The 25th world congress of the International Union of Architects is being held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.
Vodacom is experiencing its highest traffic levels ever; telecoms companies are battling to keep up with the demand for reach and are simply unable to do this fast enough.
“There have been massive changes in the business environment over the past 20 years, particularly around security, with respect to access to information and especially information about people,” said Deshan Govender, Vodacom managing executive: large enterprise.
“Exposing the youth to ICT has helped us in terms of development, but we need to accelerate this [process]. The quicker we can develop the quicker we can deliver, and adoption and development are critical to providing services today.
“People have moved past what services they see into what services we can provide. Consumers want to pay-as-they-use and are not interested in the costs associated with running the heavy machinery in the back-end. We also see the sharing of information and applications as becoming increasingly predominant and the demand for skills increasing.
“It is not merely about access, but what information can offer in terms of analytics and consumer pattern predications.”
Govender said it is Vodacom’s duty to enable government to offer adequate service delivery through such applications as eLearning, mHealth and mobile government. “This is a big investment for us as a company,” he concluded.
Tailored offerings
The 2015 Free State ICT summit was accompanied by an exhibition, with companies covering the spectrum of ICT needs participating and some vibrant stands on show from entities including EOH, Vodacom, Telkom, Free State province, Vox Telecomms, SITA and Over The Top Technologies.
Feedback was positive and exhibitors felt that their presence was appreciated. Said CHM Vuwani’s account manager, Roland Marshall: “Participation in exhibitions like this one is important as they are targeted towards the level of audience we want to do business with, and we can tailor our offerings accordingly.”