FINAL WORD
“Technological
innovation across a
range of industries
means that most
new jobs are for
skilled and semi-
skilled workers.”
Entire systems of production,
management, and governance are
being affected, and as digitisation
continues, it is intimately
intertwined with addressing youth
unemployment, manufacturing and
harnessing human innovation.
Take mobile phones, for example.
Within the next five years, it is
estimated that more people will have
mobile phones than bank accounts
or running water, increasing global
mobile data traffic seven-fold. In the
Middle East and Africa region, there
will be 12-fold growth in mobile data
traffic growth, jumping from 7.3
exabytes last year to 88.4 exabytes
by 2021 (Cisco Visual Networking
Index 2017).
Notwithstanding that, with the
increase of mobile and Internet-
use penetration comes new threats;
namely cybersecurity, which has
become a massive global problem.
To put some perspective on the
cybersecurity threat landscape for a
minute, there are roughly 3bn Google
searches per day and Cisco blocks
on average 19.7bn cybersecurity
threats every single day. Prioritising
cybersecurity capabilities is not only
80
INTELLIGENTCIO
important for protecting organisations
and their customers’ data, assets
and reputation, but is fundamental
to successful digital transformation,
which is where we’re seeing economic
growth occur for Africa.
Increasing mobility, technology use
and digital content are profoundly
impacting the way Africans live, learn,
work, transact and communicate
with one another. It is an opportunity
unlike anything humankind has ever
experienced, including how Africa may
increase employment opportunities.
According to South Africa’s Treasury:
“Technological innovation across a
range of industries means that most
new jobs are for skilled and semi-
skilled workers.”
To its credit, South Africa sees R&D as
an important catalyst in the economy
and has budgeted R13.6 billion over
the medium term, with R1 billion set
aside in 2018/2019 for innovation-
oriented activities.
By working with The Innovation Hub,
the University of Witwatersrand,
Tshimologong Precinct and Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University,
among others, Cisco is demonstrating
that strong collaboration and
partnerships are what the country
truly needs.
Digital skills support
services growth
As South Africa becomes more
services-driven (and less commodity-
dependent), the country must foster
digital skills as part of transitioning the
population from low-skill/low-pay jobs
to high-skill/high-pay jobs. Workers
Increasing mobility,
technology use
and digital content
are profoundly
impacting the way
Africans live, learn,
work, transact and
communicate with
one another.
o c . i t n e g i l e t n i .