As part of its commitment to support the workforce of the future and the NDP2030 Youth Ambassador programme, Cisco last week announced the release of free, self-enrol online courses, including entrepreneurship, to help South Africans develop their digital skills. In doing so, the company is pledging to train an additional 100 000 students by 2020.
Underpinned by the Cisco Networking Academy, which celebrates its 20th year in South Africa in October, Cisco announced that it will work with education, industry and local communities to skill or retrain individuals to develop the next generation of talent to thrive in the digital economy.
“The future global competitiveness of South Africa will be determined by our commitment as a nation, and as employers to ensure that we have the skills required for a thriving digital economy. The education system alone cannot be expected to keep up with the increasing skills gap. As technology leaders and future employers, we are partnering with Government and the education ecosystem to ensure that South Africans are given more opportunities to be part of the workforce of the future,” said Cathy Smith, managing director for Cisco Sub-Saharan Africa.
To deliver on its pledge, Cisco has launched free online training courses (available in English) and accessible to anyone, anywhere on the following topics: Get Connected (Digital Literacy); Entrepreneurship; Cybersecurity; Cybersecurity Essentials; Introduction to IoT; NDG Linux Unhatched and NDG Linux Essentials.
Nominations Now Open for ‘IDC CIO Excellence Awards 2018’
Global technology research and consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC) today announced that nominations for the upcoming ‘IDC CIO Excellence Awards 2018’ are now open. With the winners being crowned during the 11th annual edition of IDC’s Middle East CIO Summit in February next year, the ‘IDC CIO Excellence Awards 2018’ will honour those IT leaders that have excelled in conceptualizing and delivering game-changing digital transformation initiatives for their organisations. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 15 December 2017.
“Progressive CIOs across the region are increasingly leveraging digital technologies to transform their customer-engagement strategies, business operations, and operating models to compete and thrive in the new digital economy,” says Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC’s group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. “And with annual spending on digital transformation initiatives in the Middle East and Africa set to top $23 billion next year, the time has come to recognize the region’s most successful and innovative digital trailblazers.”
With a focus on the tangible benefits brought about by such initiatives, awards will be handed out in the following categories:
- ‘Best Customer Experience Transformation’
- ‘Best Business Operations Transformation’
- ‘Best Information Transformation’
- ‘Best IT Service Transformation’
- ‘CIO of the Year’
Online Learning for Entrepreneurs
All nominees must have held the position of CIO (or equivalent) within an organization based in the Middle East for at least 24 months and must have demonstrated excellence in the fields of innovation, change management, IT governance, business enablement, and cost efficiency. To submit your nominations and learn more about the judging process, visit the IDC CIO Summit 2018 website.
IDC’s Middle East CIO Summit 2018 will host more than 200 of the region’s most influential ICT leaders at Dubai’s JW Marriott Marquis hotel on February 21-22. Combining an eclectic mix of presentations, panel discussions, focus groups, and workshops, the Summit’s agenda for 2018 has been designed to help the region’s CIOs exploit the transformative powers of innovation accelerators such as robotics, artificial intelligence, next-gen security, and the internet of things.
