The question might seem irrelevant given the access we have to information through various online search mediums. However, information applicability is important to cut down on time to research and quality-check articles. Specific research covering industries, business and technology trends, vendors, and innovative or maverick thinking starts becoming more and more valuable in our busy schedules. Research that helps to steer our course and plan our strategies, while offering broader business direction to enable integration of succinct selected information is key to creating context for our specific businesses. The right research partner makes the difference. Peter du Plooy, CIO, Financial Services, Engen
Most do not actively evaluate African countries, rather lumping them into an 'emerging economies' bracket.
Yaron Gerald Naidoo, CEO, Logikal Consulting
I don't believe global research is relevant to the local market, or to the rest of Africa. We're faced with very specific challenges here. While international research is a good dipstick for global trends, it holds little to no value for us regarding what is really happening on the ground, and how we can address this. Uwe Brandkamp, regional sales director, Westcon-Comztek
International research houses are a critical component to IT success in South Africa, but we shouldn't downplay the importance of local research houses. International research enables technology leaders to gain a global and more long-term perspective. Local research provides the necessary contextual insight, which international research houses may miss. George Battye, CTO, Edge Evolve
International research houses provide South African companies with a way to easily identify the best technology and service providers they can access, allowing local organisations to compare South African and international vendors to ensure they make educated purchasing decisions. Even though the landscape locally might be different to particular geographies identified in some research, analysts work with trends. This means that local technology companies can see where their international counterparts are heading, as well as where the next evolution of their business might come from. This will ultimately allow local companies to start competing on an equal footing. Richard Vester, director, EOH Cloud Services
Most business forecasts for 2014 talk about 'business process reinvention'. Many CIOs face the daunting task of transforming their businesses and see innovation as the panacea for business transformation. Sadly, many of these efforts are unsuccessful and the reason for this is that most innovation strategies lack a research component. Most South African organisations have scaled down on their research facilities due to too high overheads. Research for innovation should be a collaborative exercise spanning across the globe, which is a costly undertaking. Jan Eloff, head of research, SAP Africa
International research houses become irrelevant when they lack a clear understanding of a market's unique socio-economic, technology and business conditions, often due to an absence of local analysts on the ground. However, when locally-based analysts form part of a globally connected network of market intelligence experts, the equation swings dramatically in favour of international firms, as they are able to contrast local performance with benchmarks from relevant international markets. This approach facilitates the execution of locally-tailored strategies that are based on proven global best practices, while any home-grown innovations and success stories can be rapidly dispersed to an international audience. Mark Walker, director: Insights and Vertical Industries, IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey
In Africa's emerging markets, where existing data is hard to come by, analyst reports can only provide an overview of markets and industries focused on other geographies. Most do not actively evaluate African countries, rather lumping them into an 'emerging economies' bracket. The right trends being researched and analysed can be very different in Africa. Gerald Naidoo, CEO, Logikal Consulting
While international research does have some relevance to the South African market, CIOs and other technology leaders should not see the results as gospel. International findings can give South African organisations a compass bearing, but should not necessarily be used as a basis for infrastructure design or forward planning. Andy Robb, CTO, Duxbury Networking
It's often imperative for CIOs to either do the complete research themselves or rely on authoritative entities to do the research for them. Often the latter is true. It makes sense also that these entities are running multiple researching campaigns finding alternates to the previous technology, maybe, giving them the ability to produce better-researched articles on a variety of issues in the ICT space. Chris Ogden, MD, RubiBlue
First published in the April 2014 issue of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine.
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