GET TO KNOW
What do
you currently
identify as the
major areas of
investment in
your industry?
How do you deal with
stress and unwind outside the office?
I firmly believe in striving to try and find
a healthy balance. Although it’s not easy,
I feel very strongly about the concept of
healthy body equals healthy mind and the
need to look after oneself. To that extent,
I really enjoy my sporting activities, in
particular endurance events and I find that
exercise is an enormous stress reliever.
I spend a lot of time getting involved in
endurance mountain biking events. More
recently over the past couple of years, I
have participated in triathlons and half-Iron
Man events, which is an enormous stress
reliever. Having said that, given that most
modern day executives work in a very
pressurised world, with enormous amounts
of stress around us, I firmly believe that it
is important not to take life too seriously.
When you are in the company of others
and enjoying things, the best form of stress
relief is always a good laugh.
If you could go back and change one
career decision, what would it be?
I certainly thank that, as a younger adult,
I would have gone and studied earlier and
would have read significantly more just to
enhance my general knowledge. In terms of
a specific career decision, I guess it would
be to have less patience, and realise that
living in such a fast-paced world, one needs
to be moving between roles probably every
year to 18 months, to make sure that you
are continually getting exposed to new
people, technology, ideas, businesses and
processes, and you never allow yourself to
become stagnant.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Given that we
target a variety
of industries, and
typically provide
mission-critical
business solutions
and enterprise IT
solutions to the entire
industry, I certainly
see that the areas
which should be major
investment areas are those relating to AI
and Prescriptive Analytics. More importantly,
we need to understand what we can do
with these technologies and how we can
embed them into our businesses. I still
see the challenge for many organisations
is recognising how their industries are
becoming disrupted through the use of
technology and, while they are doing a
lot of talking around it, they are not doing
a lot to actually take the necessary steps
to implement them. I see that both as a
challenge and an opportunity for us to see
how we can help companies take that step
from their current status to where can go
forward with technology.
What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing new
technologies in Africa?
We do not lag in technologies, on the
contrary in many cases we are pretty much
on a par with the rest of the world but the
main challenge throughout the continent
is one of adoption. For example, I recently
attended a retail conference that focused on
the changing consumer and the available
technology in the market but highlighted the
slow uptake and adoption rates in the region.
What changes to your job role have
you seen in the last year and how do
you see these developing in the next
12 months
My role has been through quite a change in
the last year, in particular where we formed
the Argility Technology Group and I became
COO of the group. That was achieved
through the merging and consolidation
of a number of entities, which was quite
a process. Every time you go through a
merger or deal, one needs to manage the
integration of businesses to ensure that
they are aligned with the extraction of
maximum synergies, while at the same
time allaying fears and concerns of people
whenever you bring about change. In terms
of what we expect to develop in the near
future, we are on a very clear strategy to
grow our company and group significantly
over the next several years. In that respect,
we are looking for the suitable level of BEE
partners to come into our business, as well
as examining investing in and acquiring
companies involved in the mega-trends
of Industry 4.0. I see my role being very
involved with how we can identify those
companies and partnerships and leverage
them to grow our organisation and develop
appropriate solutions for our customers.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain C-level
position in your industry?
I think in any industry, moving to a C-level
position, and when you go through a
transition, particularly in certain cases from
functional or specialist roles into general
management or C-level roles, you need
to always be flexible and open to change.
Also, be true to oneself, particularly in the
IT or technology arena and be careful
not to get caught up in the trap of talking
about tech, always asking questions and
making sure that you recognise that tech
is simply an enabler of businesses and not
the answer. Business and technology are
nothing without the people behind it and
the value in learning how to develop and
nurture the people around you cannot be
underestimated.
Lastly, no matter how senior you become in
an organisation, it is important to remember
that you are only as good as your next
success and always ensure you are learning,
reading and exposing yourself to what is
happening in the industry. Only by doing
these things can you remain relevant.
My last advice is to make friends with many
young millennials, young kids. Interact with
them as much as possible because they are
the ones that are going to drive change
within an organisation. n
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