Tag: COVID-19

The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) 2020 was tabled to Parliament on 11 November 2021 by South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

The myriad challenges that COVID-19 has forced on our lives have been stressful, none more so than for many working professionals. Based on our 2021 Stress Index, fear of loss of income and the fear of losing a family member to COVID-19 went head-to-head as the biggest stress factors of the last year.

It’s no secret that South Africa’s education system suffers from inequality and inefficiency. However, in such a young democracy, a certain degree of stumbling is to be expected. Unfortunately, even as we address past-era issues, the gap between privileged private-school education and that provided in peri-urban and rural areas is becoming undeniable and ever-widening, in no small part as a result of the complex COVID-19 environment.

Several corporations have recently announced that they will implement mandatory vaccination at their workplaces, and possibly many more will follow. This important development will hopefully result in a few unanswered questions around mandatory vaccination finally being tested (and answered) before our courts (including, among other things, disciplining employees in this context). 

Cybercrime has risen exponentially since the start of the global pandemic. While no security is full proof, crafting a security posture with multiple layers, built on the basic tenets of cybersecurity is certainly a good start. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber attacks have been on the increase on a global scale, inflicting financial losses across all sectors including manufacturing, banking, and energy, to name a few.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, and we entered our first 21 days of lockdown in March 2020, it was unimaginable that we would find ourselves here almost 20 months later. And we certainly wouldn’t have guessed that mental wellness would have become such a large part of our conversations, both inside and outside of business.

Temporary employment opportunities are on the rise in South Africa, and with many global enterprises seeking to outsource certain business processes, the South African labour market is becoming increasingly attractive. While many local businesses also have a need for certain skills, that need is not ‘full time’.

We’re deep into the age of loyalty and rewards programmes, with just about every bank, insurer, retailer, and service provider offering an initiative of some sort that purports to reward their customers for behaviour that demonstrates loyalty to their brand.

Traditionally, cybersecurity entailed a reactive approach where organisations used learnings from previous compromises to improve their defences. With technology evolving and people embracing the likes of mobile wallets, banking apps, and other solutions to manage transactions, businesses must rethink how best to bolster anti-fraud mechanisms. The answer lies in artificial intelligence (AI).

For the past 10 years, we’ve been hearing about how new-generation mobile apps, wallets, tap-to-pay, NFC solutions and even the humble QR code are going to spell the end of the magnetic stripe card as a means of payment. And here we are, in 2021, and we’re finally taking big steps towards a brave new world of contactless payments.