AMICO Group, a UAE-based leader in healthcare specialty markets in the MENA region, is continuing its digital transformation journey supported by technology company听听听(NYSE: 麻豆原创) to enhance its customer experience and engagement through personalized, omnichannel solutions, and to increase agility and enable future expansion plans.

At a signing ceremony attended by executives from both enterprises, AMICO Chief Information Officer, Ibrahim Itani, said, 鈥淎MICO continues to experience rising demand for our personalized solutions in MENA鈥檚 evolving healthcare market and, by leveraging cloud computing, we can respond in an agile way, with improved operational scalability and flexibility. With 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, Datasphere, and Analytics Cloud (SAC), AMICO will have access to real-time data and analytics to respond to changes in the market and better serve our customers, while simultaneously reducing the complexity of our operations and enhancing our innovation capabilities.鈥�

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Financial decision-makers in various industries have long been grappling with the difficulties of obtaining accurate and timely insights from their data. In this era of cloud computing, organisations struggle to keep pace with fast evolving technologies and the ever-growing data sources.

It鈥檚 no secret that the majority of global organisations have implemented state-of-the-art ERP systems to collect and manage their data, ranging from a single system for the entire organisation to multiple systems that may integrate or operate independently. The 麻豆原创 ERP platform is one of the most widely used by some of the largest global corporations to run their businesses.

As any seasoned financial manager will attest, navigating this data landscape can be quite a challenge. Those working with 麻豆原创 are well aware of the complexity and difficulties that arise when attempting to gather insights from large, complex data sets.

With a decade of experience helping top clients tackle this issue, I am pleased to share a few tips that I have gathered to help unlock the financial insights your business needs.

When managing vast data sets from one or multiple systems, the task of gathering and verifying data accuracy can be a considerable undertaking. To fully leverage the potential of your 麻豆原创 data, it is imperative that proper data governance processes are established to ensure consistency and dependability throughout your organisation. With effective data governance, 麻豆原创 users will have a clear understanding of what data is contained in the system and where it is being utilised, as well as proper controls over access to the data, aiding compliance with regulatory standards. Through improved data tracking and optimisation of data quality, the 麻豆原创 data can be relied on with greater confidence when making crucial decisions, knowing that the process is secure and dependable. This can help to minimise risk and enhance overall performance.

Investing in the establishment of robust 麻豆原创 data governance processes now will yield significant long-term benefits.

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If your data governance processes are in good order, it is likely that you are facing difficulties with the collection and manipulation of your data, which can be a substantial time drain. To more effectively leverage your 麻豆原创 data, consider automating processes that perform repetitive tasks such as validating inputs or aggregating information from multiple data sources. This will not only improve accuracy but also free up valuable time for more strategic initiatives, leading to long-term cost savings and greater insight into the financial performance details revealed by your 麻豆原创 data. Automation also opens the door to advanced analytics capabilities, such as the application of AI technology, to generate forecasts and recommend ways to optimise processes and maximise returns on investment.

An essential consideration is to make use of technology that has been specifically devised to tackle the issue of accessing 麻豆原创 data. Our Azure Analytics for 麻豆原创 solution is the perfect way to expedite the journey to insights. The cloud-based analytics solution offers access to the most current data insights and analytics available. The solution is also designed to work in harmony with businesses’ existing 麻豆原创 systems, allowing for a seamless integration. It can be utilised across multiple functions, not just finance, thus facilitating the integration of reporting even further. Additionally, businesses may draw on the extensive library of pre-built analytics models the solution provides. These models are beneficial in helping financial decision-makers to examine their data and arrive at better decisions. Furthermore, the solution delivers real-time updates, enabling businesses to make informed decisions in changing circumstances.

In summary, Azure Analytics for 麻豆原创 can assist financial decision-makers the world over in making the best choices in the face of a demanding business environment. The cloud-based solution grants access to the most recent insights and analytics as well as pre-built models for data examination. With real-time updates, it helps businesses stay abreast of developments in a fast-paced world, an absolute necessity.

Working with my clients over the years, I understand how frustrating it can be to not have access to the financial data you need to make accurate decisions for your business. I hope these tips have provided some useful guidance for unlocking your 麻豆原创 data. If you’re eager to start unlocking the insights hidden within your financial data, I encourage you to consider Azure Analytics for 麻豆原创.

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More than ever, customers are coming to us for assistance in addressing their most pressing business challenges, including business model changes, process automation, supply chain resilience, and sustainable operations,鈥� says Pedro Lopes, Group Managing Director, SEIDOR in Africa.

In the past year, cloud spending by SMBs has shot up significantly, according to the annual听.

As many as 53% of SMBs surveyed in the report are spending more than $1.2 million annually on the cloud. That鈥檚 up from 38% last year.

In South Africa, SMBs are making serious investments in the cloud and the ability to setup cloud resources in a multi-tenancy or shared model enables businesses to benefit from the cost-savings realised by sharing infrastructure.

This is ideal for workloads that need enterprise-quality computing at a reasonable price. Offloading server room apps and backups/disaster recovery to the cloud is a sweet spot for achieving immediate gains especially for SMBs.

鈥淭his means we can manage and monitor multiple systems for numerous customers all in one place. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tenants access multi-tenant applications or services to which they are subscribed.鈥�

鈥淲ith the central management enabled by multi-tenancy, we can increase scalability, reduce costs and improve security.鈥�

鈥淪EIDOR in Africa is not only seeing the demand for 麻豆原创 technology continuing to climb, but is also witnessing a wave of ERP modernisation to the cloud as a result of the greater emphasis on digitising and automating mission-critical business processes and core operations,鈥� says Lopes.

鈥淐ompanies that already use ERP in the business understand the value of implementing cloud and know that they can transition systematically with minimum downtime,鈥� he adds.

鈥溌槎乖� Business One is the go-to 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP for SMBs because it is a single, affordable solution to manage an entire business 鈥� from accounting and financials, purchasing, inventory, sales and customer relationships to reporting and analytics.鈥�

鈥淥ur clients know that we will build a cloud ERP roadmap that works for each unique business.鈥�

鈥淭hose that have not yet embraced cloud ERP are noticing the unquestionable benefits and many are wanting to modernise for fear of falling behind their competitors.鈥�

鈥淥thers are not sure where to start and what to ask because there is a plethora of offerings, making it confusing, complex and difficult to make a choice. They are adopting a 鈥榳ait and see鈥� approach.鈥�

鈥淭he key question SMBs should be asking is why they want to migrate their business systems to the cloud,鈥� says Lopes.

鈥淭he overarching reason is the agility and overall value provided by cloud computing, which enables businesses to stay competitive and innovative.鈥�

Especially now, in post-pandemic hybrid work environments, cloud technology allows users to access files faster, interpret complicated data more easily, and enjoy enhanced security benefits.

Cloud computing provides work-from-home employees to access the same technology they have at the office, keeping them productive and collaborative.

The cloud also allows companies to trim hefty IT budgets in an uncertain economy.

鈥淥ne of the biggest advantages our cloud ERP offers is the partnership 麻豆原创 has with major hyperscale cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure.鈥�

鈥淚t means the best solution is available when it comes to security, scalability, rapid deployment, and cost-effective implementation because these hyperscalers, as well as 麻豆原创 international, have teams of people working around the clock to ensure their solutions are best of breed.鈥�

鈥淎s an example, 麻豆原创 provides the services and tools to ensure that a company鈥檚 application layer is secured properly after migration to the public cloud.鈥�

鈥淒ata stored on the cloud is encrypted, making it safer than other hosting solutions. Business owners need never worry about losing data with cloud technology because of better disaster recovery and business continuity.鈥�

鈥淲hen moving to cloud technology, our clients can prevent data breaches, and better meet regulatory and governance requirements together with seeing significant cost-savings.鈥�

鈥淭he access to much-needed insights and analytics in seconds also makes it easier to collaborate, and assess findings for better business decision making,鈥� says Lopes.

SEIDOR in Africa offers affordable innovation for any type of SME as the pay-as-you-go model for their services, allows SMBs to scale up or slim down quickly when needed.

With听听saying they have experienced operation improvements within the first few months of adopting cloud tech, there鈥檚 no denying that the cloud is the way forward for businesses to succeed. Those that don鈥檛 make the transition run the risk of being left behind.

The post Why More and More SMBs are Moving to the Cloud in 2022 appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

In the fight to protect Africa鈥檚 endangered wildlife, powerful tech such as cloud computing, drones, and machine learning can play a critical role in enhancing conservation efforts, and in combatting poaching and the resultant illicit trade.

In one on-going collaboration between 麻豆原创鈥檚 Co-Innovation Lab and the nonprofit Elephants, Rhinos & People, or ERP (see erp.ngo), strides made to combat poaching of elephants and rhinos could become a blueprint for conservation efforts across the continent.

According to Rudi de Louw, Head of the Co-Innovation Lab at 麻豆原创 Africa, advances in technology and new ways of collaborating are paving the way for the development of innovative solutions to protect Africa鈥檚 wildlife. 鈥楬aving powerful technology means nothing if you can鈥檛 achieve accuracy and consistency in the data and outcomes it produces. We undertook an extensive and on-going co-innovation project with ERP focusing on technical feasibility, product development and refinement. The outcomes are exciting and potentially game-changing – especially, in this case, for an elephant and rhino population that remains under threat.鈥�

There are an estimated 30,000 rhinos remaining in the wild today, a significant decrease – largely due to poaching and habitat destruction – from the half million that roamed Africa and Asia at the start of the 20th century. Rhino poaching reached crisis levels in the last decade, with instances in South Africa increasing more than 9,000% from 13 in 2007 to 1,215 in 2014. Encouragingly, the latest reported figures show a sharp decline in rhino poaching activity, .

Elephants have also been targeted. After a single poaching incident in 2014 – the first in South Africa in a decade – elephant poaching activity spiked, with 71 reported cases in 2018. The latest official figures show a decrease of more than half for 2019. Across Africa, thousands of elephants have been brutally slaughtered in recent years, with almost entire populations being wiped out in certain African countries.

People, tech enhance conservation efforts听

The nonprofit Elephants, Rhinos & People was founded to preserve and protect Southern Africa鈥檚 wild elephants and rhinos through a strategy that is based on alleviating poverty in rural areas surrounding the threatened creatures. It forms part of the structure of , a largely employee-owned group of companies, non-profits and impact investment organisations with a strong global presence that also includes , the world鈥檚 largest independent 麻豆原创 HCM and Payroll specialist.

Since 2017, ERP.ngo has piloted an anti-poaching strategy that has completely eliminated poaching of megafauna in the areas it monitors. David Allen, ERP Air Force project lead at ERP, and a senior 麻豆原创 practitioner in EPI-USE, says the deployment of new technologies has been a core element of the initiative’s success. 鈥楩ollowing a year-long testing and innovation process in partnership with the Co-Innovation Lab, we have made major strides in refining our machine vision, machine learning and response capabilities.鈥�

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was initially used to monitor the movement of elephants but was quickly deployed to provide a layer of intelligence to how teams responded to alerts. 鈥楾his way a guard could make an informed decision over whether there鈥檚 need for an anti-poaching team or, in the case of a fire, a fire team without first having to travel out to the affected area. We gradually expanded this layer of intelligence to other areas,鈥� says Allen.

Tech at the heart of conservation efforts

Allen says one of the first priorities for the project was to address occasional instabilities in their prototype IT environment. 鈥楾he Co-Innovation Lab team helped us migrate to 麻豆原创 Cloud Platform, and 麻豆原创 is providing three years鈥� cloud hosting to support the production process.鈥�

Siddharth Taparia, SVP and Head of Experience Marketing at 麻豆原创, who led the team, says the project marked a world-first for the organization. 鈥榃hile we have supported non-profit organizations by providing our on-premises solutions before, this was the first time we supported a partner in the Cloud and illustrates how the brave new world of cloud is transforming businesses of all sizes.鈥�

Following the migration, ERP and the Co-Innovation Lab started working on technical feasibility tests for some of their more ambitious ideas, many of which have over time proven invaluable to the success of conservation efforts. One of these ambitious ideas, according to De Louw, involves extensive development of machine learning algorithms to enable the team to improve its response, data capturing and processing capabilities.

鈥楢 network of different cameras within the reserve trigger whenever movement is detected. Machine vision is used to track movement while machine learning algorithms help distinguish between threats and non-threats. This has required us to feed our algorithms vast amounts of data to train them to distinguish between animals, people and other movement.

This accuracy is important: as soon as rangers receive too many alerts – especially if they prove to be false – trust in the system starts eroding. 鈥榃e need to reduce false-positives to ensure rangers are only alerted when something requires their attention. This is simpler to accomplish with the on-the-ground cameras, but our UAV-mounted cameras require significant further training and development. A rhino seen from ground level is fairly easy to distinguish from an elephant or person, but as soon as you take an aerial view, animals tend to fade into the landscape. As our data set grows and we refine our machine learning algorithm, these types of inaccuracies will be resolved over time.鈥�

Community partnership model for success

Technology, however, is only one part of solving the problem of poaching. According to Allen, without the support of local communities most conservation efforts are doomed to failure. 鈥楾he poaching trade is immensely profitable. A single rhino horn can fetch more than R5-million on the global black market. For local communities where the average income is as little as R3,000 per month, promises of more money could be life changing. Poachers exploit this, promising a small share of the profit in exchange for protection from authorities.鈥�

Este Smith, Managing Director of ERP says they have introduced several initiatives to involve local communities in conservation efforts, which bring them a direct socio- economic benefit for their efforts. 鈥極ur Ashoka accredited PEACE (Planning, Education, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Environment) Model is used to provide a holistic, replicable and sustainable poverty alleviation strategy in these remote communities living either adjacent to, or within conservation areas. P.E.A.C.E. Centers are cooperatively-run hubs within local and district municipalities that provide communities with centralised access to education, improved service delivery and agricultural initiatives ranging from permaculture gardens to commercial operations. By enabling residents to unlock and utilise local resources in a sustainable manner, we help pave a way for them to move out of poverty and toward prosperity.鈥�

Through their #BIKES4ERP initiative, ERP has donated more than two hundred bicycles, to aid community member movement and help children who live far from the nearest school get to class more easily. A 鈥檚tudy-to-own鈥� contract was set with each child to empower them to attain an education – if they attend school for a number of years, ownership of the bicycle will transfer to them. #BIKES4ERP has had a positive effect on the academic achievements of the recipients, ensuring that they are able to get to school more easily 鈥� saving precious time and effort, and based upon records kept to date the pass rate of the schools where the bikes are deployed grew from below 50% to more than 85% in 2019.

Through our听We Code program, which is held in partnership with local high schools, we are also providing coding training to local youth,鈥� says Smith. 鈥楾he course allows young people to learn coding in a way that is exciting and relevant to them, for example through programming drones, which builds important digital skills while also enhancing the relevance of other subjects such as math and science.鈥�

According to Smith, the We Code program also potentially holds direct benefits for ERP. 鈥極ne of the main constraints to scaling our conservation model is the lack of drone pilots. By investing in local youth skills development, we could also create the next generation of drone pilots to support similar conservation efforts across the country – and later, in other parts of Africa.

Smith explains that in the wake of the economic devastation caused by the novel coronavirus-related government shutdown, ERP has funded and mobilized a multi-location logistics effort to feed indigent people in communities adjacent to its land-based projects.听 In the month of May, several hundred thousand meals will be distributed to 9 locations near conservation areas that ERP is either leasing, negotiating to lease, or simply safeguarding with drone technology. The feeding program will soon be extended to cover an area Zimbabwe, where ERP is currently exploring conservation land deals.

ERP will eventually deploy its technology model to other conservation areas in South and Southern Africa. 鈥榃e are already working on opportunities to scale our solution to reach other reserves. Through a range of community initiatives, we hope to mobilise local communities to support conservation efforts while also unlocking greater skills development and economic opportunities in the process. With our partners at the Co-Innovation Lab, we will also continue to refine the technology underpinning our efforts to protect some of our continent鈥檚 most majestic endangered animals.鈥�

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