Tag: Machine Learning (ML)

The impact of digitisation on small and medium enterprises is significant. Savvy SMEs can turn this to a huge advantage as they can do things quickly and in a more agile manner than big businesses. However, challenges abound when trying to protect innovative products and processes.

Even though the challenging economic environment is resulting in companies maintaining their focus on reducing costs, 2020 also brings with it many opportunities to grow the business. This can be attributed to developments happening in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Intelligence (BI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) that are starting to push boundaries this year.

This year, open source will become even more fundamental to the success of companies as they transition to fully-fledged digitally-led businesses. In the coming months, proprietary software will lose relevance as local organisations start embracing the likes of the cloud and containers to deliver value and capitalise on growth opportunities.

Research shows that insurance executives are recognising the opportunities associated with big data. Of course, they are no stranger to the importance of data analysis given how the industry is built around understanding market requirements and developing solutions accordingly.

Putting a monetary value on organisational data is a daunting task considering how integrated it has become to overall business success. It is an invaluable asset that provides insight for a company to grow and enhance its competitive advantage and operate more efficiently.

With the cloud services market expected to grow at a rate of 28% over the next five years to top R23 billion by 2023, South African companies have finally woken up to its potential. Providing some of the impetus behind this is the local availability of Microsoft Azure data centres.

As we progress further into Industry 4.0, finance needs to further leverage new technologies to add real value to a business’s bottom-line, yet it remains in its infancy stages. Industry 4.0 has impacted a range of industries, and with the digitisation of industrial value chains, many forget about finance, which has only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to leveraging new technologies.

Digital innovation is accelerating in South Africa - from call centres using chatbots and automatic transcription to improve customer service, to financial advisors harnessing machine learning and data analytics, rapidly matching client and solution, and emerging use cases of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and AR/VR training in the mining and manufacturing sectors.  

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution rages on, there needs to be a greater shift towards adopting an interconnected way of thinking if humans are to truly engage and optimise 4IR and beyond.

Thanks to digitalisation and the effective analysis of data, marketing continues to become more personalised and contextual. In fact, digital technologies enable companies to provide customers with relevant and quality experiences reflective of today’s real-time world.