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Mobile enterprise technology use in SA on the rise – Syspro

13th April 2018

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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About two-thirds of large companies in South Africa commonly use mobile enterprise technologies, and almost half intend to adopt new business technologies, including robotics and Internet of Things (IoT), says enterprise software multinational Syspro Africa MD Mark Wilson.

‘The Mobile Corporation in South Africa 2018’ report, based on a research study conducted by technology market research firm World Wide Worx in partnership with Syspro, showed that, while only 44% of large companies consider mobile solutions important in budgeting priorities, two-thirds of large companies in the information technology (IT) software and services, health and education sectors are early adopters of mobile solutions.

Almost two-thirds of the respondents, 66%, say that they currently use technologies related to IoT. The majority of those not using it – a further 28% – plan to do so, while all those currently using it plan to increase their use of IoT.

There were no differences between the various industries regarding the importance of mobile access, with 82% of companies noting that mobile access is critical for email access outside the office, while emergencies ranked as the second-most-critical factor (72%) for mobile access.

“The technologies that come up highest in IT budgeting priorities tend to be related to cloud computing, which now dominates IT strategy. Three of the top four IT budget priorities are software as a service (69%), cloud computing (68%) and virtualisation (62%).”

The most important noncloud technology is virtual private networking, which is considered the second-highest budget priority, with 68.5% of large companies rating it as important. Virtual private networks (VPNs) are critical to ensuring secure access to company networks and services when staff are away from the office.

“Further, although not a mobile technology in itself, it has become key to the ability of the knowledge worker to go mobile, yet have full access to corporate information. In some cases, industries that are characterised by far-flung facilities have also become dependent on VPNs for secure information sharing,” says World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck.

For example, the mining industry ranked VPNs, along with converged communications, as more important in their budgeting priorities than for any other industry. Mining was also second behind IT software and services in its ranking of virtualisation – a technology that allows the creation of multiple virtual versions of a device within the same hardware device.

Advanced mobile software, like mobile enterprise resource planning, is currently being used by only 40% of large companies. This contrasts with 57% of companies in the retail sector that use such software, and 48% use them extensively. The IT industry follows closely, with 47% of respondents reporting heavy use of advanced mobile software.

“It all comes down to efficiency and effectiveness. If technology makes the business more efficient and individual users more effective in doing their jobs, then it will make the business more competitive,” Wilson highlights.

The research study, based on telephonic interviews with IT decision-makers at 400 large companies in South Africa, shows slow uptake of technologies, such as robotics, IoT, Big Data and machine learning, but a rapidly growing readiness to adopt them.

While only 13% of enterprise IT decision-makers said that they currently use Big Data and machine learning, a further 55% said they would adopt these technologies in the near future. Similarly, robotics has been deployed in only 6% of companies, but a further 45% said they planned to do so.

“Blockchain is the only major emerging technology that is still being avoided by most corporates: only 3% of companies are trying it out, while only 39% plan to use it,” says Goldstuck.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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