A New Dawn for Collaboration in South African ICT

SAICTA’s collaborative mission took off with vigour at its inaugural Digital Dawn event on 24 January 2024. Digital Dawn is SAICTA’s quarterly breakfast seminar, fostering discussion and collaboration within the South African ICT community, based on the input of leading figures in the local industry.

The inaugural event featured a presentation on The Value of Data in AI, delivered by guest speaker Robert Kendall, Chief Commercial Officer at OQLIS, a data analytics solutions company. His insightful elaboration on this topic sparked dynamic discussion, with key points for ongoing collaboration emerging.

Reflecting on the event, SAICTA Coordinator, Dr Jannie Zaaiman, described it as “an exemplary kickoff” for the association. He expressed confidence that the event accomplished its intended objectives, showcasing SAICTA’s empowering potential to foster meaningful dialogue between the ICT industry and higher education.

Fostering Collaboration: A Key Imperative

However, Mr Kendall noted the challenge of addressing a “fundamental skills shortage” in the industry. Given the swift pace of AI’s advancement, industry stakeholders must swiftly adopt agile technologies to remain competitive. Yet, some businesses are hesitant or inefficient in adopting and integrating the latest ICT developments into their overall strategic operations.

Mr Kendall’s presentation underscored the pivotal role of collaboration between the ICT community, businesses, and educational institutions in driving business growth and transformation through AI-powered data insights. With AI technology rapidly evolving, businesses and higher education institutions must embrace innovations, like AI machine learning, to remain ahead of the curve.

Overcoming Organisational Hurdles

Organisational red tape emerged as a persistent obstacle hindering the swift research and implementation of transformative technologies necessary for organisational growth. SAICTA’s collaborative mission can thereby facilitate the streamlining of communication between industry and business in adopting new technologies while streamlining access to the necessary tools for effective implementation. This is important, given that the local ICT and general business sectors are hindered by the fundamental skills shortage.

Bridging the Gap: ICT Industry and Higher Education

Only effective collaboration between the ICT sector and higher education can address what Mr Kendall noted as a skill shortage partly caused by higher education not readily aligning graduates to the industry’s immediate needs. In this regard, Mr Kendall commended Belgium Campus iTversity for producing industry-ready graduates through practical internships and aligning educational programs with industry demands. He asserted,

“Some academic institutions are far ahead of others [in ensuring what they teach is] relevant and is being readily used in the wider industry network, whether its specific well-known programming languages from big vendors or open-source tech.”

To address the gap between technical education and business needs, higher education must stay abreast of industry trends and developments.

Engaging with Industry Trends

ICT education, in particular, must adapt to evolving industry trends. For instance, Mr Kendall noted the increasing utilisation of software sourced from small private, open-source vendors, instead of big-tech. However, these small vendors remain relatively obscure. SAICTA is thus apt to serve as a collaborative platform facilitating engagement with existing and emerging tech-solution vendors, ensuring alignment with global industry trends.

Conclusion

SAICTA’s inaugural Digital Dawn event was a dynamic collaborative moment between the ICT sector’s various stakeholders. The event showcased the efficacy of SAICTA’s collaborative mission, providing a concrete platform for advancing and implementing the latest ICT developments in the local industry. With 133 members registered to date, SAICTA is definitively set on its path of positively transforming the South African ICT landscape.

Author: Jason Lottering

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