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Brainstorm
Cape 2005,
an ICT conference in the Cape for the Cape, took place on 14
and 15 September 2005 in Cape Town. The two-day event focused
on business and technology trends of the future and the
success of SA’s SMEs in a changing local environment.
The
first day of the conference, themed: Future
focus – The business and technology trends of tomorrow,
focused on identifying the new wave of ICT technology and from
where the next killer application would likely come.
Telesa.comms
marketing director Malcolm Dunkeld, highlighted the problems
companies face when migrating to a VOIP system – both on an
employee and technical level. Moving to voice over Internet
Protocol (VOIP) cuts costs, but employees will not be the ones
to benefit, he said. Employees don’t fully understand what
VOIP is and may not realise there is no benefit to them when
the telephone system is moved over to VOIP. “The only people
who will benefit from VOIP are the suits on the top floor,”
he said.
Regarding
infrastructure, Dunkeld advised companies to cater for the
worst-case scenario, as VOIP can take a lot more bandwidth
than expected. “Companies are not doing enough research when
moving over to VOIP,” Dunkeld concluded.
Wave
of change
Grenville
Payne, a practice manager at Unisys SA spoke about the
benefits of embracing new technology. There benefits were
illustrated by the example of a village-based tin company,
which was transformed into a global competitor.
He
spoke about why and how smaller South African companies should
take part in the global economy.
The
technology needed for enabling a connected Africa was
discussed by Russell Achterburg, a senior manager of technical
product development at Telkom.
Nirvesh
Sooful, CIO of the City of Cape Town, focused on the public
services sector and how IT can be used to make a difference in
that arena.
Future
of networks, CIOs
The
future-focused CIO and the role the CIO will play in matching
ever-changing technology to business needs came under the
spotlight with Theo Nkone, CIO of Old Mutual SA.
The
role of CIOs will be challenged and adapted by the current
environment, he said.
The
future of the network was examined by Greg Payne, GM of
managed services at Internet Solutions. His presentation
focused on convergence and how it is bringing together a
variety of applications, including voice and data, all
deliverable over one network.
iPod’s
success story
Devices
such as the iPod are important in driving the applications we
are seeing, according to Raven Naidoo, director of Radian, an
IT services consultancy. He spoke about the success of the
iPod and illustrated that this success is not culturally
driven or “because it looks pretty”.
“The
iPod is successful because of the types of services developed
around the usage of the device like music, photos, iTunes and
podcasting,” said Naidoo.
Naidoo
discussed whether the music player has made Apple the leader
in identifying a shift in consumer behaviour and whether it
could have a significant ripple effect on the ICT industry.
Government
funding is critical
The
second day of the conference was themed: Small business –
Striving for success in a changing SA and focused on the ICT-related
challenges, obstacles and solutions faced by this fast-growing
sector of the SA economy.
David
Hislop, CEO of Digital Rocket Science asked what could be done
to support and further the commercial activities and
innovations coming out of local universities. Government is
fooling itself if it believes the collaboration between
universities and business is successful, he said.
Government
is asserting that local universities are wonderful but,
according to surveys, not a single South African university
ranks in the world’s top 200, said Hislop. “More
importantly there are only a handful of local companies in the
Forbes top 2000 index,” he added.
Government
needs to spend money on development and play the unbiased
third-party in this collaboration, he concluded.
He
examined options for supporting and furthering commercial
activities and innovations in South African universities and
gave pointers on how academics and business leaders could
collaborate on the benefits of both sectors for commercial
gain.
Funding
innovation
The
various funding options available under the SPII for SMEs
initiative were discussed by Areef Suleman, senior fund
manager, IDC. He gave an explanation of funding scope,
criteria, costs and how to secure funding.
SPII
is a Department of Trade and Industry funding initiative,
managed by the Industrial Development Corporation.
“It
is important for companies seeking funding to consider
technical innovation, the project’s commercial potential and
that relevant project management skills are in place,” said
Suleman. “The initiative will not give a company 100%
funding,” he added.
The
SPII initiative, said Suleman, is expected to have a
significant impact on the local economy.
Richard
Holt, MD of funding initiative Qualia, examined local ICT SMEs
and discussed how they could create opportunity to compete and
partner globally.
“Companies
can develop that niche and competitive advantage, which will
allow them to win and develop business internationally,” he
said.
Cape
Town leads the way
The
question of why global players should take Cape Town as a
software hub seriously was answered by Willem van Biljon, from
the recently launched Amazon software development hub.
Van
Biljon is a member of the Cape IT Initiative board and moved
to the Amazon software development hub from Mosaic software.
The
requirements for small business success and prosperity in SA
were discussed by Roger Strain, manager of business solutions
at Liquid Thought, an e-business services and consulting
solutions company. He gave practical advice on how small
business can interact with big business and using ICT as an
enabler for entrepreneurs.
The
Brainstorm Cape proceedings were closed by Bryan Hattingh, CEO
of Cycan. He provided critical insight aimed at anyone
considering entering the SME space.
He
displayed that achieving sustainable growth and success in the
SME sector requires more than most entrepreneurs expected.
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