Wednesday, November 27African Digital Business Magazine

Tech

The Role Of Pick And Place Robots
South Africa News, Tech

The Role Of Pick And Place Robots

In years gone by, manufacturing processes consisted of a line of workers being solely responsible for all the material-handling functions. Whether it was assembly, picking or packaging, it was largely a manual, laborious process. The detrimental effects to the workers’ health have been well documented in the history books, as many employees were subjected to conditions that sometimes resulted in serious illness, injury, and even death. As automation became widely accepted and implemented throughout various industries, robotics took it one step further with robots designed for specific applications, such as handling, packaging and palletising. Suddenly, these new pick and place robots allowed for more speed and consistency in throughput, while being customisable to meet production requir...
Africa needs the space industry to go forward
Science, South Africa News, Tech

Africa needs the space industry to go forward

The African continent is bound to become increasingly more dependent on the space industry for job creation, poverty alleviation and sustainable resource management. These were some of the findings in a paper recently published by an expert in the field of Earth Observation and Geo-Information Sciences. The paper titled “The status of Earth Observation (EO) & Geo-Information Sciences in Africa – trends and challenges” was published in the journal of Geospatial Information Science, by Prof Tsehaie Woldai* in February this year. Woldai is a Visiting Professor at the School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. In his research, he found that up to end of last year 28 of the 54 African countries were already engaged in the Earth Observation and Geo-In...
It’s Time For Africa To Invest In Education, Science And Technology
Kenya News, Main, Science, Senegal News, South Africa News, Tech

It’s Time For Africa To Invest In Education, Science And Technology

Africa produces just 1.1% of global scientific knowledge. There are 79 scientists per million Africans. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) estimate for 2019 Africa’s funding for Research and Development is 0.4% of the continents GDP which is far below the global average of 1.7% and the lowest in the world. In 2006, the African Union Executive Council established a target for all member states to invest 1% of GDP in Research and Development. Data from the UIS shows that only South Africa, Kenya, and Senegal are close to meeting that target with about 0.8% of GDP dedicated to Research and Development. Africa will continue to be held back in development if we do not immediately invest in Research and Development. Science has the solution for most Africa challenges but we ar...
How to Keep your Team Focused and Productive During Uncertain Times
Business, Tech

How to Keep your Team Focused and Productive During Uncertain Times

By Omer Saleem, Director and Deputy CEO of Proven SA Big businesses grow and adapt as the market environment changes and do so even more rapidly now with the accelerating technology options. With this growth and infusion of technology driven changes comes a new requirement for corporate positions to evolve with the corporation itself. It has become ever more critical for the overall success of entities that every position is filled by an agile employee whose workload is role-based and goal-oriented, the aim being 360 degree success. Today’s COVID-19 scenario is a prime example of how well-functioning corporations can face shocks to business as usual that can fundamentally change service delivery with downstream effects touching almost every internal part of the organization as well as the ...
Financial Scams – How to avoid becoming a victim
South Africa News, Tech

Financial Scams – How to avoid becoming a victim

South Africa has significantly more financial crime than most other countries. With a rate of 77% compared to a global average of 49%, SA is something of a hotbed for fraud and scams. As consumers and insurance-seekers we need to understand the risks of economic crime and how to avoid becoming a victim, the risks of committing insurance fraud and how to avoid being inadvertent perpetrators of fraud ourselves, by for example, omitting information in an insurance application. Herman Lombard, Founder and Executive Director of financial services provider African Unity, explains that an intentionally fraudulent claim could result in cancellation of the policy as well as a negative reputation with the insurer and the industry in general. “Consumer fraud is the second highest ranking category of ...
How Barcodes are Transforming Healthcare:
Science, South Africa News, Tech

How Barcodes are Transforming Healthcare:

Barcodes have become such a powerful piece of technology that it would be difficult to think of an industry that would not benefit from using them. This sentiment can also be applied to the healthcare industry – where barcodes are used in almost every step of the healthcare process. From the second the patient comes through the hospital doors, right through to when they fetch their medicine from a pharmacy, barcodes are used in order to help doctors keep a record of their medication, what is in inventory and even the location of their patients themselves! While it is obvious that barcodes are used in the healthcare industry for many different functions, the common goal is simple; to ensure the safety of patients. Let’s take a closer look at how, when hospitals buy barcodes, they are being ...
Zebra Study: Record Number of Enterprises Becoming “Intelligent” with Growing IoT Investments
Tech

Zebra Study: Record Number of Enterprises Becoming “Intelligent” with Growing IoT Investments

Security remains a top priority as more enterprises start to scale IoT solutions company-wide  Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), an innovator at the edge of the enterprise with solutions and partners that enable businesses to gain a performance edge, announced in October the results of its third annual “Intelligent Enterprise Index” which indicates a record 61 percent of enterprises worldwide are on the path to becoming “intelligent,” compared to only 49 percent in 2018. This global survey analyzes the extent to which companies connect the physical and digital worlds to drive innovation through real-time guidance, data-powered environments and collaborative mobile workflows. Their “Intelligent Enterprise” Index scores are calculated using 11 criteria that include Internet of T...
Is Artificial Intelligence Shaping the Future of ERP Software?
Tech

Is Artificial Intelligence Shaping the Future of ERP Software?

By Ali Hyder, Group CEO of Focus Softnet Undoubtedly, yes! In the foreseeable future, Artificial Intelligence or AI would have a profound impact on almost every piece of software available in the market, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, in some form or fashion. AI in ERP is going to affect the very essence of the system-controlled business operations. While Artificial Intelligence technology is still in relative infancy, the new machine learning is making serious waves in the software market and making inroads into business management applications, endowing them with the power of superior governance structure. According to Gartner, by 2020, 30 percent of all companies will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to augment at least one of their primary sales processes. Imp...
Fingerprint On The Pulse: Biometrics On The Move In More Places Than One
Tech

Fingerprint On The Pulse: Biometrics On The Move In More Places Than One

By Lina Andolf-Orup, Senior Director Marketing at Fingerprints We may be halfway through 2019, but as the year hurtles onwards, it’s important to pause and reflect on the latest and greatest news from Q2. With milestones surpassed – and fading into the distance – coupled with the ongoing adoption of biometrics to bring trust to new use cases, Q2 has contributed to a very successful first half of the year. Here’s my top biometrics news picks from the past three months. The irresistible advance of biometrics In May, we announced that Fingerprints has shipped 1 billion biometric sensors worldwide. This announcement was not only an important landmark for us, but for the industry, as it demonstrates the ongoing commitment to, and mass adoption of, biometric authentication. Contributing to this ...
Logistics challenges facing eCommerce in Africa
Business, Tech

Logistics challenges facing eCommerce in Africa

According to Euromonitor, the world’s fastest-growing economies by 2030 will be in Africa. This consequently makes the continent the next big e-commerce market. And as this positive narrative continues to place Africa as a top investment destination, the need for advanced logistics systems has become inevitable. The growth of e-commerce will significantly depend on the quality and efficiency of logistics networks; from intra and cross trade to financial transactions in payment of goods and services. When writing the African e-commerce story, I often leap at the chance to explore only the enviable milestones the continent has made. Nevertheless, there still exist formidable challenges especially in logistics, a vital constituent of the industry. The African Development Bank, in its 2019 Afr...