Tag: technical skills

For decades leadership development has focused primarily on one thing - skills development. The so-called “hard” or “technical” skills were viewed as being of the utmost importance when it came to facilitating effective and efficient team coordination. This makes sense given that we’ve largely viewed leadership as either a transactional or motivational act. The theory behind this training is that new tools and knowledge are necessary to communicate a vision and values, as well as direct effective execution.

South African business leaders might be willing to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their business operations, but they are being held back by a crucial ingredient: technical skills. A recent snap poll we conducted shows that budget is not an issue, but a skills vacuum is.

We live in a time of great change, fuelled by rapid growth and unprecedented access to technology. Even Artificial Intelligence (AI), which seemed like science fiction just a couple decades ago, is now accessible in the palm of your hand through applications like ChatGPT for content creation, or Midjourney for image generation.

According to our survey, overwhelming majority of South African companies concerned about cloud security. In a local survey of 500 CTOs, Directors, C-suite respondents and business owners, we reveal that 89% of South African business leaders view cloud security as a major concern.

Skills development and resource efficiency go hand-in-hand toward achieving business success. The aim is to provide all workers with the opportunity for personal career growth by ensuring they’re up to date on the latest industry developments as well as how to use the newest technology.

Traditionally, mentoring involved a more experienced individual providing guidance, motivation and role modelling for a newer, younger individual in the workplace. This transfer of knowledge and industry insights entails a power relationship, where the mentor has authority over the person in the protégé role.

Too often IT departments or technologists work to uncover the needs of the organisation in silos, building or buying a new tool, rolling it out and training business units on the new technology. With technology democratisation, everyone can be an innovator. It adds a grassroots layer previously missing from enterprise innovation.

It’s amazing how quickly the world around us is changing. The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is upon us and how we continue to adapt to this era of rapid technological and societal change is crucial. Why we need to adapt and how fast we are able to adapt to these changes remain a core question of our time, and education is a key factor in how we navigate these changes.

With the recent significant investments made by hyper-scale cloud providers in South Africa, it is becoming increasingly apparent that cloud adoption is maturing in the local market, as enterprises realise that different aspects of their business require different platforms.