Smells like team spirit
By Barry Buck, with Claude Opus 4.8 - Kurt Cobain named his most famous song after a deodorant. Teen Spirit was something teenagers sprayed on every morning to mask a smell rather than fix its source. Which, I've come to realise, is also a perfect description of the...
This is the year of enterprise AI
The recently launched Evident Insights 2026 AI Index for Banks, which assessed 25 institutions across the Middle East and Africa, suggests that artificial intelligence in banking has reached the point where it can be usefully benchmarked and compared. By Dr Mark...
SA organisations are building private internets to survive 2026
The public internet is transitioning from being known as a core business enabler to – in many ways – an increasingly worrisome liability. Historically viewed as the great connector – open, accessible, and essential – the public digital environment is becoming...
What we can learn from AI skeptics
Across the world's most technologically advanced economies, a significant proportion of desk workers describe themselves as AI skeptics, while the number in emerging markets is dramatically lower. By Linda Saunders, country manager and senior director solution...
Data and AI are unlocking SA’s next mineral frontier
South Africa’s mining industry has long been defined by what lies beneath the surface – vast mineral wealth that has shaped the country’s economy for more than a century. By Ntsako Baloyi, data and AI lead for Accenture, South Africa But as ore bodies become deeper,...
Banks do not need more AI ambition. They need AI that they can govern
Banks are no longer discussing artificial intelligence (AI) as a distant possibility. It is already moving into analytics, risk, fraud, customer engagement, operations, and decision support. By Craig Stephens, advisory business solutions manager at SAS Africa The real...
Embedded AI must be a board-level priority in 2026
A new phase of enterprise AI is emerging, one that demands attention at the very top of the organisation. by Sergio Maccotta, senior vice-president and GM of SAP MEA South For years, companies throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa have experimented with AI by...
Cyber resilience must start at the endpoint
What is the cost of discovering a cyberattack only after it has reached your Security Operations Centre? For many organisations, that cost includes operational disruption, financial losses, reputational damage and significant recovery efforts, writes Musa Masungwini,...
Built to be smarter: what it means to be AI-ready
There are many ways to tell the story of AI in South Africa and the technology’s impact on the local business landscape. But the story worth telling is one where that impact is felt by all. By Werner Joubert, commercial SYS business director (South Africa & SADC)...
Millions lost. No-one noticed
Walk into almost any business storeroom and you will probably find it. Stacks of old laptops. Boxes of monitors. Networking equipment gathering dust. Desktops sitting under desks. Forgotten chargers tangled in drawers. Most companies do not think of these items as...
Speed is the new competitive advantage
Speed is the ultimate differentiator in today's AI-driven world. Success depends on rapid delivery, rethinking ROI, and strong customer relationships. By Marc Layne, sales director of Dell Technologies South Africa Over many years of experience in storage engineering,...
As AI reinvents business, traditional management is becoming obsolete
A new white paper warns that AI will not simply automate tasks, it will fundamentally reshape the architecture of management itself, forcing SME leaders to develop entirely new capabilities to govern hybrid human-AI workforces. In a new thought leadership white paper...