'Team SA' needs to regroup after the World Cup, delivering a compelling business case to the world. IT can be an enabler of this. This is the view of financial journalist Bruce Whitfield, who will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming itSMFsa/ITWeb SMEXA conference in Bryanston this month.
Whitfield says SA emerged from the hype and excitement of the World Cup in an ebullient frame of mind. “There is bound to be a period now where we as South Africans are stuck in a no-mans land of 'What next?' It's in this phase that business and consumer confidence are likely to wane as the reality hits that the World Cup, while a glorious opportunity, is not going to morph into growth and opportunity by itself.”
He adds: “It's going to take more of the hard work and co-operation we witnessed in the run-up to the World Cup to continue to drive Brand SA as an attractive, competitive and exciting investment destination. It's hard to compete with a 3% growth rate though, against the likes of India, Brazil and China, which have been driving growth over more than a decade and are growing at upper single and double digits. They are far more attractive to investors.
“We need a Team SA approach as witnessed at Davos, for example, where government and business got together in the best interests of the country. We need a liberalisation of labour laws, companies need to be encouraged to hire to grow their businesses and not be mired in bureaucracy... We have to be more competitive. IT as an industry is a great enabler.”
IT service management (ITSM) experts scheduled to speak at SMEXA add that ITSM plays a crucial role in helping companies gain a competitive edge. ITSM helps them “plan their way out of a recession”, become compliant, and free up resources, they say.
Russell Steyn, MD of Foster-Melliar and director of itSMFsa, highlights ITSM's ability to help business refocus the allocation of resources, strategise and drive efficiencies.
And keynote speaker Tom Scholtz, a Gartner Research VP, concludes that ITSM helps mitigate risk, improve productivity and improve businesses' trust in what IT can deliver.
The ITWeb/itSMFsa SMEXA conference, themed 'Mapping routes to recovery', will be held at The Forum in Bryanston on 3 and 4 August.
For more information, go to:
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32182&Itemid=213
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