Improving growth and the competitiveness of the South African economy will require businesses and governments to be digitally adept and supported by digitally skilled workers, according to Cisco's MD for Southern Africa, Cathy Smith. From March 5-7, 2017 Cisco South Africa will host Cisco Connect South Africa 2017 (sponsored by Intel) to showcase leading technologies and innovations to support and guide organisations intent on digitally transforming.
In South Africa, Cisco sees an urgent need for:
* The 'real economy' and industrialisation plans to be closely linked to digitalisation (including complementary digital skills development) to boost competitiveness, empower entrepreneurs, and enable government departments to extend the reach and impact of public services.
* Web-based collaboration technologies to improve distance education, enable businesses, and facilitate virtual connections to improve learning and productivity.
* The integration of technologies and IT expertise for cities to better manage and deliver essential services, reduce costs and address socio-economic challenges.
"The competitiveness of the South African economy - from mining to education to retail to financial services - depends on being digitally enabled in order to increase GDP, reduce spending on outdated analogue systems, and to create jobs," notes Cathy Smith, MD - Cisco Southern Africa. "The Digital Era is here. It is a real and present opportunity for companies, countries and workers."
The Digital Era: all industries and countries impacted
With a global reach and a local focus, Cisco has produced extensive research outlining the opportunities for companies (large and small), as well as governments, to digitally reinvent themselves in order to extend the reach and impact of services, enhance communications to make distance irrelevant, and improve productivity. For example, a recent agreement between Cisco and Barrick Gold features the application of advanced sensing technology and real-time operational data to inform decision-making, and predictive algorithms to enhance the precision and speed of maintenance and metallurgy. Digital technologies will also offer predictive data and analytics to improve management of energy, water, and emissions, allowing further transparency to stakeholders on safety and environmental performance.
According to the Cisco Mobile Visual Networking Index, released in February, it is forecast that by 2021:
* There will be nearly 12 billion mobile-connected devices (1.5 mobile devices per person).
* Mobile data traffic will represent 20% of the world's IP traffic (up from 8% in 2016).
* Machine-to-machine (M2M) connections will represent 29% (3.3 billion) of total mobile connection (up from 5% in 2016).
Cisco evolving: security, software and services
"Over the last year, Cisco has evolved its business model, shifting from hardware to blended software and services, and introduced some game-changing technologies to equip and support a wider array of customers and their business priorities," concludes Smith.
Share