technology news
Facebook’s Workplace Reaches 7 Million Paid Subscriber Milestone
Facebook has revealed that its business communication tool – Workplace – has reached 7 million paid subscribers. This is an increase of over 40% over the past year and a clear indicator that more companies are prioritizing employee experience for the long-term in the wake of the pandemic. “Interesting milestone: Workplace, our business communication tool, has hit 7 million paid subscribers — a 40% increase in the last year,” says Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerburg. “We built Workplace as an internal version of Facebook to run our own company, and it was so useful we started letting other organizations use it too, including everyone from Spotify to Starbucks to the World Health Organization. More companies are starting to use our virtual reality tools for work as well, and I’m excited t...
5 Ways to Create the Perfect Remote Work Environment
Traditional work culture expectations are undergoing a paradigm shift, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a recent study, more than half of South Africans (53%) prefer the option of working from home at least once a week. Now more than ever, businesses need to foster a digital culture that encourages employees to engage and succeed regardless of where they work from. Here are five tips for building a strong and resourceful remote workforce: 1. Build a transparent communication system /* custom css */ .tdi_3_0e6.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_0e6.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Trust and transparency are the two major pillars of healthy team culture, and both thrive on communication. Ensure that every person in the team is aware of what’s going on in the company a...
Twitter Spaces Launches for Users with 600 or More Followers
Image sourced from Mission Statement Academy Twitter users with 600 or more followers can now host Spaces. The social media company – which has been building and testing this feature with a limited group since last year – revealed that this feature will now be available across iOS and Android devices. “Today, we’re bringing the ability to host a Space to all accounts with 600 or more followers on Twitter. Based on what we’ve learned so far, these accounts are likely to have a good experience hosting live conversations because of their existing audience,” reads an official statement from Twitter. “Before bringing the ability to create a Space to everyone, we’re focused on learning more, making it easier to discover Spaces, and helping people enjoy them with a great audience. Twitter goes on...
Supersonic Begins AirFibre Rollout in South Africa
Image sourced from SpaceNews Supersonic – in partnership with MTN – has officially announced the installation of its wireless broadband solution. This service is expected to overcome distance and a lack of infrastructure in urban, township and rural communities to bring fibre-quality connectivity to more households across the country. “We are breaking down the traditional barriers to entry that have denied much access to a modern, connected life,” says Calvin Collet, MD of Supersonic. “From Soweto to Swellendam, we believe that every household deserves the speed and benefits of fibre-like connectivity, and through AirFibre we believe we can achieve this.” He goes on to say that the use of open spectrum frequencies potentially has the risk of incurring interference, however, this technology...
6 Tips to Defend Against Ransomware Attacks
Over the last few years, the number of users encountering targeted ransomware – malware used to extort money from high-profile targets, such as corporations, government agencies, and municipal organisations – increased by 767%. With that in mind, here are 6 things you can do to defend against ransomware attacks: Assume you will be hit. Ransomware remains highly prevalent – no sector, country or organization size is immune from the risk. It’s better to be prepared, but not hit, rather than the other way round. Make backups and keep a copy offline. Backups are the main method organizations surveyed used to recover their data after an attack. Opt for the industry-standard approach of 3:2:1 (three sets of backups, using two different media, one of which is kept offline). Deploy layered protect...
Telkom Unveils Fraud and Corruption Reporting Platform
Telkom has unveiled a multi-channel whistleblowing platform that allows users to report any acts or suspected acts of fraud, corruption, and irregular conduct within the organisation. The company says that this service is part of the Group’s ethics and corporate governance mechanisms to ensure that the Telkom Group remains a corruption and fraud-free organisation. “Every individual has a responsibility to play their part in rooting out fraud and corruption in our society, communities, and organisations. South Africa was recently ranked #69 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2020, further highlighting the severity of fraud and corruption in our country,” reads a statement from the telco. “That is why Telkom Group has partnered with safe lin...
How to Build a Secure 5G Ecosystem
Powered by the convergence of 5G and industry 4.0, the smart enterprise of the future is now here. The critical performance boost of 5G enables critical smart systems to share and respond to information faster than ever, permitting industrial enterprises to digitise and automate their infrastructures with confidence. 5G offers a unique and valuable set of capabilities that, unlike any previous or current mobile technology, enable and expand the implementation of transformative technologies for organisations, including industrial enterprises. The value of 5G encompasses enhanced bandwidth, ultra-high reliability, low latency, high positioning precision, and native support for machine communications that organisations across a wide range of verticals, including manufacturing, logis...
Executive Solutions Improves Morecorp’s Network Capability with Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN
Morecorp appointed Executive Solutions (ES) to securely augment their legacy MPLS network with Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution. This allows Morecorp to meet its goal of ultimately decommissioning its existing MPLS network, significantly reducing costs while increasing operational efficiency, security and network redundancy. “The cost of running their MPLS network was extremely high especially that the performance of this network was limited,” explains Richard Levine, Managing Director at ES. “It made sense for the company to invest in the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution as it slashed return on investment in a very short period, becoming operationally more cost-effective within 6 months of project completion. It also enhanced security and bandwidth management and allowed for the organisat...
How Technology Companies Generate Leads with Webinar Marketing
If you’re a marketing executive within an IT company and are undecided about using webinars as a tool for lead generation, don’t be. Webinars are the most cost-effective way to engage with your prospects while also generating and educating new leads about your technology solutions. According to a 2019 research report by the Content Marketing Institute, 57% of B2B marketers use webinars. Out of this number, 11% said they used it to convert leads into sales. Another survey conducted by Wyzowl revealed that 87% of marketers found webinar marketing to be highly effective. What is a webinar? /* custom css */ .tdi_3_9bb.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_9bb.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } A webinar is simply an online event that allows you to showcase you...
Kaspersky Expands Footprint in Nigeria and Ghana
Image sourced from Discover Germany Kaspersky has partnered with DataGroupIT to grow its cybersecurity business within Nigeria and Ghana. “DataGroupIT is a well-known distributor in Africa with a clear value-add when it comes to generating focused business growth, especially in the enterprise segment. It also has the capacity to support the Kaspersky business logistically and provide valuable technical expertise on Kaspersky solutions,” says Lehan van den Heever, Enterprise Cyber Security Advisor for Kaspersky in Africa. DataGroupIT has more than 1 000 clients in over 15 Sub-Saharan African countries with its professional teams delivering exceptional sales, pre-sale, logistic, marketing, and financial support. The partnership between the two organisations is expected to further enhanc...
SD-WAN is an Agile Networking Solution for an Unpredictable Business Landscape
Software-Defined Networking in a Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) has seen significant growth in recent years, and this is set to accelerate – a study of the SD-WAN market by 360 Market Updates found that the market size is expected to reach $2784.5 million by 2026. The biggest reason for this growth is the number of benefits a properly implemented SD-WAN architecture can deliver, particularly in an unpredictable business landscape. Although the events of 2020 may have put SD-WAN implementations on the back burner, the agility, resilience and performance it offers are actually the ideal solutions to many current and future business challenges. As the technology matures and evolves, we can expect to see greatly accelerated adoption in the South African market. A host of benefits In a constantly s...
Liquid Telecom Announces New Identity in Uganda
Image sourced from MyBroadband Liquid Telecom has unveiled its new identity as Liquid Intelligent Technologies in Uganda. As part of the rebrand, the pan-African technology group also revealed its plan to go from being a telecommunications and digital services provider to a full one-stop-shop technology. Over the last two decades, Liquid has established itself as a leading pan-African digital infrastructure provider with an extensive network spanning over 73,000 KM. This rebrand to Liquid Intelligent Technologies highlights the organisation’s expansion of its Cloud business, Cyber Security services, and other technologies added to its existing telecoms and connectivity capability. This also furthers the Group’s aim of accelerating growth by providing tailor-made digital solutions to busine...
