Several high-profile ICT companies flexed their muscles and demonstrated the power of next-generations solutions at the Tech Demo Africa 2012 conference hosted by IT News Africa and sponsors.
- Rorotika Technologies CEO Frans Joubert addresses delegates at the Tech Demo Africa 2012. (Image: Charlie Fripp)
Service providers and operators singled out establishing a highly efficient, sustainable customer service environment as a priority.
More specifically, the ability to entrench a customer services operation based on real-time feedback and single view applications is considered to be a key differentiator for businesses.
Business drivers such as Internet usage, mobility, process-driven decision-making, funding for tech innovation and advances in telecoms were some of the themes discussed during the course of the day.
“Clearly businesses are looking at working smarter using innovative solutions strategically,” says Abby Wakama, publisher and executive editor, IT News Africa. “We are proud of this inaugural Conference as a forum to showcase what Africa has to offer.”
During a presentation by Telkom representative Prashil Gareeb, responsible for the Broadband portfolio within Telkom Business, it was mentioned that the volume of data downloaded by users has increased substantially, with the number of users having grown by 16% and Internet usage by 50%
Data download rates were pushed up from 11000 Gigabits per second to 80 000 Gigabits per second in 2011.
Gartner predicts that by 2015 the average bandwidth requirements among enterprises would increase between 30% – 50%, dependent on region and focus.
Speakers focused on the bandwidth availability and accessibility to the emerging Africa market as an existing challenge to service providers. The development and introduction of new business-and consumer-focused apps was also emphasised as part of a service mandate to operators across developing economies.
Frans Joubert, CEO of Rorotika Technologies, a software house specialising in IT incubation and dynamic tariffing, spoke of innovations emerging within the mobile, data and online space that are helping to empower entrepreneurs and end-users.
He underlined the value of products that “push the boundaries” and “change the world” including applications that offer mobile service providers the opportunity to increase revenue and benefit clients through discounts depending on network utilisation.
Sponsors and delegates agreed that Africa holds significant potential for businesses and represents a vast and growing marketplace.
Chris Tredger
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