Author: Editor
By Anthony Turton We have a leadership vacuum in the country. People in leadership positions like the Man in the Hat are there only because of political connections and not because they have the core skills to do the job. We will rapidly start to encounter shortages of crucial goods like fuel for motor vehicles, food for hungry stomachs, medication for the sick, cash to grease the wheels of trade and spare parts to keep the machinery of commerce going. The core lesson is that civil society responded by organising themselves rapidly and effectively. We will now see the dawn…
The South African vaccine rollout has been expanded to include people over 50 years old. Nicol Myburgh, Head: CRS Technologies HCM Business Unit, discusses the obligations of companies when it comes to the vaccination, including providing days off for employees who need to get the jab and who may require sick leave if they experience any side effects. The Government Gazette No. 47700 published on 11 June provides a consolidated direction on occupational health and safety (OHS) measures in the workplace. It details reasonable solutions for employers that accommodate all parties should an employee(s) refuse to be vaccinated for medical…
By Howard Feldman, Head of Marketing & People at Synthesis Help me out here. Let’s assume that I was in the market for a new 53 Inch television and that I had no intention of paying for either the item or my TV license. And let’s assume that I wanted to join the looters this morning because I have some time on my hands. Where would I find out where the group was meeting? That’s the “spontaneous” gatherings of looters seem more organised than a church picnic has to be a sign that there is more to the communication than…
Manufacturers need to radically improve the quality of architectural specifications provided on their websites, or risk not being specified in architects’ projects, this according to Morag Evans, CEO of BuildConnect, a division of Databuild. “As the construction industry claws its way back to recovery, architects are under immense pressure to source building materials and products for their projects and want the most efficient, accurate means of doing so,” she says. “According to feedback BuildConnect has received, however, online specifications that are provided by manufacturers are often incomplete and inaccurate, or the product featured is no longer in use.” This sentiment…
By Kelly Preston, data analytics manager at SilverBridge Holdings Insurers looking toward digital innovations to drive operational improvements in their processes would do well to consider the benefits of intelligent automation (IA). For example, the recent partnership between SilverBridge and Astute Financial Services Exchange which delivers a fully automated intelligent claims processing solution that provides maximum risk oversight while enabling claims to be processed in real-time. It centres on leveraging innovative technology to help reduce the cost of each claim thanks to better ways of detecting fraud. In fact, managing fraud remains one of the most significant challenges that insurers…
By Ralph Berndt, sales and marketing director at Syrex Implementing effective cybersecurity solutions today comes down to their practicality and ensuring the fundamentals are in place. Companies must identify the data that must be secured, the reasons behind securing it, and finding the most cost-effective ways of doing so. There has been a significant push towards a Zero Trust approach. This is a derivative of the new breed of security threats facing organisations. But despite how the cyber threat surface is evolving and how sophisticated attacks have become, it remains crucial for the company to define good cybersecurity practice within…
By Synthesis Executive Assistant, Sharon Andrews While there are many ways SMEs could improve and adapt their remote working policies, this will largely be dependent on the organisation itself. However, some tips and tricks for remote working are universal. Working at a software company, Synthesis Software Technologies, means agility is the standard and we put this agility to use when Covid-19 emerged. Below are a few ways we made remote work workable. As a company, Synthesis set up a Covid Task Force and were able to plan a few weeks prior to the entire country going into shutdown last year…