Tech must be used to improve lives
ICT seminar speakers call for digital era to be embraced
“Look beyond technology and see what it can do for you” was the message at the first seminar which kicked off the ICT Summit this week.
The message was emphasised after an array of speakers – including summit executive chairperson Motse Mfuleni, Convergence Partners chairperson Andile Ngcaba, Standard Bank corporate investment CIO Masidi Makano, Vodacom business CEO William Mzimba and deputy telecommunications minister Stella-Ndabeni Abraham – gave presentations yesterday.
Mzimba said they had discovered through several initiatives rolled out with the department of education that teachers were among the professionals who were intimidated by technology, as they feared it would replace their jobs.
“There's a perception that technology is making people redundant and will replace their jobs, but the reality is technology is here to make our lives simpler,” he said.
“Our aim is to find ways of how we can develop tech that can address our social ills so we can use it to find solutions
“People are intimidated and frustrated by technology because they don't know how to use it, which is why while we are developing software and rolling out infrastructure, we equally need to be hosting training for people to know exactly what we’re doing.
“With this ‘fourth industrial revolution’ we are moving towards an era where everything is automated; robots will be taking care of business, even the camera now is more than just an eye. We are in an era where we are giving the camera a brain of its own – with facial and number plate recognition, we are giving it senses of its own.”
Mzimba said one of his dreams was to combat crime using software that could detect criminals on surveillance cameras connected to police stations and ultimately police and court dockets. “There are many facets of ICT which we need to exploit, creating solutions across all industries and we need to create an inclusive economy with the application of 5G,” he said.
Ndabeni-Abrahams said people needed to change their thinking and be part of the revolution. “We need to position ourselves as a country on how we are going to capitalise on the sector throughout Africa as a market.
“Innovation can't be taught at tertiary level – it starts from early childhood and it’s been impressive to see the department of education finally coming on board with e-learning because we need to create critical thinkers among children from a young age,” she said.
Ndabeni-Abrahams said the state was working with Telkom to reopen learning sectors and create an enabling environment with data science workshops.
“We've discovered that we're not doing justice at our innovation hubs which have three to six months programmes – it doesn’t work, which is why we now want to expand them to three years so SMMEs can be skilled to become employers, not employees,” she said.