FEATURE: DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
PWC’s Glossary of Digital Disruption
What are the technologies that are driving innovation
and change, how are they being used in Africa and
what is the future potential?
Big data analytics
Computer capacity and data availability/
flows are increasing exponentially. Big
data analytics offers the win-win of better
outcomes and more efficient use of
resources. We’ve always had analytics. The
disruptor is that the price of these tools is
coming down sharply and they’re becoming
much easier to use, which is opening them
up to local government and a broader range
of communities and enterprises.
Blockchain
Blockchain creates a permanent and
unchangeable record of every transaction
and information exchange between
different parties. The most high-profile
application of blockchain has been the
cryptocurrency, bitcoin. This model is
now being applied to reduce the cost of
remittances to and from African countries.
Yet in many ways the biggest potential
comes from the ability to create trusted
tamper-proof records. This could help
to improve record-keeping and combat
fraud within businesses and governments.
It could also reduce the huge expense
dedicated to the gathering and
verification of records.
it’s being operated and external factors
such as weather. automated operations delivered by
intelligent machines.
South African companies have been
pioneering the use of sensors to monitor
driving as they look to reduce accidents.
They’re also leading the way in the use of
health monitors to detect signs of ill health
and remind people to take regular medicines. The advantages of artificial intelligence,
machine learning, robo-advice,
algorithmic-trading and other forms of
robotics aren’t just increased speed and
lower costs, but their ability to constantly
learn and refine, opening the way for
ever greater precision, customisation
and adaptation. Robotics may eventually
be the only feasible way to make sense
of the torrent of data flowing through
your organisation.
The Internet of Things (IoT) takes sensor
technology to the next level by connecting
up all the sensors and communicating the
data for tracking, analysis and response.
The move to a new generation of 4G and
5G mobile connections will open further
IOT possibilities.
Fintech
In a continent in which levels of financial
inclusion remain low, the transformational
potential of mobile finance services is
already evident in the rapid growth of the
M-Pesa and MTN Money networks.
Yet in many ways, mobile payment is just the
beginning. Fintech now embraces everything
from insurance and remittances to the
hugely underserved agricultural and SME
lending markets.
Drones Renewable energy
While the primary use of drones
(unmanned aircraft) was once combat
operations, there are now more in civilian
than military use around the world.
Commercial uses include product delivery;
insurers and public bodies can also use
drones to survey infrastructure and
disaster zones to target vulnerabilities
and repairs. Across the continent, low-cost solar cells
bring sustainable power generation to
homes in remote communities and informal
settlements, as well as to SMEs, in a way
that conventional national grids have
struggled to do.
The disruptor is the fall in price, which is
bringing longer range and easier to control
models into the reach of more and more
businesses, public bodies and remote
communities across Africa.
Robotics
From fridges to freight trucks, sensors
can track how equipment is running, how Robotics is a wide field covering the
analysis, customer engagement and
INTELLIGENTCIO
The shared economy is a familiar
concept for a continent whose
economies are based on close personal
ties and the pooling of resources. Many
thousands of Africans run one-person
businesses, driving taxis or repairing
machinery and clothing, but their ability
to sell their services has depended on
their local network and word of mouth.
Connectivity allows sole traders and
small businesses to share their labour,
and capital, with a much larger group of
potential consumers.
Rather than waiting for government
investment, crowdfunding would enable
residents and businesses to gather enough
investment to build new roads, schools
and clinics, while having direct control over
the award of contracts and how the funds
are spent.
3D printing
This has increased mobile connectivity and,
as a result of better and cheaper lighting,
improved security and given more study
time for children. Many people use mobile
payment services to pay off the instalments
or charges for their solar panels. This in turn
gives them a credit history, which can be
used to gain access to finance.
Sensors/Internet of Things
54
Shared economy
3D printing brings customised
manufacturing to your doorstep. As it
becomes cheaper, 3D is being used to
produce everything from spare parts to
prosthetic limbs and precision tools in
places in Africa that are too remote or
difficult to reach.
As the sophistication of 3D printers
increases, it could soon be possible to print
machinery, vehicles and aircraft, which
could be assembled locally.
www.intelligentcio.com