Author: Gugu Lourie
By Ashley Dove-Jay There’s this guy that’s pretty sure the thing you’re looking at right now is one of the greatest threats to humanity. No, he’s not talking about our growing obsession with staring at sheets of digitised glass, and the unhealthy sedentary existence associated with doing so. He’s talking about the thing living inside the machine humming quietly behind that glass: artificial intelligence. It turns out that Elon Musk, one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, is plagued with existential worries. His new biography, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, reveals the billionaire engineer…
By Gugu Lourie For whatever reason airline passengers at airports make mental notes of the people around them. I recently observed a well-dressed ‘gentleman’ at an airport in China. He walked with an obvious swagger. For me there was nothing about him that alarmed me or suggested he could be up to no good. After all this was Beijing Capital International Airport. Perhaps he sensed that my travelling companions and I were not overtly averse to his presence. Not surprisingly the well-dressed ‘gentleman’ decided to sit next to us. He had arrived “in style” at the boarding gates for a…
“But right now is heads down, run a good business.” By Gugu Lourie A South African business – which provides secure electronic communications such as paperless bank statements – is targeting more global growth after venturing into the tough US market. Striata operates in London, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Sydney, and via partners in North and South America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The company provides paperless solutions: document delivery, electronic messaging and marketing communications. Striata recently announced that it has bought Mass Transmit – a New York based provider of email marketing tools and services – for an undisclosed amount. The US…
By Gareth van Zyl MTN says it has taken the Communication Workers Union (CWU) to the Johannesburg Labour Court for allegedly blocking entrances to the company’s offices and intimidating staff. MTN South Africa’s chief human resources officer, Themba Nyathi, told Fin24 that the company’s court interdict against the union had been heard on Friday midday. The court action comes as call centre and franchise staff have taken to the streets this week to demand that MTN hikes their annual salary increase by 10% and pays them a bonus of 16% of their annual salaries. The legal strike reached its high…
“The rise of the geek has been prolific, driven by the mainstream rise of tech and the acute relevance of previously niche skills” By Gary Newe We’ve seen the unstoppable rise of the geek over the past few years. From popular culture to big business, the geeks have inherited the Earth. They’re the billionaires, the modern day rock stars, and their many achievements have resulted in a significant change to their status in popular society. They are now often championed, given the limelight or even imitated – geek is now chic! So let’s take some time out to look at how…
By Philip Belamant and David Cooke With South African municipalities owing utilities providers in excess of R96 billion, it is clear that traditional ways of collecting money due for utilities services such as water, electricity and gas are no longer working. In fact, this level of debt is crippling the utilities, with illegal connections compounding the problem, as seen by recent power cuts due to system overload in Soweto. It’s time for utilities and municipalities to seek and implement more effective methods of revenue collection, and the model of installing smart meters that compel users to pay in advance for…
By Mpho Raborife Johannesburg – Stellenbosch University said on Friday it had terminated its contract with a lecturer who admitted to sending an alleged racist SMS to a student earlier this month. “The service contract between Stellenbosch University and Dr Anton Stander was terminated this week, after Dr Stander admitted of his own accord that he had made the said remarks,” the university said. “Stellenbosch University reaffirms its total repugnance towards comments of this nature and affirms its stance to act decisively in each such case, irrespective of its origin.” Stander asked the institution to mediate a meeting with Sikhulekile…
By Gugu Lourie Did you know the first co.za domain names to be registered in South Africa included mtn.co.za, multichoice.co.za, bmw.co.za, jse.co.za, nestle.co.za, anglo.co.za and telkom.co.za. There were 221 co.za domains registered in 1995 as the first crop of ZACR-registered domains. “These “Platinum” domains were the forerunners of what became a world-leading domain name industry that has contributed enormously to the intellectual capital of the country,” said the ZA Central Registry (ZACR). There are currently over 1 000 000 registered and active domain names ending in .ZA. “The first group of 221 co.za Platinum domain names are significant because they had…
By Gugu Lourie The South African competition commission gave its conditional approval to the R2.7 billion Telkom-Business Connexion (BCX) deal on Thursday clearing the lines for the deal that has been in the pipeline for almost a year. The competition watchdog wants conditions attached to the transaction. “We believe the proposed acquisition will assist Telkom with its strategy to grow beyond its core business of connectivity by expanding into ICT services. This will enable our business to further enhance and grow its existing offerings, while at the same time providing scale in IT services. It will also help to reinforce the…
By Staff Writer To help African enterprises prepare for the Internet of Things (IoT), MTN Group on Thursday announced a platform to control and manage the connectivity for their devices and sim cards. The new IoT platform is now live in South Africa, with other MTN operating countries set to follow over the next 12 months. MTN said the platform removes significant cost and accessibility barriers, ultimately enabling development on a broader scale, leading to the establishment of a vast ecosystem of scalable solutions addressing real-world needs. As part of the development of IoT, MTN has introduced a global Machine-to-Machine (M2M)…
“Clearly Cell C is positioning itself again as a trend setter – like before I expect that when this campaign goes pear-shaped the struggling operator will run as fast as it can to Icasa, the industry watchdog, to ask for a bailout via regulatory intervention.” By Gugu Lourie Cell C is dangling a whopping R10 000 reward to new customers who ditch contracts with Vodacom and MTN and sign up with South Africa’s third largest mobile service provider – but the unprecedented move raises sustainability questions. Cell C is yet to deliver its first bottom line profit after 14 years…
The launch of the Apple Watch heralds the transformation of BYOD into BYOX. How can businesses accommodate #GenMobile’s adoption of wearables, while still staying in control? By Matthew Barker “Gorgeous”. “Beautiful”. “Actually useful”. “Epic”. The accolades from the reviewers of the Apple Watch keep pouring in and the new device – though not the first of its kind in the market – holds the potential of becoming as ubiquitous as the iPhone or the iPod. However, the expected popularity of the Apple Watch raises interesting challenges for CIOs and IT managers. The Apple Watch is merely a herald of an…
By Tony Smith Over the years SMS marketing has become extremely prevalent as it is valuable, cost effective, intimate and reaches a specific target audience at a particular time. Small businesses with a tight marketing budget can achieve a high return on investment using SMS technology if they use it correctly. The majority of mobile users rarely leave home without their devices, meaning businesses are able to connect with their audience, wherever they may be. Therefore, effective mobile engagement platforms are required to achieve optimum results with SMS marketing. With the necessary tools to help enhance and improve interactions with customers, small…
By Staff Writer In a move to encourage mobile subscribers to ditch Vodacom and MTN, Cell C is giving customers of its rivals up to R10, 000 to help them buy themselves out of their contract should they want to move to Cell C but still have an outstanding value to settle before they can cancel. On Wednesday Cell C also reported a 44% rise in data traffic on it’s network , with data revenues up 59% in the first quarter of 2014 versus the same period in 2014. South Africa’s third mobile phone operator said that contract and TopUp customers can…
By Staff Writer Allied Electronics Corporation (Altron) will announce an independent management structure later this year, the struggling technology group said on Wednesday. The company, which is also in a process of selling subscriber base of its struggling Altech Autopage, said it is also exploring strategic equity and technology partnerships with global industry players in other areas of the business. Altron, which reported a 50% decline in headline earnings per share to 94 cents in the year to end-February, has also identified certain material non-core assets have been identified for disposal. “Altron’s board has undertaken a fundamental review of the group’s business strategy. As…
By Gugu Lourie Shares in struggling technology firm Allied Electronics Corporation (Altron) fell 3.7% to R12.89 by 11am on Tuesday after the company said it was in advanced talks to sell the mobile subscribers of Altech Autopage. The South African-based company, which is valued at more than R3.6bn, said on Tuesday that the decision to dispose of Altech Autopage’s subscriber bases has been based on, among others, the impacts of the on-going Mobile Termination Rate reductions, as well as continued industry and consumer deflationary pressures. “Accordingly this business has been classified as a discontinued operation for purposes of the company’s 2015 annual…
By Matthew le Cordeur Naspers chair Koos Bekker said his decision to work without a salary when he was CEO helped him focus on building the value of the company, but he wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. In an interview with Fin24 at his Naspers office in Cape Town, Bekker said that not taking a salary during his 17 years as CEO was a gamble that, after a shaky start, eventually worked out for him. “I don’t recommend it to everyone, because it’s high risk,” said Bekker, who started his new role as chair in April. Controversial decision Bekker’s decision…
Technology firm Ricoh has released its new 3054SP/3554SP series of A3 black-and-white multifunction devices, for medium to large offices, that support intelligent document functionality. By Staff Writer “These devices go beyond standard printing, copying, scanning and faxing to help businesses be ready for the future. They can be used as an information portal into the document environment and can connect directly to cloud services from the operation panel,” says Esti Kilian, national head of marketing services at Ricoh SA. “They allow people to monitor user activity, energy consumption and operating costs and they can form part of Ricoh’s Managed Document Services (MDS)…
By Gugu Lourie The decision by Gijima, a leading South African software and computer services group, to voluntarily delist from the bourse places the JSE technology index under the spotlight. Gijima’s delisting leaves only nine stocks on the technology index, which is made up of software and computer services as well as technology hardware and equipment shares. The technology index could be further depleted if Business Connexion (BCX) is bought by Telkom – a development that would see South Africa’s fastest-growing technology firm removed from the JSE. The R2.7bn deal, first announced nearly a year ago, awaits approval from SA’s competition watchdog. The transaction is likely to be finalised this year after which Telkom has indicated it will reverse…
By Scott Firsing Most do not associate Africa with the high-tech sphere of “space”. However, in recent years, many countries on the continent have woken up to the potential and usefulness of space technology. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria and South Africa are leading the charge. What have South Africa and Nigeria have achieved? Both countries have recognised the usefulness of satellites for earth observation, telecommunications and advancing space science. They have funded and overseen a number of launches. Nigeria’s space agency, the National Space Research and Development Agency, flies several multimillion-dollar satellites. South Africa launched its first satellite, SUNSAT, in 1999.…
By Michael Cowling & Cris Brack The idea that teachers should teach and students should listen presumes that teachers know more than their students. While this was generally true back when textbooks where a rarity, and may have been partly true since the invention of the public library, it is most likely untrue for at least many students in this era of the “active learner” (AKA “digital natives”). After all, with a smartphone in every student’s pocket and Google only a tap away, how can the humble sage expect to compete as the font of all online knowledge? The world…
By Staff Writer Solidarity Union said on Thursday that mobile phone operator Cell C recently notified its employees that it plans on embarking on a restructuring process which could lead to job losses. “The purpose of the restructuring process is to enhance the company’s effectiveness, streamline its business and avoid the duplication of functions. At this stage, some 47 positions are affected by the process. However, the company indicated that even more positions could be affected in the short term,” Solidaritty said, citing a letter dated 28 April 2015. Marius Croucamp, head of Solidarity’s Communications Industry, said Cell C is currently involved in…
By Staff Writer FNB has taken the top spot in the Columinate Internet Banking SITEisfaction Survey, which measures internet banking quality and user experience in South Africa. At an overall score of 75 points FNB emerged as the best online banking platform in 2015. “At the root of our success is ensuring that we put the customer first by viewing everything from the client’s perspective. The success of FNB Online Banking in this is survey is largely owed to our firm belief in consistently enhancing customer experience,” says Dione Sankar, Head of FNB Online Banking. With over 1.4 million active Online…
By Staff Writer South Africa’s fixed-line telephone group Telkom on Thursday announced an investment of more than R100 million in enterprise and supplier development with the launch of its FutureMakers programme. FutureMakers focuses on driving innovation in the ICT sector by growing access to technology and by offering long-term support to its beneficiaries. “We want to enable, empower and inspire entrepreneurs to stretch their ambitions and make their business visions a reality,” said Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko. “By growing entrepreneurial opportunities within ICT, we can create jobs, improve access to technology and develop a stable and competitive supply chain. FutureMakers…
By Staff Writer Low cost airline Mango this week launched its third app, this time for all devices operating Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 operating system. In celebration of the app launch, the airline has made Windows exclusive fares available from R 1 for a limited time. The R 1 sale is exclusively available through the Mango app on the Windows 8.1 platform and on sale until 31 May 2015 for travel until end June 2015. “The inclusion of the Mango app for Windows devices is an indication that our app ecosystem is growing and that Microsoft contributes significantly to local app…