Harnessing digital transformation to lead in ‘the new’, overcome Africa’s challenges Digital changes all the rules
It’s the age of perpetual disruption. Creating new revenue streams, monetising data and reaching new customers requires outcomesbased transformation. We’re helping businesses like Vodacom leverage innovation to target and release trapped value.
Africa is a continent alive with potential. Digital technologies can help unlock that potential, addressing endemic challenges, giving businesses access to new markets and growth opportunities, and creating an environment in which Africa’s people can advance and thrive. To realise this prosperity, businesses and other stakeholders need to prepare the ground for digital, rethink their strategies and transform. In Africa, the digital opportunity for organisations – and the threat from new born-digital players – is immense.
The experience that digital giants like
Google and Amazon provide is resetting consumer expectations – for all brands. Their expectations have become ‘liquid’, they expect companies to be as responsive to their needs and capable of continuous innovation. It’s a hard act to follow.
To remain relevant and competitive, organisations across sectors need to transform their operations, rethink their value propositions and reposition themselves to lead in this new digital era.
Similarly, governments and industry stakeholders need to transform to solve big social challenges, such as access to healthcare and housing, and the delivery of basic services.
But embracing digitisation comes with significant complexities.
Transform, innovate – at pace
Transformation means more than just putting new technologies in place; new skills, business structures and approaches will be needed to deliver products and services faster and better, respond to new challenges and opportunities with agility, and scale innovation rapidly.
In Africa, some incumbents and public sector entities are still stuck in legacy businesses with trapped value. Even exciting new digital startups are struggling to scale and grow their offerings.
Accenture’s strategic objective for 2019 is to help Africa bridge these complexities.
“African organisations that harness digitisation intelligently will improve their bottom lines while contributing to the economy and creating employment opportunities across the continent,” notes Vukani Mngxati, CEO of Accenture Africa. “At Accenture, we are making it our business to accelerate that journey for African businesses, starting from our base in South Africa.”
Accenture helps organisations answer real business challenges and unlock economic opportunities by leveraging an ecosystem of meaningful and relevant levers.
Accenture helps organisations:
• Evaluate the health of their current
revenue streams and reposition for growth • Build intelligence into their operations to drive real-time decision making, exceptional customer experiences and breakthrough business outcomes • Leverage data to contextualise and
understand market needs more deeply • Participate on platforms and within
ecosystems
• Secure their digital transformation
• Deliver innovation
Are you ready for digital? Talk to us.
www.accenture.co.za
framework is aligned to our business strategy, ensuring we allow our people to excel and upskill through capability building initiatives which include training and performance coaching,” states Mendes.
This strategy encompasses people from all backgrounds, Vodacom SA priding itself on being an inclusive business as demonstrated in its listing on the Thompson Reuters Most Inclusive Companies index for 2019 and through its Gender Mainstreaming Awards.
“Our retention strategy is anchored on a robust learning and development programme which has seen us invest over R360 million in the skills development of our employees in the last fiscal year,” Mendes adds.
Further, alongside its extensive staff investments, the company has launched a number of innovative ventures such as its Just 4 You offering, providing its customers with tailormade voice and data packages based on their own usage.
“Not only has this been instrumental in driving down the effective price of data in South Africa, but it also allows us to provide our customers with a personalised experience by creating offers that are specifically customised to suit individual demands,” Mendes reveals.
Equally, the firm’s Vodacom 4U brand, established 15 years ago, has been similarly transformational. A slightly differentiated offering in terms of service and experience, the business has allowed Vodacom to better target a younger audience and in turn expand its footprint.
“In recent times we also acquired a strategic stake in Kenya’s Safaricom, a prized asset on the African continent, and became the first telco to list in Tanzania,” Mendes adds, citing some of the firm’s other investments.
“Closer to home we announced a R16 billion BBBEE transaction during the course of last year having created significant value for the Yebo Yethu shareholders that invested in our first empowerment initiative in 2008.”