business efficiency Archives - Page 2 of 4

28Oct

By Andrea TuckerNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

How business can harness the power of blockchain

By Andrea Tucker, Head of Research & Development and Strategic Projects at fintech specialist e4 In today’s digital world, where faxes have all but been replaced by email and landlines by smartphones, doesn’t it seem strange that we’re still signing contracts in person? That we’re driving hours to do so, creating mountains of paper trails, and storing them in lever arch files to gather dust, when the technology exists to eliminate this physical burden? Blockchain has been proven to solve this problem, yet its business adoption has been slow. The technology at the heart of bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. It’s time for the way we do admini...

22Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Tech

The future of work

With new technology such as AI support and smart cameras, the workplace of the future can be anywhere In what felt like the blink of an eye, the work landscape was transformed as the pandemic spread across the world in 2020. Entire workforces went mobile, seemingly overnight, while organisations bolstered existing remote working processes. And when the world emerges on the other side of this life-altering event, it won’t revert to the way things were before. By some estimates, 70 percent of the workforce will work remotely at least five days a month by 2025. Even in South Africa, where face-to-face meetings, office models and in-person communication has long been the standard, a hybrid model – a combination of remote and on-site working – will likely be the answer in the future, s...

1Oct

By Ben GossageNo Comments

Main, Tech

Why the subscription economy is transforming B2B operating models forever

From Hello Fresh to the Spotify, subscription services are now so commonplace they’ve almost become the norm. Subscriptions started life in the media world, with newspaper and magazine subscriptions dating back centuries. But in the last ten years, the subscription business model has exploded in popularity across consumer industries including fashion, food and beauty, creating what has been dubbed, the ‘subscription economy.’ The model, which promotes a more convenient, cheaper way of accessing goods, has revolutionising the way we buy and sell consumer products. It should be no surprise then, that it’s now transforming B2B operating models. In the last few years, we’ve seen the proliferation of cloud-based ‘anything-as-a-service’ products, paid for on subscription. These new offerings ad...

17Sep

By Sir Ian CheshireNo Comments

Business, Main, Medicine, South Africa News

Collaborating for the benefit of employee mental health

Sir Ian Cheshire Chair, The Global Business Collaboration for Better Workplace Mental Health Before the Covid 19 pandemic hit, mental health was already an issue on the rise around the world, with an estimated 13% of the global population, just short of 1 billion people suffering from some kind of mental illness. In South Africa, according to statistics released by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), as many as one in six South Africans suffer from anxiety or depression. The pandemic experience has put additional pressure on the mental health of millions of people. This pressure has been felt in workplaces across the world in numerous ways, from the need to support employees with what they are dealing with outside of work to managing new and different ways of working...

18Aug

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Fintech, South Africa News

Four steps to fixing cash flow and help SMEs survive

We are all familiar with the saying in business that "cash is king" and, if that’s the case, then cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. For small or mid-size businesses, cash flow is a critical component of success. Profits are meaningless without it. The harsh reality is that SMEs who don't exercise good cash flow management may not be able to survive the current economic climate. In South Africa, the recession and pandemic have had a devastating impact on the approximately 2.5 million SMMEs accounting for 10.8 million jobs. In a recent report published by Transunion, 6.4% of formal SMEs going into bankruptcy (up 50% from last year), with 260,000 jobs lost and another 240,000 at risk. According to Trevor Gosling, CEO of SME funder, Lulalend, there are four practical ways in which...

18Aug

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News, Tech

PRP Solutions Improves Decision-Making with Digital People Management Solutions

Modern business practices in a hybrid work from home and work from office environment needs a flexible work environment that boosts productivity and increases operational efficiency PRP Solutions, people management and workplace cloud solutions specialists, announced it is providing organisations with a more systemic and centralised solution suite able to show accurate, real-time data to improve people management in an increasingly distributed work environment. "Even though the business environment has changed dramatically since March last year, companies still want to find the best ways to unleash the power of their people," says Kriya Govender, CEO of PRP Solutions. "Now, more than ever, there is an awareness of how precious time has become with employees trying to balance work from ho...

30May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Tech, Uganda News

Palletising Robots: Changing How Breweries Stack and Pack

Robotic automation enables remote support possibilities that significantly reduce downtime and address geographical constraints, says Yaskawa Southern Africa Managing Director, Andrew Crackett. Conventional palletisers have been around for over 50 years. While they continue to be operational in many factories around the world, their modern counterparts – robotic palletisers – are solving issues that seemed impossible before. Whether it’s the need to conserve floorspace or to make workplaces safer and better regulated, robotic automation has numerous benefits that other technologies struggle to match in the long run. One of the most appealing factors is that it actually pushes factories towards a more innovative and forward-thinking future. At times, this doesn’t even require everyone to ...

27Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Ryan Strategic Advisory Highlights Bahrain’s Role In The Evolution of Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) In White Paper With SILAH GULF

UK- based consultancy, Ryan Strategy Advisory, today unveiled a whitepaper prepared for Bahrain-based business process outsourcing company, Silah Gulf, presenting the role of the Kingdom in driving growth of global BPOs. Titled, ‘Leveraging Bahrain for Customer Experience Excellence,’ the whitepaper highlights the strengths of Bahrain as a regional player with strong links to GCC countries and the attractive propositions the country offers for global clients. Mr. Peter Ryan, Founder and Principal Analyst of Ryan Strategy Advisory said: “Customer experience management faces significant challenges that impact end-user interaction and empowers agents, especially while dealing with the challenges of COVID19. Many enterprises are actively exploring new delivery points looking beyond their own...

26Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, Startups

How to Calculate and Improve Customer Lifetime Value for Your Fintech App

Creating loyal customers that purchase your products and services for life is the dream. Increasing customer lifetime value creates stability for your business and allows you to innovate new products and services that keep finance customers returning to your brand again and again. To end the feast and famine cycle, companies need to increase customer lifetime value and keep customers engaged and nurtured. Fintech apps might be enjoying a boom right now, but it's establishing a high lifetime value that creates sustainable growth and business stability. Calculating CLV: A Refresher The traditional approach to calculating CLV looks at sales, transactions, and retention through the lens of profit margins. To find lifetime value, use this equation: Lifetime Value = Average Value of Sale × Numb...

Aker Solutions and AVEVA Extend Strategic Partnership Deploying Engineering Solutions in the Cloud to Enhance Efficiency and Optimize Resources

23Apr

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Tech

Aker Solutions and AVEVA Extend Strategic Partnership Deploying Engineering Solutions in the Cloud to Enhance Efficiency and Optimize Resources

Partnership Enables Remote Workers to Collaborate in the Cloud and Work Seamlessly with Advanced Digital Tools AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software, driving digital transformation and sustainability, today announced that it has extended its long term relationship with Aker Solutions to help accelerate the company’s digital transformation strategy. The two organizations will work together to deploy new engineering capabilities which will enable multi-discipline teams to work effectively together to develop and maintain the detailed definition of all the key operational items as well as deliver the full range of AVEVA’s process simulation, design, engineering, and lifecycle management technologies. The extended partnership which now comprises most of AVEVA’s Engineering offerings, ...