EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
“The syllabus under which I trained in 1973 is still the
syllabus of today. I recently attended an expo in Russia
which hosted a skills competition and at not one of the
stands did I see a hammer, handsaw or chisel – the tools
which we are still using in South Africa to train artisans
today. Each stand had a full set of power tools. That gave
me the complete picture of how far we are behind in skills
development. What we are using for training in South
Africa today are regarded as museum pieces in even
fellow developing countries like China, positioning us at
least ten years behind.
“So, we need to make a serious decision as to whether
we are going to fool another generation of kids as to them
acquiring valid work skills, when we know they will not
acquire the necessary competences. We’re all very excited
to have 32 trainee apprentices based on the dual model
– but it’s no different to what I did in 1972 when we were
in industry for 90% of the times, and three months of the
year we would go to the college. My development was
very much in the industry, supported and aligned with the
college training,” says Beech. PA
meagre results. The NSDP launched in March this year is
almost obsolete. There is no reference anywhere in the
document to 4IR.
21
Re-humanising technology
Speaking on the subject of re-humanising technology
at the recent Cloud Practice conference, Tremayne
Monaghan, CIO of Tencent Africa, local subsidiary of one
of the top ten companies in the world, explained people’s
aversion to technology.
Technological terms people most fear:
• Blockchain
• Robotics
• AI (artificial intelligence)
• 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution)
• IoT (Internet of Things)
• Nanotech
• Genomics
“These are the terms that should be keeping you awake at
night; they are going to change the way you do business
and how you manage your customers. However, they
should not be feared because we need to be looking at
how any time-consuming task can be automated, to free
minds for greater things.
“The next technological evolution is to merge a human
with a computer,” says Monaghan. Elon Musk is already
doing this with Neuralink – a device between one’s skull
and brain which interfaces with the internet.
The gap between the exponential growth of technology
versus the much-flatter pace of management behaviour
is growing wider every day, “but you need to be as close
as possible to matching it every day, so it doesn’t get out
of sight”.
It is currently all too easy for managers to not adapt.
Apprentices are given laborious tasks to do, primarily to
get him out of the manager’s sight for four hours, rather
than for reasons of productivity. “The question every
January 2020 Volume 25 I Number 11
manager should be asking himself is how he or
she is adding value in a world where their trade or
profession has become commoditised. That added-
value has to consist of entrepreneurial value – going
with the business on an entrepreneurial journey as
opposed to ticking boxes.
“I wouldn’t think of hiring somebody who does not
think of technology – because 94% of those people
will have no jobs” says Monaghan.
How can you prepare for AI?
“There is no escaping it – the speed, efficiency and
accuracy of AI cannot be beaten, and it will be used
to maximise bottom lines. In future, managers may
not need ten trainees – but would probably still hire
them anyway if they can be taught different skills.”
Monaghan gave the example that in one week he had
established an ecommerce business that took him no
more than a few minutes to set up and five dollars in
costs. It was not the time or cost that compelled him
to do so, but the fact that he’d upskilled himself by
reading ten articles about the products
involved and how to be first to
market.
Mondato
There’s a website called ‘Will robots take my job?’
which allows you to type in any profession, and it
calculates the likelihood of your job being taken
by a robot. According to this website, if you’re a
plumber you face a 35% chance of your job being
automated.
Tremayne Monaghan, CIO
of Tencent Africa, local
subsidiary of one of the top
ten companies in the world. At
the time of his appointment he
was the youngest ever CFO in
the global Tencent group.
“Human beings still
trump AI because AI
cannot tell us what isn’t
already existing – only
humans can,” concludes
Monaghan. PA
“The next
technological
evolution is
to merge a
human with a
computer.”
www.plumbingafrica.co.za