{"id":31672,"date":"2020-01-27T11:46:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T11:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/?p=31672"},"modified":"2020-01-27T11:46:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T11:46:16","slug":"azure-to-transform-local-business-in-2020-says-altron-karabina-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/2020\/01\/27\/azure-to-transform-local-business-in-2020-says-altron-karabina-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Azure to transform local business in 2020, says Altron Karabina expert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paul Morgan, Business Unit Lead \u2013 Data, Planning and Analytics at Altron Karabina, unpacks the business benefits of including data warehousing platforms in the transition to the cloud.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cloud journey of most local companies has centred around the migration of on-premise virtual environments. But with the local Microsoft Azure data centres approaching their one-year anniversary, the business benefits of including data warehousing platforms in this transition can no longer be ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\ncourse, concerns remain around how to effectively and securely move such a\nlarge amount of data into the cloud. Added to this is the complexity of\nrestructuring and rebuilding a data warehouse in this new environment. Some\norganisations have made the decision to keep their focus on first optimising\nwhat they have in the cloud before taking the next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\ndespite this hesitance, the increased popularity of cognitive services might\nresult in a move happening sooner rather than later. Artificial Intelligence\n(AI), Machine Learning, Real-time Data Analytics and other services can be\ndifficult to implement optimally from an on-premise perspective. Local Azure\naccess means businesses can start experimenting with big data environments and\nimplement solutions they would be unable to deliver on-premise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nexample, even though the Microsoft Power BI Service for analytics has been\navailable to local users for years, South African-based data still had to leave\nthe country, even though it was encrypted at all times. Now with Power BI\navailable in-country, this data sovereignty issue has been resolved. This has\nremoved a major compliance concern for South African clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloud\nimprovements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having\nthese capabilities available locally, latency and performance improvements will\nbe significant. Even a basic thing such as refreshing a report happens faster.\nThese time and cost savings quickly add up, bringing a meaningful difference in\nchallenging economic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent\nvendors are also moving their solutions into the local Azure stack. This gives\ntheir local customers the means to access their data faster than ever, adding\nto the return on investment the cloud can deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last\nyear saw AI really taking off in the local market, with 2020 poised to see\ncompanies starting to unlock value from this technology, using such\ncapabilities as Azure Cognitive Services. To fully benefit from AI, companies\nwill have to ensure their data is accessible to cloud services, where the\nhyperscale environment can really offer high performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New\nskills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nsome organisations are reluctant to push the AI and automation agenda too hard as\nconcerns around the potential for job cuts remain. This is especially the case\nwhen it comes to employees who are fulfilling niche functions at the company\nand feeling threatened by this technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But instead of seeing it as\nsomething that will replace jobs, people should view AI and automation as the\nmeans to augment their capabilities in the workplace. Ideally, once these niche\nfunctions are available to everybody in the organisation, the individuals with\nthe specialist knowledge can be transformed into subject matter experts who are\nenabled to spread their knowledge. By working with a wider view on how\nemployees can add value and improve things for everyone, change will be\nembraced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nend result is that humans will be empowered to focus on higher order business\nthinking, with automation managing the heavy lifting and schlep-work. Yes, it\nis difficult in a cost-cutting economy to manage both skills development and\nimplementing new technologies, but it will ultimately lead to an enhanced\nworkforce. Throughout all of this will be the cloud that will become the\nfundamental building block for the digital work environment in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Morgan, Business Unit Lead \u2013 Data, Planning and Analytics at Altron Karabina, unpacks the business benefits of including data warehousing platforms in the transition to the cloud. The cloud journey of most local companies has centred around the migration of on-premise virtual environments. But with the local Microsoft Azure data centres approaching their one-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":31673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,182,46,6,10675,13],"tags":[496,8989,386,620,10380,12419,392,433,12421,10940,12420,453],"class_list":["post-31672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-cloud","category-data-centres","category-insights","category-thought-leadership","category-top-stories","tag-ai","tag-altron-karabina","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-azure","tag-azure-cognitive-services","tag-data-warehousing-platforms","tag-machine-learning","tag-microsoft-azure","tag-microsoft-power-bi-service","tag-paul-morgan","tag-real-time-data-analytics","tag-south-africa"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31674,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31672\/revisions\/31674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}