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Tag: Deloitte Africa

  • Google Cloud Celebrates First Cloud Region in Africa, Empowering Continental Digital Transformation

    Google Cloud Celebrates First Cloud Region in Africa, Empowering Continental Digital Transformation

    Today, Google Cloud officially celebrated the opening of its first African cloud region in Johannesburg, a significant milestone in Google’s $1 billion investment pledge to help accelerate Africa’s digital transformation.

    Operational since January 2024, the Johannesburg cloud region directly supports African businesses and multinational corporations operating on the African continent by providing access to cutting-edge technologies: innovative AI and machine learning, powerful data analytics, and comprehensive security solutions. This enables organizations to improve operational efficiency, build groundbreaking tools, and ultimately unlock new opportunities for growth.

    Google Cloud’s region builds on wider infrastructure investments into the continent. In May 2024, Google Cloud announced a new fibre optic cable route from Kenya to Australia – Umoja – which will join Equiano and now the Johannesburg Google Cloud region to form an initiative called Africa Connect that will enhance network access, making it faster, more reliable, and more affordable. These infrastructure investments are crucial for bridging the digital divide and ensuring that everyone, regardless of their location, can benefit from the digital revolution.

    His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa said: “The Google Cloud region in Johannesburg is a valuable investment in South Africa, fostering innovation across our economy. Google’s growing presence will benefit the people of South Africa and the rest of Africa by allowing firms and entrepreneurs to access the powerful potential of AI, transforming nearly every part of the economy.”

    Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud said: “Google’s longstanding commitment to Africa takes a significant step forward with the launch of the Johannesburg cloud region. By bringing cutting-edge cloud and AI technologies closer to the business and developers that are fueling the local economy, we hope to accelerate African innovation, bringing sustainable growth across the continent.”

    Held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, the launch event featured keynote addresses from industry and government leaders, including Tara Brady, President, Google Cloud Europe, Middle East and Africa; Alex Okosi, Managing Director, Google Sub-Saharan Africa; and Honorable Minister Solly Malatsi, South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, demonstrating the revolutionary potential of cloud technology for African businesses and individuals. Business and technical tracks, along with a partner expo, provided attendees with valuable insights and hands-on experience with Google Cloud’s advanced technologies. The event also showcased Google Cloud’s extensive partner network, featuring over 20 sponsors and exhibitors. Premier sponsors included Accenture, ADG, Deimos, Deloitte, Digicloud and Liquid C2.

    The agenda also highlighted customer success stories and executive insights from the likes of 4G Capital, FNB, Government of Benin, Healthbridge, Jaguar Land Rover, Moniepoint, Openserve, Pepkor, Salus, Smollan, Syft, Travelstart, and Vodacom.

    Further demonstrating its commitment to Africa, Google Cloud provides people and businesses with enablement and training on the latest cloud technologies and sustainable business practices. Programs like Cloud OnBoard, Cloud Hero and Google Hustle Academy are equipping learners and business owners across the continent with critical skills in generative AI, machine learning, application and infrastructure modernization, data and analytics, and digital marketing. Since 2022, Hustle Academy has successfully trained over 15,000 SMBs in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa and the 2025 edition will continue to emphasize AI-powered business training.

    Google Cloud is also a driving force behind Africa’s vibrant startup scene. Through programs like Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, Google Cloud has been instrumental in supporting over 260 startups across 17 African countries. Participating startups in the Accelerator Africa program can receive up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits to build and scale their businesses. These startups have achieved remarkable success, collectively raising over $600 million in follow-on funding, surpassing funding levels seen by other startups in the African tech sector. This support has also translated into tangible growth, with a 31% increase in employment and a 25% increase in monthly recurring revenue among the participating startups. 

    According to a Public First digital impact study released in Sep 2024, Google Cloud, together with Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, and Google advertising tools delivered $16 billion of additional economic activity for Sub-Saharan businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators, and developers in 2023. Public First found that every $1 invested in digital technology in the region will generate over $2 in economic value by 2030, with an even greater return in front-runner nations.

    Customers have hailed the Google Cloud service. According to Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Chairman of Cassava Technologies and Econet Group said: “My longstanding aspiration for Africa to lead in the digital age takes a monumental leap forward with Google Cloud’s Johannesburg region. This development is a direct catalyst for African businesses, igniting innovation, creating jobs, and driving economic prosperity through the power of artificial intelligence. Cassava Technologies sees this as a transformative moment, laying the essential groundwork for Africa’s digital future.” 

    Vukani Mngxati, CEO of Accenture in Africa said: “The launch of Google Cloud’s Johannesburg region marks a significant leap forward for Africa,” said. “By bringing resilient cloud capabilities to the continent, Google Cloud is empowering businesses to unlock new levels of agility and scalability. Accenture is committed to working alongside our clients to harness these advancements, enabling them to drive impactful innovation and build future-ready organizations.”  

    Joe Eshun, Managing Partner Businesses, Deloitte Africa said: “This is a transformative moment for African businesses. Google Cloud’s Johannesburg regional work can provide the foundation for a new wave of digital innovation, giving companies access to the same cutting-edge AI and cloud services enjoyed by businesses around the world. We at Deloitte are thrilled to help our clients embrace this infrastructure to help accelerate their digital transformation journeys.” 

    Jason Peisl, CIO of Pepkor, said: “Pepkor IT celebrates the launch of the Google Cloud Region in Johannesburg, a milestone that deepens our six year strategic partnership and accelerates digital transformation in South Africa; this local investment by Google Cloud enhances user experiences, accelerates data-driven insights, and optimizes costs, empowering Pepkor IT to deliver greater customer value while positioning them as an employer of choice by offering access to cutting-edge technologies and collaborative opportunities with a global leader, ultimately fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth for our workforce at the Southern tip of Africa.”

    Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

  • Deloitte Africa launches Generative AI practice

    Deloitte Africa launches Generative AI practice

    …Leveraging the power and versatility of transformative technology

    Deloitte Africa today announced the launch of its Generative AI practice for the Africa market, bringing together industry experience, skilled AI engineers as well as ecosystem and alliance partners to build Generative AI solutions aimed at accelerating the pace of business innovation.

    “There’s been extensive discussion across industries around the capabilities of generative AI technology and its potential to revolutionise the way we work, how it allows for digital systems to understand us as humans, without effort; and for us humans to create digital systems and solutions quickly and at scale.

    We will be going much further than exploring what’s possible – we enter the market with the aim of creating what’s next,” says Quentin Williams, Director and AI Leader for Deloitte Africa.

    “Think about humans with machines, strategy with insights, cost reduction through automation, data with purpose, speed with precision. The power of this symbiotic relationship has never been more significant,” Williams continues.

    “Not just a tool, Generative AI is the catalyst that not only empowers us to reimagine and shape the future but indeed, to create it. Through our Africa Generative AI Practice, we will harness the power of innovation and technology to unlock unprecedented possibilities. We aim to, and will; increase AI fluency within the market, grow AI talent on the continent and together with our alliance partners, take enterprise scale Generative AI solutions to our clients.

    Through this practice, our clients now have access to Artificial Intelligence Labs, accelerated use-case development and Large Language Model managed services – all within our Trustworthy AI framework. The vast potential of AI combined with human insights is set to revolutionise industries and amplify economic growth. We are fostering sustainable development across the African continent and I for one am here for it,” says Jania Okwechime, Partner, Data Analytics and AI Leader for Deloitte West Africa.

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI has already begun revolutionising industries, with its capability to analyse unstructured and structured data and model it in a way that makes human sense. This results in simplifying the engagement between humans and digital systems, enhancing productivity and innovation at an accelerated pace.

    “With our clients, we will harness that power, move faster and with greater precision that improves decision-making and creates mutually beneficial connections with customers,” says Ryan Norris, Director, AI and Data business Leader for Deloitte Africa.

    Deloitte Africa’s Generative AI practice will help/guide clients and business leaders as they design their strategies and leverage technology to create innovative AI-fueled applications. This will significantly alter business processes, bring about efficiency gains and productivity improvements. The collective power of data management, analytics, intelligent automation and artificial intelligence is significantly shortening the effectiveness of investments for businesses on a journey to being Insights Driven Organisations.

    “In Africa, this will allow enterprises to leapfrog to their next-level innovation, accelerate digital advancement and generate new economic opportunities,” Norris continues.

    Many industries will be impacted by Generative AI. It’s already reshaping energy management insofar as optimising the delivery of electricity to different regions, even finding the most efficient way to schedule maintenance. Energy distribution networks already include digital twins. By training a Generative AI model on the distribution network layout and geography, it can “learn” to simulate different maintenance and distribution choices and generate new routing and scheduling strategies that minimize costs and maximize efficiency for utilities companies. This information can then be used to optimize grid integration as the technology extends beyond the physical distribution networks and production processes to include the digital twin.

    In healthcare, AI-based solutions can effectively streamline diagnostic and treatment processes by using large amounts of structured and unstructured medical data across institutions. This can help physicians at hospitals in clinical decision-making by providing them with real-time, data-driven insights that they can alter and implement based on their personal expertise.

    The potential of Generative AI in the legal sector has also captured the imagination in ways unmatched in other professional services, given its heavy reliance on precedent and legislation, and the prevalence of text generation and review as its core tasks. Legal work is particularly susceptible to AI application. In fact, GPT-4 has already passed the Bar exam in the US.

    While it’s clear that these technologies will facilitate increased efficiencies, there are also some risks to consider.

    Many generative AI systems are yet to incorporate ethics into their decision making and their results are reliant on the data upon which they have been trained. This could result in AI systems creating outputs that are not aligned with an organisation’s own ethical principles – a potential reputational risk. Additionally, algorithms and machine learning models have already been adopted by financial institutions to support with trading, investment, and credit decisions. As firms consider the adoption of generative AI technology there is an increased risk that unidentified flaws or inadequate data could result in financial losses.

    “We can help organisations build the right infrastructure, collect, and manage the right data, train the right models to create generative AI solutions that are effective and scalable and validate prebuilt models to ensure alignment to your firm’s ethics and values. All while managing regulatory risks through the Deloitte Trustworthy AI framework.

    Whether exploring opportunities to increase revenue, improve productivity and reduce costs, identify potential risks and comply with sustainability regulations OR completely rethinking how your business will function in the future using these technologies – we can help you leverage the power and versatility of AI to reach new levels of organisational excellence,” concludes Wessel Oosthuizen, Associate Director for Digital Risk Solutions and Africa AI Institute Leader at Deloitte Africa.

  • Deloitte, Dimension Data, BCX, EY, Accenture, PwC Africa, other Industry Leaders support SAPHILA 2023

    Deloitte, Dimension Data, BCX, EY, Accenture, PwC Africa, other Industry Leaders support SAPHILA 2023

    Africa’s foremost business and technology powerhouses, including such heavyweights as Deloitte, Dimension Data, BCX, EY, Accenture, PwC Africa, Wipro, Lemongrass and more, have pledged their support to the African SAP User Group’s (AFSUG) upcoming SAPHILA 2023 conference, held in collaboration with SAP.

    Taking place from 09 to 11 July 2023 at Sun City Resort in South Africa’s North West province, SAPHILA has attracted the backing of a number of the continent’s top business and technology services providers.

    Unlocking business transformation and new opportunities with Deloitte

    Deloitte Africa, a leading professional services firm, is excited to announce its support and Executive Suite sponsorship for SAPHILA this year.

    As a one stop, end-to-end SAP and premium hyper-scaler partner, Deloitte is committed to helping businesses extract maximum value from their SAP journey through technology transformations. Thus, the firm’s main focus and discussion points for SAPHILA 2023 will revolve around its expertise as an end-to-end SAP partner, partnerships with premium hyper-scalers, and ability to extract business value from SAP journeys through tech transformations.

    “We are proud to bring global Deloitte and SAP leadership to our clients in one location, to foster new relationships and partnerships that will drive business growth and success. This recognition from Deloitte’s global alliance partner, SAP, signifies the strong commitment we have towards customer value creation and making a meaningful impact in our client’s business journey,” explains Andre Vermeulen, Director & SAP Global Alliance Leader at Deloitte Africa.

    Deloitte is offering one lucky Executive Suite client attendee a fantastic, as yet undisclosed, prize – one winner will be chosen at random during the course of the conference.

    Dimension Data: helping to navigate the transition to the cloud

    Diamond sponsor, Dimension Data, is placing a strong focus on helping African businesses in their transition to the cloud. As such, the organisation will be hosting a discussion on Monday 9 July at SAPHILA 2023, where a panel of clients will talk about how and why they navigated their unique SAP journey to the cloud across a range of deployment and subscription/licence options.

    Says Lauren Wortmann, Vice President: Applications and Cloud at Dimension Data: “NTT and Dimension Data partner with clients to successfully navigate the wide range of complexities associated with transitioning to workloads to the cloud. With more than 20 years of SAP experience, we work to modernise, optimise and drive consistency across mission-critical landscapes.

    “SAP on Cloud allows clients to successfully deploy and manage SAP products and solutions on a secure, scalable, enterprise-proven cloud platform. End-users can access SAP anywhere, any time and from any device,” she adds.

    “With our global and local service model, we act as a seamless extension of your IT teams, solving problems collectively through process improvements and consistent high-quality services across regions.”

    Dimension Data invites SAPHILA 2023 attendees to visit its stand within the exhibition area, where they can enter to win a signed 2023 Springboks Rugby World Cup jersey.

    BCX emphasises human experience management gains with AECI

    Platinum SAPHILA 2023 sponsor BCX will discuss the topic of ‘Employee Central Payroll – An AECI Multi-National Success Story’, speaking on Tuesday 10 June at 11:10 in the Human Experience Management stream.

    During this talk, Toni Serra, the Chief Information Officer for AECI, a South African-based explosives and specialty chemicals company providing products and services to a broad spectrum of customers in the mining, manufacturing and agricultural sectors, will unpack AECI’s success in leveraging SAP technology for its large, diverse workforce. Serra will be joined by Henlie van Rooyen, a Senior Manager in the BCX SAP Centre of Excellence, responsible for managing the Digital HR (SuccessFactors) team.

    BCX will also be giving away power banks, so SAPHILA delegates are encouraged to visit the company’s exhibition stand.

    EY: Realising transformation through people, technology and innovation at SAPHILA 2023

    Another Platinum sponsor, EY, will showcase how it helps organisations generate long-term value faster – which is simultaneously innovative, industry-focused, cloud-based and sustainable – with global alliance partner SAP.

    Martin Zloch, Consulting Executive Director at EY, says: “As organisations redefine their business models, optimise their operations and strive toward greater sustainability, technology plays an increasingly important role in unlocking business value. SAPHILA offers an unmissable opportunity to see the latest and greatest innovations, customer success stories and product roadmaps within the SAP ecosystem, and to network and learn from like-minded business and technology experts.”

    Zloch believes organisations can unlock immense business value in four strategic areas: supply chain optimisation; finance transformation; sustainability; and governance, risk and compliance.

    “Modern organisations need real-time insights from their digital supply chains to reduce costs and optimise their end-to-end supply chain processes. Through integrated business planning leveraging SAP’s extensive solutions portfolio, we can help organisations improve their supply chain efficiencies.

    “We see a great opportunity to support and guide companies as they define their sustainability journeys, enhance their supply chain efficiencies, and transform their finance functions, leveraging SAP solutions. We look forward to valuable discussions at SAPHILA 2023.”

    Business-led transformation key, says Wipro

    Wipro, a leading technology services and consulting company, rounds out the Platinum sponsors for SAPHILA 2023.

    Warren Zambelli, Managing Director – Africa, Wipro Limited, says: “The need to precisely target value has never been greater. Wipro operates across Africa and is focused on partaking broadly throughout our clients’ unique journeys in varied markets to realise business-led transformations, enabled by technology. We are excited to join SAPHILA 2023 as Platinum sponsors and look forward to engaging in dialogue on effective strategies for modernising operations, and how role players might also gain advantages through the exploration of transformative solutions.”

    Wipro enables global enterprises to standardise, automate, and accelerate by harnessing the power of the cloud and digital technologies. With over 20 years of experience in handling complex SAP engagements and being a Global Strategic Services Partner (GSSP) with SAP, Wipro is uniquely positioned to offer cutting-edge and transformative solutions to customers through multiple joint co-innovation programs. Wipro provides a host of services across SAP’s consulting, implementation, and managed services arms, leveraging the 360° relationship with SAP.

    Collaboration and business development are the name of the game for Accenture

    Accenture is proud to be a global leader in delivering SAP-based business transformations, and the organisation’s participation at SAPHILA 2023 reaffirms its commitment to driving innovation and delivering exceptional value to local clients.

    Accenture will have a prominent presence as a Gold SAPHILA sponsor in two dedicated spaces:

    A collaborative space: which will serve as a hub for fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing. Accenture experts will be on hand to engage with clients and partners, exchange ideas, and explore potential synergies.

    A business development and leads space: Designed to facilitate growth and showcase Accenture’s capabilities, this space will focus on driving business development and generating leads. The team will highlight its latest innovations, success stories, and transformative solutions. It is an excellent opportunity for our sales and marketing teams to engage with prospects, nurture relationships, and demonstrate the value Accenture brings to organisations.

    PwC Africa focuses on accelerated outcomes

    It is not enough to simply implement new technology—technology also needs to advance business objectives. Using investments already made, SAPHILA Gold sponsor PwC takes a human-led, tech-powered approach that starts with the desired business outcome and works backwards to build the technology

    PwC and SAP have co-created a number of leading solutions for PwC’s clients through its partnership. As such, PwC’s main goal and discussions at the SAPHILA 2023 conference will be centred around creating awareness and educating teams on innovative technologies, transformation projects and award-winning solutions.

    The PwC SAP community of solvers will be present at its exhibition booth, featuring real-time demonstrations that will include the following topics:

    ·       Digital Manufacturing

    ·       SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)

    ·       SAP BTP and ChatGPT integration

    ·       Check your Value Chain solution — a SAP Innovation Awards 2023 winner

    ·       Climate Excellence solution — a SAP Pinnacle Awards 2022 winner

    ·       S/4 HANA migration strategies

    ·       SAP Tax solutions

    ·       SAP Risk solutions.

    SAPHILA attendees stand to win PwC-branded merchandise and other giveaways throughout the conference. They are also invited to participate in SAP BTP challenges, which will involve interactive gamification led by PwC’s global SAP head of innovation, who will be present at SAPHILA 2023 to talk to attendees about PwC’s latest innovations.

    Simplify your SAP S/4HANA migration journey with iOCO

    “At iOCO, we understand that migrating to SAP S/4HANA can be a complex journey,” explains Gary Khan, Sales Director – Enterprise Applications at iOCO, an EOH company. “That’s why we’ve developed our S/4HANA Discovery Programme, a guided approach that leverages the practical skills and learnings gained by our highly experienced S/4 migration team to lead your business through a comprehensive step-by-step process.

    “SAPHILA aligns perfectly with iOCO’s mission and expertise and, by supporting the conference as a Silver sponsor, we can showcase our deep industry knowledge and extensive expertise in SAP solutions, engage with like-minded professionals, share insights, and build relationships within the SAP community. It allows us to demonstrate our commitment to excellence and how we can help businesses maximise the power of SAP to drive value and growth.”

    iOCO will showcase the various solutions available on the journey to a successful SAP migration, including hyperscalers such as AWS, with the company’s AWS Migration Services offering a scalable, secure, cost-effective solution for migrating SAP workloads to the cloud. In addition, SAPHILA attendees can also take part in iOCO’s ‘spin the wheel’ competition, where they can try their luck for a chance to win amazing prizes.  

    Lemongrass showcases local cloud journey examples

    Cloud-focused SAP partner Lemongrass, a Silver sponsor at this year’s SAPHILA conference, will be sharing examples of how companies locally in South Africa and across the globe are making significant gains from migrating and operating their mission critical workloads on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. This will include key discussion areas such as:

    ·       Controlling cost in the cloud

    ·       Cloud security

    ·       Cloud operating models and DevOps

    ·       Automation

    ·       SAP S/4HANA and RISE

    ·       Minimal Downtime Operations (MDO)

    ·       SAP Analytics Accelerators

    The management and operation of SAP workloads in South Africa requires different considerations to other countries, with challenges including energy supplies and latency experienced on a daily basis. Lemongrass and AWS customers Pick n Pay and Aspen Pharmacare will be presenting their own unique journeys to the cloud and what they are now achieving as a result.

    The Lemongrass team of Rogan Morrison, Joe Campbell and Keith du Plessis look forward to welcoming visitors to the organisation’s stand, where they will have an opportunity to be entered into a prize draw to win a luxury hotel stay in Cape Town, as well as a Lego Technic set.

    Quintica foresees bright future with S/4HANA cloud transformation

    Companies using SAP as their core ERP have a bright future as SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a complete ERP system with built-in intelligent technologies that help companies adopt new business models, manage business change at speed, and orchestrate internal and external resources—all using the predictive power of AI. However, says SAPHILA Silver sponsor, Quintica, to take advantage of these new innovations, customers on older SAP releases must first move to S/4HANA. For SAP ECC customers, this is particularly complex due to the dramatic differences in software architecture and technical differences between ECC and S/4HANA. 

    ServiceNow helps SAP customers balance today’s need for innovation with the long-term strategy of moving to S/4HANA. With ServiceNow’s expertise in automating and optimising business processes, delivering great end-user experiences, and unifying the technology landscape, ServiceNow® Creator Workflows help customers maintain their speed of innovation while supporting a seamless transition to S/4HANA when they are ready. Organisations are empowered to make the most of their existing investment with SAP and move towards more modern finance and supply chain operations.

    Quintica, an Elite ServiceNow Partner in Africa and the Middle East, helps large complex global customers to get more value from their SAP investment with ServiceNow the platform for digital business. SAPHILA delegates are invited to see how Quintica does this by building unified experiences for SAP that are fast and automate ERP processes end to end during the modernisation process.

    For more information or to register to attend SAPHILA 2023, please visit www.saphila2023.com, or get in touch via email: info@SAPHILA2023.com.