Kathy Gibson reports from My World of Tomorrow – Business Connexion is re-inventing itself and wants to be the leading enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Matthew Blewett, chief investment officer of Business Connexion, says that this will be the company’s focus for the next five years.
“We think this is absolutely revolutionary for us, as an organisation and for our customers, employees and partners,” he says. “It is a massive step change for BCX. We’ve set ourselves a huge challenge to transform as a business.”
The My World of Technology event is about imagining Africa’s Internet of Things, Blewett says. “As an organisation we believe we have to acknowledge the change that is happening in technology.”
BCX has its origins in IT, in connecting computers, but connectivity has now gone way beyond this, extending to smartphones and other mobile devices.
“The world of connected devices has gone way beyond the world of IT,” Blewett says. “Now, those things that are intelligent and connected have become the everyday things we use.”
The world is transforming from analogue to digital, he adds. “Today, almost every aspect of our lives has a digital element. This is what is meant by the revolution of the Internet of Things – almost anything can become smart, digital and connected.”
BCX is positioning itself to help its customers and partners to embrace this change.
“This change is not easy at all,” Blewett adds. “When we understand the world of IoT we will understand that the cloud is the foundation of what we do. If you don’t understand this you will be beaten by your competitors.
“We are able to enable businesses to make the transformation from analogue to digital.”
In the new, digital economy the rules of the game have changed – and Blewett says companies need to ask themselves if they have changed as well.
“We are all part of the digital economy. At BCX we believe the IoT is full of possibilities for companies to enter new businesses and new markets.”
To help companies make the transformation, BCX will assist them to digitise all the elements in their business that have not yet been digitised; and then they can be automated, making them more efficient than before.
“By digitising and automating, we can enable analytics,” he explains. “As soon as you digitise something, you can follow the processes or product and get information about it. This is one of the most powerful consequences of this world of smart things.
“At BCX, we bring this together in what we call connective intelligence.”