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In recent years, the gaming industry has seen exponential growth and has become a major player in the world of entertainment. The trend is expected to continue i, with the increasing demand for gaming and gamification in various industries. From education to healthcare, more and more companies are incorporating gaming elements to enhance their products and services. This has led to new branding opportunities for companies looking to tap into the gaming world and reach a wider audience. Additionally, the growth of the gaming industry has also created new career opportunities for professionals with expertise in gaming, branding, and related fields.Join In this conversation, with Khalid Khalphey, Commercial Manger, dentsu Amplifi and professional gamer, gamification expert and founder of the African e-Sports Federation, Ryan Macquet, we explore the intersection of gaming, branding, career and industry opportunities.Follow the dentsu wisdom series here
What is digital resilience and the Digital Resilience Insight partnership? Business Insights with Ingrid von Stein connects with Steven Ambrose , and we find out more about him, his team and the recent partnership announcement of becoming a member of DSG.The new company will be called Digital Resilience Insight. It will bring together the expertise and resources of both companies, enabling them to offer their customers an even more comprehensive range of innovative and practical solutions.“The partnership with DSG is a strategic fit that will benefit both parties," says Steven Ambrose, the CEO of Digital Resilience Insight. "By working with DSG, we will be able to grow and strengthen our offerings to ensure outstanding services to existing and future clients within the Digital Resilience business, as Digital Resilience Insight.”Steven and his team have a long-standing reputation for providing leading data-based security solutions to businesses and organisations of all sizes. Digital Resilience Insight offer solutions for data management from Cribl and SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution from Splunk, and provides an expert and knowledgeable team. “We are a trusted partner to many companies in securing their sensitive information and offering insights and services that make business better and more profitable,” according to Ambrose.The Digital Solutions Group and Digital Resilience are known for their service excellence and provide comprehensive solutions to a variety of industries. The combination of the two businesses is therefore an even greater pool of expertise in a market that sees 3,5 million unfilled jobs and scarce resources. The company is poised to continue its growth and expansion.The partnership will allow both companies to combine their strengths and provide even more comprehensive solutions to their respective customers."We are thrilled to announce this cooperation and to bring together the expertise and resources of two great companies," says Yaron Assabi, CEO of DSG. "By collaborating together, we can offer our customers more solutions and platforms to drive their growth and profitability. We will also be able to offer effective and innovative solutions in the cyber security arena to secure their sensitive information. It is a great fit for us as Splunk is all about ‘turning data into doing’ which complements our passion for #DoingSomethingGreat.”
While Automation is phasing out traditional job roles innovation is redefining these jobs and creating new ones. The burden of responsibility is thus placed on Education to prepare learners with the skills they need to take up these jobs of the future.Lindi Tshabangu, host of the entrepreneur show - Word of Mouth, connects with entrepreneur and founder of Coral Reef Innovation Hub in Ghana, with a recent expansion into South Africa. We find out more about this entrepreneurs journey and why he is so passionate about education and skills development of our young people.The Coral Reef Innovation hub is a tech hub that is focused on introducing technology to influence the way people live and do business. With a strong focus on driving education through technology, we aim to provide all educational centers with digital labs, tool teachers and facilitators with state-of-the-art digital devices, and train and resource service providers with the necessary information to deliver world-class education in Ghana and beyond. As a specialty organization, we have partnered with producers of digital devices, software providers, and content providers from all over the world to ensure the migration of cutting-edge technology. Technology has brought the world together and The Coral Reef Innovation lab is keen to be the catalyst to ensure the inclusion of all; girls, underprivileged schools, and small businesses
While the idea of unplugging is romantic, whimsical and tickles all of our wanderlust receptors, we will be the first to admit that one of the biggest issues with traveling abroad is suddenly and abruptly being disconnected. Traveling without the hassles of email and group texts is definitely a great feeling, but when you find yourself lost or trying to find you next meeting place, having no service becomes more than just an inconvenience.
Arthur Goldstuck, our resident Technology expert shares some key insights and options for Staying Connected when traveling outside South Africa:
Track your own luggage - Lets find out more about Electronic Bag Tagging : the digital alternative to the traditional paper luggage tag. It allows you to check in your bags from anywhere and save valuable time.
Always connected - KnowRoaming offers connectivity solutions in over 200 countries world-wide. Founded by South African, now living in Canada
Our laptops and computers have become an extension of our offices. So when you buy one, don't go for cheap, rather go for the one that comes with great onsite/remote service. Find the right person (in the Gauteng) region to take care of you, your staff and your computers needs.
Björn Salsone,host of the Entrepreneur Show - Brunch with Björn, connects with Alwyn du Preez, founder of InTimeConnections (Gauteng based) and we find out more about his business, his service offering and why taking care of your computers and laptops will save you time and money in the long run.
We take a step away from the traditional latest Technology in the marketplace and delve into the world of High-Tech running shoes with Arthur Goldstuck
Just when we thought that running shoes made of recycled material were the ultimate in fitness high-tech, Under Armour (UA) and Adidas have raised the bar again. Arthur takes the new UA Flow Velociti Wind 2 and Adidas Solar Glide 5 for a few test runs and shares his insights with us.
As six telecom operators throw their hats into the ring for SA's latest attempt to auction 5G wireless broadband spectrum, the big question is not only whether it will happen in our lifetimes, but why it is so important?
We connect with Arthur Goldstuck, founder World Wide Worx and find out more.
South Africa could be the next big market for all-in-one apps, writes ANDRE HUGO, co-founder and CEO of Spot Money. Life without apps? It’s hard to imagine. How would you wake up in the morning? Browse the news? Listen to music? Order food? Apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, Uber, Mr Delivery and any number of banking apps have become such an integral part of our daily lives.
Right now, there are 24 places for apps on your home screen – and chances are you’re using most of them. But a rapidly growing breed of multi-functional apps wants to change all that. At the moment, each of your apps offers a specific kind of service or product. Bring them all together on one platform, and suddenly you have an all-in-one app that you can use for practically everything. You can pay for shopping, whether online or in-store, with a card or by scanning a QR code. Buy airtime and electricity. Pay your bills. Manage shared expenses. Pay a friend. Shop around for the best deals on insurance or loans. Earn rewards when you shop. And more.
In the past couple of years, lifestyle apps have become hugely popular in emerging markets, particularly Asia. Tencent’s WeChat and AliPay allow users to use a range of transport and mobility services, shop, indulge in some gaming, watch video, plan and book travel, watch cinema, buy micro-insurance and access financial services – without ever leaving the app. WeChat alone has more than a billion users a month, and it’s growing.
In Latin America, Rappi has evolved from food delivery to provide services ranging from peer-to-peer payments to movie tickets. You can ask a Rappi delivery man to walk your dog, buy you clothes or pay for services, while watching live concerts, streaming music, and playing video games.
We believe South Africa could be the next big market for all-in-one apps. They’re coming for the prime spot on your home screen – and there are four good reasons why:
Ease of use - Consumers are constantly looking for greater simplicity and ease of use. They don’t want to have to open 15 different apps to do the things that are important in their lives. They want one app that’s tailored for them, and shaped around their specific lifestyle needs. Whether they’re banking, shopping for retail goods or financial products like loans and insurance, or paying bills, they want to get their transactions done within three or four clicks.
Value exchange - Most older users bank at the same bank that their parents banked. Younger generations have a different view: they’re multi-banked. Their loyalty to a particular bank depends on whether there’s a real exchange of value. One-stop apps create the ability for financial services providers to generate this type of value through mechanisms like the ability to get rewards for referring friends, for example.
Convenience - The need for greater convenience and everything on-demand has grown over recent years and shows no signs of slowing down – the rise of marketplaces, ‘everything as a service’ and now, the all-in-one app is testament to this! By connecting customers and merchants on one platform, lifestyle apps take convenience to the next level.
Trust and safety - Another major benefit of these new-generation all-in-one apps is added trust and safety of transactions. Because all the services are linked on a single platform, users don’t expose themselves to the increased risk associated with having their bank or credit card details floating around across multiple apps/platforms.
There’s no doubt that all-in-one apps are going to play an increasingly important part in the way we interact with the world, from morning until night.
One app, one sign-in, a seamless, integrated user experience, for any product or service you may want or need? Sign me up.
To follow Arthur Goldstuck - Editor in Chief - Gadget.co.za - just click here
APPLE revealed numerous new features for its products at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference. From FaceTime on the web, to sharing your screens with FaceTime users. It calls this the ScreenPlay API, which developers will have to implement in their apps to enable multiple users to interact with an app over a FaceTime call. Users with subscriptions to Apple Music and Apple TV+ will be able to share music and video content, as long as all participants in the call are subscribers. So far, Disney+, TikTok, and Twitch are on board with it and are ready for the feature when it launches.
Ingrid von Stein, connects with Arthur Goldstuck - Editor in Chief of Gadget. Arthur shares the latest updates from the recently hosted Worldwide Developer's Conference. To read the article in detail - click here
The e-hailing market in SA has two current big players - Uber and Bolt. Now Didi is part of that mix. What will this hold for the e hailing business in SA or will it just be launched as a stepping stone into Africa?
Following a pilot launch in Gqeberha on March 1 2021, it has started its registration process for drivers in Cape Town and will start offering ride-hailing services in the Western Cape over the next few weeks.
Our resident Tech expert, Arthur Goldstuck takes a look at this new service and offers both positive and negative feedback on it.
There is a serious new player in the hotly contested smart phone market - they call themselves OPPO. Today we review their new Reno 5G and then we take a look at buying virtual things, including paintings and wonder about this new virtual playground.
Our resident Techology expert, Arthur Goldstuck got his hands on the new Oppo Reno 5G and takes it through its paces and then we switch to the new NFT (Non-fungible tokens) phenomena that is sweeping the world and just coming into SA.
You can buy virtual stuff, with virtual tokens and play with them in the virtual world.........did I actually just say that? Yip - its real, or is it?
Arthur joins us to discuss CES 2021, this year it was online due to COVID concerns...
From the startling to the stunning, the 2021 virtual edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) did not disappoint those looking for technology breakthroughs. A flying car and a rollable phone, along with a procession of robots, fed that appetite generously.
However, it was “real tech” that took centre stage as practical needs were met by hundreds of new products and improved gadgets.
Arthur details his picks of boost the best and worst of CES 2021.
More info can be found here on his website: https://gadget.co.za/ces21-best-of-new-tech/2/?doing_wp_cron=1613986553.3184928894042968750000
Digital Marketing is the advent of something fundamentally new and has a profound impact within organisations. How is it impacting yours?
Audrey Naidoo our LetsTalkDigital host connects with to Jan Gildemeister, Partner and Managing Director at BCG Johannesburg office. He leads the BCG’s digital hub for Southern Africa and has extensively worked with incumbent companies to define and implement digital disruption in their respective industries.
Together they discuss Digital Marketing is the advent of something fundamentally new and has a profound impact within organisations. Digital Marketing is a completely different beast as happens in millions of small events. In Digital marketing you can change things, test things, refine things to increase the effect of what you’re doing. You’re moving from a pure creative function to a more scientific, quantitative function. Companies need to acknowledge that Digital Marketing and traditional marketing need to sit side by side.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
E-commerce, has really begun to take off in RSA. From the myriad of ways people navigate the online space, retailers have begun to tap into that marketplace with a positive outcome on both PR as well as sales.
Despite a harsh economic climate for the last decade, online retail has continued to post double digit growth rates, this year especially has seen a bumper rise in the size of the industry with north of 30% growth reported.
This greater than average growth has been attributed to covid-19, as people opted or were forced indoors, they embraced their phones and computers like never before; from streaming services to online retail, to working remotely at home, all of these factors helped drive the numbers Arthur Goldstuck will be discussing in the podcast above.
Enjoy the latest edition of eBizTechnology.
Ordering your alcohol is just an APP away, Bottles has recently been bought out by Pick n Pay Liquors.
Audrey Naidoo connects with Enrico Ferigolli, co-founder of Bottles, about an incredible story of resilience, tenacity and success in our regular #Letstalkdigital slot. It was 2016 when Vincent Viviers and Enrico Ferigolli forever altered South Africa's alcohol retail landscape by launching the first on-demand alcohol delivery app and service. In mid 2018, Bottles partnered with Pick ‘n Pay Liquor to scale their beverage delivery business and cement their place as the leading on-demand alcohol delivery service in the country.
Fast track to 2020, e-commerce has grown by 10% in SA, making an on-demand delivery service even more appealing. Bottles has more than doubled its reach and trebled its volume of orders this year. The company is consistently ranked as the number one app in the food and drink category and rated within the top 50 apps overall, in South Africa. To top it all off (see what we did here), Pick ‘n Pay made an announcement in November 2020 to buy them out.
If you are thinking of starting a business, already have a business, don’t miss out on this conversation.
Data is an important asset to your business, no matter what size it is, and it is essential to safeguard it from online criminals. Businesses across South Africa are investing heavily to deploy the best of cyber defense capabilities right now - are you?
You need to focus on protecting three common elements namely people, processes, and technology.
We connected with Riaan Hamman of Puleng Technologies to find out more about what is currently happening in the data security world and what they as a company offer in conjunction with partner IBM Gaurdium to keep your most precious business asset safe - your data!
As consumer patterns have changed shifted away from TV's to tablets and mobile, the SABC has been struggling to raise revenue as ad revenue decreases and TV licenses don't get paid. Coupled with mismanagement and also covid related matters, and the State broadcaster is in serious financial trouble.
One proposed solution has been to require licenses for vieiwing content on mobiles/tablets though this has been met with obvious hostility from both consumers and the industry as a whole..... At the same time, Netflix is now being brought into the debate, we discuss this development and more on this edition of #eBizTechnology.
You can fine more articles and inisghts from Arthur at: https://gadget.co.za/
How do agencies charge? Do we expect a flat monthly rate, or do we expect to be billed per hour? This is a prickly issue in the advertising industry which is already in a state of flux. How do you feel about this?
LetsTalkDigital with Audrey Naidoo connects with Shanell Singh, Managing Partner at MediaCom and Julian Mountain, Digital Director GroupM, about this somewhat contentious issue .
The traditional FTE commercial model is no longer sustainable to guarantee the survival of agencies now or in the near future. This is due to a number of factors: COVID-19 and the reduction in media budgets, pressure to deliver on objectives, the trend towards in-housing models and a lack of skill-sets and talent to keep up with the ever-changing pressures. We delve into why agencies are being recycled, the need to evolve and define a new operating model.
Don't miss out on this head-turning conversation. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
Arthur recently got his hands on the new Samsung Fold. After a few weeks with this device, we spoke to him and got his take on the new tech entering the RSA market. We also profile the LG wing.
Enjoy this edition of eBizTechnology!
Dion is back for as new edition of #eBizInsights. Today we profile the impact of the Covid Pandemic on the property and commercial office industries.....
These sectors have been hammered by the current recession coupled with people adapting/ being forced to work from home and it will take many years for them to recover. At the same time, many companies from SME's to corporations have halted or abandoned plans on office expansion as well wait to see what 2021 and 2022 hold. This uncertainty will further hamper growth in these sectors.
With such a doom and gloom outlook, innovation is stepping in to fill these empty offices, from flexible work spaces to even farming, we profile these example and more. Enjoy!
Financial Literacy levels in South Africa are relatively low, a culture of non investing (mainly due to economic concerns) further adds to a disconnect between the ''real'' economy and the stock market, even though the two are fundamentally linked together with the prosperity of the country.
Into this quandary, entrepreneurs developed a APP tailor-made for South Africans that enables them to quickly and safely invest.
Franc was founded in 2018. After working in Discovery’s R&D lab and being exposed to a broad spectrum of financial services, Thomas (The CEO) couldn’t understand why only 5% of the country was investing, despite being top in the world for the search term ‘how to invest’.
Sebastian Patel (COO and co-Founder of Franc) and Thomas got talking and realized it was likely because of financial barriers, product complexity and limited access. Franc saw an opportunity to create a simple investment app giving access to leading cash and equity funds without minimums or limitations.
And so, Franc was born.
Since launching, Franc has won Best SA solution at MTN App Awards (2019), Voted best Financial App by Stuff Magazine (2020) and Best South African startup at Seedstars (2018).
Early investors in start-ups with exposure to the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) are benefiting from significant revenue growth despite the physical constraints introduced by governments’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Brand Hubb, an innovative e-commerce platform that influences how consumers interact with leading brands, experienced triple-digit growth in margin, revenue, and user interactions over the first seven months of 2020, despite the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus and lockdown.
“Part of the attraction of digital platforms is that they empower businesses to perform to their full potential regardless of the constraints introduced by the physical world,” says Brett Dawson, an early investor in the business. Brett invests in various early-stage businesses that are using technology to transform traditional business models through his private equity vehicle, CAMPAN. His involvement in a new business ensures that two of the crucial components for success, namely management experience and capital, are in abundance.
“We invest in and nurture businesses that revolutionise customer service through the positive application of technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, data exchanges and cloud-based solutions,” says Brett, before observing that 4IR offers the perfect backdrop to achieve the dual objectives of improving society and delivering stellar returns for investors. A challenge facing venture capitalists is to identify start-ups that are deploying technology in ways that encourage step-changes in consumer behaviour.
Brand Hubb is a case study in how changing a single behaviour can snowball into countless new opportunities. The business, underpinned by an innovative e-commerce platform, set out to offer consumers the ultimate digital retail experience; but soon embarked on a more challenging journey to revolutionise how local consumers interacted with leading brands. This journey was based on the premise that brands would reap huge long-term dividends by enhancing consumer relationships.
“We are challenging brands to rethink their digital marketing strategies in favour of meaningful customer interactions,” says Rob Anderson, CEO of Brand Hubb. He adds that their Brand Rewards solution was a mechanism through which brands could redirect part of their digital advertising budgets to the end-customer, thus creating unrivalled brand loyalty. Consumers get to share in the channel rebates that were traditionally reserved for wholesalers in the ‘brick and mortar’ retail world. “From a brands’ perspective, the ability to offer more than product, by way of enhanced consumer engagements, will prove invaluable over the longer term,” he says.
Subsequent Brand Hubb innovations centred on maximising the utilisation of its e-commerce platforms while improving consumer loyalty, brands’ consumer networks, and business-to-consumer sales. “We have developed APIs that make it possible for leading brands to easily integrate our Brand Rewards offering on their existing digital platforms,” says Rob. “Participating brands are now able to compensate their loyal customers for interacting with them, on their digital platforms, instead of pouring money into Facebook, YouTube and other digital marketing agencies”.
The desire to reinvent how consumers interact with retail led to the next Brand Hubb innovation, known as Chip In. This feature will forever change how South Africans give gifts. It is an online solution that unites gift-givers and gift-receivers around the common goal of a perfect gifting experience, enabling the process to take place entirely online. Those in the Millennial and following generations will have Brand Hubb, and the technology underpinning 4IR, to thank for preserving the art of gift giving.
Brand Hubb’s trading experience through lockdown confirms the value in digital platforms and offers valuable insights into the
We chat with the founders of Snapmenu, a new piece of technology available for restaurants battling the COVID pandemic and customers' health concerns.
The business started as a competition entry organised by the UCT Developer Society in partnership with the Developer Student Club (DSC) and which was sponsored by Yoco, an African technology company.
SnapMenu, created a digital menu that allows customers to access a restaurant’s menu with a simple tap of a smartphone camera. The system’s built-in functionality also easily allows customers to pay the bill and tip the waiter or waitress.
We chat to these entrepreneurs about the concept, it's development and now refinement. Enjoy.
Brand safety is fast evolving as consumers and market shifts force brands to review their brand purpose & values and how they show up in the public. It is now a collective effort between brands and their agency partners to drive quality media.
Audrey Naidoo of Let's Talk Digital chats to S Stevan Randjelovic, Director, Brand Safety & Digital Risk Management at GroupM, about the transitioning of brand safety within 3 pillars: brand reputation, financial risk and legal risk. Stevan takes us through the highlights of the GroupM brand safety paper and provides a view of what brands should consider going forward.