Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 29 | Page 42

COUNTRY FOCUS: BOTSWANA ///////////////// Digital Transformation’s promise for Botswanan businesses Digital Transformation and emerging technologies have been generating significant interest in Africa recently. Public and private sector organisations are finding the promises of job creation and economic growth difficult to ignore. Ricardo Flores, Senior Regional Manager of SADC Applications at Oracle, discusses the possibilities for the Botswanan government and firms who are embracing digital initiatives. W ith Internet penetration in the country growing and mobile technologies rapidly being deployed, Botswana is mirroring what is happening in other leading African markets. 42 INTELLIGENTCIO A growing awareness of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain benefits will transform government services and companies across all industries, creating innovative opportunities and new jobs. Some governments have struggled with agility and speed on their digital initiatives but have continued to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution with several initiatives being rolled out to deliver e-services to citizens. And even though the merits of things like telemedicine, e-learning or cloud have long been touted, it is only now that the technology is starting to affect meaningful change in the country. Transformative Digital Transformation has moved beyond just referring to accessing the Internet or www.intelligentcio.com