Saphila, the biennial conference hosted by African SAP User Group (AFSUG), and co-hosted by SAP Africa officially kicked off at the world-class Sun City resort in South Africa. The conference themed “The intelligent enterprise” is scheduled to run from the 10 – 12 June 2019.
As the digital transformation revolution is on everybody’s agenda today, the event brought together SAP partners, technology experts and users across Africa to connect, create and collaborate, through sharing knowledge about success stories, innovations, implementation and service delivery.
Highlights of the opening keynotes on day included Andreas Heckmann – EVP & Head of Customer Support Services, Digital Business Services – SAP who conducted an in-depth presentation using classic SAP data on his topic titled “The Intelligent Enterprise in an Experience Economy”. Andreas spoke about the SAP business model, adoption of SAP Hana, how successful it is and also defining what the experience economy is and what it consists of.
This was followed by Glen Mashinini, who is the Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairperson who talked about the importance of the voter experience as election management bodies around the world seek to incorporate ever-more technology into the electoral process.
As most of Africa is plagued with corruption, vote rigging and other undemocratic practices that hinder free and fair elections, Mashinini took time to explain how South Africa has taken significant strides to ensure that electoral body continues to embrace technology as a means to deliver elections efficiently, accurately and safely from unethical practices. He said “we need to take a quantum leap forward in securing electoral democracy for future generations and that technology is the only driver capable of addressing the risks and challenges which lie ahead. In closing, he said the future of electoral delivery looks very bright for South Africa and that he was proud of his country.
The day continued with various breakaway sessions that focused on the latest topics and trends such as Customer experience, People experience, Application Management, Public sector (Future cities, Learning how governments are adopting technology to transform in the digital era) amongst other segments.
By Vardis Banga
