Author: Editor
By Hennie Moodie, New Business Lead at Remote Metering Solutions The COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, this has been a disruptive year for many South Africans. Load shedding has made an unwelcome, albeit sporadic, return. The violent protests in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng added distress to an already burdened society. Job losses and other economic challenges increased the pressure many companies and individuals have already been experiencing. And yet, despite all of this, there are positive changes to be thankful for. In June, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised a series of amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act allowing Independent Power Producers (IPPs)…
Construction industry knowledge hub Databuild has welcomed recent announcements by National Treasury and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) regarding locally produced products and materials. “National Treasury’s decision to prohibit the use of imported cement on government-funded projects from 4 November will give the beleaguered South African construction industry a much-needed boost and hopefully stimulate the creation of new jobs while ensuring that existing ones are sustained,” says CEO Morag Evans. Local cement manufacturers have been particularly hard hit over the past few years by cheap imports from countries such as Vietnam and Pakistan. Research done by data company…
By Tjaard du Plessis, Head of Digital and Emerging Technology at Synthesis As the world adapts to the realities of COVID-19, industries and businesses need to have a firm grasp on digital transformation to compete. Not only does it exist to solve business problems, eliminating complexity through technology, but it also reduces unnecessary manual work, saving time and money. The term digital transformation is often misused. In a nutshell, it is an organisation’s capacity to embrace emerging technology. It is not only about new tech such as transforming existing infrastructure and software. Digital transformation also encompasses customer experiences, products, and…
GolfLeader just launched in South Africa to provide subscribers with a live golf tournament leaderboard app for their next social golf tour or social golfing event. Subscription is free to individuals and social groups. The app provides up to date scoring to golfers and non-golfers conveniently from any internet-connected device, including smartphones. “Most golfing groups enjoy social golf tours or social golf events amongst friends. There is normally a competitive side to these which means scoring needs to be carefully checked and collated end of day or end of tour. However, this is a time-consuming process. The individuals responsible for…
The global manufacturing industry has experienced significant disruption over the last two years. This has seen many manufacturers reconsider how they leverage technology, especially their mission-critical manufacturing systems. For them, it is about becoming more responsive to the changes needed to drive business growth in 2022 and beyond. DAC Systems and First Distribution will be discussing the challenges of this environment as well as the opportunities to address them using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. They are hosting a one-hour webinar at 10:00 on 24 November. “Regardless the size of their manufacturing operations, decision-makers need to have confidence in their…
By Rodney Ellis, Synthesis Service Manager With Black Friday around the corner, most if not all, e-commerce and retailers will have that feeling of anxiousness and dread in the weeks leading up to the day asking: “Will the site or systems stay up? Will it perform under the additional load?” and “If it goes down how fast can we recover?” Where to Start? Now that we know what potentially can go wrong and it will go wrong at some point, what can be done to avoid this from affecting customer experience and, at the end of the day, sales and…
By Hennie Moodie, New Business Lead at Remote Metering Solutions Now, more than ever, attention in South Africa has shifted to how best generate electricity at affordable rates and how to optimise utility management during these uncertain times. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) recently approved several electricity generation licences for floating power ships, could this become a viable alternative for the future? As the name suggests, a power ship is a special purpose ship on which a power plant is installed that can provide developing countries with ready-to-go infrastructure that plugs into the national grid when required.…
By Louise du Plessis, Strategic Product Manager at Trinity IoT Extraordinary events over the past five years have created the ideal environment to enable large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) projects in South Africa. First, the rapid adoption of the cloud due to COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation across all business sectors since 2019. Second, the increasing availability of fibre and 5G connectivity across the country add further impetus to the changing technology landscape. Third, the recent arrival of AWS in South Africa, means businesses can capitalise on even more on-demand cloud computing resources. Regulatory concerns relating to data sovereignty and…
Celebrating 27 years in business, Trinity IoT is focused on empowering South African organisations with the ability to turn their live data into real world business value. Through the Trinity Connect Platform, organisations can manage their entire device and SIM estate using an integrated interface. And by introducing the rules engine capabilities of Connect into the environment, companies can automate business operations using their incoming asset data. “We saw the massive potential of GSM for businesses when the first telcos launched in the country in 1994. Our initial focus was on importing and reselling machine-to-machine devices for businesses who were…
It has taken the ANC light years to learn nothing By Howard Feldman, Head of Marketing & People at Synthesis In thirteen years, one can achieve a lot. It is possible to conceive, incubate, and then grow a full human child and then raise them to become a teenager. It is possible to launch a communication platform in 2008, call it WhatsApp and then sell it to Facebook for a ridiculous amount of money. Or around the same time one could create one of the largest property companies in the world and call it Airbnb. Or if someone wanted to…