Tag: 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)

It is almost impossible to keep up with the pace and direction in which business and technology are moving today. Artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, big data, Internet of Things, the fourth industrial revolution. Who actually knows what any of these concepts mean for their business, much less how to integrate them?

Traditionally, a team has been defined as a group of individuals working together to achieve a common pre-defined goal. While traditional teams, also known as conventional or co-located teams, consist of individuals working in physical proximity, the reality is that other organisational team typologies have emerged within the last few decades that challenge this concept and experience.

From digital transformation through to the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), decision-makers are changing their views on how technology can benefit the organisation. But while much attention is placed on things like data analysis, the cloud, and automation, cyber security has fallen by the wayside.

Finally, an opportunity to examine the substantive choices made in the application of AI solutions, within the same industry, reflecting the cultures and norms of two different countries.

Most governments in Africa share the common problem of high youth unemployment. Global economic forces and decisions of powerhouses like Britain and America are increasingly impacting growth of African economies. African countries have thus found themselves on the back foot and unable to stimulate their economies sufficiently to create jobs, especially in the formal sector.

4IR is impacting societies, industries, workplaces and skills across the globe. Beyond technological change, this is about how people and organisations reinvent using technology; thus a 'socio-technical transition'.

Around the world, workspace requirements are changing dramatically. Fuelled by an increasingly tech-driven business ecosystem, office spaces have to evolve in order to meet new workplace demands.

Access to more data is vital for economic growth and education. Young people spend more and more time on mobile devices - the fewer regulations and the more competition we have in SA, the more they will be enabled to access a whole universe of educational resources. The government can either aid in empower young people by letting go of control over data, or it can inhibit a real, transformative, empowering process by bumbling from spectrum allocation ‘deadline’ to ‘deadline.’ The choice, and unlimited potential, are clear: massive pressure must be put on government to get radio spectrum allocated.

On the 18th of June, Facebook announced its plan to launch its Libra cryptocurrency in 2020. Bitcoin, the popular digital currency, has been around for over 10 years but hasn’t significantly changed how we trade. However, Facebook’s massive global user base could usher in wide-scale adoption of Blockchain, the technology behind modern cryptocurrencies.

Government needs to take bold and rapid action to extricate the country from the economic quagmire in which it finds itself. The local economy is struggling to generate the growth needed to address high unemployment and inequality, as well as arrest the declining productivity that has eroded the country's global competitiveness.