Driving Africa’s digital transformation agenda
Through the company, the continent will play a leading role in the modern digital economy
A rising tide of digital disruption is sweeping the globe and pressure is mounting on businesses to digitally transform their operations to remain competitive and relevant.
To do so, companies must keep step with innovation, rival emerging digital native businesses and meet shifting customer expectations and demands.
According to Accenture’s Technology Vision 2017 report, 78% of companies in SA already understand the need to digitally innovate at pace to maintain a competitive edge. In fact, larger companies in SA expect to generate 29% of total revenue from digital technologies, products and services by 2020.
“The ‘digitisation of everything’ trend is evolving at pace and Africa cannot afford to play catch-up,” says Accenture Africa’s new CEO Vukani Mngxati.
He believes Africa is largely unconstrained by the challenges posed by overhauling legacy systems, which creates opportunity for businesses on the continent to leverage emerging and maturing digital technologies to truly revolutionise and disrupt the status quo.
“Due to the prevailing socioeconomic landscape, it is unsurprising to see the ingenuity that has arisen from our proud continent. While these pockets of innovation have helped African nations make significant strides, more can be done to create a prosperous future.
“By embracing and tilting toward the future through digital transformation, a unique opportunity exists for African nations to leapfrog other industrialised countries and play a leading role in the modern digital economy.”
Those organisations that lag the digital adoption curve will struggle to participate in this digitised future. And with new and nimble disruptive players entering the market, the need to transform at pace has never been more important to corporate Africa.
“While digital transformation has become a strategic imperative, embracing digitisation comes with significant complexities. The challenges most executives face include contextualising what digitisation means for their specific business and how they can apply it to meet their unique demands and requirements,” Mngxati says.
And it is Accenture Africa’s plan to enable this transformation by establishing itself as Africa’s digital accelerator. Since taking on the role of CEO six months ago — after 20 years working in different roles within Accenture in both the private and public sectors — Mngxati is leading a series of positive developments at the company.
“We are committed to unlocking African abundance for all through the application of digital technologies. We believe African organisations that embrace and harness digitisation intelligently will improve bottom lines, while contributing to the economy and creating employment opportunities across the continent. Our business strategy and our new brand campaign therefore aim to drive meaningful digital adoption within Africa, starting from our base in SA.”
As Africa’s most industrialised nation, Mngxati believes the country is well positioned to drive the digital transformation agenda. “Increasingly, conversations in local boardrooms are being dominated by the need to implement digital capabilities that can boost organisational performance, unlock