EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HAMILTON RATSHEFOLA , COUNTRY GENERAL MANAGER ,
IBM SOUTHERN AFRICA
Hybrid cloud is swiftly becoming the dominant force driving change on the African continent . With remote work now becoming a norm , the value of cloud computing has never been greater . We ’ ve seen many companies move to all-encompassing work from home without much interruption – thanks in large part to cloud computing . Dozens of business-oriented applications are now connecting homebound workers to collaborative tools that enable business continuity . The cloud-based support of video conferencing , file-sharing services , communications platforms , chat bots and a host of data analytics , graphic design , accounting , HR and sales management programmes has allowed remote employees to continue work as if they never left their company offices . Similarly , remote developers continue writing code and building applications in cloud-supported containerised environments , while AIbacked internal and customer-facing applications keep humming along because they are built and managed in the cloud .
Hybrid cloud and AI are the two dominant forces driving Digital Transformation . These technologies are promising to meet the needs of clients wherever they may be on their transformation journey . Companies rarely start from scratch and they often have complex workloads , apps , messaging , data and transactional systems to consider as they build for the future . Hybrid cloud and AI are the basis for competitive advantage in this environment – they determine how quickly one can pivot to new market opportunities , how well you serve your clients , how much you can scale and how fast you can respond to a crisis like the one we are facing today .
CIOs are looking to improve efficiencies in the midst of ever-increasing complexities . We believe that we
have introduced solutions and services to help them navigate this and the year ahead will really be about expanding on this and helping them navigate new challenges and changing requirements . One of the most consequential cloud projects introduced is the financial services-ready public cloud . Banks operate in a complex environment and have a myriad of challenges to tackle as their workloads move more to the cloud .
To address these issues , we launched the financial services-ready cloud . And to reinforce this , IBM has unveiled a programme for independent software vendors ( ISVs ) and Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS ) providers . The programme helps them demonstrate that they have met the stringent security , resiliency and compliance requirements of IBM ’ s financial servicesready public cloud .
IBM is offering IBM Cloud Satellite which extends IBM Cloud services anywhere a client needs them , delivered As-a-service on-premises or at the Edge . Firms can increase their business agility by automating deployment and management of cloud native services across all of their computing environments – for both development and operations .
CIOs are also looking to 5G and Edge Computing which can bring computation and data storage closer to where data is created and make it easier for companies to act on the insights it generates .
The challenge is to connect all of the different elements into a cohesive platform that enables agility and rapid delivery of new features and services . This is why we introduced new Edge and telco network cloud solutions built on Red Hat Open Stack and Red Hat OpenShift .
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