A tech confession and a debate with an AI robot was the recipe for the future of work at 麻豆原创 Connect Southern Africa in Kyalami near Johannesburg last week.

鈥淚 have a confession to make: I have been afraid of AI,鈥� said Stanley Dube, 麻豆原创 head of solution advisory. Standing alongside a robot wearing a tracksuit carrying 麻豆原创鈥檚 AI assistant brand Joule, Dube said: 鈥淭he fear I have had is that AI is going to take my job.鈥�

However, having moved past that fear, he and Joule addressed questions about how organisations can adapt to AI, redesign jobs and processes, maintain governance and build a competitive advantage. In a theoretical example, Dube asked about the specifics of a project.

鈥淚 already know the status,鈥� answered Joule. 鈥淚 also know who is usually responsible for the delays: you, Stanley Dube.鈥�

Debate around AI replacing workers and robots taking control has become familiar, but 麻豆原创鈥檚 demonstration gave Joule a physical presence beyond a computer screen. The robot appeared to serve as a representation of the software assistant rather than a demonstration of autonomous physical AI. Although the presentation carried an element of theatre and Joule鈥檚 responses may have been preprogrammed, the exchange pointed towards a future in which AI agents could take on a more visible and collaborative role in the workplace.

Dube asked Joule: 鈥淲hat do we, as entities and companies, actually have to do to survive and thrive in the age of AI?鈥�

Joule answered: 鈥淢ost organisations do not have an AI problem; they have an adaptability problem. [This is] a massive waste of time and capital. I am built directly into your 麻豆原创 applications. While you slept, I autonomously reconciled 84% of your finance accounts, predicting a pump failure at Secunda to generate a maintenance order and rerouted logistics around a major issue.鈥�

Joule鈥檚 response framed the main obstacle as organisational rather than technological. AI systems may process information and act within seconds, but the benefit can be lost when decisions still depend on lengthy approval chains and slow human processes. In that situation, advanced technology becomes the equivalent of placing a Ferrari engine in a donkey cart: the system has considerable power, but the surrounding organisation cannot move at the same speed.

Dube said employees might find themselves arguing with AI agents in future, but that should not necessarily be a cause for concern.

Joule said: 鈥淩emember, AI is the enabler. Adaptability is the challenge. The future belongs to those who learn how to adapt because of AI, not just those who adopt.鈥�

The presentation extended a strategy outlined at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Sapphire conference in May. As , 麻豆原创 presented the Business AI Platform as an environment for developing and governing agents that work across enterprise operations. The approach uses ERP systems as the source of business data, processes and controls, allowing agents to perform tasks within established organisational boundaries.

Standard Bank provided a practical example of the preparation required to support 麻豆原创鈥檚 vision. The bank has modernised core enterprise systems using 麻豆原创 technology, establishing a platform from which further automation and AI applications could develop.

Vanessa Padiachee, Standard Bank Group CIO for corporate functions, said: 鈥淚f you look at the pace of change, technology is changing rapidly. AI is no longer just around experimentation and production use cases. Organisations are now going beyond that to look at enterprise scaling use cases.鈥�

Padiachee said 麻豆原创 was an important part of Standard Bank鈥檚 broader technology programme. She said organisations must manage rapid technological change while keeping major systems aligned with practical business requirements.

Standard Bank is focused on modernising the systems needed to support future automation and AI deployments rather than describing an autonomous AI implementation.

That work receives far less attention than demonstrations of agents and automated decisions. However, 麻豆原创鈥檚 autonomous-enterprise vision still depends on businesses having systems, processes and employees capable of supporting the technology.

Joule may have stepped beyond the computer screen at 麻豆原创 Connect, but the route towards an autonomous enterprise still runs through the less theatrical work of modernising systems, data and processes.

* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and deputy editor of . Follow him on .

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The company outlined its strategy at 麻豆原创 Connect Day 2026, held this week in Kyalami, Johannesburg.

, MD for southern Africa at 麻豆原创, said the company’s role is to support organisations in implementing and scaling agentic AI across end-to-end systems as they transition towards .

Addressing the complexity and cost that continue to challenge organisations migrating systems and platforms, , VP of customer advisory for EMEA at 麻豆原创, said the company’s new agent-led transformation approach could reduce the effort required for multi-year ERP migrations by 35%.

Agentic AI assistants

麻豆原创 has introduced several migration and modernisation AI assistants, including data management, custom code, configuration, test management and change management assistants. According to the company, these are governed by Joule for both developers and consultants and are designed to execute complex business scenarios by reasoning iteratively and interacting with their environment to achieve defined goals.

Nolla cited 麻豆原创 research indicating that the highest-ranked strategy for maximising ROI from AI is aligning initiatives with clear business goals.

麻豆原创 said AI currently supports about 30% of tasks in the average business, with that figure projected to reach 48% within two years.

, head of solution advisory at 麻豆原创, said a major challenge in AI-driven digital transformation is what the company describes as the “enterprise paradox” 鈥� the expectation of instant enterprise AI clashing with the operational reality of complexity, manual processes and human behaviour.

Standard Bank’s transformation journey

, executive group CIO for corporate functions at Standard Bank, outlined the bank’s use of 麻豆原创 technology to address operational challenges, including end-of-life systems, expiring vendor support and the need for a modern cloud ERP platform to support future innovation.

The bank completed a large-scale ERP migration and implementation programme. Modernising core enterprise systems required careful planning, strong governance and close collaboration between business and technology teams. The programme established a platform capable of supporting growth, operational resilience and ongoing innovation.

Padiachee said one of the biggest challenges was the pace of technological change.

“Organisations are required to continuously adapt while maintaining stability across critical business operations. Change management is just as important as the technology implementation itself,” she said.

Modernisation, she added, should improve agility without creating unnecessary disruption to business operations.

She also highlighted the human factor. “It’s really about keeping people calm during turbulence,” she said, adding that AI is fundamentally changing how businesses operate. “The focus should move beyond experimentation towards delivering measurable value.”

According to Padiachee, AI initiatives should align with clear business outcomes rather than be driven by the technology’s popularity.

She said one of the most significant lessons from the transformation programme was the complexity of Unicode conversion.

“In hindsight, this work should have started much earlier in the programme. Unicode conversion proved more complex than anticipated and became a critical dependency for implementation. Investing time in foundational technical readiness significantly reduces downstream project risk.”

Padiachee also stressed the importance of high-quality enterprise data that is accurate, trusted, well-governed and accessible.

She advised organisations planning system and platform migrations, as well as AI integration, to begin with a clearly defined use case, establish strong partnerships and maintain robust governance and guardrails.

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, executive: group CIO for corporate functions at Standard Bank Group, explains that the finance organisation was at a crossroads back in 2022.

鈥淲e had to remediate for an end of life, end of support problem, and we also had a unique business problem we needed to solve for.鈥�

Since then, the organisation has successfully migrated group reporting and the ledgers, and has completed two successful month-ends, she says.

Padiachee points out that technology is changing at such a rapid pace it is hard for organisations to keep up.

鈥淎gentic artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting business, and it鈥檚 no longer around experimentation and productive use cases. We are looking at enterprise-scale cases for real business value.鈥�

The big challenges in this scenario she says, are the workforce, the data and cybersecurity.

But central to any change, she adds, is to retain a business agenda regardless of how hard it is.

鈥淭echnology is hard, but the hardest part of change is the soft side,鈥� Padiachee says.

In her particular project, it took months to get to the point of deciding to migrate to 麻豆原创 Rise. Having decided to go forward, the first order of priority was to bring the various teams together.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about you and your internal teams. There are a number of stakeholders. And it is a long journey, so you have to ensure you keep people calm during the turbulence.鈥�

Although there were not many role changes, Padiachee explains that there was a lot of rethinking about how work was executed. 鈥淲ith the new platforms, teams have the opportunity to solve things differently.鈥�

Padiachee鈥檚 team built a foundation upon which business processes could be optimised. 鈥淪o we partnered with the business to redesign the data processes. And reshaping the processes meant changing the governance and reporting.鈥�

Getting people to change old habits means reinforcing that they had the ability to be more agile and more efficient, layering more functionality with AI.

Padiachee had to balance complexity, with business, regulation and customers on one side, and a technology platform on the other.

鈥淭hese competing priorities were a challenge,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut I believe you have to understand where you are now and where you want to go.

鈥淚 am a great believer in architecture: that builds a roadmap about how you want to transform. You can unpack the roadmap and incrementally deliver against it.

鈥淢y vision, from a Standard Bank perspective, is that we have a roadmap and we are now layering on the next pieces of technology.鈥�

Innovation is key, and it鈥檚 important to allow teams to innovate, Padiachee adds. 鈥淭his keeps them inspired and motivated, and lets them hone their own skills.

鈥淏ut it needs to be in a controlled environment, partnering with vendors, keeping governance and guardrails in place, and safeguarding the data. This allows for agility.鈥�

Innovations then need to be brought back into the mainstream systems, again with guardrails, in a controlled and reviewed manner.

What was the main leadership learning that Padiachee has taken away from the migration?

鈥淧artnership was key for me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was important to build the right partnerships with all the stakeholders.鈥�

Leaders should also recognise that the project won鈥檛 always go to plan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 OK if the project is red,鈥� Padiachee says. 鈥淭his highlights issues and provides the focus to unpack and resolve those issues.鈥�

She advises that this environment allows teams to give constructive feedback. 鈥淎nd you can鈥檛 just stand aside and watch the project 鈥� sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to help solve a problem.鈥�

A key to the migration鈥檚 success was understanding the roles of IT and business.

鈥淲e led with a technology problem,鈥� Padiachee says. 鈥淭hat was the highest priority because we were facing end of life and support. We then partnered with business to optimise on that.鈥�

Dealing with rapid change needs to be built into any project, she adds. 鈥淗ave a clear strategy and roadmap, and review that roadmap every six months. Things change so quickly, you may need to pivot along the way.鈥�

Sponsorship is critical for project success, she points out. 鈥淚f you start this journey, you need to ensure you have sponsorship from the right executives.鈥�

A big migration goes beyond technology and business: if organisations don鈥檛 embed culture from the beginning, the project can stall.

鈥淲e laid out key roles for IT and business,鈥� Padiachee explains. 鈥淲e had to bring the entire finance team with us, so business took the lead.

鈥淵ou can deliver the best technology, but if you don鈥檛 have right culture you will fail. And you can鈥檛 bring people in at the end 鈥� they have to be on board from the onset.鈥�

Part of the change management was training, which is an continual process, and onboarding.

If it continues on the path of its current vision, Padiachee believes that Standard Bank will be a future-ready organisation, transformed, and running the best AI-enabled and autonomous finance technology.

She concludes with some key takeaways from her experience in migrating to Rise:

• Start with a business case and ensure solid back-up all the way to the board
• Be very clear what problem you need to solve. You can鈥檛 solve everything, so start small then build from there
• Sponsorship is important
• Build partnerships 鈥� and don鈥檛 be afraid to have the tough conversations
• Strong governance is important
• The role between technology and business is critical, with a solid view of what each does
• Ensure that, at end of the programme, you can go back to the business case and check that you did deliver.

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麻豆原创 and Microsoft have partnered to deliver to customers across multiple global markets, including Africa. is a complete offering of ERP software, industry best-practices and outcome-driven services designed to help companies migrate their core 麻豆原创 ERP to the cloud, utilising the cloud hosting capabilities of hyper-scalers such as Microsoft.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, called on companies to embrace the full potential of what cloud technologies can offer. “It isn’t simply a question of migrating to new technology for the technology’s sake. It’s about increased efficiencies, greater simplicity and less complexity. By leveraging RISE with 麻豆原创, companies of all shapes and sizes can take full advantage of business-transformation-as-a-service to power their digital transformation and innovation efforts.”

, Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft South Africa, said: “Microsoft strives to deliver the best cloud experience for customers. With hosted on , companies can access 麻豆原创’s market-leading enterprise software in Microsoft’s industry-leading cloud to accelerate innovation and rapidly scale into new markets and capabilities.”

Accelerating business innovation in the cloud

RISE with 麻豆原创 on the Microsoft Cloud is a comprehensive solution designed to advance business innovation and optimisation at speed and with minimal risk. It takes the guesswork out of enterprise planning and presents an accelerated migration path to cloud-based ERP software such as .

The 麻豆原创 and Microsoft partnership builds on a 30-year history of collaboration and co-innovation. “Together we empower organisations to run intelligent and frictionless enterprises in the cloud, with easy integration, a wealth of advanced services, and high levels of security and compliance,” said Makhohliso. “This combines to give companies an accelerated path to business transformation that can drive optimisation and growth throughout the business.”

Growing global customer base

Since its launch in 2022, more than 3 000 companies globally have leveraged RISE with 麻豆原创 to move their ERP to the cloud, including Microsoft, Standard Bank, and Standard Chartered.

According to , Group CIO for Corporate Function at , 鈥淓stablishing trust with partners is essential to a long standing and productive relationship.聽 Both our relationship and business investment with 麻豆原创 and Microsoft was important to our migration strategy decision. It made sense for Standard Bank Finance to continue its relationship with 麻豆原创, due to our historical investment with the 麻豆原创 Finance technology 鈥� and given that we already had a strong product stack in place. Similarly, when it came to Microsoft, some of our workloads were already running on Microsoft Azure 鈥� so partnering with both 麻豆原创 & Microsoft in our Cloud journey made complete business sense.鈥�

Makhohliso added: “Our partnership with Microsoft is a mission-critical aspect of RISE with 麻豆原创 and has been driven by the most senior leadership in our respective organisations. I look forward to building on the strong foundations of our partnership to accelerate innovation and digital transformation for companies throughout Southern Africa.”

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