Technology

South Africa's new South African Revenue Service (SARS) Traveller Declaration is part of a global shift that's redrawing the business travel checklist. Border and customs compliance has always been something travellers dealt with at the airport. However, that is no longer the case.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority's (FSCA) call for a centralised anti-fraud hub at its 2026 conference reflects a timely recognition that South Africa's financial institutions (FIs) cannot successfully fight financial crime in isolation. However, centralisation alone is not enough.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are undeniably the lifeblood of South Africa's economy. They represent 91% of businesses in the formal sector and employ roughly 60% of the country's workforce. Yet, the entrepreneurial landscape remains notoriously harsh. More than 70% of South African SMEs fail between their first and fifth years.

Enterprise software used to be a decision within the IT lifecycle. However, it is no longer just that. Core platforms such as ERP systems, databases and virtualisation have become embedded in how organisations recognise revenue, control costs and satisfy regulators. These platforms are not back-office systems. They are financial infrastructure. Increasingly, they are dictating capital allocation in ways many CFOs did not sign up for.

While Bafana Bafana lost the opening game against Mexico, Lenovo’s technology underpinning the event was a big winner. The opening match of the World Cup did not go South Africa's way. As always, we lived in hope. Then we resigned ourselves to the inevitable. However, the one thing that worked seamlessly and proved to be a winner for fans of both Mexico and Bafana Bafana was the technology underpinning the tournament.

The National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) updated statement on the Draft Capital Flow Management Regulations has moved South Africa’s crypto regulation debate into a more practical phase. Just as importantly, Treasury and SARB have clarified that the draft regulations are not intended to criminalise the possession of crypto assets or apply retrospectively.

Cyber risk is no longer a peripheral IT issue in African supply chains. Instead, it is becoming a core operational threat. According to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 70% of organisations report experiencing fraud or economic crime. Cyber-enabled fraud ranks among the fastest-growing categories globally, according to the ACCA Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey.

On-premises virtual desktop infrastructure was once the only serious option for companies that needed a centralised and managed desktop environment. That is no longer true. Companies that run a virtual desktop infrastructure in 2026 originally built it to solve a very specific problem at a particular moment in time. A campus needed to provision student workstations with consistent access to software.

The returns from digital transformation will remain elusive until business leaders confront an uncomfortable truth: the problem is not the Artificial Intelligence (AI), but everything underneath it. Consider this scenario. You lead a large retail business. Six months ago, you approved a significant generative AI investment to personalise customer promotions. The business case was compelling, the pilot results were strong and the board supported the move.

In the pursuit of digital transformation, businesses often spotlight their cutting-edge applications, multicloud strategies or latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. Yet, behind each of these advancements lies a powerful, unseen engine: the enterprise storage platform. It has quietly evolved from a simple data repository into a dynamic force for innovation.