Tag: connectivity

The Internet of Things (IoT) is finally emerging onto the market as a technology that connects devices, systems and solutions and that has the potential to revolutionise multiple industries. IoT isn’t new, but it has simmered on the edges of innovation and transformation for years and now it has, as the World Economic Forum puts it, ‘quietly arrived’.

Fast internet throughout South Africa is key to many benefits, including the ability to work remotely in remote areas, increased access to education and technology, and more.

Flexible work is likely to remain the standard for South African organisations beyond the pandemic as they seek to remain agile in the face of a range of business continuity challenges in the years to come. Getting the right workplace solutions in place will be essential for businesses of all sizes as they continue to navigate the complexities of a hybrid work world.

The pandemic and the lockdown have reduced our mobility, but our connectedness - via IoT, the Cloud and AI - has helped us overcome this. As society gets moving again, connectedness will redefine the way we do it.

Internet access has come a long way from the R28,000 it cost for a 256kbps connection in 1995. Even prior to the lockdown, almost 500,000 homes and more than 114,000 business premises were connected to fibre according to FTTX Council research from the end of June 2019. Of course, having high-speed access does not necessarily solve all problems.

While 2018 has certainly been a seesaw year for South African businesses, there have been significant – and very positive – developments on the IT and connectivity front.

In the midst of a global digital transformation, widespread integration of next-generation technologies like 5G and IoT is just over the horizon.

Cities all around the world are becoming job creating entrepreneurial hubs in their own right thanks to a rise in digital connectedness and spaces for like minded people to work in stimulating environments.

Will automation, artificial intelligence and robotics – or as it’s been called, the ‘rise of the machines’ – really reduce the value of people and their roles as meaningful contributors to society? Or will it unlock new avenues for creating value and new opportunities, which may manifest in greater industrial and economic futures for societies in Africa?

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Mastercard Foundation have published an ethnographic study on the perceptions and attitudes to digital financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study will increase financial inclusion by helping financial services providers better understand the user of African digital financial services (DFS). The report A Sense of Inclusion: An Ethnographic Study of the Perceptions and Attitudes to Digital Financial Services in Sub-Saharan Africa, is based on...