Absa will have by the end of this year provided 1 776 staff members across Africa with cloud computing skills through its cloud incubator initiative with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Employees from several countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Mauritius, participated in the programme.
In a statement today, Absa says it is accelerating cloud adoption and is already one of the largest cloud adopters in Africa.
“Companies that store their data in the cloud have access to powerful cloud computing capabilities. It means they can analyse, interpret, process and manage data faster and at a larger scale.”
The bank launched the cloud incubator programme in March, jointly with AWS, to support its digital transformation journey.
Absa says key outcomes from the cloud incubator programme include participants being able to identify cloud opportunities and create more efficient, scalable services and solutions.
“The employees can now use their understanding and knowledge to drive the broad-scale digital transformation in the bank.”
The AWS Global Skills Guild programme helps large enterprises to accelerate their cloud adoption journey and build cloud-fluency for employees.
Ebrahim Samodien, chief information officer: group services at Absa, comments: “At Absa, our goal is to ensure employees are equipped with the right skills and, through the cloud incubator programme, we were able to bridge the skills gap in cloud technologies.
“Empowering our employees with cloud skills will unlock further potential for innovation and solutions that ultimately improve the way in which we serve our customers.”
Absa employees who took part in the programme welcomed the bank’s initiative.
“Since the establishment of the cloud incubator initiative, I feel like Absa is really taking the cloud revolution seriously. Prior to the cloud incubator initiative, I used to feel like cloud computing was just a talking point,” says Phumlani Mbabela, a lead product engineer at Absa.
Another participant, David Quagraine, a lead architect at Absa Bank Ghana, comments: “I began taking advantage of the many free training sessions and acquired the AWS Solutions Architect − Associate Certification.
“I’m now preparing to renew my developer certification and level up with a professional-level certification as well. As if getting access to these free resources were not enough, I also have access to hands-on labs that allow me to experiment with cloud technologies not directly related to my current role, such as data analysis and machine learning, which I enjoy very much.”
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