FEATURE : ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
According to Microsoft ’ s Valley , purpose-driven innovation has been the hallmark of 2020 and the IT industry in Africa is seeing how technology and AI is being adopted as a means of making meaningful changes . “ Countries that stand out include South Africa where examples of AI readiness adoption include the the South African Revenue Service ( SARS ) e-filing and mobile app and the use of AI and Machine Learning bots to improve service delivery and engagement with citizens ,” he said . “ The South
WHILE MANY FARMERS STILL RELY ON TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES TO MAKE A LIVING FROM THE LAND , THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES TO USE CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE AFRICA TOWARDS A FOOD SECURE FUTURE .
African Department of Health adopted a WhatsAppbased chatbot to help and support people with COVID-related health queries and direct them to where they could access accurate health information .”
Van Rensburg said the main verticals of focus specific to the MEA market and in particular Africa are : agriculture , health , financial services , government and education . “ With AI going beyond searching through historical data to predict future outcomes , businesses can perform complex analyses to discover new ways to achieve desired results ,” he said . “ When enlisting AI , firms can improve customer experience , augment employee performance , automate work processes and develop intelligent agents to assist with repetitive business processes . One must ensure that running programs are compatible and integrated with AI requirements , ensuring that the AI tools don ’ t stop the current output .”
AI challenges
With many organisations implementing AI solutions or embarking on AI journeys , CIOs and IT teams still face challenges deploying AI tools in their enterprise environment . Valley explained that AI is at the heart of Digital Transformation and Microsoft believes it will continue to play a critical role in helping businesses be more agile and competitive , as well as in driving business recovery and rebuilding innovative businesses . “ The path to unlocking the full potential of AI , however , is using the technology to complement human ingenuity . Companies should focus on ensuring AI is complementing the talents of their people , to drive business value from the technology ,” he said . “ AIleading companies that are combining skilling with AI deployment are cultivating employee skills across every category – ranging from advanced data analysis and critical thinking to communications and creativity .”
Digital Transformation
Given that AI is at the heart of driving Digital Transformation in an organisation and with it will come significant changes for many job functions , it ’ s important for CIOs to factor this in .
VMware ’ s Van Rensburg said many roles across organisations will require at least some use of AI technologies in the coming years . “ Job roles could include : data scientists , AI / ML developer , Machine Learning engineers , data analyst , natural language processing expert , computer science and AI researcher and software engineering ,” he pointed out .
“ AI is impacting the future of every industry , human being and has acted as the primary driver of emerging technologies like Big Data , robotics and IoT . With the growing usage of AI across Africa in various vertical , AI will continue to work as a technological innovator for the foreseeable future in the region .”
Ranjan said AI feeds into the data which becomes an integral part of any organisation ’ s AI journey . He added that organisations are embedding AI and Machine Learning algorithms with their analytics solutions to not only clean the huge amount of data from various data sources , data lakes , data warehouse and social platforms , but also to translate these raw data ( both structured and un-structured data ) into insights on how to tackle challenges and achieve business priorities .
“ Using AI and analytics , organisations can turn this data into actionable insights that will empower them with data driven decisions and transforming them to a digital enterprise ,” he said .
According to Valley , this is an unprecedented moment for all companies , regardless of size , sector or geography . “ The months and years ahead will be pivotal for most businesses as we look to adapt in the wake of the pandemic . AI is at the heart of Digital Transformation and we believe it will continue to
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