Author: Editor
The hospitality industry is gaining popularity for its readiness to adopt digital infrastructure and technology to enhance the customer experience. From integrated smart card technology right through to sophisticated security and access control solutions, businesses in this market have had to adapt to changing requirements of the modern traveller. This is where dormakaba has made its mark. As a leading provider of robust access control and security solutions dormakaba has come up with a formula that works for those who provide hospitality services: security and convenience with integrated access solutions. The formula continues to garner recognition and approval from hotels,…
While it does not seem likely at current progress, human-level AI by 2025 is not as far-fetched as some may believe and we are already on that journey. Major enterprises like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon are pumping billions into AI research, including neuroscience research. Good examples of major artificial intelligence labs conducting research include DeepMind, OpenAI, and Google Brain. Neuroscience is an evolving discipline and AI is an evolving technology. The exploits of Ray Kurzwell can be used to explain this. Kurzweil is known for stating that exponential progress is often underestimated, especially since it is difficult to…
Healthcare services, support and infrastructure is critical to the sustainability of societies the world over. Access control and security specialist dormakaba has developed a range of sliding door operator systems that is robust, effective, fully automated and designed to minimise human contact. dormakaba’s innovative ES 200 sliding door operator system significantly reduces the need for human touch and contact, and thereby helps to maintain the highest levels of hygiene. The ES 200 is equipped with the dormakaba PowerDrive technology which means it fulfils every demand imposed on operators in terms of adaptability to different door widths, door weight capacity and…
The Kubernetes open source container orchestration system has shown significant growth in recent years. More recently, this has been driven by the COVID-19 pandemic that has accelerated the business need for multi-cloud environments. It is here, in the space where workloads are moving to the cloud, where Kubernetes ensure accessibility and can support a distributed workforce. Use cases for Kubernetes have matured from pilot projects into full-blown customer-facing applications. Companies are now leveraging Kubernetes to modernise legacy applications, designing microservices-based applications (for example, apps performing specific calculations during month-ends), and other innovative projects. However, some technical users may feel that…
Leading Johannesburg-based e-commerce and software development specialist Syncrony Digital has proven its worth as a trusted premier online services partner for Stefanutti Stocks, South Africa’s leading construction group after a successful online platform upgrade and reconstruction of its client’s website. The Syncrony team proposed a solution that would easily relocate of Stefanutti Stocks’ website content onto a fresh new platform. Paige Rybko said, “The old site was clunky and difficult to navigate, many sections had duplicate content and in general, the structure was overly complicated. Therefore, the primary concerns revolved around simplifying user experience and refining the look and feel.…
Terms and conditions DO apply – tales of an online store builder By DR Howard Rybko, CDO at Syncrony Digital In my experience, terms and conditions (T&Cs) are one of the last ‘to-do’s’ in the rush before a new online store goes live. Many online merchants think T&C’s are a chore. They palm the job off to some sucker in their team, which leads to a last minute find & replace of some pinched T&Cs or else a kick down the road to a legal person somebody knows. Either choice caries too much risk for my liking. If you want…
Leading provider of end-to-end digital services and solutions Obsidian Systems is leveraging its near 25-year market experience to ensure businesses secure ROI in cloud services, amid increasing business uncertainty fuelled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. From its modest beginnings in dabbling with Unix and Linux systems, the business (driven by engineering experts) has gone on to successfully explore and extract the advantages offered by Open Source technology infrastructure. This has proven a solid foundation for what has emerged as a market-leading provider of digital architecture for businesses. Open Source technology has evolved and today, the focus for businesses in South…
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has flipped the traditional ‘at-the-office 9-5’ convention on its head and today many businesses are facilitating the work-from-home model – which has also served as a catalyst for increased cloud adoption and services implementation says Obsidian Systems MD Muggie van Staden. The company, a leading provider of end-to-end digital services and solutions, was one of the first organisations in South Africa to bring the Open Source offering Hadoop to the market. It was also one of the first to investigate cloud and opted for AWS. “AWS was our decision, we had to pick one and we’re…
eCommerce is exploding and leading Johannesburg-based e-commerce and software development specialist Syncrony Digital has the solution for those companies eager for reliable technology to seize the opportunity: Magento. Released in 2008, Magento is an open source eCommerce solution, with an enterprise option. Magento currently runs over 250,000 active online shops around the globe and is supported by an army of over 150,000 trained developers. Founded in 1999, Syncrony is one of South Africa’s premier Magento developers. The company has worked with customers throughout South Africa and abroad from as far afield as Australia, the USA and Europe. “We work hand-in-hand…
Disruption taking place through isolated digital innovations are a thing of the past. Instead, a complete digital policyholder journey is becoming the expectation within insurance. This can be attributed to how innovation has become commonplace for a business to stay ahead of the curve. In the past, the challenge has been to convince stakeholders of the merits of digital transformation initiatives. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown have contributed to an awareness that modernisation and digitalisation strategies can no longer be ignored. These are now an imperative if the insurer hopes to meet changing customer expectations accentuated by the…