by Tech Talk | Feb 27, 2024 | Articles
Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana made a lot of promises and announced a raft of budget allocations that will be going to state-owned entities as well as provinces including municipalities in his 2024 Budget Speech. The Southern African Institute of Government Auditors (SAIGA), Chief Executive Officer, Russel Morena, delves deeper into the Budget Speech and explores the question of whether or not South Africa can succeed in overcoming these challenges.
Morena argues that there are not only many weaknesses in the South African system but also he points to the challenges, the main one being that of economic growth and employment creation. On the other hand, it is the performance of the state and service delivery, and on top of it all is the debt burden that seems to be increasing every year.
According to Morena, it is clear that South Africa is facing significant challenges on multiple fronts. “The economy is struggling to achieve sustained growth, and this is further compounded by the need for job creation. Additionally, the performance of the state as well as service delivery has been a cause for concern. The mounting debt burden is placing a significant strain on the country’s financial resources,” says Morena.
Although he admits South Africa is taking steps in the right directions, Morena, however, points out that the country is really in survival mode, and when looking at this budget and the fact that the minister had to dip into the golden reserve account in order to keep State date debt under control and reduce the borrowing requirement to levels that wouldn’t scare the living daylights out of ordinary citizens, is a clear indication of exactly how tight things are.
Morena, in his analysis of the Budget Speech, does acknowledge the efforts being made to address these challenges, however, he expresses a sense of a lack of urgency and the need for decisive action. He also states that the decision to tap into the country’s reserve account to keep the state debt under control is indicative of the tight fiscal environment and the need for prudent financial management, pointing out that while this may be a necessary step it could underscore the severity of the financial constraints facing the country.
Moreover, Morena highlighted the need for effective policy implementation, particularly in key sectors such as electricity, rail and port infrastructure. While the government may have the right policy framework in place, he says the pace of implementation has been slow, hindering progress and economic development. “This “two steps forward, one step back” approach is a cause for concern and underscores the need for greater efficiency and expediency in driving economic reforms,” explains Morena.
As auditors, Morena says: “We are calling for a more holistic approach to addressing the challenges facing our economy. This includes not only looking at tax policy and revenue collection but also addressing the issues of state capacity, infrastructure investment and economic growth. As SAIGA, we believe that a collaborative effort between government, business and civil society is needed to drive sustainable economic development and create opportunities for all citizens. This will require a comprehensive and coordinated approach that tackles the root causes of inequality and unemployment, while also ensuring efficient and transparent public expenditure.”
Morena further adds that the Institute will continue to monitor closely the country’s economic and fiscal landscape and provide valuable insights to support informed decision-making and policy formulation. With concerted and strategic efforts, he says it is hoped that South Africa will be able to overcome the financial obstacles and achieve sustainable economic growth and development.
by Tech Talk | Feb 27, 2024 | Articles
In today’s digital age, the media and communication industry in South Africa is experiencing a major transformation, thanks to the rise of big data. Big data has become a game-changer for the industry, offering unprecedented opportunities to understand audience behaviour, personalise content, and optimise advertising strategies.
From audience insights to targeted advertising, the possibilities of big data are endless. Media and Communication Enthusiast, Andile April writes about how big data is shaking up the South African media and communication industry.
The media and communication industry in South Africa has long been known for its diverse and dynamic nature, with a wide range of print, broadcast, and digital platforms catering to the needs and interests of different demographic groups. However, the industry has faced challenges in understanding and engaging with its audience on a deeper level.
Enter big data. With the help of advanced analytics and data mining techniques, media companies in South Africa are now able to gather and analyse massive amounts of information about their audience’s preferences, habits, and interactions with content. This wealth of data is invaluable for understanding what content resonates with the audience, which platforms they prefer, and how they engage with advertising.
One of the most significant impacts of big data in the South African media and communication industry is the ability to personalise content and recommendations for the audience. By leveraging the power of data analytics, media companies can create targeted content that is tailored to the specific interests and preferences of their audience segments. This not only enhances the audience’s experience but also increases engagement and loyalty.
Further, big data has revolutionised advertising in the media and communication industry. With the ability to accurately target and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, media companies can now offer highly targeted and relevant advertising opportunities to their clients. This not only benefits advertisers by reaching the right audience but also helps media companies maximise their advertising revenue.
In addition to content personalisation and advertising optimisation, big data is also being used to improve operational efficiency within media companies. From optimising distribution channels to streamlining production processes, data-driven insights are helping media companies make more informed and strategic decisions to enhance their overall performance.
However, as with any revolutionary technology, the adoption of big data in the South African media and communication industry also presents challenges. Data privacy and security issues are at the forefront, as media companies must navigate the ethical and legal implications of collecting and utilising consumer data.
Moreover, the industry must also address the skills gap in data analytics and management. To fully harness the potential of big data, media companies need skilled professionals who can effectively interpret and apply data insights to drive growth and innovation.
In conclusion, big data is undoubtedly revolutionising the South African media and communication industry. With its potential to personalise content, optimise advertising, and enhance operational efficiency, big data is empowering media companies to better understand and engage with their audience. However, as the industry continues to embrace big data, it must also address the associated challenges to ensure the responsible and ethical use of consumer data. By doing so, the South African media and communication industry can truly leverage the power of big data to drive its future growth and success.
by Tech Talk | Mar 15, 2023 | Articles
From climate change and energy issues to the rising cost to do business in Africa amidst skills shortages and disrupted supply chains, enterprises of every size are facing immense challenges right now. Vodacom Business knows that in the world of business, obstacles reign. As a techco that believes technology can empower enterprises to thrive, Vodacom Business is unveiling its new brand strategy that has been designed to help organisations turn these problems into possibilities, with the new tagline ‘Turn to Us’.
“Businesses now more than ever are seeking support, but in such an uncertain operating environment, who do they turn to for guidance? In addition, digital technology can play a key role in strengthening business resilience and boosting productivity, but many enterprises lack the expertise to use connectivity effectively. At Vodacom Business we are listening more to what our clients want and need, and working with them to find solutions together so that they can achieve their goals in these tough times. Our new brand vision is to be a trusted partner for businesses, empower them with technology solutions that drive progress and inspire innovation, and become a part of their success story,” says William Mzimba, Chief Officer at Vodacom Business.
Vodacom Business’s new brand positioning, underscored by recent market research and critical client insights, highlighted an opportunity across small to large businesses for a trusted partner, who could provide customisable, reliable and affordable connectivity products and services. The changing economic landscape requires businesses like Vodacom to be more attentive to collaborating with clients to help them succeed.
Vodacom Business offers enterprise clients a full suite of mobile, wireless, satellite and fixed-line connectivity solutions, internet and virtual private network services, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, cloud hosting and security services, as well as eGovernment services. The Turn to Us campaign builds on the brand’s B2B journey, in which it has been supporting digital transformation in targeted industries, including mining and manufacturing, retail and logistics, the public sector and small to medium enterprises (SMEs), in South Africa and markets across Africa.
“We are now taking Vodacom Business one step further, as a collaborative connectivity partner, to help harness the potential of all businesses, which are critical for our continent’s sustainable socio-economic development. Our strategy supports the Vodacom Group’s broader purpose of going further together in driving a digital future where no one is left behind,” adds Mzimba.
The rebranding campaign, accompanied by emotive radio and TV commercials, showcases and brings to life how businesses can find new opportunities through adversity with the support of Vodacom Business and its technology solutions.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Mar 15, 2023 | Articles
A new forecast from IDC’s Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide shows that global spending on artificial intelligence (AI) – including software, hardware, and services for AI-centric systems – will reach $154-billion in 2023, an increase of 26,9% over the amount spent in 2022.
The ongoing incorporation of AI into a wide range of products will result in a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% over the 2022 to 2026 forecast with spending on AI-centric systems expected to surpass $300-billion in 2026.
“Companies that are slow to adopt AI will be left behind – both large and small,” says Mike Glennon, senior market research analyst with IDC’s Customer Insights & Analysis team. “AI is best used in these companies to augment human abilities, automate repetitive tasks, provide personalised recommendations, and make data-driven decisions with speed and accuracy.
“Suppliers of AI technologies need to know which are the largest and fastest-growing opportunities, but without data they become just another opinion. IDC’s AI Spending Guide provides the foundation for marketing strategy through its comprehensive coverage of AI opportunities and gives a robust basis for a market focus that ties with companies’ capabilities.”
One indicator of how broad spending on AI-centric systems will be over the next five years is that only one of the 36 AI use cases identified by IDC will have a CAGR of less than 24% over the forecast period.
Three of the leading AI use cases in terms of spending focus on sales and customer service functions: Augmented Customer Service Agents, Sales Process Recommendation and Augmentation, and Programme Advisors and Recommendation Systems. These three use cases will see investment from nearly every industry and, combined, will account for more than a quarter of all AI spending in 2023.
The other use cases that will see the largest spending this year support a more diverse set of tasks: IT Optimisation, Augmented Threat Intelligence and Prevention Systems, and Fraud Analysis and Investigation.
The two industries that will deliver the largest AI investments in 2023 and throughout the forecast are banking and retail. The next largest industry for AI spending will be professional services, followed by discrete and process manufacturing.
Together, these five industries will account for more than half of all spending on AI-centric systems this year. The fastest growth in AI spending will come from the media industry with a five-year CAGR of 30,2%. However, much like use case spending, only two of the industries in the spending guide will have CAGRs of less than 25%.
“AI technology will continue to bring empowering effects to users and industry sectors,” says Xueqing Zhang, senior market analyst with IDC’s China Enterprise Research Department. “With the support of pre-trained large models, multi-modal, and other technologies, AI capabilities will be applied to the whole process of production on a large scale, promoting the technology from the concept to large-scale application of landing.
“In the future, both government-level urban issues and life issues that are closely related to everyone will enjoy the dividends brought by AI technology and eventually usher in AI for all,” Zhang adds.
From a geographic perspective, the US will be the largest market for AI-centric systems, accounting for more than 50% of all AI spending worldwide throughout the forecast. Western Europe will account for more than 20% of worldwide IT spending accompanied by a five-year CAGR of 30%, one of the fastest growth rates over the forecast period. The People’s Republic of China will be the third largest AI market with the slowest growth rate (20,6% CAGR).
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Mar 15, 2023 | Articles
Microsoft has added 13 new African languages to its Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services Translator enabling text and documents to be translated to and from these languages across the entire Microsoft ecosystem of products and services.
Sesotho (Southern Sotho), Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho), Setswana (Tswana) and Xhosa are the latest of South Africa’s official language to be supported, following last year’s release of Zulu. The other languages are chiShona, Hausa, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Luganda, Nyanja, Rundi and Yoruba.
This brings the total number of supported languages to 124 and adds language support for millions of people in Africa and worldwide.
“This release highlights our mission to build meaningful cognitive products and services that improve accessibility and empower local communities,” says Lillian Barnard, CEO of Microsoft SA. “As the benefits and value of translation support become more evident, particularly for African languages, we will see it help break down language barriers and enable more people to connect with each other and technology in a way that empowers them to do and achieve more.”
Integrations across Microsoft’s ecosystem include Microsoft 365 for translating text and documents, the Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine for translating whole webpages, SwiftKey for translating messages, LinkedIn for translating user-submitted content, and the Translator app for having multilingual conversations on the move, among others.
Using Translator, people and organisations can add African languages’ text translation to apps, websites, workflows, and tools – or use Translator’s Document Translation feature to translate entire documents, or volumes of documents, in a variety of different file formats preserving their original formatting. They can also use Translator with Cognitive Services such as Speech or Computer Vision to add additional capabilities such as speech-to-text and image translation into their apps. Educators can create a more inclusive classroom for both students and parents with live captioning and cross-language understanding.
Translator aims to break the language barrier between people and cultures all over the world. To achieve this, Microsoft has continuously added languages and dialects to this service while ensuring the translation quality of the supported languages by using the latest neural machine translation (NMT) techniques.
“The addition of new African languages means that more people are able to connect and that language will become a seamless feature of using technology,” says Barnard.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Mar 15, 2023 | Articles
“…Persistent load shedding is impeding our recovery… We know that without a reliable supply of electricity, businesses cannot grow, assembly lines cannot run, crops cannot be irrigated, and basic services are interrupted”, said H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address recently. “Without a reliable supply of electricity our efforts to grow an inclusive economy that creates jobs and reduces poverty will not succeed,” he added.
There is no doubt that the South African power generation crisis is a tremendous challenge for the country and is endangering the country’s economy as a whole. As President Ramaphosa expressed in his speech, the trickle-down consequences of a delayed response in addressing these challenges will be dire for businesses, jobs and livelihoods.
By Janek Winand, MD: South Africa at Siemens Gamesa
As the second-biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa has been restricted for years in its development by constant power cuts, lasting hours at a time, undermining people’s ability to develop their lives, businesses to grow and services to function. However, the worsening of this situation over the past 12 months has made the situation unsustainable.
This is a particularly challenging reality to accept taking into consideration how rich South Africa is in energy resources, particularly renewable clean resources, that can help the country expand its power generation capacity and, in doing so, supporting its move towards a growing and greener economy.
Wind currently represents the best response to address the blackouts that are crippling the nation and mitigate the risk of a grid collapse. With the right incentives and policies, renewable energy sources, particularly wind power, could rapidly help to resolve some of the country’s most challenging energy problems.
By investing in dispatchable power, grid expansion, grid stabilizers, and energy storage, South Africa will create a resilient foundation for clean energy expansion.
These efforts will contribute to faster development and integration of new power generation plants into the national grid while addressing issues with the integration of intermittent power sources like solar and wind, while contributing to a reduction of the country’s dependence on coal-fired power generation, representing today still more than 80%.
South Africa is endowed with tremendous potential for wind power generation, which is now the most economically competitive form of generation in the country, alongside photovoltaic solar power.
Furthermore, it is the fastest to deploy. A wind project today, takes, from contract signed to production, just 24 months, compared to several years or even decades that nuclear or fossil-fuel power plants take to plan and develop, and at a fraction of the cost, and with much more flexibility. This technology is also consistently becoming more competitive.
At Siemens Gamesa, we’ve seen this evolution happening in real time. In recent years we have built 855 MW of onshore wind power in South Africa installing wind turbines with a maximum power output of 2,3MW per unit. Today, we already offer turbines in-country with an output of 6,6MW per unit.
To put it into perspective, to produce 150MW of power, a wind power plant now requires only 23 turbines, in contrast to 61 just a few years ago. The levelised cost of energy (LCoE) at the end of the day is being decreased dramatically.
The future of the energy mix will inevitably be one of combined sources of power, and in a just transition scenario, we must consider all options available to ensure access to power and economic development for all, with sustainability as a central strategic objective. As solar produces its maximum output throughout the day and wind more energy in the mornings and the evenings, both sources are complementary by nature, to have a seamless flow of power into the grid.
Also, to be noted, is that while coal and nuclear power generation might still be of strategic importance to South Africa, they use a very substantial amount of water to operate, which is a relevant concern in a country that battles regularly with water shortages.
In our experience, wind power projects in South Africa have had a tremendously positive impact not only in generating low-cost electricity to the grid, but also directly and indirectly on the communities around the projects themselves, many of them quite remote. These projects require a number of services during development, many sourced from the local communities, thereby stimulating the local economy, with a trickle-down effect.
The growth of the industry has also stimulated interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields by young professionals eager to work with and within a transition to a greener energy landscape. There are multiple opportunities for synergies and collaborations with the local communities in these developments, which we promote to a great extent in the development of our windfarms.
In terms of funding, the willingness to invest is already there. South African banks have sufficient funds to invest in renewable energies, and are also very motivated to do so. All that is needed is the political will to move forward.
The announcement of Bid Window 7 is very welcome news, as well as the Power Purchase Agreement (PPS) market picking up after the licensing cap has been lofted.
But more needs to be done. Auctions need to happen more regularly and with an established short-, mid- and long-term pipeline that can provide companies with predictability and opportunities to plan ahead. The timeframes for approval processes and evaluations need to be shortened and simplified in order to accelerate development of new capacity.
In sum, it is imperative that we implement all the possible means to tackle the energy crisis head on as well as, in the words of President Ramaphosa, “undertake our just transition in a way that opens up the possibility of new investments, new industrialisation and that, above all, creates new jobs”.
The answer is right there, blowing in the wind.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
