A
PUBLICATION
Providing Unparalleled Technology Intelligence
ISSUE 26 // www.intelligentcio.com
RISE
OF AI
Industry leaders
on how AI plays a key
part in IT
MIGRATING
TO CLOUD
A leading Kenyan investment
bank migrated to the cloud
in one day
TAKING
ADVANTAGE
Aviation expert on three
developments that will benefit
operators and MRO companies
EDITOR’S
NOTE
H
ello and welcome to the latest
edition of Intelligent CIO Africa,
which is once again packed with the
latest IT news and thought leadership pieces
from across the continent.
The front cover is an interview I did with
Brent Curry, the CIO of South African
retail clothing company, The Foschini
Group. Having sat on the firm’s board
since 2005, Curry’s portfolio covers IT,
logistics, e-commerce and group marketing
and plays a key part in the company’s
Digital Transformation strategy. Curry talks
about the Oracle AVG solution that the
organisation implemented to assist with its
e-commerce strategy, the challenges he has
had to overcome throughout his career and
how the position of the CIO has changed to
a more advisory role.
There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence
is playing a key role in IT, with a lot of
complex problems now being undertaken
by machines rather than humans. Our
feature includes the thoughts of IBM’s
Andrew Quixley, who explains that, even
though organisations need to adopt the new
technology, they should do so at a pace that
humans can bear, and the most successful
www.intelligentcio.com
businesses will have a mix of what both AI
and humans can bring.
Meanwhile, Vaughan Rowsell, CEO of Vend,
looks at on how Artificial Intelligence in retail
is changing the industry.
This month’s country focus looks how
leading Kenyan investment bank, Genghis
Capital, turned to Node Africa to take
advantage of the benefits that the cloud
brings. The migration only took one
day to complete, and the company has
witnessed a lot of benefits, with costs being
dramatically reduced.
This year, global fleet and maintenance,
repair and overhaul (MRO) markets will
see dynamic growth as the demand for air
travel rises. With this in mind, we hear from
Mark Martin, a Director at IFS, who has
targeted three developments that will enable
operators and MRO commercial aviation
companies to take advantage of these
growth opportunities.
ADAPTING TO CHANGE
Brent Curry, Chief Information officer of leading South African
clothing retail company, The Foschini Group, says the role of the
CIO has changed dramatically and leading executives need to
adapt to new technology.
Intelligent Business
Solutions Partner
Intelligent
Phishing Partner
Global ICIO
Knowledge Partner
Intelligent
Data Security Partner
Intelligent
Manufacturing Partner
Global
Innovation Partner
Intelligent
Supporting Partner
Intelligent
ITSM Partner
and Sub-Saharan Africa, explains that
open source software will continue to play
a fundamental role in all the dominant
technology trends as it is increasingly being
relied on by enterprise businesses around
the world.
I hope you enjoy the latest edition and
if you want to contribute towards any future
content, please feel to get in touch at
[email protected].
Paul Rogers
Editor
To round off the magazine, we get to know
Rakesh Parbhoo, CEO at Westcon-Comstor
Sub-Saharan Africa, while Grant Bennett,
Country Manager for SUSE South Africa
INTELLIGENTCIO
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