Author: Gugu Lourie

One of the biggest advantages of smart metering is the ability for power utilities to dynamically regulate the levels of demand, via real-time pricing incentives to consumers. Price incentives enable utilities to achieve greater operational efficiencies, culminating in a state of ‘responsive demand’ – where the country’s power requirements are perfectly balanced with the generation of electricity. By Martin Vergunst, Business Solutions Executive at T-Systems South Africa One of the biggest challenges currently facing our utility is the fact that demand levels are not easy to predict or to measure in real-time, and are impossible to control. Both prepaid token…

Small medium enterprises (or SMEs) in South Africa do not have any options in terms of intelligent software that can give them the same benefits enjoyed by big companies with big budgets. In particular, I am referring to enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. By Phehello Mofokeng, director of Geko Labs, a Johannesburg-based ERP integration and implementation firm. In today’s highly competitive marketplace, the implementation of ERP enables companies to turn their growth strategies into profit, track expenditure, monitor time spent on projects or work and cut costs. But the moment one mentions ERP, many SMEs are consumed with fear and envy.…

Governments will have to invest in the fight against cybercrime if we are to mitigate the increasing risks brought on by the Internet of Things (IoT). By Jason Jordaan, principal forensic scientist at DFIRLABS. If our South African law enforcement is to stand any chance in winning the battle against these highly skilled criminals, they will have to invest in hiring people with high-tech skills. While a lot of work has been done towards a new cybercrime and cybersecurity bill for South Africa, we do not only need policies that address cybercrime robustly and openly, but also highly skilled law…

South Africa’s FitKey, an app that connects users to a range of geo-located exercise classes, has received investment from Cape Town based entrepreneur and angel investor, Justin Stanford. By Staff Writer The FitKey app that entered beta in May this year is poised to open to the public and expand across the country. It allows the user to join an extensive range of fitness and exercise classes without being locked into a specific contract. Stanford and FitKey co-founders, Evan Walther and Joshua Shimkin, signed the final agreements in August this year. The pre-seed investment from Stanford puts the startup…

South African-based Tuluntulu – a mobile streaming platform app that enables its users to watch TV anywhere and anytime – has now been downloaded over 210,000 times in 154 countries. By Gugu Lourie Tuluntulu is popular with users in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique and Ethiopia. The company has also enticed users from Zimbabwe. The cumulative usage numbers of the app since launch has reached over 6.4 million screen views, more than 1.3 million sessions, with 210,000 active users and over 83% returning users. The app receives 35 000 monthly unique users and over 880,000 screen views…

“Laptops are one of the most requested and fastest selling items on Gumtree,” says Claire Cobbledick, head of marketing for Gumtree South Africa.”By Staff Writer South Africans are enjoying greater access to broadband via free wi-fi initiatives and urban hotspots, so it is no surprise that laptops and PCs are a hot commodity – particularly second hand ones. “Laptops are one of the most requested and fastest selling items on Gumtree,” says Cobbledick. “There is constant churn in the category which is why it’s important to price your second hand computer correctly To assist prospective buyers and sellers, Gumtree…

A company led by ex-Absa boss Steve Booysen is aiming for a slice of the booming fibre market in South Africa, which has seen new players emerge such as Vumatel. By Gugu Lourie Metrofibre Networx, which is led by Booysen as a CEO and executive chairman, is supported by its active shareholder – Sanlam Private Equity (SPE). In 2013 Sanlam invested in the managed open access fibre network and broadband fibre provider and has representation on the Metrofibre board. Sanlam invested in Metrofibre to grow its own fibre network, marking its first investment of this nature. Metrofibre, which was founded in…

Age-old industries that once stood as surely as stone masonry are suddenly shifting like sand under our feet. For example, Uber has rapidly risen to become the world’s largest taxi company – without actually owning any cars. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the biggest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. By Kim Andersen, account CTO at T-Systems South Africa These dramatic shifts in the global business landscape – caused by new technologies, increased globalisation, and the arrival of the millennial generation – create unprecedented risks and opportunities for organisations in almost every vertical. The companies…

Strategic IT is a term that is easily bandied about but only deserves the monicker once business leaders adopt a significant mind-set change. And this change is based on one of the most hotly contested debates within organisations: budget. By Sameer Deans, general manager at ThoughtWorks The argument over allocation of the IT budget in particular is all too often constrained by a mentality that views IT projects as an expenditure item rather than a value-adding service that can help the business grow revenue. The grappling over scarce resources between the business and IT is an age-old tussle that destroys…

The Wi-Fi Forum of South Africa (the Forum) chairman Andile Ngcaba has called on telecommunications operators to embrace open access to their networks and stop holding South Africa back. By Gugu Lourie Ngcaba, also a chairperson of global technology group Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, says operators restricting access to their networks is counter-productive and is holding South Africa back from achieving universal access and poverty-beating economic growth. He previously called for the adoption of open access model in licensing high-demand spectrum in the so-called “digital dividend” and 2.6GHz bands to be able to provide broadband access to…