tech news
4 Priorities Shaping CIO Strategies in 2021
With the economic rollercoaster ride of 2020, CIOs and business leaders are formulating and finalising strategies for what is hoped to be a new year of growth and recovery. There can be no doubt that technology and IT infrastructure will underpin and shape the majority of 2021 strategies – with the global pandemic having radically accelerated many digital transformation journeys (while propelling other businesses into newly formed digitisation initiatives). Arguably, the key to successfully leveraging technology to drive growth and recoveries in 2021 will be determined by the clarity of thinking around IT strategies – as well as leadership’s commitment to simplifying complexity while simultaneously harnessing emerging technology tools and platforms. All too often, decision-makers sway betw...
Does Your Business Use Device Fingerprinting Yet?
We’ve already predicted that 2021 will be a year of tremendous digital transformation for African companies. Unfortunately, this also means a rise in online risk and cybercrime. Today, we’re going to take a look at a particularly effective fraud prevention method: device fingerprinting, to see how African startups, financial institutions and online stores could use it to reduce their fraud rates. Understanding Device Fingerprinting Anyone who accesses the web needs to do it with an Internet connection and device. There is a ton of data associated with the configuration of software and hardware you use. In fraud prevention, the more information you have about a user, the better. The goal of device fingerprinting is therefore to extract as much information as possible from ...
Bolt Launches ‘Women Only’ Ride Hailing Service
Bolt has launched a ‘Women Only’ service that enables female passengers to request rides from female drivers only – their request for a ride will not be visible to male drivers. Drivers and passengers utilising Bolt’s Women Only service are protected by an app-integrated SOS emergency button, made possible through Bolt’s partnership with national safety platform Namola. The SOS button enables passengers and drivers to connect quickly and easily 24/7 to private armed response teams, private emergency medical services, and roadside assistance if they are involved in any medical or security emergency while on a Bolt ride. “Gender-based violence is a reality that women across South Africa contend with every day,” says Gareth Taylor, country manager for Bolt South Africa. “Women Only – a servic...
WhatsApp Launches it Own Status Account
Image sourced from YoMZanzi WhatsApp has introduced a verified account on its Status service. So far the update was used to notify users of the new account while also reminding them of its commitment to privacy. “WhatsApp is now on Status!” it reads. “We’ll let you about new features and updates here.” “One thing that isn’t new is our commitment to your privacy.” In the next window, the messaging platform says “WhatsApp can’t read or listen to your personal conversations as they’re end-to-end encrypted”. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_f0b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_f0b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Here’s a closer look at the Status: WhatsApp is Behind the “Largest Digital Migration in History”, says Telegram Founder Facebook’s recent attempt to update WhatsApp’s priva...
Bizerba Investing in Digitization and Additional Location
Site in Eastern Europe A positive development and the continued growth lead to the fact that production capacities at the German sites are reaching their limits. At the same time, new regions have evolved as clear growth markets in recent years. “Eastern Europe unfolds strong dynamics and is, therefore, a strategically important market for Bizerba”, says Andreas W. Kraut. With this additional site, Bizerba will be able to react to trade restrictions between the USA and China in a more flexible way and thus contribute to greater independence in the flow of goods and money. Therefore, the company will build a new site in this region in order to increase production capacities. As a global player, investing in growth regions is crucial for Bizerba to be as close as possible to the customer. “E...
$1 Million for African Students to Start their British Studies Online – Apply Today with Unicaf
Tuition fees have burdened many young people financially and pushed others to abandon their dreams as the high cost was discouraging. Without a doubt, a scholarship is one way to earn a degree and start your career debt-free. Many talented but disadvantaged students get to study in western universities with great financial support. However, this is not a privilege just for the ones who study abroad. Unicaf is offering generous scholarships to eligible students for online programmes, receiving the same education through distance learning. Find out if your eligible here. Education is “online”, are you? /* custom css */ .tdi_3_66b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_66b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } In the past international students with scholarships attended les...
4 IT Security Tips for Businesses in 2021
Sourced from Forbes A shift to remote work, financial constraints due to economic recession and the growth of cyber threats due to the global pandemic will affect the day-to-day role of cybersecurity professionals in 2021. Understanding the challenges but also perceiving opportunities in IT and IT security management is key for companies to maintain their protection. The recent Kaspersky report, “Plugging the gaps: 2021 corporate IT security predictions” suggests advice for each role related to cybersecurity, including CEOs or business owners, CISOs, SOC team leads and IT managers. Here are four of the main trends: Protecting the perimeter is no longer enough – home office assessment and certification will be needed. There should be tools to scan the level of security in a workplace – from...
Google Play Introduces Rewards Programme in South Africa
Google Play’s free rewards programme has just launched in South Africa. The programme allows users to earn points and redeem them for in-app purchases or credit. According to Gadgets, the reward points can also be earned by “downloading free apps and games that are featured, alongside weekly points that can boost the earning rate of points for users on select games and movies”. The Google Play Points programme has four levels, ranging from Bronze to Platinum, that are dependant on how many points collected. “More than 2 billion people in 190 countries use Google Play to discover blockbuster movies, apps that help you be more productive, and books that inspire imagination,” says Mariam Abdulahi, Director of Africa Platform Partnerships for Android and Google Play. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_69...
Huawei is Recognised as One of South Africa’s Top Employers
Huawei has been recognised as one of the top employers in South Africa, receiving the annual Top Employers Certification Award for the fourth year in a row. Huawei Sub Saharan Africa achieved Continental HQ Certification for 2021, after being certified a Top Employer in four or more countries, for two years in a row. In addition to South Africa, Huawei also received the prestigious award in Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria. The Top Employer Institute is a global authority on excellence in people practices. Through the Top Employers Institute certification programme, participating companies are annually assessed, surveyed and accredited as leading employers in respect of their Human Resources practices. “Winning the Top Employer Award is recognition of Huawei’s high standards and commitment to enc...
Vodacom Business Enables Businesses to Digitise their Supply Chain Network
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create significant challenges for the manufacturing and retail industry globally, the need for a resilient and agile supply chain network has never been greater. Vodacom Business has developed various digital solutions to help businesses achieve a true connected supply chain network to help improve efficiencies and withstand disruption and unpredicted hurdles in the future. Today’s supply chain network is more complex than ever. It has become a digital ecosystem of suppliers, logistics companies, customers and other value chain partners that stretch across the globe. The supply chain network relies on the synchronised movement of thousands of interrelated parts to meet the ever growing customer demand for better, more innovative products and on-time, l...
Why Now is the Right Moment to Explore Innovations
In 2020, there was a meme on LinkedIn with a poll asking who leads digital transformation in your company. Surprisingly, the choice was not a CEO or top manager, but COVID-19. This picture perfectly illustrates how at the beginning of the pandemic many companies were forced to urgently implement new technologies or rebuild their business model to survive. But today, when many countries are experiencing a second wave of the virus and implementing social distancing restrictions again, new questions arise. Should companies invest in long-term innovations in such an uncertain and difficult period? Or wouldn’t it be better to focus on the core business and save capital on costly investments until more stable times return? In the European Summer of 2020 we, with the help of independent research ...
TT100 Awards Interview: VNI Consultants
VNI Consultants (VNI) is a consulting firm in South Africa specialising in Organisation Development and Continuous Change Management based on sound business consulting and training delivery experience design. Due to the current business complexities and global systemic realities VNI has undergone a strategic direction change to provide inclusive and holistic cloud services for SMMEs. What is the core focus of your business? As continuous change management and competency improvement experts, VNI’s areas of specialisation include project management, business analysis, diagnostic and research-based assignments, process engineering, systems development, training, coaching and behaviour change implementation. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_665.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_665.td-a-rec...
