<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="833" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-1110x833.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-380012" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-1110x833.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-696x522.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-1068x801.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1197598173-600x450.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>Digital generated image of data space.</figcaption></figure>



At the first-ever Future of Work Virtual Conference hosted by CNBC Africa, in partnership with FORBES AFRICA, on August 20, in which more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent, the final thought-provoking discussion was on ‘Empowering the workforce to harness IoT and big data analytics’.



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The all-day virtual summit came to a fitting close looking at how the mass of information we have at our disposal today can be harnessed for improved and sustainable business operations. The panel’s moderator, Kavitha Prag, Director, Digital Supply Network and IoT Lead, Deloitte, was joined by Peter Malebye, Managing Executive, Internet of Things (IoT) Africa, Vodacom Business, Arthur Goldstuck, CEO, World Wide Worx, and Rebecca Enonchong, Founder and CEO, AppsTech.



The discussion unpacked how business is able to create information out of data – one of the most valuable modern resources for businesses of all sizes. As Malebye noted: “The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have changed the way we work as we know it. This lockdown has fundamentally tested the boundaries of collaboration, and it’s up to companies to acknowledge the power of technology and IoT to unlock value across business.”



Prag kicked off the discussion by asking Goldstuck to explain the key acronyms dominating digital technologies like IoT and big data.



“Blockchain, AI, ML,” Goldstuck explained, “all make up the underlying technologies that tend to be described as the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). That includes technology that relates to robotics. But when you look at each of those individually, you discover that we&#8217;re at very different levels of uptake.”



Enonchong talked about the businesses and industries that use a deeper understanding of the data to the benefit of consumers, businesses and government. “We have mobile money, which is a real game-changer. All of a sudden, we see where and how the money is being spent. This is information we didn&#8217;t have when everybody was transacting in cash.”



Discussing how various sectors use IoT, Malebye said: “The automotive industry has continued to lead in terms of the adoption. You can start to collect that data that enables users to interact with the OEM providers about when the car needs to be serviced.”



He further explained how resources in healthcare, energy and water supplies can be tracked to predict and manage potential scarcity.&nbsp;



Prag referred to the study on remote working conducted by World Wide Worx with Cisco Systems.



Goldstuck said it was a fascinating study and they got a sense of how the culture of work had changed.



“We did come up with startling findings. We looked at the success factors for remote working. And there were three real critical success factors, not all of them to do with technology. The single biggest one was the ability of managers to delegate tasks effectively to people working remotely.



“The second one was about whether staff were allowed to spend time with children during the work day. But the third key factor was whether there’s good connectivity at home.



“Another fascinating category of findings was the impact of digital transformation on productivity. You do expect some companies to become more productive, and others, obviously, to become less productive when people are working remotely.



“Being digitally transformed is a major factor in productivity from anywhere.”



Lockdown showed that most schools were not ready for a digital future. And that&#8217;s where the skills base of the future starts being built.



“It&#8217;s very clear that there has to be a massive emphasis on skills training for AI and it has to begin in primary school where basic coding becomes part of the curriculum…” said Goldstuck .



The Cameroon-based Enonchong said their tech hubs are “actual locations where young people and entrepreneurs can come to learn how to better build their business”.



In her closing statement, she said, “If you have an innovation, if you have an idea, and you don&#8217;t know how to take it to the next level, become a member of a tech hub.”



Technology and the future thus ruled the day at the summit.

Data space

Digital Technology And Productivity From Anywhere

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="816" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-1110x816.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-380011" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-1110x816.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-300x221.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-820x603.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-768x565.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-1536x1129.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-696x512.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-1068x785.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-1920x1411.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1186947953-600x441.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>4 ladders leaning on white puffy cloud on blue studio background, drop shadow on green surface</figcaption></figure>



At the first-ever Future of Work Virtual Conference hosted by CNBC Africa, in partnership with FORBES AFRICA, on August 20, in which more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent, one of the most insightful discussions was on ‘How cloud computing and SaaS can help African enterprises future-proof their business models’.



The third panel at the all-day virtual summit was moderated by Sannah Rajpurohit, Management Consultant in Telecommunications, Media and Technology, with the following panelists: Kabelo Makwane, Managing Executive, Cloud Hosting and Security: Vodacom Business; Alison Collier, Managing Director of Endeavor South Africa; Eric Kasenge, Technical Executive at IBM South Africa and Kgauhelo Moeca, Senior Manager: Smart Industries at Innovation Hub Management Company.



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The session dwelt on how the cloud has become the great equalizer, allowing for rapid innovation and scale, and as a game-changer for any business. In many ways, Africa has a clean slate from which to implement innovative mobile technology and cloud computing. Startups in particular can benefit from these advantages.



Rajpurohit kicked off the discussion by asking Makwane to demystify cloud computing to the uninitiated. “In its simplest definition, it’s basically bringing together a shared pool of IT resources, effectively making sure that the shared pool of resources can be consumed on a pay-as-you-go type of metered service, as opposed to the traditional distributed computing model…,” he began.



In his definition of SaaS (software as a service), Kasenge said: “It’s basically a model that allows users to consume software between applications on a pay-as-you-go model. You don&#8217;t have to invest in infrastructure.”



“Essentially, with cloud computing and software as a service, the upfront fixed costs that businesses need to invest in their systems is significantly lower, do you can buy your services as you need them.” Collier corroborated. “This really assists small- and medium-sized enterprises in two areas. As a purchaser of the service, they no longer have to incur enormous costs upfront. And on the other side, when corporates are upgrading or looking for services, there&#8217;s a wonderful opportunity for small- and medium-sized businesses who are playing in that tech space to actually get out there and sell their services to these big corporates via this mechanism.”



Moeca explained that the traditional way of business was purchasing software maintained by an IT team. The emergence of solutions in Africa, and specifically South Africa, addresses the untapped informal market through cloud as a service.



“For example, stokvels; these markets actually are estimated in the billions. But we haven&#8217;t had solutions to track them. We&#8217;ve seen solutions coming recently to help these groups better manage their money, and ultimately, leading to the government being able to track the circulation of money and the contribution of these markets to the economy,” he said.



“Some of the large enterprises with existing IoT infrastructure have to assess and define what the low hanging fruits are to take to the cloud and get the benefits early. Because, at the end of the day, there&#8217;s a cost-benefit analysis,” offered Kasenge.



“During the last half-a-decade or so, there&#8217;s been significant investment in building out connectivity infrastructure,” explained Makwane. This has led to increased penetration.



Kasenge, in turn, warned that “from a data center footprint perspective, we have a long way to go”. His conclusion comes from the first report on the state of data centers in Africa, released earlier this year by the African Data Centres Association (ADCA).



Discussing the challenges ahead, Collier added: “There will always be inherent challenges with cloud computing, but they are minor in comparison to the enormous demand from corporates.”



“However, there is a challenge in scalability,” noted Kasenge. “Skill is an issue, and it’s not just an African problem.” The panel concluded that there are great opportunities for the continent, especially in the Covid-19 pandemic, to adopt SaaS to fast-track innovation in a digital economy and help take it to the future

4 ladders on cloud

How To Fast-Track Innovation And Future-Proof Your Business

At the first-ever Future of Work Virtual Conference hosted by CNBC Africa, in partnership with FORBES AFRICA, on August 20, in which more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent, the very first thought-provoking discussion that set the mood for the day was on ‘Turbocharging productivity: what automation, machine learning and AI can do for your business’.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="624" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-1110x624.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-380005" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-1110x624.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-820x461.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-696x392.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-978795044-600x338.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>4IR fourth industrial revolution on the ultraviolet background of polygon world map globe with blockchain technology peer to peer network. Fourth industrial revolution business banner concept.</figcaption></figure>



The panel was moderated by Jonny Caplan, Founder, CEO &amp; Executive Producer, Tech Talk Media, and he was joined by Lars Bøgvad Jeppesen, Co-Founder CEO at Enadoc and Tech One Global, Amrote Abdella, Regional Director of Microsoft 4Afrika Initiatives, Benjamin Rosman, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand, and Pankaj Shrivastava, Business Leader – Architecture, Software &amp; LV Products, Rockwell Automation.



Any mention of cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and machine learning always brings with it the concomitant questions: will humans be replaced by robots? Is AI something to be feared or embraced?



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The experts on the panel each outlined practical applications and industry trends.



Rosman defined AI as: “The application of technologies to optimize some process, and usually in our modern incarnation, if it&#8217;s driven by data. So it&#8217;s anywhere we&#8217;re using data to try and do something more efficiently.”



“People like to talk about employees and employee engagement in this whole move to AI and cloud process automation. It&#8217;s easy to get absorbed with the productivity gains that can be done just at the outset of the back-end,” said Jeppesen. The reality is AI is influencing our lives daily.



“Data processing has gone to such a granularity in terms of what data can be gathered from employees,” concurred Abdella.



“Whether you&#8217;re looking at agriculture or manufacturing, what exactly is it that we&#8217;re going to use the data for? There&#8217;s a question around policy governance and data residency that is very much top-of-mind for a lot of policy-makers,” she urged.



Rosman cautioned that it’s always difficult to predict the future. “But the reality is there&#8217;s obviously a massive uptake [of AI] from all over the world.



“The rigidity is one of the common misconceptions around how modern artificial intelligence works. They&#8217;re much more flexible.”



None of this would be possible without the cloud. “Now an entrepreneur can come up with an idea in the morning and before lunch, you could actually roll out a prototype of that idea,” said Jeppesen.



In the age and aftermath of Covid-19, augmented reality could be key in a factory setting, explained Shrivastava. “Covid-19 has presented a very different situation where the staff are unable to go to the site to do maintenance.



“Using augmented reality, they are able to troubleshoot, and get a machine up and running in a very short time.”



“Covid has allowed us to understand what we need to do to continue the rhythm of business,” explained Abdella. “And we&#8217;ll continue to see a faster adoption of technology. We are training our workforce, especially the youth, not just for jobs that we can see today, but really making sure that they also have the skills to go into it tomorrow as well.”



Rosman jumped in to say “there is also a false narrative around how we think about the interaction of automation and jobs. We need to take stock of what this means in terms of everything from work-life balance to general employee happiness, and actually think about our metrics such as GDP”.



“Automation, when you look at artificial intelligence, is there to stay,” said Shrivastava. “It will be very important for individuals, corporates and governments to keep a very open mind about this technology because it is changing lives.”

4IR Fourth industrial revolution on ultraviolet background

Witnessing Intelligent Automation And 4IR In Action

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="740" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-1110x740.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-379909" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-1110x740.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-696x464.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1220067952-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>At the first-ever Future of Work Virtual Conference hosted by CNBC Africa, in partnership with FORBES AFRICA, on August 20, more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent.</figcaption></figure>



At the first-ever Future of Work Virtual Conference hosted by CNBC Africa, in partnership with FORBES AFRICA, on August 20, more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent.



At the all-day virtual summit, the fourth panel discussion, titled ‘Digital Transformation and the Distributed Enterprise’, was moderated by Stuff Magazine South Africa’s editor-in-chief and publisher Toby Shapshak, and he was joined by panelists Jacqueline Raw, Owner and Founder of Ycagel; Stafford Masie, General Manager, WeWork Africa; and Gavin Reardon, Founder and Managing Partner at Kingson Capital.



Masie was the first speaker, and he said it’s not a question of ‘do we work from anywhere in the world’ but ‘can we’. “To see how CIOs and enterprises have metamorphosized their infrastructure to support remote working is quite profound.”



Masie likened it to businesses having its own [Amazon] “AWS moment”, from doing books to suddenly repurposing infrastructure for things outside the domain you initially constructed.



“We’re going to see the consequence of this change; the acceleration of the access of information securely and architecturally, which will lead to businesses asking ‘if our in-house employees can access systems and services, why can’t we open up and allow third parties to access it in the same way’?”



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Reardon said it has been a mixed bag for startups. “There are some industries that are really battling in this time but there are some who have accelerated two years ahead of where they originally forecasted. It’s about being agile and adapting.”



One cannot escape what this fast-track environment is going to do for the workforce in Africa; how we are going to be increasingly online, the bigger penetration on the mobile front, and what it does for businesses who are evolving, he added.



Ycagel’s Raw opined that co-working spaces are a good thing. “In South Africa, we’re in the early stages of seeing what co-working spaces can do and how it can enable the gig economy.”



“Most co-working offerings in the market layer on the network you can plug into. Sales and marketing specialists can collaborate with app developers and coders; it’s that ecosystem that makes the proposition incredibly valuable for consultants, SMEs and startups,” she said.



“Post Covid, it’s something that will only grow as people connect, engage, look to collaborate and develop their ecosystems. Physically, environments might change but the community building and network development that comes from co-working will only get bigger.”



Masie added that a lot of people are looking for ‘space as a service’. There’s a decentralized need out there for space aside from working from home and coming into the office sporadically. “If I don’t give my staff that option, they will go work elsewhere. That’s the trend we’re seeing happening specifically in the enterprise space.”



Reardon agreed: “What Covid has done is it has corporatized the fact that flexibility is an option for your workforce. Part of the new digital transformation we’re seeing is the tools for collaborative work that’s offline, online, in person, or not in the office environment.”



Raw corroborated that as much as Covid is a tragedy, there is opportunity for acceleration when it comes to scaling remote work.

Young man distracted while on  video call from his home during lockdown

Integrating Digital Technologies And What COVID-19 Has Corporatized

At the first-ever <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/future-of-work/">Future of Work Virtual Conference</a> hosted by CNBC Africa, on August 20, more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="740" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-1110x740.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-379902" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-1110x740.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-696x464.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1177340837-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>At the first-ever <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/future-of-work/">Future of Work Virtual Conference</a> hosted by CNBC Africa, on August 20, more than 2,000 global viewers engaged with industry experts on digital opportunities for the continent.</figcaption></figure>



At the all-day virtual summit, the second panel discussion, titled ‘Cybersecurity for the distributed, hyperconnected workplace’, hosted by Chris Bishop, delved into why protecting valuable data and other corporate resources from cybercriminals is key.



The session included as panelists Patrick Grillo, Senior Director of Security Strategy at Fortinet; Algirde Pipikaite, Project Lead, Industry Solutions, Centre for Cybersecurity: World Economic Forum; and Eric Mc Gee, Associate Director: Cyber Risk Services Team: Deloitte.



Pipikaite noted that cybercrime is on the increase globally because the possibility of being caught is very low and the rewards are high. “This has been further accentuated by the use and abuse of the coronavirus pandemic over the last seven months… The good news is that [cybercrime] cases have fallen to 61,000 on a weekly basis when compared to the 200,000 in the first month of the pandemic, but the bad news is that normal attacks are on the increase again,” said Pipikaite.



Mc Gee said Africa has also seen a large increase in attacks focused on the pandemic. “We’ve seen two major attacks this week alone in South Africa and Africa and it will continue. The topic of the day [Covid-19] will be the means used to attack individuals.”



Grillo noted the sophistication of the attacks, saying a few years ago it was ransomware, then cryptojacking – using other people’s computers to mine Bitcoin – and now it’s Covid-19. “While true hackers are out there – those who find the unknowns and take advantage of it, hacking or launching cyber-attacks is now a service.”



You don’t have to be hacker to do it, all you need is money because going on the dark web, you can find whatever you need, he pointed out. “They’re priced by day or week, have service level agreements, beta-testing, alpha-testing; it is a business.”



Pipikaite also added that hackers are taking note of the number of organizations who will let staff work remotely and are automating and advancing their technologies to exploit that.



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“Africa has enormous potential to turn cybersecurity into a massive opportunity due to its young population when compared to the rest of the world, said Pipikaite.



“By providing a digital skillset education focused on cybersecurity awareness and the importance of it, Africa could ensure that their future economy will be secure.”



Grillo shared key points on how organizations can protect themselves and counter cybersecurity threats. “An ongoing education process is absolutely essential to take what is normally the weakest link in the chain and make it your first line of defence.” He added that companies should run their own campaigns to try to trick employees into giving up information.



“There is no one technology that will keep an organization safe and quite honestly, no technology,” said Grillo.



“There are multiple layers to security; you want to prevent or block as much of these attacks coming in, because regardless of the headlines, the vast majority of malware that&#8217;s used in these attacks is something we already know about.”

Security padlock in circuit board

‘Increase In Cyber-Attacks Focused On Covid-19’

(Reuters) &#8211; TikTok said on Monday that “we simply have no choice” but to sue the Trump administration over U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing app.



In a blog post, TikTok said it strongly disagreed with the White House’s position that the company was a national security threat, saying it had “taken extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s U.S. user data.”



It also said the administration has ignored its “extensive efforts” to address its concerns, and accused Trump of politicizing the dispute by calling for a ban on TikTok in an Aug. 6 executive order.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="427" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-352564" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1-300x216.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1-584x420.jpg 584w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; DECEMBER 11: U.S. President Donald Trump (2R) argues about border security with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (R) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as Vice President Mike Pence sits nearby in the Oval Office on December 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



“We do not take suing the government lightly,” TikTok said. “But with the Executive Order threatening to bring a ban on our U.S. operations &#8230; we simply have no choice.”



The White House was not immediately available to comment.



TikTok’s complaint is expected to be filed later on Monday.



(Reuters) &#8211; TikTok said on Monday that “we simply have no choice” but to sue the Trump administration over U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing app



In a blog post, TikTok said it strongly disagreed with the White House’s position that the company was a national security threat, saying it had “taken extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s U.S. user data.”



It also said the administration has ignored its “extensive efforts” to address its concerns, and accused Trump of politicizing the dispute by calling for a ban on TikTok in an Aug. 6 executive order.



“We do not take suing the government lightly,” TikTok said. “But with the Executive Order threatening to bring a ban on our U.S. operations &#8230; we simply have no choice.”



The White House was not immediately available to comment.



TikTok’s complaint is expected to be filed later on Monday.



Amid growing distrust between Washington and Beijing, Trump has for weeks complained that TikTok, owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance Ltd, was a national security threat and might share information about users with the Chinese government.



His Aug. 6 executive order called for banning transactions with the app after 45 days.



Trump issued a separate executive order on Aug. 14 giving ByteDance 90 days to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations and any data TikTok had gathered in the United States.



Reuters reported last week that TikTok was preparing to mount a legal challenge as early as Monday to Trump’s Aug. 6 order.



ByteDance had acquired Shanghai-based video app Musical.ly in a $1 billion transaction in 2017, and relaunched it as TikTok the following year.



In its blog post, TikTok said the Trump administration violated its constitutional right to due process by banning the company without notice.



It accused Trump of misusing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which lets the president regulate international commerce during a national emergency.



Trump had in May 2019 invoked that law to stop alleged efforts by foreign telecommunications companies to conduct economic and industrial espionage against the United States.



But TikTok said the Aug. 6 executive order was not supported by the emergency Trump declared a year earlier, and that the company did not provide the types of technology and services contemplated at that time.



It also said the executive order was not rooted in genuine national security concerns, adding: “We believe the Administration’s decisions were heavily politicized, and industry experts have said the same.”



ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s North American, Australian and New Zealand operations to companies including Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp.



Those assets could be worth $25 billion to $30 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.



Before buying TikTok, ByteDance had not sought advance approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews acquisitions for potential national security risks.



CFIUS later opened an investigation, and according to TikTok “repeatedly refused” to engage with ByteDance before saying it had found national security risks associated with the purchase.







His Aug. 6 executive order called for banning transactions with the app after 45 days.



Trump issued a separate executive order on Aug. 14 giving ByteDance 90 days to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations and any data TikTok had gathered in the United States.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="427" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-352564" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1-300x216.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1071817812-594x594-1-584x420.jpg 584w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; DECEMBER 11: U.S. President Donald Trump (2R) argues about border security with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (R) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as Vice President Mike Pence sits nearby in the Oval Office on December 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Reuters reported last week that TikTok was preparing to mount a legal challenge as early as Monday to Trump’s Aug. 6 order.



ByteDance had acquired Shanghai-based video app Musical.ly in a $1 billion transaction in 2017, and relaunched it as TikTok the following year.



In its blog post, TikTok said the Trump administration violated its constitutional right to due process by banning the company without notice.



It accused Trump of misusing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which lets the president regulate international commerce during a national emergency.



Trump had in May 2019 invoked that law to stop alleged efforts by foreign telecommunications companies to conduct economic and industrial espionage against the United States.



But TikTok said the Aug. 6 executive order was not supported by the emergency Trump declared a year earlier, and that the company did not provide the types of technology and services contemplated at that time.



It also said the executive order was not rooted in genuine national security concerns, adding: “We believe the Administration’s decisions were heavily politicized, and industry experts have said the same.”



ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s North American, Australian and New Zealand operations to companies including Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp.



Those assets could be worth $25 billion to $30 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.



Before buying TikTok, ByteDance had not sought advance approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews acquisitions for potential national security risks.



CFIUS later opened an investigation, and according to TikTok “repeatedly refused” to engage with ByteDance before saying it had found national security risks associated with the purchase.

The Rise Of TikTok

TikTok says it has ‘no choice’ but to sue Trump administration over threatened U.S. ban

(Reuters) &#8211; TikTok said on Saturday it plans to file a lawsuit on Monday against President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting transactions with the popular short video app and its Chinese parent ByteDance, confirming an earlier Reuters report.



Reuters exclusively reported on Friday that TikTok would challenge Trump’s executive order as early as Monday.



TikTok said it had tried to engage with the U.S administration for nearly a year, but faced “a lack of due process” and that the government paid no attention to the facts.



“To ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the executive order through the judicial system,” the company said in a statement .



TikTok’s owner ByteDance issued a separate statement on Sunday saying it will officially file a lawsuit against Trump administration on Monday, Aug 24.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="438" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-352573" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-300x221.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-80x60.jpg 80w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-570x420.jpg 570w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; FEBRUARY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump stands during a news conference announcing Alexander Acosta as the new Labor Secretary nominee in the East Room at the White House on February 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. The announcement comes a day after Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Trump issued an executive order on Aug. 14 that gave ByteDance 90 days to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok. ByteDance has been making progress in talks with potential acquirers, including Microsoft Corp (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/MSFT.O">MSFT.O</a>) and Oracle (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ORCL.N">ORCL.N</a>). Some of ByteDance’s U.S. investors could also join the winning bid.



While TikTok is best known for its anodyne videos of people dancing and going viral among teenagers, U.S. officials have expressed concerns that information on users could be passed on to China’s government.



A representative for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok to challenge Trump’s executive order

(Reuters) &#8211; TikTok has removed more than 380,000 videos in the United States for violating its hate speech policy so far this year, the short-form video app said on Thursday.



The app, owned by China’s ByteDance, also said it banned more than 1,300 accounts for posting hateful content.



TikTok said in a blog post that it had acted on content such as race-based harassment and that it also had a zero-tolerance policy on organized hate groups and on content that denied “violent tragedies” like the Holocaust or slavery.



The app, which is hugely popular among teenagers, is best known for dance and lip-syncing routines and viral challenges, but a review by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this month said that the platform was being used to spread white supremacist and anti-Semitic hate speech.



TikTok, which has been under scrutiny over its content moderation practices, in March named the initial members of a content advisory council, to give advice on its policies and evaluate the company’s actions.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-352573" width="705" height="521" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-300x221.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-80x60.jpg 80w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-642093036-594x594-1-570x420.jpg 570w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px" /><figcaption>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; FEBRUARY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump stands during a news conference announcing Alexander Acosta as the new Labor Secretary nominee in the East Room at the White House on February 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. The announcement comes a day after Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



U.S. President Donald Trump also ordered ByteDance last week to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations within 90 days, in the latest effort to ramp up pressure on the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles. U.S. officials have expressed concerns that information on users could be passed on to China’s government.



TikTok has said that it has never provided user data to China and that it would not do so if asked.

TikTok removes 380,000 videos in U.S. for violating hate speech policy

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Revenues for African e-commerce heavyweight Jumia slid by 10% in the second quarter, dashing hopes that lockdowns aimed at stemming the spread of the new coronavirus would lead to a flood of online orders.



The company also said it would pay $5 million to settle class action lawsuits alleging misstatements and omissions related to its initial public offering.



Shares in the struggling firm were 27% lower by 1350 GMT at $11.82 per share, driven in part by a 13% decline in gross merchandise value (GMV) — a closely watched figure that tallies the total amount of goods sold over the period.



Revenue for the quarter fell to 34.9 million euros ($41.1 million). The company said while there were surges in demand in markets that went into total lockdown, this only happened in four countries, which hold 24% of its adjustable market.



Softer restrictions elsewhere led to “less drastic changes in consumer behaviour”, Jumia co-founder Sacha Poignonnec said on an earnings call, while the surge in some markets was offset by lost revenue due to logistical problems and closed borders.



“Things went back to normal sometime in (the second quarter), and since then have been pretty steady, with no significant disruption and no significant surge,” Poignonnec said.



Still, Poignonnec pointed to encouraging signs including a 26% drop in its adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a rise in gross profits per order, and higher orders of the fast-moving consumer goods it hopes will yield more frequent orders.



“We are still at the very beginning of e-commerce in Africa,” he said.



Jumia was the first Africa-focused tech start-up to list on the New York Stock Exchange and reached a market capitalisation of over $1.5 billion just after it went public in April 2019.



It has since faltered, and its share price on Wednesday was roughly 70% below last year’s peak.



($1 = 0.8495 euros)

Jumia_Maroc

African e-commerce firm Jumia takes lockdown revenue hit

<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/more-bailout-cash-may-just-delay-wave-of-credit-card-defaults?sref=Hjm5biAW">Millions of Americans are unemployed</a>&nbsp;and looking for work.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm">Hiring continues</a>, but there’s far more demand for jobs than supply.



As scholars of&nbsp;<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ojhiOlgAAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao">human resources</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D2pc8ugAAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao">management</a>, we believe artificial intelligence could be a boon for job seekers who need an edge in a tight labor market like today’s.



What’s more,&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.12.001">our research</a>&nbsp;suggests it can make the whole process of finding and changing jobs much less painful, more effective and potentially more lucrative.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Make me a match</h2>



Over the last three years, we’ve&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.09.009">intensely studied</a>&nbsp;the role of&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.07.004">AI in recruiting</a>. This research shows that job candidates are positively inclined to use AI in the recruiting process and find it more convenient than traditional analog approaches.



Although companies&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/12/20993665/artificial-intelligence-ai-job-screen">have been using</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.12.001">AI in hiring</a>&nbsp;for a few years, job applicants have only recently begun to discover the power of artificial intelligence to help them in their search.



In the old days, if you wanted to see what jobs were out there, you had to go on a job board like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.monster.com/">Monster.com</a>, type in some keywords, and then get back hundreds or even thousands of open positions, depending on the keywords you used. Sorting through them all was a pain.



Today, with AI and companies like&nbsp;<a href="https://eightfold.ai/">Eightfold</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://skillroads.com/">Skillroads</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://fortay.co/">Fortay</a>, it is less about job search and more about matchmaking. You answer a few questions about your capabilities and preferences and provide a link to your&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;or other profiles. AI systems that have already logged not just open jobs but also analyzed the companies behind the openings – based on things like reputation, culture and performance – then produce match reports showing the best fits for you in terms of job and company.



Typically, there is an overall match score expressed as a percentage from 0% to 100% for each job. In many cases the report will even tell you which skills or capabilities you lack – or have not included – and how much their inclusion would increase your match score. The intent is to help you spend your time on opportunities that are more likely to result in your getting hired and being happy with the job and company after the hire.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Crafting a winning CV</h2>



Usually, when you look for a job, you apply to lots of openings and companies at the same time. That means two choices: save time by sending each one a mostly generic resume, with minor tweaks for each, or take the time and effort to adjust and tailor your resume to better fit specific jobs.



Today,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/516793/ai-tool-will-help-you-write-winning-resume">AI tools</a>&nbsp;can help customize your resume and cover letter for you. They can tell you what capabilities you might want to add to your resume, show how such additions would influence your chances of being hired and even rewrite your resume to better fit a specific job or company. They can also analyze you, the job and the company and craft a customized cover letter.



While researchers have not yet systemically examined the quality of human- versus AI-crafted cover letters, the AI-generated samples we’ve reviewed are difficult to distinguish from the ones we’ve seen MBA graduates write for themselves over the last 30 years as professors.&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationUS/status/1291815439333330944">Try it for yourself</a>.



Granted, for lots of lower-level jobs, cover letters are relics of the past. But for higher-level jobs, they are still used as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cover-letters-are-important-2014-9">important screening mechanism</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351645/original/file-20200806-24-1fy3xg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Images of two cover letters for a job application, one written by a real MBA student, the other by artificial intelligence."/><figcaption>One of these cover letters was written by an MBA student. The other was generated by artificial intelligence. Can you tell which one is which?&nbsp;Author provided,&nbsp;Author provided</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Show me the money</h2>



Negotiations over compensation are another thorny issue in the job search.



Traditionally, applicants have been at a distinct informational disadvantage, making it harder to negotiate for the salary they may deserve based on what others earn for similar work. Now AI-enabled reports from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.payscale.com/">PayScale.com</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salary.com/">Salary.com</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/salary/">LinkedIn Salary</a>&nbsp;and others provide salary and total compensation reports tailored to job title, education, experience, location and other factors. The data comes from company reported numbers, government statistics and self-reported compensation.



For self-reported data, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.moneyunder30.com/best-salary-information-websites">best sites</a>&nbsp;conduct statistical tests to ensure the validity and accuracy of the data. This is only possible with large databases and serious number crunching abilities. PayScale.com, for example,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.payscale.com/about/use-our-data">has over 54 million respondents</a>&nbsp;in its database and surveys more than 150,000 people per month to keep its reports up-to-date and its database growing.



Although no academics have yet tested if these reports result in better compensation packages than in the old days,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4165077?seq=1">research has long established</a>&nbsp;that negotiating in general gets candidates better compensation offers, and that more information in that process is better than less.



[Deep knowledge, daily.&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Growing use of AI in hiring</h2>



Use of these tools is growing, especially among young people.



A survey&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.09.009">we conducted in 2018 found</a>&nbsp;that half of employed workers aged 18 to 36 said that they were likely or highly likely to use AI tools in the job search and application process. And 64% of these respondents felt that AI-enabled tools were more convenient.



Most of the research on the use of AI in the hiring process – including our own – has focused on recruitment, however, and the use of the technology&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/artificial-intelligence-in-talent-acquisition.pdf">is expected to double</a>&nbsp;over the next two years. We’ve found it to be&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.12.001">effective for companies</a>, so it seems logical that it can be very useful for job candidates as well. In fact, at least US$2 billion in investments are fueling human resources startups aimed at using AI to help job candidates, according to our analysis of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/hub/human-resources-startups#section-leaderboard">Crunchbase business data</a>.



While more research is needed to determine exactly how effective these AI-enabled tools actually are, Americans who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus could use all the help they can get.

web-network-technology-developer

Lost your job due to coronavirus? AI could be your best friend in finding a new one

<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="555" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-1110x555.png" alt="" class="wp-image-377947" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-1110x555.png 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-300x150.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-768x384.png 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-696x348.png 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-1068x534.png 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo-600x300.png 600w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Future-of-work_logo.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>The Future of Work. Are you prepared? </figcaption></figure>



Covid-19 has forced businesses globally to re-evaluate their business models and to adapt to new working environments. As whole industries adjust and new ones are born, many occupations will undergo a fundamental transformation. Technological, socio-economic, geopolitical, and demographic developments and the interactions between them will generate new categories of jobs and occupations while partly or wholly displacing others. Given the rapid pace of change, business model disruptions are resulting in a near-simultaneous impact on employment, demanding new skill sets.



Through a series of expert panel discussions, CNBC Africa; a leader in business, financial data, news and insight, in partnership with Forbes Africa and prominent sponsors, will be hosting a first-of-its-kind virtual summit, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/future-of-work/">The Future of Work Virtual Conference</a>; which aims to find solutions to the crisis in Africa’s work and job system, and to drive home the need for a much more effective implementation strategy.



“This pandemic has also forced us as a media company to find alternative means to broadcast captivating and informative content, while adhering to Government’s health and safety protocols, and to identify digital platforms that would allow us to keep our viewers informed. Using the power of technology and our newsroom, we are able to connect the continent through live in-person and online virtual experiences.” Says Roberta Naicker, Managing Director of the ABN Group. “This virtual conference, consisting of industry-leading panelists, will examine how technology will enable digital transformation and change the way we work in the future.” She further added.



What will organisations look like after the pandemic? How will we collaborate and conduct business? What productivity gains can we unlock through robotic process automation, AI and cloud computing. What are the new threats companies need to identify and mitigate against? These are some of the critical questions that will be addressed, with themes like cybersecurity, cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI), forming the main focal points of this half-day virtual conference, set to take place on the 20th of August.



Attendees will be able to register to attend this virtual event, and watch it live for free. Allowing them to take part in the day’s discussions via Q&amp;A sessions, and also get the opportunity to network with other attendees.



For more information on the <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/future-of-work/">Future of Work Virtual Conference</a> or to register for the event, please visit <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/future-of-work/">this link</a>.

Future-of-work_logo

Redefining Africa’s Workforce Through Digital Transformation

<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>An analysis of 150 million media articles revealed how the technology discourse has shifted during COVID.</li><li>This shift reveals a need to grapple with the immediate health crisis and could mean that other threats and risks have been undiscussed and unexplored.</li></ul>



COVID is changing the world and our technology conversations are changing with it.



As part of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/critical-frontier-leveraging-technology-to-combat-covid-19">work identifying promising technology use cases to combat COVID</a>, The Boston Consulting Group recently used contextual AI to analyze more than 150 million English language media articles from 30 countries published between December 2019 to May 2020. While the research reflects media coverage and not technology development, the analysis still reveals a range of shifting interests. These shifts can give a sense for how the world has refocused itself to tackle the crisis in the short term. The findings also show the crisis could be leaving some key risks or solutions under-discussed or under-explored, potentially creating new vulnerabilities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tech talk after COVID</h2>



As can be seen in the below figure, only half of the top tech/telco topics pre-COVID remain in the top ten during COVID. This speaks to a fundamental change in core interests and principal concerns.



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://assets.weforum.org/editor/responsive_large_webp_blCXkWZQua3w30udltgmLQWK9kwiAUmnlztGkqoTwaI.webp"/><figcaption>Image: World Economic Forum, Boston Consulting Group</figcaption></figure>



The first priority during this pandemic has been the protection of individuals, and rightly so. As a result, topics such as biotech/medtech have gained prominence as researchers seek out new treatments and a potential vaccine. This shift has fueled a new interest in telemedicine as well. This technology was slow in adoption for outpatient care pre-COVID, but has seen enormous growth in the past 6 months,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/18/coronavirus-how-covid-19-accelerated-the-rise-of-telemedicine.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as lockdowns and the virus forced patients and doctors to seek new solutions for care.</a> The coronavirus has also brought new uncertainties. With this, data analytics has risen 35% from pre-COVID levels, as individuals and companies use emerging data from medical research and emerging habits to forecast everything from the path of the pandemic to potential supply chain disruptions.



Talk regarding delivery drones has increased by 57% in topic share, thanks in part to new uses of drones to deliver much-needed supplies such as groceries and PPE in areas hard to reach after COVID-19 lockdowns.



COVID-19 boosted the number of articles written about 5G, though the context for these conversations has shifted. Articles pre-COVID focused on potential capabilities from a 5G rollout. As the virus spread, however, fear sparked by conspiracy theorists linked 5G technology to misinformation campaigns.



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://assets.weforum.org/editor/responsive_large_webp_NK4mRFnfFmX-esSWYCnetOT0W8mDYWcq69vEJP3qwE0.webp" alt=""/><figcaption>Image: World Economic Forum, Boston Consulting Group </figcaption></figure>



As part of this research, analysis dug into top discussion topics in 4 of the world’s key regions: India, China, the European Union and the US. Here contextual AI studied more than 2,500 publications between January and May 2020. To be sure, a number of factors determine the types of media coverage that emerges in different regions. Still, this exercise is another window into how technology conversations differed across contexts as countries faced the virus in different ways, leveraging different tools and resources.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Left unsaid or under-discussed</h2>



As the pandemic spread, “business as usual” gave way to crisis management. As it did, traditionally-popular tech topics such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, internet of things, blockchain, robotics, and cybersecurity have been discussed less often than usual during the pandemic. In some cases they have fallen off the map entirely.



This trend reflects the need tackle the immediate health needs of the crisis while ignoring the key role that other technologies or risks will play in more long-term solutions.



Blockchain, for instance, will be key for more resilient supply chains and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/blockchain-role-in-distributing-covid-19-vaccine-could-make-history/">integral to the equitable deployment</a>&nbsp;of the vaccine once it is available.



AI and machine learning have fallen in rank but have shown to be integral to a range of efforts, including helping researchers <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/covid-19-study-6-strains-severity-kings-college-london/">sort through massive amounts of data</a> quickly to process the real-time information being processed about the disease.



Cybersecurity has fallen off the list of top ten tech topics entirely and that fact belies the growing risk that cyber security poses to a range of sectors, including the newly remote workforce. Additionally, the medical field is particularly vulnerable to cyber threats and the past months have seen a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/92575-increase-in-reports-of-ransomware-attacks-on-health-care-entities" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">75% increase in ransomware</a>&nbsp;attacks against health professionals (Some attacks have even targeted researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53214783" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seeking a cure for COVID.</a>) The World Health Organization reported a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-04-2020-who-reports-fivefold-increase-in-cyber-attacks-urges-vigilance#:~:text=Since%20the%20start%20of%20the,targeting%20the%20public%20at%20large.&amp;text=The%20number%20of%20cyber%20attacks%20is%20now%20more%20than%20five,the%20same%20period%20last%20year." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">five-fold increase</a>&nbsp;in cyberattacks between this year and last.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Looking ahead</h2>



The global pandemic is forcing us to re-think the way we work and how we do business. As our attentions focus on the most immediate threats, we must remember to consider the longer term. Looking past just the crisis before us can give us a fuller picture of the risks we face &#8211; as well as the opportunities we might not be exploring and the solutions we can put into place.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Republished from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/10-top-tech-topics-during-covid-19-india-china-us-eu?fbclid=IwAR2wLo2eA0nSESGxSohLBhgFkZPF4gaxUmJo7qIJ0HoEmBcsSOKEKVeV-wA">https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/10-top-tech-topics-during-covid-19-india-china-us-eu?fbclid=IwAR2wLo2eA0nSESGxSohLBhgFkZPF4gaxUmJo7qIJ0HoEmBcsSOKEKVeV-wA</a>



World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License</a>, and in accordance with our <a href="https://www.weforum.org/about/privacy-and-terms-of-use">Terms of Use</a>.



Written by: 



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/stephen-robnett">Stephen Robnett</a>, Managing Director and Partner, The Boston Consulting Group</li><li><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/trey-sexton">Trey Sexton</a>, Associate, The Boston Consulting Group</li></ul>



The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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These are the 10 most discussed tech topics during COVID-19

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) &#8211; Twitter Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TWTR.N">TWTR.N</a>) on Thursday reported its highest-ever yearly growth of daily users who can view ads, beating analysts’ estimates on usage and sending its shares up 4%.



Twitter’s average monetizable daily active users (mDAU) increased 34% year over year to 186 million, above analysts’ estimate of 176 million, in a rise it said was primarily driven by external factors such as shelter-in-place requirements and increased conversation around the COVID-19 pandemic.



But the company missed Wall Street’s lowered expectations for quarterly revenue, as the coronavirus-spurred economic slowdown battered the company’s largely events-oriented digital ads business.





Ad sales, which make up 82% of Twitter’s revenue, sank 23% to $562 million, a drop the company attributed to brand spending pauses tied to the pandemic and U.S. civil unrest. Analysts had expected $585 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.



Chief Executive Jack Dorsey opened a conference call with analysts by apologizing for the hack that compromised the accounts of high-profile users last week, saying “we feel terrible.” In a statement, Dorsey said Twitter had taken steps to improve its security and “resiliency against targeted social engineering attempts.”



Total revenue came in at $683 million, down 19% year-over-year, helped by steadier sales growth from the licensing of users’ posts to researchers and marketers.



Twitter has struggled to build out its ad offerings, leaving it reliant on a suite of promotional tools geared toward advertising around big events and product launches, which have all but vanished during the pandemic.



The company said it finished rebuilding its ad management technology in the second quarter, which would support faster development of new formats going forward, and was rolling out measurement tools for “direct response” ads used by app developers.



On the conference call, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal declined to give details about the impact of a July social media advertising boycott that was intially focused on Facebook (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/FB.O">FB.O</a>) but spread to other platforms. Dorsey said Twitter’s actions to protect conversations on the platform were being noted by advertisers.



Twitter also said it was exploring “subscriptions and other approaches to complement our advertising business,” such as commerce, though it was not expecting any revenue to result this year Dorsey said on the call that the company would have a “really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter.”



The company reported a second-quarter loss of $1.2 billion, largely driven by the reversal of a tax benefit established last year, when the company transferred intellectual property to Ireland. Because of the second quarter’s steep coronavirus-related losses, Twitter did not make enough money to take advantage of the tax benefit.



Adjusted to exclude the tax considerations, the company incurred a loss of $127 million, or 16 cents per share, roughly in line with analyst expectations of a $125 million loss. It had an adjusted profit last year of $37 million.



Echoing earlier guidance, Twitter said it expects data licensing revenue to “moderate” for the rest of the year.



Costs and expenses grew 5% to $807 million, below the increase in the low teens that Twitter had forecast. The company said it anticipated expense growth of 10% or more in the third quarter.



Social media rival Snap Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/SNAP.N">SNAP.N</a>) missed user growth estimates earlier this week, as its usage bump from coronavirus lockdowns petered out sooner than expected, but it beat targets for revenue gains.

wall street

Wall Street retweets: Twitter shares rise on record yearly growth in daily users

(Reuters) &#8211; Tesla Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TSLA.O">TSLA.O</a>) on Wednesday posted a second-quarter profit as cost cuts and strong deliveries helped offset coronavirus-related factory shutdowns, sending its stock up 4.4% in after-hours trading and clearing a hurdle that could lead to the electric carmaker&#8217;s inclusion in the S&amp;P 500 index&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/markets/index?symbol=.SPX">.SPX</a>.



Tesla said it earned net income of $104 million from April to June, or $0.50 per share, marking the first time the company has posted a profit for four straight quarters, a condition for it to be considered for the stock index of the largest U.S. companies. (See graphic:&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/3hw2RwV">tmsnrt.rs/3hw2RwV</a>)



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GettyImages-1175368064-1110x740.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-361863"/><figcaption>SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk speaks in front of Crew Dragon cleanroom at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California on October 10, 2019. (Photo by Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



The performance is a major accomplishment for Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose mission of leading the global auto industry into an electric future has frequently been questioned by investors who doubted Tesla’s viability.



Its shares have gained more than 500% over the past year. Many analysts believe the rally has been fueled in part by expectations of Tesla’s imminent inclusion in the stock index, which would unleash a flood of demand for shares.



Musk on a conference call on Wednesday said Tesla would prioritize growth over profit going forward and focus on making its vehicles more affordable.



“The thing that bugs me most right now is that our cars are not affordable enough, we need to fix that,” Musk said on the call. “I think we just want to be like slightly profitable and maximize growth and make the cars as affordable as possible.”



The price of a Model 3 sedan, its most popular vehicle, starts at $37,990 in the United States.



Musk also announced that Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, would be the site of Tesla’s new factory. The area had been competing with Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the new plant, which promises to create at least 5,000 jobs.



Musk said the factory would produce Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for the Eastern United States, as well as a new semi-truck called the Tesla Semi and the carmaker’s futuristic Cybertruck.



Tesla on Wednesday affirmed its goal to deliver at least half a million vehicles by the end of 2020 despite production interruptions, including the shutting of its California factory for nearly six weeks of the quarter on orders of local authorities. The company delivered more than 90,000 vehicles in the second quarter, surpassing analyst expectations.



“While achieving this goal has become more difficult, delivering half a million vehicles in 2020 remains our target,” the company said.



Musk said on Wednesday’s call that the real limitation to Tesla’s growth is battery cell production at an affordable price, and said the company would expand its business with Panasonic Corp (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/6752.T">6752.T</a>) and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/300750.SZ">300750.SZ</a>).



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://t.co/jmkacbRb5D">https://t.co/jmkacbRb5D</a>&mdash; Tesla (@Tesla) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1286057855422881792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Tesla will introduce new low-cost, long-life batteries in its Model 3 sedan in China later this year or early next, Reuters reported previously.



Tesla’s second-quarter revenue fell to $6.04 billion from $6.35 billion a year earlier, but surpassed analyst expectations for revenue of $5.37 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.



Tesla reported $5.18 billion in second-quarter automotive revenue, but its share of income from regulatory credits &#8211; payments the company receives from other carmakers to offset emissions &#8211; increased to $428 million from $354 million in the first quarter.



That revenue could dry up as more manufacturers develop and sell electric cars, but many rivals are still focused on reaping the high profit margins from fuel-guzzling trucks and SUVs.



“Right now in the EV market, it’s Tesla’s world and everyone else is paying rent, a dynamic shown front and center this quarter,” Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst, said in a note.



Tesla’s rapid rise to become the world’s most valuable carmaker could mark the start of a new era for the global auto industry, defined by a Silicon Valley approach to software that is overtaking old-school manufacturing know-how.



The company said higher income from those regulatory credits in combination with temporary employee salary cuts during the pandemic and $48 million in deferred revenue from its yet-to-be-released self-driving feature offset the cost of factory shutdowns.



Musk on Tuesday qualified for a payout worth an unprecedented $2.1 billion, his second jackpot since May from the electric car maker following its massive stock surge.

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Vodacom Group plans to create a ‘super app’ in partnership with digital payment provider Alipay, part of China’s Alibaba group, to allow consumers in South Africa to shop online, pay bills and send money to family from next year.



The app will also help small to medium enterprises (SME) access financial services such as lending and insurance, the two companies said in a joint statement on Monday.



Vodacom and other mobile operators in South Africa are seeking to expand their mobile payment apps into online market places to leverage their network and customer base.



They are also looking to tap more than 11 million South Africans who do not have bank accounts, to offer lending and other financial services.



South Africa’s biggest mobile operator by subscribers, MTN, plans to offer a similar app, while Telkom has repurposed its almost 70-year old Yellow Pages telephone directory business into an online market place app called Yep.



“This partnership is a significant milestone in promoting greater financial inclusion within the communities in which we operate, accelerating our financial services aspirations across Africa,” Vodacom Group Chief Executive Shameel Joosub said in the statement.



The super app, much like WeChat, a platform developed by Tencent Holdings Ltd in China, will be operated by Vodacom Financial Services, with Alipay as the technology provider, the firms said in their statement.



Alipay is owned by Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of the Alibaba Group Holdings.



The partnership will be a growth opportunity for Vodacom Financial Services, which in just four years has grown from a loss-making entity into a business with more than 12 million customers and contributes 1 billion rand ($59.98 million) in profit to the Vodacom Group, the mobile operator said.



The app will also allow consumers to stream music and follow news.



($1 = 16.6722 rand)

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Vodacom partners with China’s Alipay to create ‘super app’ in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Like many of her compatriots, Kubashnee Moodley made her first foray into online shopping during South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown. She is not a satisfied customer. The 42-year-old business management coach was once charged for a parcel she never received and also had groceries delivered to her Johannesburg home after dark. “I was not going to risk going to the gate &#8230; especially with crime so high,” she said. Moodley’s experience encapsulates the challenging situation facing the e-commerce sector in Africa’s most advanced economy. Having long lagged behind much of the world in terms of e-commerce, South African retailers and delivery start-ups have been doing a roaring trade online as consumers shy away from shops during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the likes of Pick n Pay, Checkers and OneDayOnly experiencing an explosion in demand. But this post-COVID boom is straining the capacity of even the largest retailers, leaving some customers complaining of long wait times and poor service. The ability to alleviate those growing pains will dictate which companies emerge as e-commerce leaders and which will be left behind. Factors such as fear of parcel theft, online fraud and high mobile data costs have long hindered South African e-commerce growth, experts say. Global e-commerce leviathan Amazon does not operate in the economy of 58 million consumers, partly because of the cost and challenges of setting up the required infrastructure, analysts say. And African giant Jumia only launched in South Africa this year. Amazon, the vast majority of whose customers have to rely on cross-border shopping at its 16 websites around the world, declined to comment. ONLINE LAGGARD E-commerce accounted for only 1.6%, or $1.2 billion, of South African retail sales in 2019, according to London-based market research firm Euromonitor International. In the United States, the figure is 14.8%. Even Kenya shops more online than its larger neighbour. However, Euromonitor expects sales to double this year while Nielsen South Africa’s retail lead analyst Gareth Paterson predicts up to 200% growth in online food purchases. A survey conducted by Visa found that 64% of consumers in South Africa bought groceries online for the first time because of the coronavirus outbreak and that 53% made their first online purchase from a pharmacy. When lockdown restrictions imposed in late March were loosened in May, market researcher Urban Studies found that only 50-70% of customers returned to shopping centres. “This was the quantum shift,” said Anthony Thunstrom, chief executive of clothing and homeware retailer TFG. “We probably advanced two to three years in terms of online demand because of COVID-19.” Nikki Lincoln, a 34-year-old communications specialist, thought shopping online would spare her the “unnecessary risk” of going out during the pandemic. “Woolworths has closed off online deliveries for my area, so I can’t shop there at all. And Pick n Pay has such a long waiting time you might as well just go to the shop,” she said, naming two of South Africa’s leading supermarket chains. CAPACITY BOOST Woolworths said that home delivery suspensions were temporary, resulting from an employee testing positive for the virus, but acknowledged that increased demand had caused delays. In April it launched a drive-through click-and-collect service, boosting its online capacity by 50%. When the lockdown began, Pick n Pay partnered with Bottles, an alcohol delivery app that expanded into groceries with the promise of same-day service. “Our enhancements last year to create a stronger online operation &#8230; enabled us to expand our offer in response to the demand for online shopping. Our team rapidly increased its capacity and reach and met the needs of many new customers,” Jessica Knight, head of online at Pick n Pay, said without commenting specifically on delays. Sixty60 &#8211; a grocery delivery app run by Shoprite’s Checkers supermarkets &#8211; backed away from hourly dispatching, opting instead for same-day delivery. It is now expanding its delivery area weekly. Companies hoping to compete, therefore, are quickly pumping money into their e-commerce offerings even as they feel the pain of a pandemic-induced economic downturn. Grocery delivery business Zulzi was forced to limit trading to two hours a day for two weeks after shoppers overwhelmed its app, but it has since quadrupled the number of shoppers and drivers it employs and doubled its customer care staff. It is now processing 2,000 orders a day &#8211; five times 2019 levels &#8211; and has done a year’s worth of turnover in the past two months. TFG, the brands of which include @home, Foschini and Markham, plans to raise 3.95 billion rand ($234.2 million) this month, partly to bolster its e-commerce business. ($1 = 16.8698 rand)

20200715_125030

South African e-commerce is a COVID-fired market of risk and reward

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) &#8211; Apple Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/AAPL.O">AAPL.O</a>) on Monday said it will switch to its own chips for its Mac computers, saying the first machines will ship this year and ending a nearly 15-year reliance on Intel Corp to supply processors for its flagship laptops and desktop.







Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said it marked the beginning of a major new era for a product line powered the company’s rise in the 1980s and its resurgence in the late 1990s.



“Silicon is at the heart of our hardware,” Cook said during a virtual keynote address recorded at the company’s Cupertino, California headquarters for its annual developer conference. “Having a world class silicon design team is a game changer.”



The silicon switch brings the Mac into line with the company’s iPhone and iPads, which already use Apple-designed chips. Cook said that Apple expects the Mac transition to take about two years and that Apple still has some Intel-based computers in its pipeline that it will support for “many years.”



But the move will give software developers for Apple’s largest pool of third-party apps &#8211; those built for iPhones and iPads &#8211; new access to its laptops and desktop for the first time. Apple software chief Craig Federighi said that for those offerings, “most apps will just work, with no changes from the developer” on the new Macs. He also said the “vast majority” of existing apps for Intel-based machines can be modified to work in “just a few days.”



The news came at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. The conference has gained new prominence since paid services sold through the App Store have become central to the company’s revenue growth as consumers have slowed the growth of iPhone upgrades. Apple takes a 15% to 30% cut of the sales developers make through the App Store, which is the only way to distribute software onto Apple’s mobile devices.



Those fees, and Apple’s strict app review process, have come under antitrust scrutiny in the United States and Europe, where regulators last week unveiled a formal probe into the company. In what appeared to be an acknowledgement of its some of its critics, Apple said it would let users select non-Apple apps as default apps for tasks like email and web browsing on iPhones and iPads.



But developers still gravitate toward Apple’s platform because it is lucrative, with a user base that is willing to spend money on paid apps. The annual developer conference, being held online this year for the first time because of the novel coronavirus, is where Apple often announces access to new hardware capabilities, such as special tools for artificial intelligence and augmented reality.



At the event, Apple announced a new system that lets users share digital car keys with friends and family members via the company’s iMessage system, will work with BMW (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/BMWG.DE">BMWG.DE</a>) 5 Series vehicles.



The system will work with phones running the current iOS 13 operating system so that owners can start using it when BMW vehicles arrive. Apple said more cars that work with the system will come to market next year.



Apple also updated its mapping application with information about electric vehicle charging stations, working with BMW and Ford Motor Co (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/F.N">F.N</a>) to show stations compatible with the user’s vehicle.



Apple also added new privacy protections, saying it would let users only share their approximate location with app developers and that it would require those developers to seek permission before sharing user data with other apps and websites. Apple also said it would require a privacy and security label, akin to a food nutrition label, to be shown to users before they download apps.

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