Businesses in South Africa are urged to implement AI policies, but they must first establish robust cyber security and data governance frameworks before attempting to integrate AI technology.
This is according to Andile Ngcaba, chairman of Convergence Partners, who addressed over two thousand delegates at the Datacentrix Showcase 2024 at Monte Casino in Johannesburg yesterday.
The event, themed ‘changing lives through technology’, focused on how business leaders and channel partners should approach AI, with emphasis on policy, data protection, and ethical use.
“Staff use ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or MetaAI, and if you don’t have a policy, you run a huge risk,” said Ngcaba. “This is because they are using company assets, and could be taking information from the company into institutions that run AI models without you noticing.”
He added that board members have the overall responsibility to ensure that, just as cyber security risks are addressed, data governance and AI policies must also be implemented.
Data sovereignty
According to Datacentrix Group CEO Ahmed Mahomed, while South Africa’s channel partners are encouraged to explore AI and new opportunities for growth, innovation, human development, and competitiveness, this must go together with a focus on data sovereignty.
“The adoption of these technologies must be underpinned by a strong focus on digital sovereignty. The localisation of digital infrastructure is crucial in the current geopolitical climate, and in ensuring the resilience of the digital footprint and its optimal application in business. Ensuring that the continent has autonomy over its extracted data and digital assets, and that they are managed, monetised and controlled within our borders, is an essential step in Africa’s digital journey,” said Mahomed.
“The message we are sending to our partners and market is that tech is no longer an enabler, it is a driver in today’s digital economy.
In a highly connected, converged and increasingly hybrid business landscape, CEOs are concerned about keeping up with the speed of change, that competition is now global, the shortage of skills, and decisions based on the ‘hype-trap’.
“According to the PwC Africa Business Agenda 2024, 40% of African and 45% of global CEOs are not sure if their companies will be viable in ten years’ time,” Mahomed added.
Convergence Partners and Datacentrix made headlines in July after South African regulators the Competition Commission and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) unconditionally approved the transaction in which Convergence Partners will buy Datacentrix.
Speaking to ITWeb on the sidelines of the Datacentrix Showcase event, Ngcaba and Mahomed reiterated the value of the deal for the market, partners and customers.
They said it was a strategic partnership that would enable access to new markets in Africa and globally, and emphasised that there would be no change to operations or HR considerations.
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