Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 60 | Page 37

FEATURE : IT OUTLOOK 2022 organisations where they can grow their skills . Other thoughts are to work with outside institutions to provide their core employees to develop new skills and the ongoing learning habit .”
communities and offer internships wherever possible to directly benefit communities that we live in and support through products and services and who ’ s support we rely on for the success of our businesses ,” he said .
Marilyn Moodley , Country Leader , South Africa and WECA ( West , East , Central Africa ), SoftwareONE , said with few exceptions , almost every company will be a tech business in the Fourth Industrial Revolution . “ The adoption of technology – and the change required to support modern working – is one of the biggest challenges organisations currently face . The IT skills gap is unlikely to disappear , but organisations can certainly find ways to overcome it ,” she said . “ Everything we do – from where we work , to how we shop , eat , travel , buy – will all transform . Organisations that equip their workforce with the necessary skills will be able to adapt and innovate .”
Chris Norton , Regional Director – Africa , Veeam Software , said as openly as possible – Skills are in very short supply and the problem is only getting worse with the ‘ brain drain ’ being exacerbated by geopolitical pressures and events of late . Norton said CIOs should work to build as much skill as possible in their organisations rather than to buy so as to enable and retain key individuals . “ We need to all take responsibility for building the skills pool around key technologies for the future .
We need to also look at the corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) side of it and help to uplift
Looking ahead , Dell Technologies ’ Amin said Technologies such as cloud , Artificial Intelligence , Machine Learning , Edge and IoT , storage , data analytics , security and workforce transformation continue to be at the forefront of IT investments , and businesses need to focus their priorities in those areas to remain competitive . According to Amin , these technologies are rapidly changing how organisations must operate to be able to succeed in the hybrid and digital era .
“ Specifically , the combination of robotic process automation ( RPA ), Artificial Intelligence ( AI ), and Machine Learning will have a substantial impact on many industries , as it will help to automate redundant processes and tasks which will free up employees to be more innovative ,” he said . “ Additionally , the adoption of AI with increasing IoT technologies , along with 5G , will greatly improve operations efficiency and enhance customer experiences , with data analytics at the edge devices and close to real-time automation .”
He said this will ultimately change how organisations operate and analyse their data , and impact the way they deliver products and services . “ It is therefore imperative that organisations understand how they can best leverage these technologies to keep pace with the fast pace of change and the digital future ,” he said . p
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