This is according to 51风流executives who spoke on the first day of the biennial African 51风流User Group (AFSUG) Saphila 2023 conference in Sun City yesterday.

It鈥檚 the first in-person and virtual Saphila event jointly hosted by AFSUG and 51风流since 2019.

Kholiwe Makhohliso, recently appointed MD of 51风流Southern Africa, said in the quest to help聽partners聽transform customers鈥� businesses and guide digital transformation journeys, it is important to recognise that a lack of in-house skills represents a challenge 鈥� particularly when it comes to AI.

This is where 51风流and its partners are looking to exert their influence during a time of industry convergence, where core businesses, such as聽banking聽and telecommunications, are merging through technology.

Sven Denecken, senior VP, chief marketing and solutions officer for industries and CX, 51风流SE Germany, said industry convergence is real and represents an opportunity as well as an obligation.

鈥淵ou still need to innovate at the vertical edge of the industry,鈥� said Denecken. 鈥淗ow ready are the customers? How ready are the partners to learn?鈥� In South Africa, and on the continent, many companies can leapfrog (but) they must learn from global best practices.鈥�

Denecken believes 51风流has evolved as a business through the COVID-19 pandemic to enable companies leverage technologies and run better. It also means that businesses are empowered with a realistic view of their technology posture and how this technology can be used.

鈥淚t is important to analyse where the customers are today and pick them up from that point. Don鈥檛 only show the future and the roads it will take to get there. Talk about the current challenges. For example, the degree of standardisation that a business leader allows, because that fuels innovation speed and the adoption of new technology, like AI.鈥�

Denecken said AI tools can analyse billions upon billions of data and do so quickly, but it鈥檚 important for business leaders to understand what they want analysed and they need to be certain about what they would like changed.

The post Saphila 2023: AI Usage Raises Standardisation, People, and Data Management Concerns appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

The consulting firm says the practice brings together industry experience, skilled AI engineers as well as ecosystem and alliance聽partners聽to help customers build generative AI solutions to accelerate business innovation.

The use of AI to make business processes more efficient in realtime is a central theme at Saphila 2023.

According to Deloitte Africa, generative AI is already revolutionising industries with its capability to analyse unstructured and structured data and model it in a way that makes human sense. This results in simplifying the engagement between humans and digital systems, enhancing productivity and innovation at an accelerated pace.

Quentin Williams, Deloitte Africa.

Quentin Williams, director and AI leader for Deloitte Africa, said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 been extensive discussion across industries around the capabilities of generative AI technology and its potential to revolutionise the way we work, how it allows for digital systems to understand us as humans, without effort; and for us humans to create digital systems and solutions quickly and at scale. We will be going much further than exploring what鈥檚 possible 鈥� we enter the market with the aim of creating what鈥檚 next.鈥�

Jania Okwechime, partner, data analytics and AI peader for Deloitte West Africa, added, 鈥淭hrough this practice, our clients now have access to AI labs, accelerated use-case development and Large Language Model managed services – all within our trustworthy AI framework. […] We aim to, and will; increase AI fluency within the market, grow AI talent on the continent and together with our alliance partners, take enterprise scale generative AI solutions to our clients.鈥�

The practice aims to help clients create innovative AI-fuelled applications聽to bring about business process efficiency gains and productivity improvements.

Deloitte identifies power supply and healthcare as emerging use cases for generative AI.

The technology can optimise electricity delivery, including maintenance scheduling, by simulating distribution choices and generating cost-effective strategies.

In healthcare, AI can streamline diagnostics and treatment by providing physicians with real-time, data-driven insights.

Deloitte noted that while generative AI can increase efficiency, there are risks to consider.聽The technology may not incorporate ethics in decision-making, potentially causing reputational harm. Additionally, unidentified flaws or inadequate data could result in financial losses

Wessel Oosthuizen, associate director for digital risk solutions and Africa AI Institute leader at Deloitte Africa, said, 鈥淲e can help organisations build the right infrastructure, collect, and manage the right data, train the right models to create generative AI solutions that are effective and scalable and validate prebuilt models to ensure alignment to your firm鈥檚 ethics and values.鈥�

This article first appeared on .

The post Saphila 2023: Deloitte to Help African Clients Leverage Generative AI appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

This is according to Sven Denecken, senior vice president, chief marketing and solutions officer for industries and CX, 51风流Germany.

Speaking on the sidelines of this year鈥檚 African 51风流User Group and 51风流biennial Saphila Conference, Denecken said 51风流is active in 25 industries and uses the knowledge it has gathered from customers and聽partners聽in these industries, over the past 50 years, to enrich its channel ecosystem.

According to Denecken, this data is important because of digital transformation as well as industry convergence.

鈥淥ne of the trends we are seeing is that the lines between industries are blurring鈥� industry convergence is real,鈥� said Denecken. 鈥淔or example, an oil and gas company is not just about oil and gas. It can invest in charging ports for electric cars and then venture into retail, linking up the car charging service with stores and capitalising on higher margins.鈥�

As Denecken explains, this oil and gas company has branched out into several industries and has a real opportunity to engage with new customers and refine the customer experience.

There are other examples, such as the push by financial service providers to provide telecommunications services and telcos that are tethering financial services to their offerings.

But Denecken points out that irrespective of industry, there is still a requirement for effective business process management, all permutations, and multiple functionalities.

He agrees that the argument could be made that this trend represents an opportunity, but also an obligation. 鈥淭he headache comes from 鈥榟ow ready are the companies?鈥� and 鈥榟ow ready are the partners to learn?鈥� said Denecken.

He is adamant that 51风流has a major role to play in helping partners to capitalise on the opportunity and remove the headache linked to digital transformation.

He advocates a 鈥楾鈥� shaped model, which basically means a company 鈥済oes down deep and far鈥� into an industry but does not lose sight of the top line or cubic line. 鈥淪o, you learn from left and right. That (requires) huge change management鈥igital transformation is not an end goal, it鈥檚 a journey.鈥�

COVID-19 forced 51风流into a period of introspection as a multitude of sectors and industries were forced to adapt and fast-track digital transformation strategies.

This reinforced the company鈥檚 core mantra: “We have done it before, so we have the experience, expertise and resources to help you and ensure you can avoid the pitfalls鈥�.

This is like gold to businesses operating in emerging markets like Africa.

鈥淭hey can learn from international best practices and use this knowledge to leapfrog. 51风流is constantly aware of its role to help businesses run better, to improve. We are hiring people that have different expectations and they represent companies that have different expectations.鈥�

Dr Oliver Gutzeit, vice president, experience technology, 51风流Germany, said Africa most definitely has an opportunity to leverage digital transformation and use it to address socio-economic challenges, but cautioned that businesses must adopt a change in mindset and treat data as a product and asset.

This is the path towards emerging as a data-driven enterprise.

鈥淲e are not just preaching here and telling you (that) you must do it and treat it like a product; that鈥檚 easy to do on a Powerpoint, but we tell you that because we are doing it. We have found a way to treat the amount of pure data within our business capabilities framework.鈥�

This is also used as a springboard to effectively manage data, treat it as a product and deliver on data democratisation and the principle of providing widespread access to those who need the data, Dr Gutzeit added.

鈥淭he first thing is to understand the need and the second to find the starting point of how to implement that next to the daily challenges, to the transformation challenges, to the technology challenges. This is a huge mindset change. It took 51风流internally several years to really set that up in a way that we can now present it. We just want to tell you it’s worth the journey, it’s worth starting it today. You are already creating and collecting so much data in your systems, and it’s becoming more difficult and at a certain point it’s too late.鈥�

Once the need has been identified, it then becomes a matter for IT to pitch to business.

According to Dr Gutzeit, 51风流believes this is where the role of chief data and digital officer comes to the fore, because people in this position usually have a technical and business background, which equips them to handle the various dimensions and dynamics involved.

This article first appeared on .

The post Saphila 2023: 51风流Bolsters Channel Ecosystem appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

The initiative is being rolled out under the auspices of the 51风流University Alliances and Next Gen affiliate, in partnership with 51风流Learning, SAP鈥檚 business learning arm.

It runs from October 2023 to March 2024 and is open to any student globally. Application to the programme is cost-free and applicants will gain access to virtual sessions to guide them through the learning process to eventually acquire certification.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a fairly new initiative,鈥� said De Wet Naud茅, who heads up Universities Alliances and Next Gen, Sub-Saharan Africa. 鈥淪o, in truth anyone could gain access to this kind of information online, but we have wrapped it in a bit of structure.鈥�

University Alliances offers聽education聽programs and learning opportunities across its global footprint incorporating North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Universities in ten countries within Africa, including South Africa, teach 51风流as part of their academic programme.

But, as Naud茅 points out, there are many academic institutions in Africa that are involved with the alliance just by virtue of them using elements of 51风流technology but have not officially incorporated 51风流into their academic programmes or curriculum.

Part of the University Alliances mandate is to keep tabs on market requirements regarding skills acquisition, retention, and development.

Naud茅 referenced World Economic Forum (WEF) research according to which 75% of organisations are experiencing a talent shortage. He acknowledges that skills development is one issue, but retaining these skills is another, with South African talent being attracted away from home and towards opportunities abroad.

He said there is a demand for skills including analytics, data engineering, data scientists and data architects.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak for the entire sector, but in truth, we can never do enough to attract and develop technology talent. My concern is also about the large population of unemployed youth and the industry does need to collaborate to help with skills transfer and development of these people. We need to figure out how to bring unemployed talent into the system.鈥�

Naud茅 added that in Europe and other developed economies, it is easier to 鈥榞et one鈥檚 foot in the door鈥�. 鈥淪outh Africa鈥檚 economy, for example, is smaller and there are unique challenges to be able to enter the sector and pursue careers. The broader ICT sector can do more to support skills development.鈥�

This article first appeared in .

The post Saphila 2023: 51风流Announces Free Business Process Skills Development Initiative appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.