Digital has been touted as the future for several years however, the pandemic has accelerated change and made it a key component of navigating the pre sent.
Although, a drawback of the adoption of digital in the mainstream is the rise of buzzwords being thrown around with very little understanding of their meaning, and true value particularly in the context of business and creating value. AI, VR, AR and IoT are just some of the buzzy abbreviations used interchangeably. This year’s Africa Tech Week Summit looks to delve two levels deeper into what these buzzwords mean and how you can actually apply them in the business context.
“Based on our research and conversations with experts we realised that there is a misconception that digital is a one-size fits all solution for every industry. In fact, many entrepreneurs are failing at maximizing the potential of digital simply because they don’t know how, which is a major issue we want to address at this year’s summit. We’ve put together a cross-section of industry leaders from AI to blockchain and even digital transformation to comprehensively unpack digital at all levels over the course of two days,” explains Ralf Fletcher, CEO of Topco Media, the organizers of Africa Tech Week Summit.
Two jam packed days include virtual breakaways and partner sessions with business stalwarts KnowBe4, PPC Cement SA and Tech.MT. “We’re thrilled to be part of this event. The past few months have shown the importance of technology and innovation to navigate the unexpected. Hence, we want to facilitate deeper conversation around what’s next and the learnings we can take from such an unexpected event, both from a data modelling and a holistic technological perspective,” remarks Anna Collard, Managing Director at KnowBe4Africa.
One of the most overused terms at the moment is AI – Artificial Intelligence – which is often (and erroneously) used interchangeably with machine learning.
Essentially artificial intelligence is the science of building programs to solve problems in a way that mimics human behaviour. Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence, which as the name suggests allows systems to learn beyond being programmed with a particular set of instructions, the algorithms work together to solve problems. On the other hand there is deep learning which is a derivative of machine learning, which uses the algorithms to analyze various factors and interactions that come about within machine learning. The summit will explore why even though AI is powerful, it is not the cure all solution that is misconceived to be.
“We’re thrilled to have expert Tony Saldanha talking about digital transformation holistically, as a thought leader in this field he brings a wealth of practical experience to the conversation on digital transformation,” explains Fletcher.
Recently Tony Saldanha explained that, “One of the main reasons why digital transformation fails is all the noise in understanding exactly what you’re supposed to be doing for your organization.” At the summit he will delve further into the future of digital transformation post-pandemic and demystify some of the most overused digital buzzwords in 2020.
Saldanha will be joined by several powerhouse speakers and panellists over the two day virtual conference. These speakers include tech businessmen and women such as Brett White, CEO of Zapper, Phatizwe Malinga, Managing Director of SqwidNet, Jacques Ludik, Founder & President of Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa, Alexandria Procter, CEO & Founder of DigsConnect and Videsha Proothveerajh, CEO of LexisNexis.
The virtual summit will take place over 26 – 27 November 2020, get access to the event.
View the full program to get a preview of what you can expect at this year’s virtual Africa Tech Week.
About Topco Media:
As South Africa’s leader in business research, recognition and networking, Topco Media has helped over 2 500 organisations during its 26 years – including multinationals like Microsoft, McDonalds, Mercedes-Benz and Coca Cola. We have worked with government departments including the GCIS, DTI, DIRCO and DEA; with agencies such as Brand SA, BBC and BUSA and with all of the major Public Entities including, in recent times, the Richards Bay and Coega IDZs. Among the many JSE-listed companies with ties to Topco are Standard Bank, PPC and Anglo American. The 10 000 organisations we research each year trust us to use quantitative and qualitative data to objectively grant exte rnal accreditation to the best-managed and best-performing companies in South Africa; to its BEE and gender parity leaders; to implementers of national development and to HR/tech innovators.