Author: Linda Saunders
I’ve just returned from Dreamforce 2025 in San Francisco, where leaders from around the world were talking about what comes next in the “agentic era” – a future where AI systems don’t just automate tasks, but plan, reason and act independently to achieve complex goals. What struck me most is how relevant these conversations are to Africa right now. Across the continent, businesses are being asked to do more with less. They’re expected to grow faster and serve more people, but budgets and teams aren’t growing at the same pace. AI can help bridge that gap: not by being a…
Generative AI has become the new frontier of workplace productivity, efficiently rewriting emails, analysing data, recording meetings, and automating complex tasks. This powerful technology is being adopted rapidly across the continent. In Africa, approximately 40% of organisations are either experimenting with or deploying generative AI tools. This adoption is already yielding measurable success: 51% of South African businesses believe generative AI has improved productivity and competitiveness. Governance: The foundation for reliable innovation To ensure this growth is reliable and responsible, organisations must build a foundation of trust. AI runs on data, and data runs on trust. Building a healthy data…
In a time of rising global economic uncertainty, African businesses are increasingly turning to AI to accelerate productivity and unlock a new level of ROI. The data is compelling – according to the World Bank’s recent Global Economic Prospects report, rising global trade and policy uncertainty could weaken growth by 2.3% in 2025, impacting both major economies and emerging markets. In the face of these headwinds, many businesses are ramping up plans to implement AI, driving new levels of productivity and cost savings. In a March 2025 survey by McKinsey, 78% of respondents reported their organisation already uses AI in at least one business function, up…
Today, every company wants to be an AI company, yet only 1% of firms consider themselves fully mature in AI adoption, according to McKinsey. As we move from chatbots to copilots to autonomous AI agents or “agentic systems,” companies that haven’t already implemented AI risk losing significant ground to competitors. This could happen faster than they think. Autonomous AI agents go beyond pre-defined scripts to handle nuanced interactions. They can not only generate content but make decisions and take action with limited or no human supervision. The move to intelligent, scalable digital labor represents a true revolution. By 2028, Gartner…