Tag: Kgomotso Lebele

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.

In a low-growth economy, organisations struggle to expand revenue. They therefore face increasing pressure to unlock efficiencies and do more with less. Consider a major South African bank. It recently celebrated a successful AI-powered fraud detection pilot. The results looked impressive. The system delivered faster detection, fewer false positives and measurable savings. Leadership felt energised.

What sound better encapsulates the early 2000s than a dial-up internet tone? That shrill shriek of robotic beeps and high-pitched ringing signalled your entry into the World Wide Web – at that stage, a few basic HTML-coded pages of text and perhaps an image that took forever to load.

Unemployment rates in and around mining communities increase annually, with limited new job opportunities emerging. Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) is of national importance and can unlock significant organisational value.

Encouraging public sector organisations to become more innovative has always been important. However, doing so has likely never mattered more as the world wrestles with the challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak and recovery.

After months of managing the COVID-19 crisis, people and businesses are depending on the public sector to guide them through the next several months and possibly years of uncertainty. It’s time to capitalise on what’s been achieved via the new policies and service delivery models that were developed in response to the crisis.