麻豆原创 HR Connect brought together a community of HR leaders to discuss how digital technologies are helping organisations reduce compliance risk, streamline operations, and unlock more strategic value from their people functions.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, says the South African employment landscape is at a critical point. 鈥淧ublic and private sector companies are racing to unlock the power of AI and cloud technologies to improve their competitiveness and build capacity for future innovation. Every organisation needs an active, motivated and fully enabled workforce to realise full value from business transformation initiatives. At a time when demand for certain skills is at an all-time high, companies are increasingly leveraging powerful human capital management technologies to attract, retain and empower their employees.鈥�

South Africa鈥檚 employment landscape is undergoing significant change, with new and proposed legislation introducing greater complexity into HR operations. Recent developments include the overhaul of parental leave following a landmark Constitutional Court ruling, proposed increases to statutory severance pay, and new regulations governing unpredictable and on-call work.

Together, these changes are increasing the administrative burden on HR teams and raising the stakes for compliance. Organisations must now manage more complex policies, maintain accurate and defensible records, and ensure consistent application of rules across increasingly diverse and dynamic workforces.

鈥淗R teams are operating in a fundamentally different environment today,鈥� said , Head of 麻豆原创 HCM for MEA South. 鈥淐ompliance is no longer a periodic exercise but a continuous, data-driven discipline. Organisations that continue to rely on spreadsheets and fragmented systems without leveraging the power of AI-driven innovations are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk and inefficiency.鈥�

Many organisations continue to rely on manual processes such as spreadsheets and disconnected systems to manage HR activities. However, these approaches are increasingly unsustainable in a fast-changing regulatory environment.

Tiwary says manual systems make it difficult to maintain accurate, up-to-date employee records, track compliance requirements, and produce reliable audit trails. 鈥淭hey also consume a significant portion of HR capacity, limiting the ability of teams to focus on higher-value activities such as talent development, workforce planning, and employee experience. As compliance requirements grow more complex, the need for integrated, digital HR systems is becoming more urgent.鈥�

A 2025 PwC global study found that  to drive compliance activities in a clear signal that the limitations of manual approaches have reached a tipping point. The study identified faster identification of compliance issues (53%), better risk visibility (64%), and increased productivity (43%) as the leading drivers of compliance technology adoption.

, Group Human Capital: Chief Operating Officer, Sanlam, said: 鈥淲e have adopted an ambidextrous strategy for our digital and data transformation journey, simultaneously exploiting operational excellence, proficiency and efficiency in our current landscape while exploring incremental innovation that enhances and elevates the user experience while driving the longer-term transformation journey focused on leveraging intelligent, transformative technology to drive business value.鈥�

By digitising HR processes and documents, organisations can create a single source of truth for employee and organisational data 鈥� including positions, time tracking, and cost centres 鈥� ensuring information is accurate, consistent, and always up to date.

,听Chief Operating Officer Discovery People, Discovery Ltd, noted that shared services is a catalyst for reinvention. 鈥淲hen data, technology, and people are fully integrated, organisations don鈥檛 just scale but evolve, creating platforms for growth, innovation, and long鈥憈erm impact.鈥�

Integrated capabilities across recruiting, onboarding, payroll, and time management further streamline processes and support compliance from hire to retire. In addition, continuous performance management, learning, compensation, and succession planning capabilities help organisations not only remain compliant but also build more engaged and resilient workforces.

鈥淒igitisation should go beyond efficiency to enable HR to play a more strategic role in the business,鈥� says Tiwary.  鈥淲hen compliance is embedded into systems and processes, HR teams are freed up to focus on developing talent, strengthening culture, and driving long-term organisational performance.鈥�

The post Industry Leaders Meet to Discuss Impact of Compliance 麻豆原创ures on HR Priorities in South Africa appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

For much of the past decade, AI has lived in labs, pilots and PowerPoint decks. The next phase is different. AI is moving into the operational core of organisations, reshaping how decisions are made, work is executed and value is created.

AI is becoming the most significant technology shift enterprise leaders will face in this generation. Not because the algorithms are new, but because the operating model required to make AI work at scale is fundamentally different.

One of the clearest changes heading into 2026 is the move from AI that assists humans, to AI that acts on their behalf.

Early enterprise AI tools functioned as copilots: surfacing information, generating insights or suggesting next steps. Increasingly, organisations are deploying autonomous AI agents that recommend actions 鈥� and take them 鈥� executing multi-step business processes within defined roles and controls.

This transition matters because it forces leaders to confront new questions of trust, accountability and governance. Autonomous AI can deliver significant productivity gains, but only if organisations are prepared to define where machines can act independently, where human approval is required, and how exceptions are handled.

In practice, this means treating AI agents less like software features and more like a digital workforce: assigned roles, clear permissions, monitored performance and escalation paths when things go wrong. Without this discipline, autonomy becomes risk rather than advantage.

Intelligence must be built in, not bolted on

Another defining trend is the move toward AI-native systems. Many organisations still treat AI as an add-on: a layer of intelligence bolted onto processes designed decades ago. That approach is reaching its limits.

AI-native architecture embeds intelligence directly into core workflows, allowing systems to understand intent rather than simply execute transactions. Instead of navigating complex menus and dashboards, users express what they want to achieve, and systems orchestrate the necessary steps across functions.

For leadership teams, this is not a user-interface upgrade, but a shift in how work gets done. Ideally, decision-making accelerates, organisational friction reduces, and the boundary between analysis and execution begins to disappear.

However, this only works when underlying systems are clean, standardised and integrated. Which leads to a harder truth many organisations are discovering.

Data quality is the real AI constraint

The biggest barrier to AI success is not model sophistication, but data reality. AI systems amplify whatever foundations they are given. Clean, consistent data produces reliable outcomes, while fragmented, poorly governed data produces confident nonsense.

This is why data has become the strategic nervous system of the modern enterprise. AI depends on shared definitions of customers, products, suppliers and processes. It requires transactional integrity, accessible historical context and the ability to combine internal and external information in real time.

Organisations that have postponed data discipline are finding that AI exposes weaknesses instantly, often in ways that affect customers, regulators or financial performance. In the year ahead, leaders will increasingly be judged on whether they treated data as a strategic asset early enough, rather than as an IT hygiene issue.

Closely linked to data readiness is a simple but central principle: keeping core enterprise systems clean.

Years of excessive customisation have left many organisations with fragile ERP environments that are difficult to upgrade and harder to integrate with modern AI capabilities.

The shift toward standardised cores with extensions built outside the core system creates an environment where innovation doesn鈥檛 break operations.

For boards and executive teams, this requires a mindset shift. Standardisation is not a loss of competitive differentiation, but the price of adaptability. The differentiation moves to how organisations use data, design experiences and make decisions, not how many lines of custom code they maintain.

Technology alone will not deliver results

Perhaps the most underestimated factor in AI success is change management, which consistently accounts for a larger share of AI outcomes than technology itself.

AI changes roles, not just tools. Finance teams move from processing transactions to managing exceptions. HR shifts from administrative workflows to skills intelligence.

Operations leaders rely more on forecasts and simulations than static reports. These changes demand new skills, new incentives, and new ways of measuring performance.

This year, leaders must invest in adoption with the same commitment and focus as they invest in new capabilities. AI literacy should be a core leadership competency not just a specialist function.

As AI initiatives multiply, so does the risk of fragmentation. Different business units experimenting independently can create inconsistent standards, duplicated effort and unmanaged risk.

This is why many organisations are establishing AI centres of excellence that coordinate AI innovation. Effective governance frameworks address five questions: how AI systems are approved and retired, how decisions are logged and audited, how policies are enforced, where human oversight is required, and how performance is measured.

In 2026, AI governance will be viewed much like financial governance: a prerequisite for trust, not a brake on progress.

From pilots to production or paralysis

A final challenge looms large: scaling. Many organisations are stuck in what has become known as 鈥減ilot purgatory鈥�, where successful experiments never reach enterprise impact.

The reasons are consistent: poor integration with core systems, unclear ownership, lack of user trust, weak data foundations and vague ROI metrics. Moving from pilot to production requires deliberate planning, phased rollout and visible executive sponsorship.

Leaders who expect AI to scale itself will be disappointed, while those who design for scale from day one will pull ahead quickly.

As we accelerate into 2026, AI is an operational reality. The real strategic question for leaders is whether their organisations are structurally ready for AI, with clean systems, trusted data, skilled people and disciplined governance. With these foundations, AI becomes a durable source of advantage.

In a volatile global environment, leadership is increasingly defined by the ability to move forward without perfect certainty. Business AI, deployed responsibly and at scale, is becoming one of the most powerful tools leaders have to do precisely that.

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From managing customer support workflows to orchestrating complex supply chains, agentic AI is redefining how businesses operate, respond, and grow. These intelligent digital co-workers act with autonomy, context, and speed, with growing capabilities for reasoning, making decisions, and working alongside humans to execute multi-step processes across departments.

听, agent-driven applications are rapidly becoming the standard for enterprise management. Global estimates suggest AI agents could contribute trillions to the world economy by 2030 through productivity gains, faster decisions, and cost reductions.

Transformative impact

Despite pervasive AI skills shortages, South African companies are moving quickly from experimentation to execution. Financial institutions are embedding AI agents into ERP systems to reroute inventory and manage disputes. Healthcare providers use AI meeting agents to generate follow-ups and automate patient admin. Legal firms use AI to prepare case files and speed up settlements.

This shift is being driven by a combination of pressure and potential. Faced with economic headwinds, skills shortages, and rising customer expectations, South African companies are looking to AI agents to unlock productivity, streamline operations, and free up human talent for higher-value work.

But deploying AI agents effectively requires more than buying the latest tool. The success of AI agents depends on deep integration of data, processes, and applications through a suite-first approach.

Leading with a suite

According to an IDC Spotlight Report, companies that adopt AI-powered suites like 麻豆原创鈥檚 see measurable gains:

• 37%听report improved process productivity
• 39%听achieve greater cost efficiency
• 36%听boost workforce productivity
• 35%听accelerate speed to market

By leveraging an AI-powered suite integrated to a core business technology platform, companies can empower their AI agents to act with full business context. Unlike siloed tools, a suite-first approach supports real-time collaboration between agents, humans, and systems, making AI agents not just smarter, but more impactful on the overall performance of the business.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Joule, an AI agent framework embedded into the 麻豆原创 Business Suite, offers companies a system of intelligent agents that collaborate across business functions, from finance and procurement to HR and supply chain, to execute complex workflows and drive better decisions at scale.

These agents leverage knowledge centres and data cloud to ground actions in real-time, contextual business data. Working alongside teams, the agents augment human decision-making, accelerate task completion and minimise manual errors. In finance functions, agents can optimise working capital by accelerating accounts receivable matching, while in procurement they can surface the most relevant suppliers based on business rules and past performance.

AI agent readiness check

Before companies deploy AI agents like Joule, they need the right digital foundation. 麻豆原创 recommends a four-part readiness framework:

1 Data quality and accessibility 鈥�听Agents are only as good as the data they use. Clean, structured, and real-time data from across the enterprise is critical for effective agent decision-making. Silos, outdated data, or missing context will slow adoption and risk poor outcomes.

2 Process maturity 鈥�听AI agents thrive on well-defined workflows. Before automation, companies must ensure their business processes are standardised, documented, and ready for orchestration. Automating chaos just creates faster chaos.

3 Organisational clarity 鈥撎�Who will use these agents? For what tasks? How will they hand off to human employees? Clear role definitions and communication are essential for adoption and trust.

4 Governance and guardrails 鈥�听Just like human employees, AI agents need rules. Define permissions, escalation paths, ethical boundaries, and auditing practices. Agents should act autonomously but within the boundaries of the businesses in which they operate.

AI agents are more than just another layer of automation. They represent a new model of work, one that is collaborative, contextual, and continuous. The true value of AI agents is unlocked only when companies are ready. And the companies that unlock the greatest value the quickest are those deploying their AI agents through an AI-powered suite integrated to a core business technology platform.

The post The Suite Spot: A Practical Guide to Business AI Agents appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, says the role of partners has never been more critical. 鈥淥rganisations across the continent are redesigning processes, embedding intelligence into core systems, and reimagining how value is created. Success requires deep industry expertise, AI capabilities and the ability to translate innovation into measurable business outcomes. As a partner-led organisation, 麻豆原创 is proud to work alongside a thriving ecosystem of expert partners who help bring Business AI, clean core ERP and intelligent automation to life, enabling our customers to become more resilient, more profitable and better prepared for the future.鈥�

The 麻豆原创 Africa Partner Awards recognise excellence within 麻豆原创鈥檚 partner ecosystem across eight distinct categories. Winners are evaluated according to strict criteria, with a focus on partner organisations that help clients throughout Africa transform their capabilities and smooth the way to the adoption of powerful new technologies such as AI.

According to , Chief Partner Officer for MEA South at 麻豆原创, the winners at this year鈥檚 麻豆原创 Africa Partner Award represent the highest standards of excellence, innovation and commitment in advancing the technology ambitions of organisations across the continent. 鈥淥ur partners play a vital role in translating strategy into execution and innovation into measurable business value. We are proud to work alongside such a strong and trusted ecosystem as we collectively support Africa鈥檚 ongoing digital transformation journey.鈥�

The winning companies at the 2026 麻豆原创 Africa Partner Awards include:

• and, winners of the Customer Transformation: Corporate category, which recognises sales excellence in the corporate segment that fosters ambitious business planning, in their respective regions.
• , winner of the Customer Transformation: Large Enterprise category for its excellence in amplifying 麻豆原创鈥檚 large enterprise strategy by offering 麻豆原创 Business Suite and helping deliver large-scale transformation.
• Tano Digital Solutions (Southern Africa) and, winners in the Customer Transformation: Partner-Led Territories category which recognises partners that actively invests and creates value by focusing on customer lifetime value across the customer value journey.
• , winner in the Customer Success Management category, for partners that exceed in consistently delivering value to customers and helping ensure customers achieved the desired outcomes while using 麻豆原创 products and services.
• and (Emerging Africa), winners in the 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP: New Customer Acquisition category which recognises partners that have successfully brought in net-new-name customers to begin an innovation journey with 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP solutions.
• , winner in the 麻豆原创 Business AI: Customer Adoption category which recognises leaders in 麻豆原创鈥檚 partner ecosystem based on the activation and consumption of embedded AI features in cloud solutions from 麻豆原创 in their customer base.
• , winner in the Managed Service Provider: Top Performance category, awarded to top-performing managed service providers based on deals closed and growth in annual contract value.
• in the Partner Solution Success category, which recognises a partner solution that successfully delivers ongoing customer value by extending the 麻豆原创 solution portfolio, as evidenced by customer demand and solution sales.

听Pillay adds: 鈥淚n an era defined by embedded AI and autonomous enterprise architectures, no organisation can transform in isolation. We look forward to continuing our vital work with our partner ecosystem as African organisations build the capabilities they鈥檒l need to compete and succeed in the years ahead.鈥�

The post 麻豆原创 Africa Partner Awards Recognise Outstanding Contributions to Continent鈥檚 Digital Transformation, AI Ambitions appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

The good news, says , Managing Director: Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, is that real-world AI value is already becoming clear. 鈥淎cross critical business functions like finance, HR, procurement, sales and service, and marketing, embedded AI is driving efficiency, accuracy, and smarter decisions at scale. From automating repetitive processes to delivering real-time insights and predictive recommendations, South African companies are unlocking unprecedented gains in productivity and efficiency.鈥�

Analysts suggest African countries could unlock as much as $100-billion in economic value per year听, while a PwC study estimates听听if Africa can claim a 10% share of the global AI market.

鈥淭o unlock this vast economic potential, organisations must integrate AI into core business processes and achieve measurable outcomes for clear use cases. A clean core strategy further allows businesses to respond faster to market changes and adopt new technologies like AI and advanced analytics more easily, creating clear pathways to significant ROI and business impact.鈥�

Of critical importance too is defining and implementing a comprehensive AI framework that prioritises governance at the outset. 鈥淎n effective framework should include a clear AI vision, business-aligned goals, an operating model, and, critically, establishment of AI governance to ensure ethical, secure, and compliant scaling of AI across the organisation.鈥�

Pillay highlights high-impact use cases across five key business functions that South African organisations can implement to boost productivity and drive growth.

1 Smarter financial insights & automation听

Finance departments are under increasing pressure to speed up reporting cycles, reduce operational costs, and strengthen cash flow visibility. 鈥淚n South Africa, financial institutions are leveraging AI for everything from fraud detection to multilingual support, but practical automation is where the biggest gains are currently being made,鈥� says Pillay.

Automated receivables matching is one such win. By applying machine learning to past payment behaviours, companies can automatically match and clear bank statement items,听听and accelerating payment cycles.

Another high-impact tool is AI-assisted cost centre analysis. 鈥淚nstead of manually wading through complex reports, finance teams can use generative AI to instantly summarise data, highlight KPIs, and recommend next steps,听听and freeing up analysts to focus on strategic insights,鈥� says Pillay.

2 Smarter hiring and better talent fit

AI is transforming HR from a reactive cost centre into a strategic function. Nearly 70% of South African HR teams听听to streamline recruitment, performance reviews, and workforce planning, delivering up to 35% process efficiency gains.

鈥淥ne practical use case gaining widespread adoption is AI-powered applicant screening, where machine learning scans CVs to match applicant skills with job requirements. This听听and speeds up hiring for hard-to-fill roles.鈥�

Pillay points to AI-generated job descriptions as another time-saving tool. 鈥淗R professionals input a few keywords and receive polished, bias-reducing job listings in seconds, helping improve candidate fit and听.鈥�

3 Scaling service and sales excellence

South African telecoms, ecommerce platforms and financial institutions are seeing measurable gains from AI-powered customer service.

鈥淭ools like chatbots and virtual assistants now handle routine queries with 24/7 availability, cutting service costs and improving customer satisfaction,鈥� explains Pillay. 鈥淲here a human touch is still needed, AI is helping agents generate case summaries, allowing them to respond faster by compiling email threads and communications into a single, easy-to-read brief. This can听听and improve first-contact resolution by 10%.鈥�

In field service, AI-driven equipment insights give technicians a clear picture of past service activity, parts used, and common failure patterns, resulting in 65% higher productivity and a 5% bump in first-time fix rates,听.

4 Streamlined sourcing and planning

Procurement teams face mounting complexity as they juggle supply risk, regulatory compliance, and shifting market dynamics. According to Pillay, AI is easing this burden by automating strategic sourcing tasks and offering real-time decision support.

鈥淎I tools have become indispensable to category planning efforts,听. This is helping managers move 90% faster and make more informed and proactive decisions.鈥�

Another valuable application is automated statement-of-work (SOW) generation. With minimal inputs,听, slashing processing time by 71% and improving project alignment by providing clearer briefs to suppliers.

5 Improved customer engagement and inventory management

AI鈥檚 value in marketing is growing fast, especially in segmenting audiences and triggering personalised campaigns. South African firms are tapping into predictive tools to boost engagement and pre-empt churn.

鈥淲ith AI-powered audience segmentation, marketers can automatically group customers based on predicted behaviours such as likelihood to convert or churn, driving higher rates of engagement and more relevant, timely outreach,鈥� says Pillay.

In back-office support, AI-generated sales orders now听, cutting manual effort, speeding up processing, and reducing errors by 25%.

鈥淎s embedded AI matures and business systems become more intelligent, these use cases will continue to expand, driving a new era of productivity, insight, and competitive advantage across every function,鈥� says Pillay.

This article first appeared here:

The post Five Ready-to-go AI Use Cases for South African Businesses appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

麻豆原创 was founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees. In a publicity shot from the time, they鈥檙e posed around a table in a nondescript office, all holding pens and hunched over a large blueprint. The hair is bouffant, the suits dark, and no one is smiling. These are clearly men who take their jobs very seriously.

As the story goes, Xerox wanted its systems migrated to IBM, and the latter firm put five engineers on the project, who all worked in Mannheim, Germany. The project ground to a halt for reasons unclear, but the five had seen the gap in the market, and left to form their company, which they called Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung, or System Analysis and Programme Development. It has been a long haul since the 鈥�70s, with the company constantly tinkering with its solutions while persuading many of the world鈥檚 largest firms that they can run their businesses better with its suite of solutions.

At the core of this suite is . This is an in-memory database, and听data听is stored in RAM instead of disk. These databases can handle spikes in traffic, such as at telcos or听banks, and allow for real-time analytics. Customers can have the platform installed in their own server room, or in the public or private cloud, or both. And with each passing year, more features are added, such as GenAI assistant ; its sparkly icon now appears on seemingly every page of the platform. Joule, on which 麻豆原创 partnered with , can run queries on all kinds of data, produce forecasts, book meetings, and make graphs and charts on the fly.

There was still an impression in the market that 麻豆原创 was extremely expensive, very complicated, and not very pretty.

Garth Ridgway, NTT

All this work has borne fruit, and in March 2025, the company overtook Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk to become the EU鈥檚 most valuable company, with a market cap of 鈧�313bn. It reported strong results for its third quarter in October 2025, seeing revenue rise by 7% to 鈧�9.08bn. Cloud revenue saw growth of 22%. But there are challenges ahead, not least of which is convincing customers that it鈥檚 now past the time to migrate their workloads from the old system called ECC, which is usually run on-prem, to S4. The company would like nothing better than for all its customers to move to S4, but many are proving to be recalcitrant. Support for ECC, introduced in 2015, is meant to come to an end in 2027, but customers can buy extended support until 2030, which will cost them an extra 2% in addition to their annual maintenance costs. Many companies contend that the current systems seem to be working just fine, and many are also cognisant, and terrified, of the upheaval the听migration听is going to cause. To this, the company dangles the prospect of new features with S4, along with the constant refrain that support for the old systems is, at some point, going to grind to a halt.

An estimated 40% of 麻豆原创 customers in North America are yet to start migrating, according to a survey run by the Americas鈥� 麻豆原创 User Group. About 60% of the 173 members are already live on S4, or are in the process of moving over, according to the research in November. Gartner said in March 2025 that most ECC customers had still not bought S4 licences. It said that in Q4 in 2024, 29% of 35 000 ECC customers had bought or subscribed to S4 licences.

Christian Hestermann, Gartner senior director and analyst for business applications, believes this is likely to remain the status quo. Speaking to听The Register, he said that since September 2023, the company鈥檚 messaging had been about AI and Joule. 鈥淭he message now is, ‘You have to have AI, or you’ll not be able to survive’. So far, that did not have a major influence. So none of those big events or big announcements has made a massive change up to now; the [migration] progress has remained fairly steady.”

No such third-party survey has been run in South Africa, and the company doesn鈥檛 make public either its customer numbers or how many have migrated.

I asked , CTO, 麻豆原创; , MD of 麻豆原创 South Africa; and , senior director, 麻豆原创, at NTT, for their views on how this migration conversation is progressing, and they spoke as one voice. Pillay says 麻豆原创 had 鈥渕ade a clear line in the sand鈥� with the date past which it won鈥檛 continue with maintenance. 鈥淐ustomers are aware of that and are making their plans to transform.鈥�

Pillay was appointed to the top job in August 2025, and says she鈥檚 going to ensure the local operation is well equipped to have these conversations with its customers, as well as partners.

Why haven鈥檛 they moved yet?

It鈥檚 a matter of context, she says. 鈥淲e have customers who have been with us for 20, 30 years, and that鈥檚 a godsend. But they bring a lot of legacy with them, and not just technical legacy. They have unarchived environments, non-optimised processes, or a lot of custom-built systems. They may have implemented ERP back in the day, and, in most cases, it was a project with a long duration, with a lot of blood and sweat going into it. Most companies understand they need to take that technology transformation journey, but they鈥檙e trying to balance the timing and effort required to bring a legacy system across [to S/4HANA]. There鈥檚 hesitation, because in the back of their minds, they remember that when they did it [last], it was really very difficult.鈥�

Financial services is one vertical where customers have realised the imperative of the move, she says. The move was a 鈥渘o-brainer鈥� for Pillay, and offered data analysis, AI, agentic AI, and GenAI capabilities. She says if a customer isn鈥檛 speaking to 麻豆原创 about the move, it may well be too late to get a system installed before the cut-off date.

鈥淲e鈥檙e prioritising helping those who are speaking to us to make that decision. We have to work with every customer individually to understand how they can do that transformation. There are different routes, based on capacity, budget and risk appetite. If you delay a decision, it鈥檚 going to be too late.鈥�

The slow movers are also going to bring pressure to bear on system integrator partners, as Pillay envisages them being at capacity, or overcapacity, doing 麻豆原创 implementations as the deadline draws ever closer.

鈥淭hen you鈥檒l pay for skills, either locally, or you鈥檒l have to look abroad. There鈥檚 going to be a material impact if a business takes this decision later on, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e trying to discuss with our customers and help them plan properly, so they don鈥檛 get into a position where they say, 鈥榃ow, we鈥檝e left this too late, and now this is a monster鈥�.鈥�

麻豆原创 NTT鈥檚 Ridgway says he鈥檚 spent the better part of three decades implementing 麻豆原创 at customers, during which time the ERP landscape has changed dramatically. In the past, it was a two-horse race, the other being Oracle, and both companies served the large enterprise almost exclusively, he says. Large implementations took a lot longer than they do nowadays, two to four years, on average. He says 麻豆原创 now comes more pre-configured, or more off-the-shelf than in the past. He and his team will do a quick discovery at a customer, and will then do what he calls a 鈥渧anilla鈥� implementation to get the system up and running. Any innovation can come later, post the go-live date.

Another change in the market is that 麻豆原创 is now competing for business with companies such as Microsoft and Sage.听Ridgway says he鈥檚 seen a shift in the attitude and sales pitch from 麻豆原创.听鈥淚n South Africa, there was a time when 麻豆原创 owned 60%, 65% of the large enterprise ERP market, and Oracle was lagging behind. Every single large enterprise in South Africa has some form of ERP. There was still an impression in the market that 麻豆原创 was extremely expensive, very complicated, and not very pretty.鈥�

As for looks, he says the new interface is more user-friendly, and 鈥渕uch nicer to play with鈥�. The company has also realised that there aren鈥檛 any R100mn projects out there anymore, which has meant its gone looking for customers among medium-sized businesses. 鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 small businesses, but they鈥檙e just not the $1bn organisations. I don鈥檛 think 麻豆原创 wants to play in the small space, because that鈥檚 where Sage and QuickBooks are playing. But there鈥檚 a massive market in the mid-tier, which wasn鈥檛 untapped, but which 麻豆原创 wasn鈥檛 focused on,鈥� he says.

Customers have also become 鈥渟marter than they used to be鈥�. 鈥淚n the old days, we would go and sell 麻豆原创 to them, explaining what it did. Today, the CIO knows everything about 麻豆原创 and what it can do for them. It鈥檚 less about consulting around the roadmap, and more about, 鈥楾his is what I want. Can you get me there?鈥� CIOs are m ore well-read, and they know what they want. It鈥檚 no longer about selling the technology; maybe it wasn鈥檛 ever about selling the technology. It鈥檚 more about selling the business solution. Once it鈥檚 implemented, what are the benefits that they鈥檙e going to realise? What is the innovation that we can bring to it, and what will be the ease of integration?鈥�

Ridgway says the biggest part of its business is its application managed service (AMS) offering, and it鈥檚 serving around 100 clients on that platform.

As for the transition to S4, he thinks 麻豆原创, 鈥渢ried to use a stick to force people to move. It realised that there weren鈥檛 enough consultants and capacity worldwide to move every single 麻豆原创 customer from ECC to S4. It found a lot of resistance from clients, and it had a couple of clients that left them because they felt irritated by the stick and the threat of having support cut off. Coca-Cola Beverages Africa moved off 麻豆原创 and went onto [Microsoft] Dynamics, which I think it found quite difficult. It鈥檚 a massive change and huge investment to start all over again. So 麻豆原创 did lose some clients, but it eventually moved the date out to 2027. It also changed the sales approach from a stick to more of a carrot.鈥�

The carrot appears to involve talking up the benefits and exciting new features of S4. Ridgway says 麻豆原创 has dramatically changed the way it does business. 鈥淚n the past, I think 麻豆原创 was seen as very arrogant, very expensive and very complex. Today, it seems less arrogant and is playing in a different market.鈥�

The company is now far more flexible with its pricing and subscription models. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also not as complex as it used to be. I鈥檝e been involved in projects that took 24 months from start to go-live. We鈥檝e just completed a project that was five weeks from start to go-live.鈥�

Do you still have customers who are on ECC? 鈥淟ots,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he biggest part of our consulting business is trying to convince customers who are on ECC that we get to the cloud, and we can get them to S4, with all the innovations and advantages.

鈥淪ome customers will say, 鈥榠f it鈥檚 not broken, I don鈥檛 need to fix it. It鈥檚 giving me what I need鈥�,鈥� he says, but he believes this will add business risk because if something does go wrong, 鈥渃ome January 1 2028, you have no support from 麻豆原创鈥�.

This conversation with customers reminds him of those held when the cloud model was nascent around a decade ago, and 鈥渆verybody said they had to move to the cloud鈥�, which he says is similar to where AI is at the moment. 鈥淣obody actually knows what it means. A lot of clients did rush to the cloud, and realised two years later that it was quite expensive, and it鈥檚 more complicated. But we鈥檙e a lot more mature now, 10 years in. There are a lot of clients who are hybrid. I think the way 麻豆原创 designed its solution allows for that.鈥�

He says with the application managed services part of the business, NTT will provide support for customers, many of which will sign up for a 36-month contract that will give them access to a call centre with certified, senior agents. As for what the customers are struggling with, he says the majority of the calls are related to password resets and authorisations.

Herzig, 麻豆原创 CTO, speaking at this year鈥檚 Saphire conference in Madrid, said the company doesn鈥檛 disclose the official numbers, but it has around 10 000 customers worldwide that are on the cloud path. 鈥淭he majority of customers are now making the cloud decision, specifically because the maintenance will definitely be over in 2028. And with all the innovation, there鈥檚 a very clear reason why they need to move.鈥�

Why don鈥檛 they want to move?

鈥淚t depends on the customer,鈥� he says. 鈥淭heir systems have grown, historically, and they鈥檝e been heavily customised. Back in the day, you could code left and right, because the code was open. Every table and every function module, and the systems integrators added their part to it. They did a lot of custom code. Maybe they were adding functionality, but they didn鈥檛 know [what effect it would have]. You鈥檇 start off with a very clean version of what 麻豆原创 delivered, and then we innovated with the product. We built capabilities, and we changed the technology, and the customer did the same. And the longer this branching took, the harder it is to reconcile.鈥�

* Article first published on听

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With mainstream support for legacy 麻豆原创 ECC systems ending in 2027, IBM guided Toyota through a Brownfield upgrade strategy, enabling a seamless transition to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA while preserving existing business process investments. This approach minimized disruption, accelerated deployment timelines, and ensured continuity for critical operations.

Driving Transformation Across Core Business Functions

Vehicle Management Modernization

IBM led the upgrade of Toyota鈥檚 national Vehicle Management System鈥攁 mission-critical platform for managing orders, inventory, sales, and financial reporting across manufacturing and dealerships. By migrating to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, Toyota now benefits from real-time data visibility, improved inventory optimization, and faster responsiveness to customer demand.

Human Capital Management Enhancement

The second phase focused on modernizing Toyota鈥檚 HR systems, including payroll and personnel administration. IBM delivered a streamlined 麻豆原创 S/4HANA-based HCM platform that simplifies workforce processes and lays the foundation for enhanced talent management and employee engagement.

Speed, Continuity, and Risk Reduction

Both upgrades were delivered on schedule and without operational disruption, ensuring Toyota maintained business continuity while modernizing its core systems. IBM鈥檚 proven methodologies and deep 麻豆原创 expertise enabled a risk-mitigated transformation aligned with Toyota鈥檚 strategic objectives.

鈥淲e are proud to support Toyota South Africa Motors in their digital transformation journey by delivering technology solutions that accelerate innovation and strengthen business resilience,鈥� said , Managing Partner, IBM Consulting South Africa. 鈥淎t IBM, we call this the Science of Consulting – combining human expertise, AI, and technology to deliver scalable, data-driven transformations. By improving data visibility and governance, we help organizations like Toyota achieve their goals with speed and confidence.鈥�

, Managing Director, Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, says: 鈥淭he best companies run on trusted data, optimised business processes and real-time intelligence into every part of the business. By upgrading to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, companies like Toyota unlock a suite of intelligent technologies that help transform business processes with intelligent automation. We commend Toyota and IBM on this powerful business transformation initiative and wish them well as they continue their rollout.鈥�

A Partnership Built for the Future

Building on these successes, IBM is collaborating with Toyota on the next phase of its 麻豆原创 modernization program, focusing on parts management systems. IBM and 麻豆原创鈥檚 long-standing partnership brings together hybrid cloud infrastructure, automation, and generative AI innovations powered by IBM watsonx鈩�, enabling clients to unlock new value and drive industry-specific transformation.

With over 18,000 certified 麻豆原创 consultants and 300+ 麻豆原创 S/4HANA implementations in the past five years, IBM helps organizations define transformation roadmaps, co-innovate solutions, and deploy modernization strategies with speed, scale, and AI-driven outcomes.

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, Managing Director: Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, said South African organisations are facing a turning point. 鈥淭he convergence of data, cloud, and AI technologies presents an extraordinary opportunity to rethink how we operate, innovate, and grow. By combining new thinking with AI-enabled skills the latest technologies, companies across the region can unlock a new era of accelerated growth and innovation.鈥�

Tech skills development has received renewed attention in recent times as companies rush to attract skilled workers that can unlock the potential of AI and other technologies in their businesses. found that nine in ten African organisations are already experiencing negative impacts from a lack of AI skills, with consequences ranging from failed innovation initiatives and delayed implementations to an inability to take on new work. 鈥淭his digital shift is empowering organisations to make faster, data-driven decisions, close the skills gap, and build more resilient, future-ready enterprises. We must equip our workforce with the right skills to fully harness the potential of these emerging technologies鈥� added , 麻豆原创 Solution Architect at Nedbank.

Keynote speaker , Chancellor of the University of the Free State and Chairperson of several large South African companies, believes South Africa鈥檚 success in the digital age depends on the country鈥檚 ability to lead with clarity and act with urgency. 鈥淚nnovation is a necessity for national competitiveness. Collectively, we must ensure we鈥檙e not just adopting global technologies but adapting them to our unique context to create lasting value for our businesses, our people, and our economy.鈥�

The comments were made at 麻豆原创 Business Suite Innovation Day, part of a global event series that provide an exclusive introduction to 麻豆原创鈥檚 latest cloud applications and data-driven AI innovations, including 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud and 麻豆原创 Business AI. The event brought together customers, partners and innovators for wide-ranging discussions around best practices, learnings and insights for how AI can be embedded across businesses, powered by curated, contextual, and connected data.

, Chief Revenue Officer for 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud & 麻豆原创 Business AI, EMEA at 麻豆原创, said new advances in how organisations collect, manage and empower data is unlocking vast opportunities for AI-enabled growth and innovation. 鈥淏y breaking down data silos and allowing businesses to govern and connect all their data, 听our new AI and data solutions provide real-time, context-rich insights to businesses where they need it most. With AI orchestration and seamless integration with platforms like Databricks, organisations can boost productivity, modernise their data landscape, and accelerate the development of intelligent applications that deliver measurable impact.鈥�

According to , Group IT Manager: Solution Delivery & PMO (product management office) at ABF Sugar, 鈥渕any enterprises are rapidly embracing cloud computing, data analytics, and AI to reimagine how they operate, innovate, and expand. These technologies assist in unlocking new levels of productivity and efficiency but also allow access to entirely new business models and sustainable practices in the long term.鈥�

Pillay adds that companies globally are increasingly adopting a clean core strategy, which 麻豆原创 sees as a critical enabler for long-term innovation, agility, and cost efficiency. 鈥淭he clean core approach is key to simplifying the enterprise landscape and ensuring companies can rapidly adopt new innovations with minimal disruption. It鈥檚 the foundation that allows AI, cloud and data solutions to deliver full value across every line of business.鈥�

The post AI, Data and Cloud in Focus at 麻豆原创 Innovation Day South Africa appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

Pillay joined 麻豆原创 as a graduate over 20 years ago, and has worked in roles spanning consulting, support, quality management, customer success and, most recently, as the head of the organisation鈥檚 regional partner ecosystem. She fundamentally believes 麻豆原创 has a leading role to play in helping Africa鈥檚 public and private sector companies achieve their AI and innovation ambitions.

Sergio Maccotta, senior vice president at 麻豆原创 Middle East and Africa South, says: “Nazia will bring vital expertise and leadership skills to one of 麻豆原创鈥檚 most important regions as we continue to empower youth, drive innovation within our customers and partners, and build a more inclusive, sustainable future.

“With companies across Southern Africa gearing up for an era of AI- and cloud-led innovation, we are especially excited to see how Nazia鈥檚 leadership will guide how organisations adopt technology as a strategic lever for national development and growth.”

Pillay says she will focus on three core areas in her new role, to ensure existing partnerships are strengthened and new ones cultivated, while helping customers prepare for a digital-first, cloud-first world.

鈥淭eaming up with our valued customer and partner ecosystem across the region is mission-critical for our business, especially as we showcase 麻豆原创鈥檚 latest capabilities as an AI-first, suite first technology partner. As a people-focused leader, I have also made it my longer-term ambition to make our local office the best place to work in South Africa.鈥�

The post 麻豆原创 Appoints new MD for Southern Africa appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

Technology has seen exponential leaps over the last couple of years, and Pillay points out that 麻豆原创 customers have to negotiate not only the dynamic IT landscape but also the changing needs of their own customer bases. And this can be a challenging proposition.

鈥淲hen you look at our customer base, we play across many industries,鈥� she points out. 鈥淎nd this means they are facing a variety of challenges.鈥�

With many 麻豆原创 customers being the driving forces in government and industry, they are particularly affected by the economics of the region.

鈥淭here is a commonality in Africa, especially around the economics of the situation, with the region having seen lower GDP increases,鈥� she points out. 鈥淪o many of our conversations with customers are around the pressure that鈥檚 putting on their organisations.鈥�

While not everyone is affected by these slowdowns, it is definitely a message that has become more common. And South African customers have their own set of challenges as well.

鈥淲hat is important to note is how we support them in whatever circumstances they find themselves,鈥� Pillay says.

鈥淯nder pressure, many customers are looking to be more prudent in their spending. They are looking to defensive spending, where they can address the cost optimisation they need to, while balancing the flexibility and agility that will keep them from becoming stagnant and irrelevant in the market.

鈥淭o help them address these challenges, 麻豆原创 puts forward the case for value, where its solutions can support customers, where our solutions can support them in running efficiently, while unlocking ways to optimise their systems and address new revenue streams,鈥� Pillay explains.

鈥淲e need to be in the level of discussion with customers that requires some kind of partnership. We don鈥檛 want to talk about a list of our products, but prioritise and address customer pain points and address.

鈥淚t needs to go beyond a technology discussion into a business enablement discussion.鈥�

Indeed, Pillay explains that the real transformation at 麻豆原创 has been in moving from being a technology provider to a trusted business adviser.

鈥淲e need to be entering the conversation much earlier, because technology cannot be an afterthought when you are talking and transformation.鈥�

At the same time, it鈥檚 important to listen carefully to customer requirements to ensure any transformation is relevant and respectful, she adds.

Newer technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing are a key part of any IT conversation these days, and 麻豆原创 has fully embraced these within its business applications.

A recent report found that AI could revolutionise Africa鈥檚 economy and听听to the continent鈥檚 economy by the end of this decade.

听found widespread challenges with access to AI and other tech skills throughout East, West and Southern Africa. According to 麻豆原创鈥檚 鈥�Africa鈥檚 AI Skills Readiness Revealed鈥� report, six in ten African organisations view AI skills as 鈥榚xtremely important鈥� to their success.

However, all companies surveyed expected to experience some AI-related skills gap in 2025, with nine in ten saying a lack of AI skills is already hurting their organisations through failed innovation initiatives, delays in implementations, and an inability to take on new work.

鈥淲e are seeing a fundamentally new technology environment, with capabilities that businesses didn鈥檛 have even five years ago,鈥� Pillay says. 鈥淚 avoid buzzwords, but some of the things we see today would have been unfathomable even five or 10 years ago.

鈥淚 like to get into the detail of how these capabilities can help our customers.鈥�

However, she cautions that the adoption of new technologies needs to be from a strong foundation.

鈥淵ou cannot be grasping at aspirational technologies if the backbone isn鈥檛 strong. So platforming is a discussion we need to have, in order to create agility for today鈥檚 needs and also the needs of tomorrow.鈥�

Pillay adds that many of 麻豆原创鈥檚 customers form the bedrock of South Africa鈥檚 economy. 鈥溌槎乖� might not be the biggest company in South Africa, but we are the backbone of many of the country鈥檚 largest organisations.

鈥淭his is an extreme privilege, but also a huge responsibility.

鈥淚t鈥檚 why I think it is super important that we engage customers as strategic partners; so we are helping them to align their strategies so we can grow the South African economy, retain employment and support their success.鈥�

Partnering is a key pillar of 麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy, Pillay adds, but the organisation is first and foremost customer-centric.

鈥淲e always keep the customer at the centre of what we do. We ensure that our executives are getting out their into the customer base, addressing their concerns and ensuring they have a voice.鈥�

The 麻豆原创 partner base continues to be a focus, and 麻豆原创 continues to grow and mature the partnering ecosystem. 鈥淥ne of the pillars of 麻豆原创鈥檚 global strategy is to support the partner base. So we have global strategies to help and guide partners in implementing end-to-end offerings to customers.鈥�

Internally at 麻豆原创, this has required some adjustments too.

鈥淲e have gone form on-premises to cloud, and now to business AI,鈥� Pillay points out. 鈥淲e have to be able to talk around this narrative. Bearing in mind we help to run all of these companies, and all of the granular business data, we need to be able to talk about the value of platforming correctly.

鈥淲e have to look at how we strategise, so we are able articulate our solutions and then message the into the business base.鈥�

Partnering with some of the biggest organisations in the South African economy is a challenging 鈥� and humbling 鈥� position to be in, Pillay adds.

鈥淭ogether we own the platforms that all the data runs on. And the next level of generative AI (GenAI) is based on that data.鈥�

Skills development

Companies are increasingly investing in upskilling and reskilling their workforce to meet the demands of a rapidly changing business and technology landscape. 鈥淥ur research found that nearly half (48%) of African organisations consider upskilling their employees a top skills-related challenge this year,鈥� Pillay says.

鈥淎s the pressure to build greater skills depth mounts on companies, vendors such as 麻豆原创 can be invaluable partners, providing insight, expertise and technical capabilities that help drive successful innovation and transformation.鈥�

With challenges and opportunities abounding in the South African context, 麻豆原创 is particularly invested in skills development and job creation.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Educate to Employ programme, in partnership with Unicef, aims to educate youngsters between the ages of 16 and 24 on soft skills and 麻豆原创 skills, to help kickstart their careers.

helps candidates with a university degree to gain work-ready 麻豆原创 skills and gain employment. They also assist them with placements within the partner ecosystem and 麻豆原创 customers.

In addition, social sabbaticals is a programme where 麻豆原创 employess can work with business to help and share their skills, helping them to build their own skills and develop business plans.

Basic education is the final pillar, with bursaries offered to deserving students. This includes a programme specifically focused on young women.

麻豆原创 also ensures that its own staff members are continually upskilled.

On a personal note

Having achieved the top position at 麻豆原创 Southern Africa, Pillay reflects that it鈥檚 not something she thought would happen when she started her career.

鈥淚 have been very luck to take over this role, and grateful doe the support of both 麻豆原创 leadership and the team on the ground.

鈥淚 am home-grown 鈥� 麻豆原创 is the only company I have ever worked for 鈥� so I think many of my colleagues see themselves in my journey. I have been very lucky to have the support of company leaders and colleagues.

鈥淎t the same time, I feel the burden of responsibility to ensure we do the right things for customers and teams in the organisation.

鈥淭here are 280 people and their extended families in South Africa alone that we take care of. That is a good contribution to what is a very challenging employment market at the moment.鈥�

She offers young women who may see themselves in here journey some advice: 鈥淭he main thing is to be true to yourself. Take on as much information as possible and always look for both formal and informal mentors. They will help you to grow your perspective over time. Mentorship is key to your career growth, so look for the people who can help you grow and cherish what they teach you.鈥�

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