Tag: 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)

Closing the Gap is an accessible overview of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the impact it is set to have on various sectors in South Africa and Africa. The book explores the previous industrial revolutions that have led up to this point and outlines South Africa’s position been through each one.

We have begun thinking differently about what accountancy is and needs to be in a world marked by advanced technological capabilities and extreme socio-economic conditions.

Digital transformation is changing the ways businesses operate throughout the world. New technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and predictive analytics, already have had a profound impact on the world’s economies and continue to disrupt industries.

Diversity and innovation will be key in the future of asset managers in South Africa as the client base evolves to more multicultural and multifaceted millennials. In South Africa, millennials represent the largest generation to enter the workforce – more than 50% of the workforce in 2020, and 75% by 2030.

It is commonly understood that security – or specifically cybersecurity in the modern-day organisation – is everyone’s responsibility, but what does that mean?In the same way as fiscal discipline is managed today, security can and should be connected to the very fabric of the business.

COVID-19 creates a moment of truth for corporate culture. Cultural change is essential in this era of pandemics and business transformation. It is the invisible glue that holds the organisational organism together. It is also a large amorphous cloud, which gets its shape from beliefs, norms, values and behaviour.

Renewed emphasis on digitalisation as a key strategy for sustainability is placing pressure on CIOs to ensure corporate systems are resilient. One certainty that has emerged from the COVID-19 crisis is that organisations embarking on digitalisation were better prepared to respond to the crisis.

Digital disruption has clearly hit the banking industry hard across the globe. The first decade of the 21st century initiated enormous change in the way financial institutions operate and this has only accelerated over the years leading up to the current 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Never before have we had so much information so readily available at our fingertips and there is no doubt that acceleration of innovation and the velocity of disruption underpinning the Fourth Industrial Revolution are having a major impact on businesses.

Nature is inherently designed for resilience. The way trees are designed to bend but not break under the weight of high winds, storms, and snow, how they automatically renew and heal each season – we can learn a lot about resilience from nature and it is time for organisations to take a similar approach to cybersecurity.