NEWS
IT spending to
rise by 4.3% in
South Africa
Cranfield Aviation Training
launches e-learning platform
I
T spending in South Africa will total
R276.6 billion in 2018, a 4.3% increase,
according to Gartner. All IT segments are on
track to achieve growth this year, with data
systems and servers returning to growth.
“South Africa is playing technology catch-
up,” said John-David Lovelock, Vice-President
at Gartner.
“After years of neglecting basic data centre
requirements, the country’s IT leaders are
now drawing attention to their data centre
system spending.
“Although data centre systems remain the
smallest spending IT segment in South Africa,
this segment’s year-over-year increase is set
to be the most profound in 2018.”
“We realised that the modern-day
learner is no longer content with training
in a classroom environment,” said
Mandy Tebbit, Director for Cranfield
Aviation Training.
South Africa remains behind many of the
more technologically mature countries
when it comes to IT spending, both as a
percentage of revenue and in the purchase
of advanced systems, such as those involving
Artificial Intelligence, cloud, digitalisation
and collaboration technology. The increase
in data server system spending this year
stems from requirements to overcome a
large corporate technology deficit and to
modernise data centres.
“To ensure our longevity as the leading
provider of training in aviation, we
needed to meet the demands of the
new learner and embarked on a search
for an e-learning platform that was
feature rich yet cost-effective, and
selected aNewSpring.”
“Digital Transformation is happening in
South Africa, but the pace and penetration is
low,” added Lovelock.
“Newly modernised data centres that can
support application software purchases, as
well as internally developed systems, will
drive advances in digitalisation. However,
low cloud adoption and underutilisation of
strategic consulting and implementation
services will mean a slow pace Digital
Transformation in South Africa overall.”
Paul Hanly, Co-Founder of New
Leaf Technologies
T
he Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has
given South African-based Cranfield
Aviation the initial go ahead to put six of
its courses on the e-learning platform.
With over 80 courses available to all
flight deck, cabin crew personnel and
flight engineers, Cranfield has remained
relevant and embraced all advancements
in the aviation industry over the past 20
years. This is made evident with its recent
training addition, a remote pilot license
training for drones.
www.intelligentcio.com
Tebbit is confident that once the CAA
see the results and benefits that online
learning provides, approval for other non-
practical courses will follow.
“We see a huge demand internationally
for human factor training in other
industries such as mining as well as oil
and gas,” she said.
“Our goal is to take these courses outside
of the aviation industry using the
aNewSpring platform.”
Paul Hanly, Co-Founder of New Leaf
Technologies, said: “We are excited about
this project and look forward to the results
that we know e-learning will bring to this
traditionally conservative industry.” n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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