before it happens, identifying the root

the

cause with confidence.

temperature, torque, run time, power consumption and

Multiple Benefits

ability

to

track

multiple

metrics

(vibration,

more) over any period of time, to detect trends, anticipate impending

problems

and

proactively

schedule

maintenance activities in good time.

Data driven decision making offers numerous business benefits: Maximise production uptime and increase yield Improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)

www.quill.cloud

Extend the lifetime of critical machinery

For more information, or a consultation to

Reduce maintenance and service costs

see how we can help your business,

Optimize spares inventory

please contact Andrew Yates on +27 83 665-5022 or email info@quill.cloud

MIP HOLDINGS

The Rise of the Digital Bank

By Richard Firth, CEO, MIP Holdings

Technology has changed - and is still changing - many industries, but none more so than financial services. From the introduction of ATMs, to internet banking via apps, to today’s seemingly new online-only digital banks, technology is transforming the business models of banks. he new digital banks are trying to make inroads into the market share of the incumbents by offering agile, digitalised alternatives, says Richard Firth, CEO of MIP Holdings,

who adds that the trend for automation and digitisation is visible across the value chain, from customer contact and lending to mortgages, payments and alternative financing. “We are seeing the transformation of banking, and those companies that can master new digital capabilities will not only be the leaders, but the only survivors.”

Firth says that the process of digitalisation is not always obvious, and a number of factors are influencing how banks approach this – including the use of third-party platforms or whether they develop their own in-house platforms. In contrast, the new “digital-native” banks have no legacy challenges and are better able to make use of emerging technologies such as automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“The industry is moving from the sentiment of ‘we need an app’ to ‘we need AI’, but too often the banks are implementing technology for technology’s sake, or to keep pace with what competitors are doing. To effectively compete with digital banks, traditional banks must match the technology solution to a real-world problem,” Firth says.

He points out that the many regulations in force today are forcing banks to comply with requirements that are rooted in digital initiatives, effectively levelling the playing field. For example, data privacy regulations apply to financial institutions across the board, whether they have the most recent technology or are still paper-based. “So at what point will a ‘digital bank’ be forced to do what the incumbents do today?”

Firth asks.

Similarly, established and traditional banks have already started making use of more

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“AI and big data aggregation are growing in the f inancial services sector because they are helping to drive the total self-service of accounts.

In the future, automation will allow clients to pick and choose services that were not traditionally offered by banks such as health, insurance, travel and group risk.” advanced technologies that their newer counterparts may not have, mainly because they have bigger budgets to invest. Firth says that financial institutions are all working towards digitisation, and the differences between traditional and “digital” banks are not as easily identifiable as they were a few years ago.

“If you ask any board or executive team in a company what they understand by digital transformation you will get a different answer. That is why MIP talks about socialising technology. This is about making sure that a traditional internal business process is defined, documented, automated and then shared or socialised externally with a consumer or customer through a layer of technology and devices. For me, the lack of understanding this key transitional phase is exactly the same as blockchain technology: Every non-technical person says you must invest in blockchain, but very few people actually know what the tech is about,” he says.

“As a matter of fact, I am finding non-technical people refer to Bitcoin as blockchain and vice versa. A fund manager recently said that many of their clients want to invest just 1% of a portfolio in blockchain, but the client then invests in Bitcoin.

I think there is confusion, and many people don’t understand that Bitcoin is just an implementation of Blockchain.”

According to analysts, banks are also learning critical lessons about workflow, or business

www.mipholdings.co.za

“The technology is rapidly maturing, and domain expertise is developing among both banks and vendors - many of which are moving away f rom the one-solution-f its-all “hammer and nail” approach toward more specialised solutions. The key here is that AI can only work once it understands the data and how previous processes, decisions or outcomes have been achieved based on a similar set of criteria.” been achieved based on a similar set of criteria.

process socialisation, in this new world—for example, how to more effectively manage handoffs between man and machine, and where typical process redesign/re-engineering can be put off or even skipped in favour of automation— particularly where systems are likely to be replaced.

In the new world, the strategy will be to lose the supervisor, Firth says. This means that a system or process, which was designed to make use of a supervisor to make a decision on behalf of a customer, can now be designed to ask the customer for their choice by using a relevant connected device in real-time to complete a complex task.

Also, McKinsey says that despite some early setbacks in the application of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to bank processes, the future is bright.

The technology is rapidly maturing, and domain expertise is developing among both banks and vendors—many of which are moving away from the one-solutionfits-all “hammer and nail” approach toward more specialised solutions. The key here is that AI can only work once it understands the data and how previous processes, decisions or outcomes have

@MIP Holdings

@MIP_ Holdings

“This is why I was surprised to see a digital bank issuing a bank card. Cards increase administration, delivery and management fees, and the use of IOT and devices we will see a decline in the use of cards over the next three years. AI and big data aggregation are growing in the financial services sector because they are helping to drive the total self-service of accounts. In the future, automation will allow clients to pick and choose services that were not traditionally offered by banks such as health, insurance, travel and group risk,” Firth says.

“McKinsey sees a second wave of automation and AI emerging in the next few years, in which machines will do up to 10% to 25% of work across bank functions. To capture this opportunity, banks must take a strategic, rather than tactical, approach. For example, fintech may displace banks’ current lending operations with things like peer-to-peer lending. With the rise of more digital banks, necessity is now forcing the sector to seriously consider the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making.”

Ultimately, the question has now become “what is a digital bank?”, rather than “are traditional banks digitising fast enough?”.

“Are supposed digital banks just banks, and are incumbents becoming digital banks? For example, Investec does not have any branches, much of their service is automated, they have fantastic self service capability and they also have a card. Is Investec now a digital bank?”

@MIP

ABOUT MIP HOLDINGS MIP is the leading provider of affordable business/IT solutions to the financial services industry in emerging markets when measured by “number of lives covered”. Over 13 million policy holders experience MIP’s technology on a daily basis.

MIP is the world’s only software company delivering solutions across all of the financial service verticals. Its products and services are diversified to accommodate the specialised administration needs of health scheme administrations, managed healthcare, national health insurance, lending, employee benefits, individual life insurance (including funeral funds), group life insurance, motor vehicle maintenance and warrantee, legal insurance and company accounting.

MIP is also a leader in developing mobile apps for the financial services industry. The company’s specialist knowledge, gained in integrating mobile apps into organisations, is proving useful to any business wanting to build world-class mobile applications.

ABOUT RICHARD FIRTH A stalwart of the South African IT industry, Richard has been involved in the technology arena since 1989. With diplomas in Information Technology and Business Process Re-engineering, his successful career in IT has spanned various roles, including programming, IT implementation, and various management positions, culminating in his current responsibilities as Chairman & CEO of MIP Holdings.

@mipholdings

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Do You Still Have Ownership of Your Data

By Richard Firth, CEO, MIP Holdings

“Too many companies don’t understand what data they must own, and too many companoes don’t have an effective understanding of exactly what data they collect.”

it. Firth says that because cloud involves the automation of a process rather than just shifting the process to an outsourcer, many companies don’t realise what data – or how much – is being stored in the cloud. This applies to cloud use in our personal lives as well.

For years, cloud services have been growing in popularity due to their agility and pupported cost effectiveness. While most companies only have portions of their inf rastructure in the cloud, the number using cloud services for mission-critical applications is growing.

Today’s IT ecosystems therefore consist of a mix of in-house software and cloud services, all layered with various degrees of complexity.

“Much has been done to simplify how companies use and implement cloud services, and security has been a big focus for cloud providers and customers alike. This has helped cloud become as popular as it is. However, despite the fact that most cloud providers are compliant with regulatory requirements such as GDPR, ownership of data is still a challenge,” says Richard Firth, CEO of MIP Holdings.

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It is vital for companies who have outsourced any portion of their operations to know who is responsible for the data, where it should sit, and who actually owns it. “Cloud is just a different variation of outsourcing, and there are still elements of the ecosystem that are being managed through traditional outsourcing models. The end result is that companies have their data spread across a number of platforms and providers.

This has led to complicated data environments, and in some cases, has resulted in companies losing ownership of their data without realising

“Every application and system uses data, and many collect sensitive customer data.

Companies should therefore take extra care when entering into and managing outsourcing or cloud agreements. Too many companies don’t understand what data they must own, and too many companies don’t have an effective understanding of exactly what data they collect.

Unfortunately, it’s only when a business wants to cancel a service or reposition a service that it finds out it doesn’t own the primary access method to this data, or at least some of it.”

Firth says that companies should pay particular attention to the contracts they sign. “The contract should stipulate who owns the data. Amazon Web Services (AWS), for instance, states within its Terms and Conditions that ‘you reserve all right, title and interest (including all intellectual property and proprietary rights) in and to your content’. Other vendors try to keep ownership of data as a way to lock-in clients, preventing them from moving their data elsewhere. Signing a contract that doesn’t specify data ownership provisions is opening a company up for trouble further down the line.

DHL EXPRESS

www.dhl.co.za

DHL brings over 200 global online stores to South Af rican consumers with innovative platform

By Jed Michaletos, Managing Director, DHL Express South Africa

In April 2019, DHL Express launched its new mobile and desktop app aimed at improving the onling shopping experience for Africa-based consumers.

for DHL to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the growth of e-commerce in South Africa and across the region.”

“As the global leader in express logistics, this is yet another opportunity for DHL to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the growth of e-commerce in South Africa and across the region.”

DHL Africa eShop is now available in 20 African markets, offering African consumers unprecedented access to international retailers. It also enables many global brands to connect with a captive African market – markets that were often overlooked due to the perception of high complexity and uncertainty.

The exciting new platform, DHL Africa eShop, enables customers to shop directly from more than 200 US- and UK-based online retailers, with all shipments delivered by DHL Express, to the shopper’s door.

Jed Michelatos, Managing Director of DHL Express South Africa, says that the DHL Africa eShop app offers South African consumers much greater access to international retailers on an easy-to-use platform. “As the global leader in express logistics, this is yet another opportunity

@DHLexpress

This solution was developed in partnership with Link Commerce – a division of Mall for Africa.

As one report by the McKinsey Global Institute shows, Africa has a fast-growing middleclass consumer market which is embracing the internet at an astonishing rate. By 2025, the projected internet market penetration is expected to reach around 50% for the continent, with around 360 million smartphones expected to be in circulation.

ABOUT DHL EXPRESS DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL family of divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management.

With about 380,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, energy, automotive and retail, a proven commitment to corporate responsibility and an unrivalled presence in developing markets, DHL is decisively positioned as “The logistics company for the world”.

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 61 billion euros in 2018.

@DHL

Business Day - Focus 4.0

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AI: 6 Legal Considerations You Ought to be Aware of

By Leanne Mostert, Partner, Webber Wentzel

Artif icial intelligence (AI) offers all businesses a range of new possibilities to enhance eff iciencies. As AI applications are developed, there are at least six important legal aspects you should be aware of:

CONSIDERATION 1

CONSIDERATION 3

COLLABORATION/OWNERSHIP

IP

If the AI project is being undertaken in collaboration with another party, you should establish who will “own” the outcome, taking into account issues such as the value that each party brings, the elements that the company is most interested in (algorithm, data, output of algorithm) and the commercial aims for each element. The appropriate intellectual property (IP) agreements should be in place, as well as other contractual protections, such as rights to use, exclusivity and confidentiality.

AI raises various challenges for patent law, particularly whether the existing legal framework can accommodate the intelligent machine. The first barrier relates to patenting the original algorithm. In most countries (including SA), abstract mathematical methods are not per se patentable.

The second barrier is whether the outputs of AI systems can be patented, particularly where the AI system is independently inventive without human involvement. The key unresolved issue here is whether a human inventor is required for an invention to be patentable. We expect the view of patent offices globally will be that a human inventor is required. If so, then inventions

by AI systems may not be patentable under the existing legal framework. Protecting AI outputs is currently challenging the IP legal framework.

CONSIDERATION 2

DEVELOPING AI & DATA

It is important to know whether the use of data in training and testing the AI project continues to be compatible with prevailing data protection and confidentiality laws. Consider the consequences of third parties accessing the data and ensure there is either a data processing or data sharing agreement in place. If possible, anonymise the data to avoid these concerns. Use regulatory or development sandboxes, which are isolated environments in which testing can be conducted without harming the host network. Where necessary, conduct a data protection impact assessment.

CONSIDERATION 4

SAFE USE

AI systems could behave unpredictably. Their potential dangers should be factored into your businesses broad risk framework and properly tested before use. Their use should be appropriately supervised, including ensuring circuit breakers are in place if the behaviour exceeds certain boundaries.

CONSIDERATION 5

ETHICAL USE

Consider the future impact of AI on your business: how does it fit into the broader corporate social responsibility policy? Is it necessary to have an ethics committee or another board committee to oversee AI? What is its impact on the workforce?

It is also crucial to be transparent about the use of AI where possible and to track government and regulatory responses to AI.

CONSIDERATION 6

LIABILITY AND REGULATION AI may make decisions for which you will be held responsible. If the AI system is provided under a contract, the contract must address the standards required and include both limitation and exclusion provisions. If the system is not provided under a contract, you need to consider your liability in the event of infringement of rights and whether an appropriate disclaimer would be necessary. When the system takes decisions about individuals, ensure that the process is fair, lawful and not discriminatory. A system that takes important decisions about individuals requires additional controls, such as informing them and allowing them the option of a human re-evaluation. The system must also be secured from cyber-attacks.

“It is important to know whether the use of data in training and testing the AI project continues to be compatible with prevaling data protection and conf identiality laws. Consider the consequences of third parties access the data and ensure there is either a data processing or data sharing agreement in place.”

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www.webberwentzel.com |

+27 11 530 5000 (JHB) | +27 21 431 7000 (CPT)

WEBBER WENTZEL

Embracing Technology to Create Better Collaboration, Better Client Services and Increase Value Webber Wentzel has recently taken advantage of the capabilities of Office 365 to create a more efficient and collaborative workplace for its teams, while facilitating and securing client interactions.

In a move to increase data security and accuracy, develop greater transparency with clients and foster team collaboration, Webber Wentzel implemented Microsoft’s suite of cloud-based solutions, including Teams, Stream, Planner, Power BI Apps, and more.

Matthew Pool, Attorney specialising in International Trade at Webber Wentzel explains how he has used this technology to work more efficiently and collaboratively on client mandates.

“I represent numerous South African businesses and industry organisations in front of government regulators and other institutions. We cope with volumes of paperwork every day, managing applications worth billions of Rands. When I joined the team, manual processes, collecting lots of revisions, going back and forth to the client was standard practice. Through implementing an integrated set of Microsoft collaborative solutions, team members can now work faster and more efficiently, wherever they are. We now collect a document, load it into SharePoint, and the process flow is automated with Microsoft Power Automate. The system gets copies out to the client for review, assigns tasks to everyone in Planner, and allows us to start working on the documents and marking them up simultaneously. Also, everyone on the team runs To Do to keep their lists and assigned tasks together.

Where there is a need to take handwritten notes, we work off the same information in OneNote, which serves as a shared notebook. External as well as internal collaboration has improved through Stream. The team can record every meeting and immediately check if their drafting is consistent with the client’s own expectations.

Also, by leveraging Microsoft solutions, we have gone from 7 months to about half the time. Most

@WebberWentzel

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importantly, our clients are delighted with the value that our improved processes have brought to their matters and how it has contributed to the speed of their internal decision-making.”

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR TECHNOLOGY: “The law itself is not able to keep pace with technology developments and the new legal issues that arise. Several grey areas exist relating to IP protections, legal liabilities and ethics, to name a few. New and clearer laws are needed across the board to appropriately regulate the space.”

Matthew Pool Attorney - International Trade, Webber Wentzel

“What we are envisaging is what the future legal practice will look like. As we’re rolling this out to other practice areas, this is the de facto standard that we are using.“

Nozipho Mngomezulu Attorney and TMT sector specialist, Webber Wentzel

With over 150 years of experience and industry knowledge, Webber Wentzel is the leading full-service law firm on the African continent.

Warren Hero CIO, Webber Wentzel

THE LAWYER AND LAW FIRMS OF THE FUTURE: “We are focussed on the legal services of the future. Being “future ready” is not just about using the latest technology, but also about ensuring that our people have the right skills, cutting-edge knowledge and an innovative, collaborative mindset.”

We can service complex and multijurisdictional legal and tax matters seamlessly. We combine knowledge and experience to provide tailored and commercially-minded business solutions within record times. We focus on the efficient and effective delivery of innovative solutions, adopting considered strategies around legal process management, legal process improvement and legal technology. Our alliance with Linklaters and our deep relationships with outstanding law firms across Africa provide our clients with the best expertise wherever they do business.

Kathy Colman Head of Knowledge and Learning, Webber Wentzel

@webber-wentzel

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Everything as a Service (XAAS) Changing How We Used to Operate Benef its of Using the Cloud

By Sello Lehong, Head of Innovation at Barloworld Automotive & Logistics

With the 4th Industrial Revolution in full swing, conventional business architecture is also evolving to Everything as a Service (XaaS). Cloud Computing focuses on a variety of services available on-demand over the Internet, in contrast to the prevailing on-premise model. a flexible, comprehensive, customisable, secure and contextual cloud-based service.

Sello Lehong

XaaS is set to change not only the way businesses operate, but also the way customers consume and experience products and services.

ENABLING A CONTINUOUSLY CONNECTED SOCIETY THROUGH CLOUD With XaaS, the nature of how businesses generate revenue changes significantly. Transformation of business strategies and business models shifting from product-dominant goods delivery to intelligence-infused services. Customers experience connected (as opposed to episodic) engagement; from “market-dominance” to “purpose-driven” mission statements.

Autonomous Vehicles are poised to significantly change the way passengers consider their mobility options. Automotive companies are becoming integrated, creative and progressive providers of mobility. As vehicles become connected and autonomous, they are increasingly dependent on data. All of these can only be delivered through

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In modern times, digital technology powers the entire Supply Chain from planning through optimisation to execution, making real-time visibility indispensable. In addition to becoming digital in nature, the Supply Chain is increasingly intelligent. Customers expect their supply chain to learn and adapt, rather than the pre-programmed Supply Chain business rules of days gone by.

The conventional linear value-chain approach to Supply Chain has paved the way for a world of organised and complex networks. It places the customer at the forefront of the supply chain, maintaining the diverse needs of the customer to create a versatile and tailored experience.

Cloud Computing is changing the way people consume services. The advent of digital platforms has made services accessible when and how customers decide. Customer convenience is the ultimate priority, especially given evolving consumer behaviours. Medical treatment has become more data-driven and patient-centered as IoT, wearables and other emerging technologies provide patients with the insights into their wellbeing. The most basic force behind the Cloud

Computing transition is an always-on and alwaysconnected service.

CAPITALISING ON THE BENEFITS OF THE CLOUD AND EVERYTHING AS A SERVICE One of the key benefits of Cloud Computing is the intimate relationship that a company can develop with its customers. The variety of information that Cloud Computing enables allows us to understand customers at a truly microscopic level.

Anticipating the future, consumers will arrive at a point where they will have the option of choosing configurations that predict their needs. Customers spend an enormous amount of effort seeking and obtaining the products and services they want, and automatic execution of the connected customer experience eliminates this friction.

Creating genuine intimate knowledge of a customer is only conceivable through a secure and trust-based relationship between service provider and their customer.

As a result of technological advances, XaaS provides businesses with the constant and hyperpersonalised experience they need to adapt to the ever-changing needs of consumers and the wider market. Cloud Computing and, by augmentation, XaaS is not a passing fad, it is a critical capability – one that needs leadership attention and action.

“In modern times, digital technology powers the entire Supply Chain f rom planning through optimisation to execution, making real-time visibility indispensable.”

“

INTELLIGENCE IS THE ABILITY TO ” STEPHEN HAWKING

Sowing the Seeds of (R)evolution

By Oupa Magashula, CEO, CZ Electronics

Tracy Chapman’s eponymous 1988 album is as relevant today as it was then.

to make STEM subjects engaging, interesting and most of all, fun.

o many songs speak to the social injustices and circumstance that are still alive and well in South Africa in 2020. Chief amongst these is the song “Revolution”:

Importantly, we need to hold these subjects to a higher level of scrutiny. A government mandated pass rate, which does not promise subject authority, is simply unacceptable. To produce a generation of STEM whizz-kids seems a bridge too far for now, but with collective input and participation from all stakeholders, it’s shortterm pain for long-term gain.

Don’t you know They’re talkin’ bout a revolution It sounds like a whisper.

For most of the world, the fourth industrial revolution has moved from a whisper to a loud clamour.

Revolutions do indeed start as whispers; you need to create a fertile breeding ground for change before it becomes a full-blown revolution. Being ill-equipped for change can have disastrous political and socio-economic effects. The once mighty Mayan empire, leaders in astrology, scientific measure and agriculture, is a prime example of a nation stagnating to the point of eradication.

Three critical factors need to be addressed before we can claim to have a breeding ground for revolutionary change: education, equality and economic liberalism Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) aligned subjects are central to intellectual independence. Without these critical skill sets, we will never contribute meaningfully in the highly advanced, yet nascent technologies of the 21st century. Whether through public or private learning institutions, we need

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citizens and government alike. Without their interest and investment, the cost of self-development immediately closes the doors on any hope of participating in the fourth industrial revolution.

Tracy Chapman nailed it 32 years ago, they are indeed talking about a revolution. But as long as we don’t get our house in order and address the points raised above, it will always remain a whisper to South Africans.

Women in the workplace is no longer a social discussion, it’s a business imperative. Policies that wilfully exclude women from the workplace is an act of corporate treason. Why would any employer deny access to half of the world’s intellect, skills and abilities?

Lower barriers to entry, support programs and tailormade educational and training programs need to target the women of the world.

Companies that scoff at this in the 21st century won’t be around in the next.

Finally, and probably most controversially, is economic liberalism. Employment costs money, R&D costs money, development and manufacture costs money. Without capital from both foreign and local sources, we can possess all the skills in the world and it won’t mean a thing.

We need a capital-friendly approach from

“Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) aligned subjects are central to intellectual independence.

Without these critical skill sets, we will never contribute meaningfully in the highly advanced, yet nascent technologies of the 21st century.”

CZ ELECTRONICS

www.czelectronics.co.za (+27) 11 914 5240

CZ Electronics: At the Root of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

moved on from technologies such as textile looms and steam power to electronics and robotics, but somebody still has to develop, manufacture and test it for the technology to become realised.

There are many questions about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, specifically how the endgame will play out. How will it impact jobs? How will it affect our quality of life?

What are the long-term effects of these disruptive technologies?

Adopting the road less travelled by retaining manufacturing skills within South Africa in the highly competitive world of industrial and consumer electronics has been our raison d’être from day one. The fourth industrial revolution will be a nonevent for any nation that is incapable of producing its own technologies, and CZ Electronics has positioned itself as a partner-of-choice for any entity looking to develop new technologies that benefit our people and other across the globe.

CZ Electronics doesn’t have the answers to these questions at this nascent stage of the revolution.

What we do know, however, is that revolution is born out of need. The first and second industrial revolutions were driven by the very first effects of globalization and an accelerated demand for

trade. The unintended consequence was mechanization on an unprecedented scale, forever changing the course of humankind.

CZ Electronics believes that the epicentre of any revolution is the need to manufacture. We have

ABOUT CZ ELECTRONICS In the last decade, CZ Electronics has invested heavily in upgrading its manufacturing facility based on Johannesburg’s East Rand. The net result is a world-class, multifaceted electronics manufacturing complex.

These continuous and calculated investments have also enabled CZ Electronics to morph from being a contract manufacturer only, to a technology development partner for many retailers and industries.

Our ability to research, develop and manufacture electronic solutions based on client or market requirements has positioned us to provide the basis of any disruptive technology right here in South Africa.

Our staff training and development programs ensure that we spread technical capability within the South Africa workforce, thus sparking the germination of technologically capable individuals to drive the realization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

CZ Electronics is the gateway to a new and exciting tomorrow. Guided by the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, delivered by world-class electronics manufacturing.

@electronicscz

@cz-electronics

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Communication & Employee Empowerment Are Central to Digital Transformation

By Vanisha Balgobind, Executive Head: Human Resources, Exxaro

along our transformational journey is key to a successful, digitally-driven business. Whilst digital transformation is the way forward, it cannot succeed without employees’ optimism and collaboration in co-creating these solutions that will create a sense of belonging and value to them.

However, leading the transformation is not solely on the shoulders of the leaders, rather companies need to redefine roles and responsibilities as well as new ways of working that align with digitally-driven goals. The transition can be rather chaotic and, without understanding role clarity, accountability, being empowered and transparent communication, some employees may be discouraged from following their leaders due to the disorganised nature of the transformation.

To spark excitement, company leaders need to place focus on employee experiences, creating an open space to build a shared purpose, foster a supportive digital workplace and afford the freedom for employees to share innovative ideas. It’s important that these ideas not only come from senior leaders, but from all employees in the organisation as part of our diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Leaders should communicate the reason for the change and why it is beneficial to them as well as the organisation, and why it lends itself to better efficiency and work life integration. Hence, internal leadership-development initiatives at all levels of the organisation are encouraged to support employees make the necessary mindshift that align with overall transformation goals as well as our desired culture.

Creating a culture of innovation starts by supporting key initiatives that validate an employee’s role in the company. Leaders need to consider different options, test theories and listen intently to their employees or risk being trapped in a plateaued environment. Plainly put, if you believe in your people, they will start trusting you and not only follow your vision as well as deliver on your strategy.

With a focus on our purpose (to Power Better Lives in Africa and Beyond) and a unified effort towards aligning with our values and bettering our behaviours, Exxaro stands true testament to continue a journey to exceptional leadership and an open-minded, collaborative culture. In doing so, the company continues to power a positive and sustainable future, for all South Africans.

Change is inevitable. From small procedural changes to redef ining entire value chain systems, companies are being forced to take the necessary steps to future-proof productivity and company prosperity. owever, organisational transformation is often difficult to implement and might not be as easily adoptable as previously thought – as is the case for digital transformation. Yet, something needs to be done if businesses are to maintain a competitive edge.

It’s no surprise that companies are approaching organisational transformation with a sense of urgency, and moving towards technologies that are set to disrupt the most traditional industries in order to stay ahead. We should not forget, however, that taking employees

“Creating a culture of innovation starts by supporting key intiatives that validate an employee’s role in the company.

Leaders need to consider different options, test theories and listen intently to their employees or risk being trapped in a plateaued environment.”

Afrox looks to 4IR to leap ahead By necessity of operating in a low-growth, cost-conscious environment, Afrox is embracing the 4th Industrial Revolution’s (4IR) fusion of technologies to provide the competitive edge.

Interconnectivity, data-driven value, digital simplification, eCommerce, automation and the integrated customer services these initiatives deliver hold the promise of an ability for companies to disrupt existing markets and leap ahead of competitors not prepared for 4IR. Afrox has been in business for 92 years and enjoys its position today as market leader due to the ability to innovate, and invest in and embrace new technologies, and integration with 4IR is firmly on the agenda.

2019 saw Afrox complete the rollout of its cylinder tracking system, bringing an unprecedented level of clarity around cylinder stocks, orders, delivery, filling and safety checks, and providing customers the same level of clarity and ease of doing business.

For ease of doing business, customers with access to the internet can place orders online via the Afrox eShop, and view their order history, invoices and full accounts at their fingertips, even on a smart phone any time, day or night.

Interconnectivity now allows Afrox, a B-BBEE Level 2 rated business, to remotely monitor medical and other bulk gases at hospitals across South Africa. The company was recently awarded the entire South African state healthcare contract and now supplies more than 400 hospitals and clinics in nine provinces.

AFROX e SHOP Browse

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www.afroxshop.co.za | 011 821 3028 eshop.support@afrox.linde.com

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As a leading supplier of industrial, medical and special gases, LPG, and hard goods in southern Africa, Afrox has invested in an unprecedented level of planning ability, distribution, remote monitoring of ASUs and in-cab safety technologies for drivers.

Afrox’s parent company, Linde plc, is already leading the new 4IR era of automation and has robots do the heavy lifting in its filling plants to reduce accidents and increase efficiency. Human muscle power is also taking a back seat in one of Linde’s most modern cylinder filling plants – the Sydney Operations Centre in Wetherill Park.

At the heart of it is a world-first application of a six-axis robot that transforms the way cylinders are sorted, picked and moved. Besides the automation, highlights encompass gantry robots, optical inspection capabilities to check cylinders for damage before reuse, and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) – driverless forklifts equipped with state-of-the-art sensors and cameras as they are also applied in the development of autonomous cars.

This technology, while requiring considerable investment, is assessed for leveragability by Afrox as an additional initiative to further improve quality and safety, ramp up production, contain costs and substantially increase employee productivity.

4IR is leading the way into the compressed gas laboratory in the form of connected analysers. Locally collected information from any gas sample and any laboratory can now be sent for comparative analysis online via a common central computer.

There are hundreds of applications for gas analysis: determining the emission levels from industrial stacks, the health of a patient, the constituents and impurities levels in petrochemical products, the quality and purity of medicines from the pharmaceutical industry, the purity and accuracy of Afrox’s medical and industrial gas product ranges, and many more.

In the realm of special gases, digitalisation is allowing specific formulas to be combined and checked online before ordering.

Full automation is no longer a dream of the future but a fast approaching reality where high quality, consumer-driven interaction and seamless delivery meet. eCommerce ordering, digital production lines, robotic quality control, automated product, dispatch via multi-product carrying pallets straight to the customer via driverless vehicles; these abilities are all available today, ready and waiting to be fully integrated.

The 4th Industrial Revolution will bring that integration and open the world to new probabilities. While Africa is certainly some years away from fully embracing 4IR, Afrox is on the road to realisation.

www.afrox.co.za

Innovative Thinking is the Key to Leveraging 4IR Technologies

By Jacques Wessels, CEO, FlowCentric Mining Technology

Enhanced AI, improved data capture and other technological advances to benefit the waste management industry. uman well-being has always been interwoven with that of the environment. From local communities to the global commons, the environment supplies us with the natural resources that fuel the growth of our industries and economies.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has brought with it technological innovations capable of improving the management and governance of the environment. Many of the tools required to monitor, control and reduce environmental waste are already available.

However, true progress requires innovative thinkers to combine these tools pragmatically to create complete and attainable solutions.

Uber is a classic example of 4IR innovation. The business combined an age-old industry with a technology that had been around for decades and applied a new way of thinking to them.

“4IR heralds a new decade, where the fusion of digital technologies with waste management practices will become more commonplace, incorporating more sensor driven solutions and remote robotic management offerings,” says Jacques Wessels, CEO of FlowCentric Mining Technology.

4IR holds great potential for industry players intent on delivering affordable, effective waste management solutions that are capable of improving the control and governance of the global environment.

“4IR heralds a new decade, where the fusion of digital technologies with waste management practices will become more commonplace, incorporating more sensor driven solutions and remote robotic management offerings.”

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Jacques Wessels, CEO, FlowCentric Mining Technology

www.flowcentric-mining.com

FLOWCENTRIC MINING

Before - Dust Level Treatment

After - Dust Level Treatment

Mining Technology in South Af rica The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is characterised by a fusion of technologies that are blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

4IR is changing how we live, work, and communicate. It’s reshaping government, education, healthcare, commerce and almost every other aspect of life.

The connected world is not only disrupting modern businesses, but it is also influencing legacy industries such as construction, oil and gas, and mining. In turn the businesses that support these industries are being forced to evolve or lose their footing in the industry.

FlowCentric Mining Technology is one of these supporting businesses which continues to evolve and modernise.

to gather real-time data from a site, this data is exploited in order to identify and mitigate potential problems.

“Dust and water pollution can cause health problems, f riction with neighbouring communities, and lead to large penalties or costly site closures.”

An established South African company, FlowCentric Mining Technology delivers fullservice dust management solutions; mechanical evaporation equipment and services; along with wastewater management services solutions.

Dust and water pollution can cause health problems, friction with neighbouring communities, and lead to large penalties or costly site closures. An effective way to manage these on-site challenges is with real-time data.

FlowCentric Mining utilises modern sensors

For example, if the sensors detect rising dust levels in the air near the crushing plant the engineer on site will be notified and can take immediate action to rectify the situation.

Another example is the company’s mechanical

evaporators which can be fitted with sensors that can monitor the flowrate of the water, and the wind speed and temperature of a site in order to calculate the optimal conditions for maximum wastewater evaporation. The machines can be utilised when the conditions are optimal for evaporation, in doing so the company saves on electricity, time, and effort.

In the current hyper connected world FlowCentric Mining customers want the ability to monitor their sites and control their equipment without the continual need to be on the ground. With that in mind the company’s mechanical evaporators, bowsers and tankers all cater for remote monitoring. The evaporators can be switched on and off remotely, while the site manager can monitor bowsers or tanker levels and notify the relevant personnel when either requires attention.

As a privately-owned company, FlowCentric Mining has the freedom to develop and innovate its own products. 4IR is the ideal era for the company as technology is advancing fast enough to provide alternative, intelligent solutions to the age-old challenges that face mining and construction organisations.

@FlowCentricMining

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Pan-African Trade & Logistics

By Nazir Akoob, Director, Petromarine

One of the biggest problems for trade between African countries is shipments getting stuck at customs, which create extensive delays.

home country of the airline and then dispatched to the respective country.

t may ordinarily take a few days to transport goods from South Africa to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, but up to three weeks for those goods to clear through customs.

Airlines and governments need to structure systems for easier movement into Africa. This will happen only if there is better trade relationships between the African countries. It is not commercially viable for airlines to run routes if there is no commercial justification.

It is crucial to make use of logistics management services to assist in the customs clearance process. Managing the process through tracking, experience and relationships allows quicker clearance of goods once in the country.

Road travel may be better, but if the shipment is time-sensitive one does not have that luxury.

However, many issues have been encountered at various borders like delays that can cost cost in terms of time.

Easier routes through Africa are essential. Goods sent via airfreight from South Africa to many African destinations are done through European and Asian airlines and first have to go to the

Trade is a big opportunity for the continent and it is growing, but so far it has been difficult due to various regulatory requirements per country. Going forward, there must be a focus

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on building capacity in each country, improved trading between countries and specific focus on improving the manufacturing per specific focus on manufacturing industries within each country. Common regulatory systems need to be implemented to ease the flow of goods and services and this will also result in a standard format of transacting and improvement in the logistics sector.

“Going forward, there must be a focus on building capacity in each country, improved trading between countries and specif ic focus on manufacturing industries within each country.”

PETR MARINE Oil & Gas and Marine Specialists

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Petromarine is a South African based firm with the primary focus on providing high value, dedicated and professional services to the Aviation, Oil & Gas and Marine Industries.

With the skills and expertise at our disposal, Petromarine is able to provide goods and services to various industries including but not limited to procurement, contract negotiations, logistics management and project management.

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South Africa: Cape Town, Saldanha, Mosselbay, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Johannesburg International: Uganda, Angola, Ghana, Singapore

IRP (2019) and a Just Transition for Coal?

By Spencer Eckstein, Director, Business Development, Ukwazi Mining Studies (Pty) Ltd

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2019) was published by the Department of Minerals and Energy in October 2019. This document outlines South Africa’s future energy inf rastructure and informs how much generation capacity the country will require between now and 2030. The relative contribution f rom different sources is illustrated below: ontroversially, the IRP2019 still also makes provision for nuclear energy via an extension to the life of Koeberg and/or the building of two additional modular nuclear plants.

With regard to coal, approximately 16 of Eskom’s coal fired plants from its existing fleet will have to be retired and the coal contribution to primary

energy will drop from an estimated 75% to 45% by 2030. Hence, the need for a “just transition” from coal fired power plants. The exact form and content of this transition and its potential impact on the industry will be the subject of much speculation between industry stakeholders in order to mitigate potential structural changes and job losses.

ENERGY SECURITY VS LEGALITIES

“With regard to coal, approximately 16 of Eskom’s coal f ired plants f rom its existing fleet will have to be retired and the coal contribution to primary energy will drop f rom an estimated 75% to 45% by 2030.”

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Unfortunately, South Africa is facing a major energy crisis due to Eskom’s internal problems.

Apart from SA’s international law obligations in terms of the Paris Convention on Climate Change signed in November 2016, we have also passed new legislation that affects air emissions in terms of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (NEMAQA); climate change in terms of the Climate Change Bill; and the new Carbon Tax Act - all of which will impact both mining in general and the coal

industry in particular.

Locally and internationally, banks and asset management companies have already announced that they will not fund new coal mining projects.

This means a capital and investment crunch is likely to be felt in the industry.

ENCOUNTERS OF THE 4TH KIND At a different level, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is also likely to impact coal and the mining industry. Based on recent international events, the effects of the use of fossil fuels and coal in particular climate change has morphed from being an academic debate into a serious business and political threat, which the mining industry will have to confront.

The 4IR and climate change are likely to become the biggest strategic challenges facing the mining and coal industry in the short to medium term. Overall, South Africa and its mining sector are inadequately prepared for both. The right skills base, cost basis and capital structures are required to advance the industry, particularly coal, to the next level.

www.ukwazi.com | info@ukwazi.com | +27 (012) 665 2154

UKWAZI

Ultimately, 4IR represents a tectonic shift in the economic base of our society locally, regionally and globally and in all industries including mining. At best, the sector needs to focus on its ability to sense or strategically anticipate changes in its environment and navigate these changes as pragmatically as possible; with clear leadership, good governance and a willingness to innovate, reconfigure and pivot its human capital, physical assets and operations sustainably and competitively.

You’ve repeatedly heard the buzz words like “big data”, “machine learning” and “disruption” but with 2020 and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR, or the digital age) already upon us, now is the time for the Af rican mining industry to put these terms into action and leverage them for operational profitability and competitiveness.

Here are four ways the 4IR could possibly affect the mining sector this year: The connected mine will (eventually) become the norm Even though the industry has not settled on a shared definition of the “connected mine”, the fact remains that mining companies will become increasingly connected in 2020.This approach will be less about a “gadget approach” and more about a “way of doing things” that creates shared value, system integration and interactivity. Essentially, where real-time decision making is based on real-time data, resulting in operational excellence.

New skill sets will emerge “Old skills” will systematically become

redundant while the demand for a very different set of “new digital skills” will increase on mine sites and in society generally - data scientists, programmers and coders from other industries will have to be drawn into the mining sector, while education systems catch up and re-align.

The face of mining might change but not its importance Mining matters in Africa and Africa needs mining – the world needs the mineral inventory that the continent has, so the continent’s sector will remain relevant notwithstanding the 4IR, even if mining becomes deeper and more remote. What’s more, mining cannot be separated from energy and energy security, meaning that energy related metals will become increasingly important as will the responsible disposal of mining waste.

“At best, the sector needs to focus on its ability to sense or strategically anticipate changes in its environment and navigate these changes as pragmatically as possible; with clear leadership, good governance and a willingness to innovate, reconf igure and pivot its human capital, physical assets and operations sustainably and competitively.”

As an African based mining services provider, Ukwazi’s is well-positioned to assist mining companies in successfully navigating the 4IR. Our digital integration approach is based on leveraging existing systems, and connecting new systems to create the digitally connected mine for smart mining.

We provide a unified product suite that is able to generate business intelligence across the mining value chain, achieved through visual dashboards, KPI reporting and mine data analytics.

Focus will be on mining for equal benefit This concept will feature greatly during 2020, which apart from innovation and potential impacts (negative or positive) it means no harm to communities and no harm to the environment as far as is reasonably possible. It also means shared, real benefits and rewards for community stakeholders

@Ukwazi

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Meet The Fouries, The Family Behind Our Beef.

Our family secret: We give the farm 100% of our love and it gives it back.

Jans Fourie - Beef Farmer

Meet the experts behind our quality beef.

Visit: www.knowourfood.co.za

5G Faster Connectivity Intensif ied Collaborations

By Daniel Padiachy, Chief Marketing Off icer, McDonald’s South Af rica

At the cusp of 2019 and 2020, the most anticipated and contested technology trend has been the initiation of f ifth generation wireless digital technology (or 5G), heralding our entry into the next generation of mobile internet connectivity. he 5G era will culminate in unlocking the full potential of the internet as we know it today and every probability of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s (4IR) capability with greater rapidness. In turn, this will undoubtedly lead to the practical deployment of Internet of Things (IoT). The extent of our connectivity to the world around us will reach unprecedented heights as 5G will architect the emergence of smart spaces all around us.

This makes McDonald’s South Africa perfectly poised to leverage 5G technology to unlock our digital centric framework for our digital touchpoints, such as our Self-Ordering Kiosks (SOKs) and the McDonald’s app and gaming platforms, particularly in outlying areas with limited infrastructure development plans.

Trends reshape industries and change the way businesses operate. At McDonald’s SA, technology is the pulse behind our Experience of the Future (EOTF) and how we harness it in championing modern dining experiences that integrate seamlessly.

5G will enable exceptional customer service through faster interactions with McDonald’s SOKs and quicker, unin-

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terrupted cashless transactions and extend into a more engaging and efficient Dive-Thru experience for customers.

At McDonald’s South Africa, we foresee the next level of ordering capabilities by means of facial and number plate recognition facilitating greater personalisation for customers across our ecosystems. This real-time marketing allows us to provide relevant offers that suit customers based on their location, weather, time and intelligence on historical preferences for a tailor-made experience.

The impact of 5G on socio-economic issues is perhaps one of the latent assets we could have in addressing the ills of global poverty.

Augmented interface with technology could translate in infinite yields of benefits when it also comes to healthcare, education, transportation, job creation and economic globalisation.

In a totally connected world, our greatest imaginations will become our playground.

If South Africans Embraced IR 4.0 A Call for Early Adoption

By Ricardo Paddy, Managing Director, Scibotron (Pty) Ltd

need to create an environment which fosters a culture of holding the standard high and encouraging each person to strive to achieve or improve it. This can only be fostered by embracing 4IR technologies broadly in our schools and public services thus encouraging individual willingness to adapt and learn.

e live in exciting times. The world has entered the 4th Industrial Revolution, characterised by a wave of smart and interconnected technologies, designed to improve business operations and offerings, societal interconnectedness, economic standing and individual quality of life.

A TIPS research report for the DTI describes this wave as introducing a shift from a labourintensive environment to a skills-intensive one that is influenced by six drivers: technology and innovation, human capital, global trade and investment, institutional framework, sustainable resources and demand environment.

According to various researchers, South Africa is lagging far behind on the technology adoption curve, introducing a risk of being left behind other countries. This risk is compounded by our poorly performing economy, high government debt, high levels of unemployment, poor education (particularly in STEM) and skills-bleed from the country.

The natural question is, “with the challenges we face as a country, should we expend effort adopting 4IR or focus on resolving our pressing challenges?” The answer is not one of whether we should, but that we must adopt 4IR. The “luxuries” of former industrial revolutions have become the essential needs of today and so too

will it be with this revolution in years to come.

Furthermore, 4IR is the direction the world is moving in and failure or hesitation in adoption will be economically suicidal in our globalised modern world.

4IR brings additional challenges, such as job transformation and advanced skills, that South Africa is not yet fully geared to address. But it also brings opportunities and technologies that are not only disruptive, but also truly transformative. Advancements in 4IR are rightly held in balance by various tensions striving to adjust society to a new equilibrium.

If South Africans decided to adopt earlier, we would have a positive technology adoption curve, with a high level of innovation across our general population. This simple mindshift would align our efforts to actively find ways to solve the challenges introduced by 4IR through widespread and immersive education and reskilling, creating sustainable value and game-changing innovations which in turn boosts the economy and creates more employment opportunities. We

The South African innovative mindset and entrepreneurial spirit has never failed us. We have the answers to our problems and to many problems the world faces. Embracing 4IR is a key element to kickstarting our economy, which in turn will reduce unemployment and poverty, placing technology in the hands of the general public for the benefit of each person. We are not yet ready for the 4th Industrial Revolution, but if we embrace the benefits that technology offers, we will be.

Ricardo Paddy

“The natural question is, ‘with the challenges we face as a country, should we expend effort adopting 4IR or focus on resolving our pressing challenges?’ The answer is not one of whether we should, but that we must adopt 4IR.”

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SCIBOTRON

[ IN THE NEWS ]

Industry Leading Automation Solutions of the Highest Quality Scibotron is an award-winning South African, B-BBEE Level 2, ISO 9001:2015 certified automation control systems integrator with years of experience in the Mining, Oil & Gas, Food & Beverage, Water Treatment and Energy industries Since Scibotron was founded it gained a reputation as an automation company “that turns projects around” through industry-leading technical solutions, exemplary quality of software services and agility of project management.

The name “Scibotron” is made up of the 3 disciplines Scibotron operates in, namely SCI (science), BOT (robotics and automation), and TRON (sub-atomic (electronic) particles). The slogan “For Eternity”, speaks of the enduring quality culture in their approach to everything they do as Scibotron.

Scibotron is truly technology-agnostic, offering solutions from various leading OEMs or completely customized solutions on various platforms. They offer customers well integrated, fit-for-purpose solutions.

As subject matter experts in control automation, Scibotron is widely recognized for employing their 7-gate quality control process, detailed traceablilty, @Scibotron

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hybridized agile project management, and adoption of international best practices, thus ensuring that all projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the highest levels of quality. Scibotron has been integrally involved in multiple projects for top-tier clients including Anglo America, Transnet, SPX, Distell, and many others.

Having recently extended its service base, Scibotron now offers turnkey EC&I solutions and Industry 4.0 solutions. Our Industry 4.0 offerings include Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Digital Twinning, Industrial Internet of Things, Cloud Solutions, Analytics, and Intelligent Systems, all seamlessly integrated to provide a complete, digitally transformative solution for customers. Scibotron is developing IR 4.0 solutions for platform and software services that allow customers to easily integrate their systems into our IR 4.0 infrastructure without the need for costly upfront capital expenditure.

@ScibotronPty

SOUTH AFRICA BOASTS ONE OF THE MOST AUTOMATED CIDERIES IN THE WORLD Scibotron was engaged by a JSE-listed company to automate their production facilities on existing and expanding operations. By using Siemens SIMATIC PCS7, Route Control and Batch with customized reporting and diagnostic solutions, Scibotron successfully automated and integrated all operations, storage facilities, material management and quality points for the plants. Scibotron successfully implemented all phases of projects on accelerated schedules within budget, on time and to well beyond industry-accepted quality norms. Exceeding expectation has allowed for timeous benefit realization: production volumes have increased vastly thus increasing profitability. This modern, world-class cidery now produces more than half of South Africa’s total cider volumes.

Advanced and remote monitoring and diagnostic capabilities allow for minimization of plant downtime and increase in plant availability. Scibotron provides an end-to-end peace-of-mind solution with SLA support, training, diagnostics and enhancements.

The creation of value through excellence in service delivery has led to a strongly founded and mutually beneficial relationships which benefit not only organizations and their employees, but also local communities and the South African economy.

www.scibotron.co.za

Capital City Business Excellence Award Scibotron was established in 2013, and rapidly progressed from a SME to QSE within a period of just 4 years, contributing to South Africa’s transformation objectives with a B-BBEE level 2 status and upholding an internationally recognised quality standard shown through their ISO 9001 certification, culminating in Scibotron being awarded the 2018 Capital City Business Excellence Award of the Year.

With a 100% success rate in completing all their automation projects on time, within budget and to specification (for all clients), including major industry players, such as JSE-listed companies and National Keypoints, Scibotron has had, and continues to have, a positive impact on the South African economy.

Scibotron is now established as the go-to automation specialists in major industrial systems and is recognized as leaders in process control, automation and IR4.0 solutions.

SA’s Response to an Automated Control System?

At the 2019 Africa Automation Fair, Scibotron showcased the ability to completely monitor and control a physical automated scale model beverage plant through Virtual Reality.

The model plant offered an IIoT integration, Cloud solution, Digital Twin platform and analytics, fully integrated with a stock OEM PLC / SCADA solution and replicated in Virtual Reality to provide a fully immersive control experience.

Monitoring the response of users, they found that South Africans are not only willing to adopt, but to embrace the IR 4.0 technologies. Some stand visitors were unfamiliar with these systems, however, upon giving them a tutorial of the model, they were intrigued and could relate to the possi-

bilities it presented to their fields of service and business. Other users who were familiar with the technologies, were fascinated by how Scibotron successfully integrated these two technologies.

ABOUT PROGRAMMES In addition to Scibotron’s well-established automation control, systems integration and training offerings, Scibotron provides IR4.0 solutions such as: • • • •

Real-time integration and communication with IIoT applications Cloud storage, visualization and analytics of process or machine data Real-time digital twins for any industrial processes or machines Virtual and augmented reality solutions for process control plants and machines

Furthermore, Scibotron has developed IR4.0 products such as SIMUCATE and SciboAR. SIMUCATE (simulated education) enables users in any field to be trained, using high fidelity graphics, a fully immersive user VR experiences on detailed models, processes and machinery. Whereas, SciboAR (Scibotron augmented reality) is a mobile application that visualises real-time, historical and simulated process information in augmented reality on a virtual model of a process plant or machine.

With these technologies, Scibotron is able to provide their clients with robust, advanced and purpose-driven fit-for-purpose IR4.0 solutions to solve their automation dilemas.

Furthermore, among dozens of stands and companies all vying for the attention of visitors, Scibotron stood out and was awarded as runnerup ‘small’ stand. The masses of visitors flocking to and trying out the ‘SciBevTron’ model was beyond expectation.

“Some stand visitors were unfamiliar with these systems, however, upon giving them a tutorial of the model, they were intrigued and could relate to the possibilities it presented to their f ields of service and business.”

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How Smart is Your Security Programme?

By Ignus de Villiers, Executive: Cybersecurity, Nexio

“Adopting AI is not without its own risks, and companies should ask themselves what the impact would be if an attacker is able to manipulate an algorithm to alter information on which business decisions are based.”

This happens far too frequently as companies grapple with new technologies and their use cases. The speed at which digital transformation initiatives happen – and the rapid change they bring with them – should not be underestimated, and all new projects, technologies and initiatives should be evaluated in light of their impact on the business, including the security implications.

In the digital era, the expression that the ‘only constant is change’ has never been more true. usinesses no longer have the luxury of taking a wait-and-see approach towards new technologies - they are having to become more agile as a result. This is driving digital transformation agendas and strategies across every sector.

Unfortunately, the same dynamics that are enabling today’s always-connected business environments are also bringing with them a greater number of threats. The digital landscape has never been more exciting and dangerous.

As the attacks facing companies increase in scope and severity, cyber security should be prioritised by organisations of all sizes, not just an afterthought.

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A failure to do this could have unintended consequences for both business decisions and processes. Preventing and responding to cyber risks requires real-time visibility into the operating environment. This requires answering some tough questions about data and information security, made all the more complicated by the new risks being introduced by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

These include internet outages that could bring business processes to their knees, or a hijack of Internet of Things (IOT) devices that may have undesired consequences. Weaponised appliances, for example, may leave organisations powerless.

A rush to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) may have similar unexpected outcomes. Adopting AI is not without its own risks, and companies should ask themselves what the impact would be if an attacker is able to manipulate an algorithm to alter information on which business decisions are based. AI malware is likely to amplify an attacker’s capabilities, adding another layer of complexity to an increasingly complex environment.

As 4IR technologies are increasingly deployed, regulations are becoming another minefield for organisations to navigate. Privacy regulations across borders may impede the monitoring of insider threats, and any new regulations that are introduced could increase the risk and compliance burden.

However, all of these considerations need to be superseded by a focus on data protection. This is one of the most important aspects to address as part of the digital transformation journey, as 4IR introduces new ways of owning and using data.

As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time.

That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge. As a result, every organisation needs to assess and understand its data landscape before initiating the digital transformation journey.

Every evolution has its own threats and challenges, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution is no exception. In order to navigate the complex risks of 4IR, companies must align with a partner that understands the ever-evolving threat landscape and the need to play by new cyber security rules.

In a smart digital world, companies need equally smart security programmes.

See What’s Next

It’s impossible to protect data, assets, people and things against attack... ...if you, or your “things”, can’t see the attack coming.

Preventing and responding to cyber risks

requires real-time visibility, automation and the right expertise. At last CIOs can sleep easy.

At Nexio we take on the role of strategic partner

We have the technology, experience and

foresight to adapt to any evolving threats that the 4th Industrial Revolution unravels.

Nexio is a subsidiary of Vodacom and a proud BBBEE 1 Level contributor.

to your organisation, making real-time data

and information security a reality. Our complete security offering considers risk, governance,

compliance, people, process and all the things in between.

The trusted IT partner for your digital future nexio.co.za

ABB SA (Pty) Ltd ........................................................................... 12, 13 Upskilling for Success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution ............................................... 14 Af rox .......................................................................................................... 105 Altron Karabina .......................................................................... 88, 89 Skills Development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era . . ............................................................. 90

Etion SA .................................................................................................... 87 The Rise of Future Jobs ................................................................... 86 Exxaro ....................................................................................................... 123 Communication & Employee Empowerment Are Central to Digital Transformation ......................................... 104

Apex Business Intelligence . . ....................................................... 77 Ashanti AI ................................................................................................. 11 It All Starts With Data: How to Create a Comprehensive Data Strategy ............................................... 10

Flowcentric Mining Technology .. ........................................... 107 Innovative Thinking is the Key to Leveraging 4IR Technologies .................................................... 106

Barloworld Logistics ....................................................................... 101 Everything as a Service (XAAS) Changing How We Used to Operate: Benef its of Using the Cloud ....................................................... 100

Grid Worldwide ...................................................................................... 9 Creativity in a 4IR World .................................................................. 21

BCX ....................................................................................................... 74, 75 Embracing the Benef its of Change ......................................... 76 Henley & Partners ...................................................................... 60, 61 Digital Future Citizens: A Forecast for International Travel .. .......................................................................... 59 Commerce Quest SA ........................................................................ 83 Cranef ield College . . ............................................................................ 17 Get Educated for Industry 4.0 ..................................................... 16

Henley Business School . . ........................................................ 18, 19 The Wave of Disruption .................................................................. 20

CZ Electronics . . ................................................................................... 103 Sowing the Seeds of (R) evolution .......................................... 102 IE Business School . . .................................................................. 28, 29 Should We Be Af raid of the Impact of Robotics? .......................................................................... 30 Deloitte Consulting .. ................................................................. 56, 57 SA Business & 4IR: A New Conversation . . ............................. 58

Innovo Networks . . .............................................................................. 69 What You Need to Know When Starting a Tech Business .. .............................................................. 68

DFA (Dark Fibre Af rica) . . ........................................................ 70, 71 Overcoming Inf rastructure Challenges is Key to 4IR Success . . ........................................................................ 72

Interwaste Holdings ........................................................................ 49 The Future of Waste Management in South Af rica ..................................................... 48

DHL International . . ............................................................................. 97

Investec Bank Limited ............................................................ 50, 51 The Crypto Conundrum: What Will It Take for Crypto to Go Mainstream? . . ........................................................... 52 IronTree Internet Services ........................................................... 81 How to Prevent a Cyber Attack? ............................................... 80

BUSINESS IN

INDUSTRY 4.0 This programme will provide you with a deep understanding of business in the context of Industry 4.0 and includes an immersive learning experience in the Bay Area as well as Silicon Valley in Block 2 Jointly accredited with UC Berkeley, home to The Haas School of Business which is ranked 10th by the Financial Times for their MBA amongst business schools globally, this programme provides senior leaders and entrepreneurs with a deep and practical understanding of Industry 4.0, and its impact on business strategy and leadership.

Delegates will participate in an intensively interactive learning experience with clear outputs and deliverables. They visit Silicon Valley and The Bay Area in California for a first-hand experience of the disruption and innovation that is shaping the current global context.

AREAS OF DISCUSSION

• Data science and the power of data analytics • Design thinking principles • The lean start-up approach for organisations • Leveraging a platform economy to interface with other companies • Business strategies for the fourth industrial revolution • Managing talent in the new world of work Open Day: 26 March 2020 Block 1: 21 — 23 July 2020 Block 2: 17 — 20 August 2020 Jointly accredited with

www.jbs.ac.za

Johannesburg School of Business ................................. 15, 121

Lesedi . . ........................................................................................................ 47 Using Technology to Stay Ahead of the Competition . . ........................................................................... 46 Life Healthcare . . ........................................................................... 62, 63 Technology to Shift South Af rica’s Access to Healthcare Challenge ............................................... 64 Liquid Telecom ............................................................................ 66, 67 Why Remote No Longer Has to be Improvised ................ 65

McDonald’s South Af rica .................................................... 112, 113 5G Faster Connectivity: Intensif ied Collaborations ........................................................... 114

REGENT Business School - Member of Honoris United Universities . . .................................................................. 32, 33 How Business Schools Can Prepare Students for Employability . . ........................................................ 34 Rikatec ....................................................................................................... 85 The Impact of Artif icial Intelligence on the Insurance Industry .. .......................................................................... 84

Scibotron ........................................................................................ 116, 117 If South Af ricans Embraced IR 4.0 .......................................... 115 Symbiotics ............................................................................................... 79 Fourth Industrial Revolution Opportunity or Threat? . . ................................................................ 78

Thusano Group ...................................................................................... 71 Tshimologong Precinct . . ........................................................ 40, 41 4IR Requires Authenticity .. ....................................................... 42

Milpark Education . . ............................................................................ 23 What Skills Are Required in your Organisation’s Workplace of the Future? . . ......................... 22 MIP Holdings .. ............................................................................... 94, 95 Do You Still Have Ownership of Your Data ....................... 96 MTN .. .................................................................................. 1, 2, 7, 125, 126

Nexio . . ......................................................................................................... 119 How Smart Is Your Security Programme? ........................ 118

Petromarine ........................................................................................ 109 Pan-Af rican Trade & Logistics .................................................. 108

Ukwazi ........................................................................................................ 111 IRP (2019) and a Just Transition for Coal? ......................... 110 Can the 4IR Re-energise the Mining Sector ..................... 124 University of Johannesburg .. ...................................................... 39 Re-inventing Higher Education Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era . . ........................................... 38 University of Pretoria .............................................................. 35, 37 Art, Humanities & the Fourth Industrial Revolution . . ...................................................................... 36

Visa Southern Af rica The Future of Payments Using Tokens ................................. 54

Pragma . . .................................................................................................... 43 Competence in an Ever Changing Asset Environment .. .................................................................. 44, 45 Webber Wentzel .. ............................................................................... 99 AI: 6 Legal Considerations You Ought to be Aware of ....................................................................................... 98 Quill .............................................................................................................. 93 Realising the Benef its of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing . . ......................................... 82

Red-Shift Cyber Security . . ............................................................. 82

Wits Business School .............................................................. 24, 25 How Should We Prepare for the Future World of Work? ...................................................................................... 26

TRANSFORMING MINING THROUGH DIGITALISATION At Exxaro, we believe that innovation is at the heart of sustainable economic development.

This not only refers to technology and the digitalisation of our mines – but also relates to our processes, recruitment, and the work we do with government and community stakeholders, in an effort to power better lives in Africa and beyond.

www.exxaro.com

Can the 4IR Re-energise the Mining Sector

By Spencer Eckstein, Director, Business Development, Ukwazi Mining Studies (Pty) Ltd

The opportunity for 4IR within the mining industry is to leverage new technology platforms to reduce the impact of mining on the environment. his means that harmful emissions and mining carbon footprints need to be significantly reduced or eradicated. A recent innovation in this regard, is the use of hydrogen as an energy source to power mining vehicles.

H 2 GO? Although there is an international research effort underway in various countries and industries, Anglo Plat has pioneered the use of hydrogen fuel cell technologies in South Africa. The company has partnered with Hyundai to develop a hydrogen fuel cell car (FCEVs) to be driven around in London over the next four years to test its feasibility and operability.

It was the British scientist Michael Faraday (17911867) whose insights into electrolysis and electromagnetism gave us the understanding of how to generate electricity in a battery. The battery lexicon he developed then is still used today: anode, cathode, electron and ion are still used to describe how hydrogen batteries work. The key in this instance is that freely available elements (oxygen and hydrogen) are used to generate electricity using platinum and/or palladium as a catalyst, resulting in zero emissions and water as a by-product.

FCEVs are being considered for use in passenger vehicles as well, so most car manufacturers have R&D departments investigating hydrogen cars.

Among others these include Mercedes Benz, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota. In June 2019, British Rail launched its first hydrogen train to replace its diesel fleet. Similar, hydrogen rail initiatives are also underway in German and China. In fact, some

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“Ultimately, these are game changing innovations which will reduce the reliance on diesel and petrol on mines, improve energy security, reduce costs and signif icantly reduce harmful emissions.” mining companies are looking to augment and re-jig their heavy-duty, diesel and petrol fleet with FCEVs as part of a broader strategy to reconfigure the energy mix on mines. This includes greater use of renewables, such as wind and solar, to ensure the security of supply and energy cost efficiency.

FILL ‘ER UP Hydrogen sources include coal, biomass, natural gas and may include transportation in other forms, such as in an ammonia solution or other liquid or gaseous states. It may soon become a dominant trend to utilise certain types of algae, which can be cultivated using solar energy. In this case, the algae ingest carbon dioxide and release oxygen, the biomass can be used to generate hydrogen.

Ultimately, these are game changing innovations which will reduce the reliance on diesel and petrol on mines, improve energy security, reduce costs and significantly reduce harmful emissions.

Going forward, the challenge will be to ensure the scalability of the technology and reduce the unit costs of each fuel cell and vehicle. Technical issues regarding the generation, storage and/or transportation of hydrogen are currently being resolved. Creating a hydrogen fuel infrastructure within urban residential areas will take some time to develop, but in a self-contained environment (such as a mine), it may become a reality sooner than we think.