Author: Chris Anu

The fight in the government of national unity over finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s 0.5 percentage point VAT hike is unlikely to have a significant impact on point-of-sale, payroll and ERP systems, although its effect on the broader economy could be more severe. The matter is being heard by the high court in the Western Cape on Tuesday, with the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters seeking to have the VAT increase, which is meant to be implemented on 1 May, either blocked or retracted after the fact. According to Tjaart Malan, chief business and delivery officer at SAP Africa, modern…

Trade, industry and competition minister Parks Tau. Trade, industry and competition minister Parks Tau has approved a four-month extension for the Competition Commission (CompCom) to finalise the findings and recommendations of the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry.This, after the competition watchdog published the provisional findings of the market inquiry in February.The CompCom examined the influence of major digital platforms – such as Google, Meta and X (formerly Twitter) − and generative AI tools like ChatGPT on the country’s news media industry.The watchdog wanted to determine whether the conduct of these platforms restricts fair competition and contributes to the erosion…

Economic gains from artificial intelligence will boost global output by around 0.5%/year between 2025 and 2030, outweighing the costs of rising carbon emissions by the data centres needed to run AI models, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. An IMF report released at its annual spring meeting in Washington nonetheless noted that those output gains would not be shared equally across the world, and called on policymakers and businesses to minimise costs to broader society. “Despite challenges related to higher electricity prices and greenhouse gas emissions, the gains to global GDP from AI are likely to outweigh the cost…

Social media companies will increasingly be under scrutiny this year. Social media platforms across the globe may see intensified regulation in 2025, amid an anticipated shift in how governments deal with big tech.This is one of the key findings of GlobalData’s latest Strategic Intelligence report on social media.It reveals that regulatory pressure on social media started intensifying in 2024, as governments paid more attention to social media companies’ governance, risk and compliance processes and business practices.This year may see more severe legislation as Australia’s move to ban social media for those under the age of 16 takes effect, while the…

Insight Consulting’s Ivan Jardim Specialist data partner Insight Consulting has announced a strategic partnership with cybersecurity specialist company Obrela. Insight Consulting has a solid track record of helping businesses successfully navigate their digital journeys to unlock the most possible value from their data, while Obrela helps businesses manage and reduce cyber risk through real-time threat detection and response. Working closely with businesses across industries, Insight Consulting has identified the need for businesses to increase their cybersecurity posture significantly in an age where organisations handle more sensitive data than ever before. We chose to partner with Obrela because it bridges the…

Vic Booysen, head of Cloudmania. The cloud is no longer the digitisation era’s hot new technology. It’s now the foundation on which companies are building progress. According to BMIT’s 2023 SA Cloud Survey, 23% of local companies are fully migrated to the cloud, 18% are mostly migrated and 39% are halfway there. Even if we divide the market into its various cloud models, such as fully cloud native, hybrid, multicloud or primarily consuming cloud software services directly or through suppliers, it’s a fact that the cloud is now the dominant technology foundation layer.Yet, while this is great news for modernisation, it…

Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding globally including to Africa and South America, as raids in Southeast Asia fail to contain their activities, the United Nations said in a report on Monday. Criminal networks that emerged in Southeast Asia in recent years, opening sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of workers, many trafficked and forced to scam victims around the world, have evolved into a sophisticated global industry, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said. Even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond the region, the…

The future is bright for technology professionals. If the dot-com bubble seems like ancient history, maybe that’s because a lot has happened in 25 years. After tech-fuelled stock market gains and venture capital investments both fell dramatically in 2000, the tech industry has enjoyed a strong run. Smartphones, cloud computing, internet of things and artificial intelligence are all major trends that have reshaped the way businesses think about technology and put it to use. These big wins, though, are not exactly a story about the tech industry rising from the ashes of a burst bubble. In reality, the bubble was…

Without noticing it, humanity has passed a remarkable milestone: alcohol consumption has gone into possibly permanent decline. That’s a turning point in a habit at least as old as civilisation itself. For millennia, we’ve used drinking to loosen our inhibitions at social gatherings, anesthetise ourselves from the drudgery of life, or simply give a little sparkle to our days. The fact that we’re giving it up without even noticing is a sign of how other longstanding practices — from smoking and sexual promiscuity to eating red meat — might dwindle just as painlessly. It’s impossible to know whether an activity…

Left: Keitaro Iwaki, President & Representative Director, SPERA PHARMA; Right: Jun Kawakami, President & CEO, Rigaku Rigaku Corporation, a Group company of Rigaku Holdings Corporation (headquarters: Akishima, Tokyo; CEO: Jun Kawakami; hereinafter “Rigaku”), and SPERA PHARMA, Inc. (headquarters: Osaka; President & Representative Director: Keitaro Iwaki; hereinafter “SPERA PHARMA”) have initiated a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating and transforming pharmaceutical development by leveraging the two companies’ cutting-edge technologies and extensive expertise. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250417047994/en/SPERA PHARMA will use XtaLAB Synergy-ED, an integrated platform for electronic diffraction provided by Rigaku, for contract analytical services, thereby…