It doesn't matter what business you are running, collaboration has the potential to make everything more efficient.
This was the overarching sentiment shared during an afternoon think tank at GIL 2015 Africa, held at The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town yesterday. During the session, various Frost & Sullivan representatives outlined how convergence is affecting everything from healthcare to ICT.
According to Mani James, operations manager for Africa at Frost & Sullivan, "technology is a key enabler across all industries. "Within the construction space, there are faster and more efficient ways of doing things," he said, noting that convergence in this industry is about overhauling traditional methods of completing tasks and making the business process more efficient.
As an example, he mentioned how things like additive manufacturing and 3D printing are changing how houses are built by drastically reducing overall manufacturing costs. Greener transportation, smart buildings and innovations around food storage and packaging are just a few ways that the intermingling of tech and industry have already transformed business processes, he went on to say.
The business of transportation and mobility is also changing, noted Byron Messaris, industry analyst for automotive at Frost & Sullivan.
"It is no longer about getting people to car pool or offering public transport. It is about seamlessly and effectively connecting a city's people to places for business and leisure." In order for African businesses and citizens to realise the benefits of mobility, significant infrastructural development is required, Messaris pointed out.
"Africa is the fastest-growing continent in the world but it is the least connected globally. If you understand how people navigate around a city, if you understand the rhythms of African cities, you can apply the relevant technologies to get them to move into the future," he added.
Etienne van Wyk, Frost & Sullivan's healthcare programme manager for Africa, highlighted how the healthcare and ICT industries are coming together but stressed that this convergence is yet to have any real impact. What is required, according to Van Wyk, is a mindset shift towards looking at people not only as patients but also as consumers of connected healthcare services. Truly connected healthcare should bring together platforms that link healthcare workers with patients, he said, adding that wearable tech is revolutionising how vital stats are tracked. Other innovations aid healthcare workers in their monitoring chronic disease and compile all of this physiological data to reveal real world insights.
"There are a number of big game changers within the ICT space that will change how we work, live and play in the foreseeable future," said Hendrik Malan, operations director and head of ICT for Africa at Frost & Sullivan. He went on to unpack three specific technologies that are set to drastically alter the ICT space, both globally and in Africa specifically. Malan mentioned how virtual currencies are already streamlining trade. "Essentially this technology enables the digital transfer of goods without having to go through any central authority."
He went on to discuss neural networks, describing these as innovations that will allow machines to learn from experiences or will see these devices being programmed to respond to positive reinforcements. He cited massive online open courses (MOOCs) as an example of how the transformation of ICT is bringing about changes in the education space. MOOCs enable successful online learning by seamlessly connecting learners with other learners, he said.
"It is all about introducing these things in conjunction with existing structures and existing processes. This is not a silver bullet. If we don't do so, we will not be able to leapfrog the current lack of infrastructure and the lack of technologies in order to launch us into the African renaissance."
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