The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the use of technologies and digital transformation in businesses. According to research conducted by Vodafone recently, 71% of businesses have made at least one new technology investment in direct response to the pandemic.
According to William Mzimba, Chief Officer for Vodacom Business “necessity is the mother of all inventions”. “As we have seen during these tough times of COVID, people have seen the need to disrupt themselves and take advantage of the new business models that are premised on leveraging digital technologies and hence 71% have invested in new technologies that they have not adopted before.”
Mzimba further points out that the progression of software and information technology services to the cloud has accelerated strongly over this period, driven by increased use of remote working and the need for maximum scalability in times of uncertain demand and supply of goods. “In the long term, cloud-based solutions are critical for organisations to achieve quicker time to market and create self-service solutions for businesses,” he indicates.
However, amid the adoption of new technologies that lead to new developments and innovation, the risk and impact of cyberattacks also increased. With millions of people working remotely, volumes of data are left unprotected and vulnerable. “Organisations must consider conducting a risk assessment and identifying enforcement mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and automatic logout from unattended devices,” Mzimba advises.
Click here to read Mzimba’s Business Day article.
Click here to view CNBC Africa’s interview with William Mzimba.
