Mark Wilson, Managing Director, SYSPRO Africa
by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE slow uptake of technologies like robotics, internet of things (IoT), big data and machine learning by South African corporates is becoming a thing of the past amid a rapidly growing
readiness to adopt them in the near future.
This is according to a new study, “The Mobile Corporation in South Africa 2018”, World Wide Worx, in partnership with enterprise software company SYSPRO, released on Tuesday.
“The reason is simple,” says Mark Wilson, Managing Director (MD) SYSPRO Africa on the changing adoption trends.
“They (corporates) are all seeing their counterparts globally being disrupted by small, nimble newcomers or large companies that are willing to disrupt themselves.”
Wilson said if corporations did not respond as part of their own strategic direction, trends would force them to respond.
“The result will be that these companies will find themselves performing crisis management instead of strategy management,” Wilson added.
The study, based on telephonic interviews with information technology (IT) decision makers at 400 large companies in South Africa, found low current usage but massive intended adoption of cutting edge technologies.
Only 13 percent of decision-makers said they currently use big data and machine learning. A further 55 percent said they would adopt these technologies in the near future.
Robotics has been deployed in only 6 percent of companies but a further 45 percent plan to do so.
Decision makers with no plans in this direction cited cost as the main hindrance.
Two-thirds of the respondents, 66 percent, currently use technologies related to the IoT, with a majority of those not using it planning to do so while all those currently using it plan to increase their usage.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, said for several years now, South Africa has been watching a new IT revolution sweeping the corporate world, mostly in developed countries.
“Finally, we are about to see it beginning in South Africa,” Goldstuck said.
– CAJ News
