Author: Staff Writer
A global shift towards working from home during the pandemic and a surge in ransomware attacks over the past year is driving premium prices higher and leading to tougher terms and conditions for cyber-insurance. This highlights why it’s more important than ever for South African enterprises to tighten their information security policies and processes. That’s according to Paul Lowings, Security Executive at new-age solutions and systems integrator, +OneX. He says that a rise in cyber-insurance claims over the past year and a half is prompting insurance companies to more closely scrutinise the systems, policies and processes in place at companies…
Having achieved great success in the fibre-to-the-home market, integrated ICT and infrastructure provider Vox is looking to build on these strengths by expanding their push into the fibre-to-the-business market with bundled offerings that are designed to bring more value and savings to local companies in a tough economic environment. The COVID pandemic and resulting intermittent lockdowns – together with the looming threat of loadshedding – have resulted in a paradigm shift in business, with many having to adopt remote working policies, which includes adopting solutions to make their onsite data and applications more widely available and finding innovative ways of…
Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay Portal, its first-ever wireless gaming headphones are available in South Africa. Featuring a sophisticated aesthetic, premium materials, and immersive sound, Beoplay Portal brings all the hallmarks of Bang & Olufsen to the world of gaming — and beyond. Whether used for immersive gaming experiences, watching movies, or enjoying music, Beoplay Portal easily adapts to the situation, offering an impressive set of features including low-latency surround sound, outstanding microphone performance, Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, and an elegant user interface. These expertly crafted lightweight headphones are built for long-lasting comfort, ease of use, and superior acoustic…
MTN has announced a mobile money partnership with Africa’s leading payments technology company, Flutterwave. This partnership will allow businesses integrating Flutterwave in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia to receive payments via MTN Mobile Money (MoMo). MTN MoMo is a FinTech platform providing consumers and businesses with an electronic wallet, enabling electronic transfers and payments as well as access to digital and financial services. At the end of June 2021, MTN MoMo had 48.9 million active users and 581,514 merchants. MoMo enables businesses to accept and make payments within the mobile money ecosystem. This new partnership will enable Flutterwave…
Investec Ltd and Investec plc have both been approved for secondary listings on A2X Markets and their shares will be available for trade from Thursday 16 September 2021. Investec Limited will retain its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX) and the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and its issued share capital will be unaffected by its secondary listing on A2X. Investec plc will retain its listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the JSE and its issue capital will also remain unaffected. These new listings follow the listings of Investec’s Top 40 Tri ETN…
Vehicle-recovery and fleet-intelligence company Netstar, a subsidiary of Altron, has appointed Clifford de Wit as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). De Wit will take over from current CTO Francois Stols, who is retiring at the end of the year. De Wit is highly respected in the South African technology space. In 1998 he helped start one of the world’s first internet-banking solutions for Nedbank. In 2009, he launched Microsoft’s SA BizSpark start-up programme. The appointment of De Wit will significantly strengthen Netstar’s technology capability, leaving the pioneering telematics company well-positioned to drive the next phase of industry innovation. “I’m really excited…
FlexClub, the innovative global vehicle subscription marketplace, has partnered with the sole distributor of Bajaj Auto in South Africa, to offer motorcycle subscriptions to individuals and businesses in South Africa. The partnership means that safe, reliable and highly economical vehicles are now accessible and affordable for the many thousands of independent delivery drivers in South Africa. According to Darren Venter, Head of Operations in South Africa at FlexClub, the fuel-efficient 125cc Bajaj CT motorcycles are a compelling and economical transport option for independent couriers who contract for food and goods delivery companies like Uber Eats, Mr D, Bolt, OneCart, Checkers,…
A new artificial intelligence (AI) platform has been unveiled by Telkom, in collaboration with Enlabeler, which could have a far-reaching impact on the education, health and business sectors. The new AI platform translates speech into text from English and local languages. It has a unique ability to interpret South African accents. The platform, izwe.ai, has been officially launched at the AI Expo Africa 2021, the largest business-focused Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation and 4IR trade event in Africa, running from September 7-9. Izwe.ai offers transcription and translation across a range of languages, as well as a number of text classification…
For the first time in South Africa, car buyers can enjoy a complete end-to-end digital vehicle shopping experience, saving them vast amounts of time and energy, through the new Avo virtual vehicle mall feature. This is the latest in the evolution of the super app, Avo by Nedbank, which was launched in May 2020, changing the way people interact with e-commerce. ‘While there are already quite a few websites and aggregators where people can browse vehicles, the existing options are still very limited,’ says Julie Vetter, Avo Executive at Nedbank. ‘While these online portals are offered to a client to…
Wits University today invited Africa’s research community to join its newly formed AI Africa Consortium which aims to develop a collaborative network focussed on the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and the application of AI in research and innovation. Addressing the virtual opening of AI Expo Africa 2021, the largest business-focused AI event in Africa, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University, announced the ambitious partnership, saying AI and machine learning (ML) “offers huge opportunities for development and progress in Africa”. “For us to fully participate in the 21st Century, we must use this ‘scientific renaissance’ to drive…