EDITOR’S QUESTION
KEITH FENNER,
VICE PRESIDENT, SAGE
ENTERPRISE AFRICA
AND MIDDLE EAST
A
frican organisations know that
they need to accelerate digital
transformation if they are to
meet the challenges posed by global
competition, new regulations and
increasingly demanding customers.
However, transforming an established
business into a digital enterprise
depends on the CEO, CIO and other
senior executives overcoming a range
of organisational, financial and
technical barriers.
Here are some of the factors that hold
back digital transformation among
African businesses:
Legacy systems: To create a solid
foundation for digital processes and
systems, companies need to modernise
their core business applications and
automate their business processes;
yet they cannot afford to put
their operations on hold as they
implement complex enterprise
resource planning (ERP) suites. New
deployment methodologies and cloud
solutions, however, can accelerate the
implementation of a new business system.
A lack of skills: There is a lack of digital
skills and talent in Africa, across areas
such as cybersecurity, cloud computing
and data science. Many organisations’
IT departments have a strong base
of legacy IT skills, yet struggle to find
professionals with the next generation
of digital skills. Addressing these
demands requires companies to think
about which skills they will access
through outsourcing partners, which
ones they’ll develop in-house, and how
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they’ll manage issues like skills transfer
with external vendors.
Finding time to innovate: CIOs are
struggling to find the time and money
to innovate and lead change while
‘keeping the lights on’ and maintaining
operational efficiency. The same applies
to their teams, who need to find time
to innovate and learn on the job, while
delivering on existing expectations.
Optimisation and automation of IT
processes can help larger companies
reclaim some of the time they spend
keeping the lights on for innovation.
Executive vision and buy-in: For
organisations to succeed in their digital
transformation projects, they need to
get buy-in from across the business. IT
leaders will need vision and storytelling
skills to help the organisation prepare
for this change.
Cultural barriers: Many large
organisations are treating innovation
and disruption as separate disciplines
because of the challenges of driving
change in an established business and
securing the right skills. Companies are
pursuing a range of strategies to drive
innovation in their businesses, ranging
from setting up venture capital funds
and incubators, investing in tech and
digital companies, running innovation
challenges and forming strategic
alliances with tech companies.
Immature technology: Organisations
must master the balance between
managing the risks of deploying
immature technologies and those being
left behind by emerging, disruptive
trends. The Internet of Things,
blockchain, artificial intelligence and
machine learning will transform the way
we do business over the next five to 10
years, yet they are not quite ready for
prime-time deployment.
Enterprises should conduct many small
proofs of concept to develop best
practices and build the organisational
capacity and infrastructure for
tomorrow’s digital business models.
Constant experimentation and
innovation are essential if companies are
to keep up with the rate of change. n
“Transforming
an established
business into a
digital enterprise
depends on the
CEO, CIO and other
senior executives
overcoming a range
of organisational,
financial and
technical barriers.”
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