Tag: DigitalTransformation

Boards spend a great deal of time asking questions. They challenge strategy, review financial performance, interrogate financial statements and revisit decisions that made sense six months ago but may no longer make sense today. That is why one question stands out: "Why are executives and boards not doing the same when it comes to their cybersecurity?" My view is simple. As organisations become more digital, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify treating cyber resilience as something that sits outside regular business discussions.

In many organisations, the monthly reporting cycle still follows a familiar pattern. Finance teams close the books, extract data from multiple systems, reconcile discrepancies and consolidate figures across entities. They then check reports, make adjustments and eventually compile a board pack.

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 Chief Marketing Officer role has transformed - but most organisations are still hiring as if it hasn’t. Artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones, social media, influencers and shifting customer expectations have transformed the way growth is achieved. Yet many organisations continue to misunderstand the evolution of the role.

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.

Artificial intelligence has constantly been written about for the past three years. The hype, the digital transformation it promises, the productivity gains, and the threat to jobs, particularly in professional services, and finance, specifically. It is a topical and sometimes divisive subject.