The winners of the 2015 IT Personality and Visionary CIO awards - Niel Schoeman, founder and CEO of Vumatel, and Peter du Plooy, CIO of Engen Petroleum - believe they can use their new accomplishments and ICT expertise to take SA forward.
Schoeman and Du Plooy were respectively awarded at the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) President's Awards held this morning in Sandton. The event was attended by close to 300 delegates.
The awards are presented by the IITPSA, in association with ITWeb, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and Gartner Africa.
Accepting his award from last year's winner, Afrihost's Gian Visser, Schoeman said IT has the power to transform the South African economy and society.
"What is wonderful, in my view, is that a couple of us can have ideas that we can apply to shape businesses, industries, countries or the world," said Schoeman.
"People say 'what's the best place you need to be when you are in IT?' They say 'Silicon Valley, maybe, or Silicon Fen, maybe'. But I think the best place is to be here. This is one of the most interesting places."
However, he believes there are a lot of hurdles the country should clear, especially on connectivity.
"South Africa's connectivity is poor. We are the second most expensive country in the world in terms of connectivity. We [Vumatel] are trying to change that - we want to give fibre to everyone at low cost and at high speed.
"What South Africa needs is decisive policy-making. Time is not our friend - we need these decisions so that the market can react as soon as possible and take South Africa forward."
According to Schoeman, IT also has the power to solve the huge inequalities that exist in SA.
"We have got a first world economy and a third world economy in South Africa. There are huge inequalities; we have the unbanked section of the community; we have energy problems; we have education problems and by applying this leverage in technology, I think we can actually transform this country and our industry," he said.
"We saw that in the last year from the World Economic Forum. In the past five years, we have been down but in the past year, we have gone up seven places. In all the categories, we have gone down except one - it was in IT. So we have now countered corruption, energy problems, etc, and it shows you the power of IT that we can apply if we get out there and do it."
What is wonderful, in my view, is that a couple of us can have ideas that we can apply to shape businesses, industries, countries or the world.
Niel Schoeman
Schoeman took time to thank the Vumatel team. "What a pleasant surprise and what an honour. Thank you very much to everyone who put this process together and supported me along the process. This is not an individual award but a team sport. I would want to thank the Vumatel team for doing a fantastic job."
Predicting and acting
Du Plooy believes business is becoming even more dynamic due to the opportunities introduced by technology and "we need to start predicting and acting rather than sending and responding".
As a visionary CIO, Du Plooy enjoys projecting the future. "I have multiple views about what the future could look like, and I draw on my knowledge and discussions to formulate strategies that will improve competitive positioning and shape our organisation and prepare for new business models.
"In transforming Engen, we focus on simplicity and reinventing the business to chase process improvement through enabling technologies that deliver on our strategies."
He also expressed gratitude to the Engen team. "I would want to thank the institute and those who were involved in the process; those who supported me; and most importantly my organisation, Engen Petroleum, for helping me. I certainly look forward to taking this award forward by getting more involved in the ICT industry and making a bigger contribution during 2016."
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