Author: Editor
For most individuals and organisations, it can easily be said that 2020 was one of the toughest years they’ve ever experienced. From the complexities of working from home to the legalities of regulations, and the fundamental changes to human interaction, it was a year that reshaped communication, collaboration and disruption. But there were valuable lessons to be learned from the challenges that the pandemic presented and perhaps the most valuable was the general resilience of people. It was surprising to see how well people adapted when the pandemic first kicked off in South Africa. When everything moved into high gear…
The increasing digitalisation of business processes combined with the normalisation of a distributed work environment have contributed to the tripling of Microsoft Teams adoption. As companies across the globe, including insurers, embrace this platform to improve collaboration between staff regardless of their geographic location, Silverbridge identified an opportunity to provide a more convenient way for users of their enterprise policy administration suite, Exergy, to action assigned tasks via Teams. “This integration delivers incredible value to the ‘occasional Exergy users’, typically part of an approval or review workflow, by enabling them to simply click on a work item in Teams and…
There is immense risk attached to the idea of offering your employees unlimited leave, particularly in a country like South Africa. Here, leave is a legislated and regulated minimum that cannot be lost, so offering unlimited leave can potentially open the organisation to people spending their lives on holiday, conning the system they’ve been given. But, according to Nicol Myburgh, Head: CRS Technologies HCM Business Unit, this is not the case if the organisation adopts an outcomes-based approach to employment. “The benefit of offering unlimited leave lies in trust – trusting your people to do their jobs, deliver to their…
By Hanno Brink, Synthesis Machine Learning Engineer A free press or media has an important role to play in democracies as it is responsible for gathering and distributing the information that citizens use to decide how they are going to vote. They then have the further responsibility to monitor and hold those in power accountable. Free press also plays a role in society by providing a platform for advocacy, expression of opinion and for society to create a shared understanding of the important issues and the best way to go about solving them. However, the mind-boggling amount of information that…
AI is here. And it is everywhere. Furthermore, if it hasn’t yet, it will touch every industry both present and future, and is likely to change all aspects of our lives. AI inspires enthusiasm and hope for a more efficient tomorrow and is a valuable differentiator. Its capacity to collect and analyse data, to provide insights, to recognise patterns, and to predict future behaviour has helped companies and countries to innovate. It can track how effectively the human moderators are fighting hate speech and gender abuse on Twitter, and how much progress we’ve made globally against the corona virus. AI…
By Pieter Cronjé On 27 April 1994 South Africans flocked to voting stations to vote. Now this day is an annual public Holiday – Freedom Day. Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Judge Johann Kriegler, BEFORE: “This is an insurmountable opportunity.” AFTER: “Maybe we were too stupid to realise this was impossible.” This quick flashback should remind us what a Herculean feat this was: The 1994 election had to be organised in four months, instead of at least one, preferably two years.There was only one staff member in December 1993, the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Judge Johann Kriegler,…
Despite the South African Mountain Bike Marathon Championships taking place in Paarl this coming Saturday (1 May) being her first marathon race of the season, six-time South African marathon champion and team dormakaba cyclist Robyn de Groot is hugely motivated to add to her impressive collection of titles. “With last year’s event cancelled due to the pandemic and very few events so far in this season, preparations for the SA champs have been quite different. I have worked closely with my coach who has been a great guide in dealing with the lack of racing and I have been fully…
By Andre Ferreira Music has a power that is practically immeasurable. It transcends time and language, expresses and influences our emotions, educates and entertains and so much more. Scientists are also beginning to understand the impact music has on our brains. Essentially, the effect is massive and it has a particularly strong influence on the brains of children. The brain is the ultimate organ of adaptation, and music can help develop an infant’s brain. Music ignites all areas of a child’s brain progress and skills for school readiness, particularly in areas of language acquisition and reading skills. Learning a language…
On a beautiful autumn evening at the Glenelly Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, the French Government bestowed the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters on the South African thriller novelist and screenwriter Deon Meyer … and it was clear that there can hardly be a more popular South African in the country of food, wine and love. The French Order of Arts and Letters, which was established in 1957, recognises “significant contributions to the enrichment of the arts and literature in France and abroad”. A former journalist, advertising copywriter, Internet manager and brand strategist, Meyer has published…
An unexpected, but hilarious touch was when the medal was “stolen”. The ambassador phoned the “Paarl police station”, who told him that their top detective, inspector Bennie Griessel, has located the stolen medal and that he actually deserves the medal. “Inspector Griessel” subsequently appeared on the scene and Deon Meyer agreed to share the medal with the renowned detective.