Global Tech - Afrikan Heroes

How 3D Gamified Business Processes Will Change World

November 30, 2022

The effect of the 3D gamified Business process is unarguably one of the most revolutionary innovations of this century. To get a glimpse into what is possible with the 3D gamified business processes, just imagine a world where shopping was like playing your favourite video game.

An immersive and exciting experience that transports you into a beautiful, interactive world where you could try on clothes, discover new products, and get a feel for what you’re buying before having to commit to anything. You would be able to move around freely, explore different options, and make decisions based on what you actually want, rather than having to deal with pushy salespeople. And best of all, you would get rewards for making purchases, which you could use to buy more products or save up for something special. It would be a fun, stress-free way to shop, and it would completely alter consumer behaviour.

Thanks to the visionary minds at 3 Degrees Tech http://3DegreesTech.com/, this is now a reality which global brands are gradually adopting. The proudly South African company founded in 2017 by futurist developers, Elmen Lamprecht and Yakeen Sadiq seek to facilitate this movement of brands into the 3D digital space.

As innovative as the virtual e-commerce experience may be, their ambitions reach even further with their sights set keenly on developing 3D LMS (Learning Management System) platforms that heighten the user’s engagement and learning experience. The Covid19 pandemic with its various social restrictions led to a surge in digital innovation for the company which further motivated the need for remote schooling, company training, administration and management. Leading universities within South Africa have already begun implementing these revolutionary systems to students within their educational environment creating an open channel of communication between students and the various faculties in a manner that not only enhances the learning experience but can also be effectively analysed and reported on. In just the US alone, the LMS market is expected to grow from $9.2 billion in 2018 to $22.4 billion in 2023.

“Digital technology is advancing at a rapid pace and many organizations globally were far from prepared in adopting and optimally utilizing these new tools that would seek to benefit these brands, internally as well as from a consumer centric perspective”, says Elmen. Today, 3DT provides leading solutions with evolutionary opportunities for organizations to gain access to 3D gamified experiences that elevate brand sentiment and increase consumer sales and engagement.

Apart from these innovative products currently being developed by 3 Degrees Tech an expanded offering into virtual meeting rooms, virtual events, metaverses and 3D websites began to emerge providing both the end consumer and global organisations an opportunity to virtually interact beyond social restrictions leading to an increase in online digital user presence.

As Yakeen so aptly puts it, “we believe in the POWER OF EXPERIENCES. Inspirational experiences engage the MIND and the HEART, unlocking human potential in the form of PERSONAL engagement. We create interactive, magical customer & employee experiences with plans to not only change the landscape from 2D to 3D but also impact our economy with job creation as well as adult and junior academies teaching digital skills”.

“We help organizations evolve into the new normal, a 3D based environment with endless possibilities!”

3 Degrees Tech now offers 3D inspirational and game-based experiences in the following verticals:

Gamified HR Processes

Game Based Learning

Sales & Marketing

Events & Meetings

Metaverses

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Chat Apps are Dominating Customer Communications

November 27, 2022

New research from global cloud communications platform Infobip reveals that chat apps such as WhatsApp are becoming crucial channels for customer communications, demonstrating the growing importance of conversational experiences. Infobip’s data shows an 80% and 62% increase in WhatsApp and rich communication services (RCS) interactions respectively in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Customers now have access to more channels and devices than ever before. Whether for marketing, support, or sales, they increasingly want conversational experiences with a business or brand on their preferred channel. But organizations may struggle to keep up with such preferences and provide the experience customers have come to expect without the right omnichannel communications in place.

To help businesses understand changing habits, Infobip analyzed more than 153 billion communications interactions on its platform from the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

The analysis reveals several trends in customer communications. First, customer communications today are more digital than ever, with a 68% increase in interactions across all digital channels. Second, alongside the growth in chat app interactions, some 99% of customer support and chatbot interactions are now on WhatsApp.

However, while newer channels are gaining momentum, the data shows the continued growth of more traditional channels, such as SMS and email. Interactions on these channels increased by 75% and 91% respectively with Infobip seeing emerging uses around timely alerts and security solutions such as two-factor authentication.

Infobip also finds that many sectors also reflect the same trends. For instance:

134% more WhatsApp interactions in banking and finance

104% more WhatsApp interactions and 155% more email interactions in retail and eCommerce

1063% more RCS interactions in telecoms

428% more Messenger interactions in transport and logistics

Infobip’s data shows the growth in chat apps has given rise to newer use cases such as conversational commerce, where messaging and eCommerce meet to enable better customer experiences and superior results for businesses.

Ivan Ostojić, Chief Business Officer at Infobip, said: “Our data reveals how conversational customer experiences are quickly becoming the new normal. Customers don’t want a one-way interaction with a brand. They want a conversation – whether for support, sales, or marketing. But, as our data shows, to meet customer needs, businesses and brands must first embed global real-time omnichannel communications. When omnichannel communications are in place, businesses can create meaningful relationships with their customers on their preferred channel at any point in their journey, helping boost loyalty and ultimately sales.”

Bybit Kicks Off World Cup Fever with Crypto Fan Token Competition

November 19, 2022

Bybit, one of the world’s fastest growing crypto exchanges, is giving away 300,000 in USDT to celebrate this year’s World Cup. Soccer fans around the world can now celebrate the fiesta by supporting their favorite clubs in Bybit’s Fan Token Trophy competition on Nov. 18, 2022.

Bybit boasts one of the most extensive fan token selections in the market including tokens issued by legendary soccer teams such as Paris St. Germain, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Arsenal, and Manchester City.

Bybit’s commitment to fan tokens is part of the crypto exchange’s overarching support of the sporting space, which includes being the Principle Team Partner of Oracle Red Bull Racing and listing exclusive Oracle Red Bull Racing NFTs. The exchange provides an intuitive platform for sport teams, clubs and esport organizations to take fan engagements to the next level.

To celebrate World Cup 2022, all Bybit users who accumulate a trading volume of $100 or over trading any of the fan tokens stand to win a share of the massive prize pool. The exchange has recently extended its Zero Fees campaign to the full advantage of Bybit traders who want to support their favorite teams.

For crypto fans, they can trade the tokens using any one of Bybit’s free trading bots — that trade on your behalf 24/7 within set boundaries — will also be eligible to enter the Fan Token Trophy competition.

“Bybit shares many core values with professional sports: resilience, perseverance, passion, and performance. We constantly strive for excellence and deliver the best and widest range of products in the market” said Gary Hamilton-Walter, head of corporate affairs at Bybit. “We are fully focused on the future of crypto integration with sporting brands and communities worldwide and we’re ready to take things to the next level, just like those teams assembled for the World Cup. We invite crypto traders and enthusiasts to join us on our journey.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Twitter Employees Seem Unfazed, Brace For Mass Sack

November 4, 2022

Employees of Twitter are bracing up for the future under Elon Musk as most of them have prepped their minds to quit, as claims of mass sack looms.

Twitter will tell employees by e-mail on Friday about whether they have been laid off, temporarily closing its offices and preventing staff access.

Twitter will tell employees by e-mail on Friday about whether they have been laid off, temporarily closing its offices and preventing staff access, following a week of uncertainty about the company’s future under new owner Elon Musk.

The social media company said in an e-mail to staff that it will alert employees by 9am Pacific time on Friday (6pm SAST) about staff cuts.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

iPhone 14 Series Sees Further Price Hikes in South Africa

October 27, 2022

The price of Apple’s latest smartphones has increased by as much as 4.7% since their launch in South Africa just a month ago as the weak rand takes its toll on the cost of imported consumer electronics.

The retail price of the iPhone 14 line-up, which already saw a big hike in prices at launch in September compared to the launch prices for the iPhone 13 series phones, has risen by almost 5% in the past month in some cases.

Only the 128GB and 256GB models of the entry-level iPhone 14 series have not seen a price bump — yet.

Using the latest prices charged by the iStore, the largest Apple retailer in South Africa, TechCentral has determined the following:

iPhone 14

128GB: Price is unchanged from the launch price of R20 599

256GB: Price is unchanged from the launch price of R23 199

512GB: Price has risen by 4.6%, from R28 499 at launch to R29 799

iPhone 14 Pro

128GB: Price has risen by 4.7%, from R25 699 at launch to R26 899

256GB: Price has risen by 4.5%, from R28 299 at launch to R29 499

512GB: Price has risen by 4.2%, from R33 499 at launch to R34 899

1TB: Price has risen by 4.4%, from R38 599 at launch to R40 299

iPhone 14 Pro Max

128GB: Price has risen by 3.9%, from R28 399 at launch to R29 499

256GB: Price has risen by 3.9%, from R30 999 at launch to R32 199

512GB: Price has risen by 4.2%, from R35 999 at launch to R37 499

1TB: Price has risen by 3.6%, from R41 499 at launch to R42 999

These additional price increases come on top of the higher prices charged by the iStore for this year’s line-up compared to last year’s iPhone 13 models. The cost in South Africa of the iPhone 14 phones was already as much as 20.3% higher compared to the 2021 models.

News of the further increase to the retail prices for the iPhone 14 models comes as Apple imposes big price hikes in South Africa (and other markets around the world) for its value-added services, including Apple TV+ and Apple Music.

TechCentral reported earlier on Tuesday that the price of Apple TV+ has jumped with immediate effect by 47%, from R84.99 to R124.99/month. The price of Apple Music has climbed by 16.7% to R69.99/month.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

WhatsApp Shuts Down for Few Hours in Global Outage

October 25, 2022

WhatsApp appears to be experiencing a global outage, with users turning to Twitter and other social media platforms to complain that they are unable to connect.

Website Downdetector.co.za reported a huge spike in WhatsApp outages reported from around 9am CAT making it hard for users globally to connect to their Whatsapp platforms.

As at the time of this report, WhatsApp’s official account on Twitter has not yet made any mention of the outage.

Users around the world have come to rely heavily on Meta Platforms-owned WhatsApp to communicate, conduct business and organise their lives.

“We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages and we’re working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible,” a WhatsApp spokesman was quoted as telling Reuters.

The platform came back after almost two hours of outage, however, there was still no word from Meta as to what caused the outage, which lasted nearly two hours.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Call For Applications for 2nd Edition of Africa HealthTech Challenge

October 23, 2022

The Africa Health Tech Challenge, under the auspices of the HealthTech Hub Africa, founded by the Novartis Foundation at the Norrsken House Kigali, has announced the second Africa HealthTech Challenge, and is seeking high-impact innovators with business-to-government focused solutions and business models with potential to drive transformational population health impact at scale.

The HealthTech Hub Africa is a health-tech accelerator with a physical co-working and community space in Kigali, Rwanda, operating across the entire African continent. The hub is part of a new investment push that aims to revolutionise the development of health technologies designed by Africans for use in Africa and to help fast-track innovations in public health systems in direct collaboration with government leaders.

The first year of the programme served as phase one in establishing a blueprint for a public-private mechanism to fast-track e-health Innovations for public health in Africa, and the hub is now launching the second edition of its Africa HealthTech Challenge to put that blueprint into action.

It is, in fact, made up of four distinct challenges, tackling cardiovascular health, breast cancer, virtual health and care, and optimisation of data-driven decision-making. Selected companies will participate in a 10-month accelerator programme, with varying degrees of mentorship, coaching, expert masterclasses, pitch practice sessions, networking opportunities, access to services and media training available to startups depending on their stage. There will also be funding opportunities.

“For the 2023 cohort, we are looking for up to 30 growth startups and 10 scale-ups from the whole African continent with innovative business models allowing for collaboration with local and national governments, and aiming to support health systems in their digital transformation journeys,” the organisers said.

“For each of the two tracks the key criteria of evaluation for the applicants are based on their ability to demonstrate the innovation potential to successfully address challenges in one or more of the four thematic areas of focus for the hub, their product excellence, team, fit-to-market, sustainability and scalability model in relation to working with the public system.”

Applications are open until October 23 at https://vc4a.com/healthtech-hub-africa/2023-challenges/

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Airtel Africa Acquires Spectrum for $29 Million in Zamtel

October 19, 2022

Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces that its Zambia subsidiary, Airtel Networks Zambia plc (‘Airtel Zambia’), has purchased 60 MHz of additional spectrum spread across the 800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), for a gross consideration of $29m, payable in local currency.

This additional spectrum will support our network expansion in the market for both mobile data and fixed wireless home broadband capability, including 5G rollout, providing significant capacity to accommodate our continued strong data growth in the country.

Zambia is one of our largest markets by revenue. This investment reflects our continued confidence in the opportunity inherent in the Zambian market, supporting the local communities and economies through furthering digital inclusion and connectivity.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

American Tower And Airtel Africa Signs Strategic Partnership

October 14, 2022

American Tower Corporation’s (ATC) African operations and Airtel Africa plc (Airtel Africa, or the Group) today announced that they have entered a multi-year, multi-product agreement, leveraging ATC’s vast portfolio of communications sites and new site and product development capabilities across its footprint in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda in support of Airtel Africa’s network rollout. The companies’ combined efforts will substantially increase connectivity on the continent, extend digital inclusion to underserved communities, and advance their mutual greenhouse (GHG) emissions reduction objectives.

All new site development under the agreement will comply with ATC’s new green site specifications, which will substantially reduce reliance on fossil fuels, while advancing American Tower’s progress toward achieving its Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Furthermore, this strategic partnership is expected to reduce exposure to fuel prices volatility for both ATC and Airtel Africa. The parties have also committed to continue working together to convert existing telecommunication sites to ATC’s green site specifications over time.

In addition, Airtel Africa and ATC will partner to provide training around information and communications technology skills to underserved communities as part of their respective kiosks and digital communities’ programs. Under this partnership, it is expected that in the coming years more than 200 digital communities will be deployed in these markets.

“Over the last several years, ATC has made forward-thinking investments to ensure we achieve tangible reductions in our on-site fossil fuel consumption in Africa,” Marek Busfy, SVP and CEO of ATC Africa stated.

To date, American Tower has invested approximately $400 million in energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy deployments and energy storage solutions to decrease on-site reliance on fossil fuels. The company has also earmarked additional investments to fund the implementation of future energy efficiencies.

“As we selectively extend the platform services we offer, we are demonstrating our commitment to introduce new and renewable sources of energy to power our sites, which protects the industry, our customers and consumers from ongoing and future volatility in fuel prices. Airtel Africa’s environmental goals are aligned with ours and, as we expand digital reach on the African continent, we remain committed to reducing GHG emissions in tandem with our growth.” Busfy adds, “Furthermore, through our digital communities’ program, we will be able to meaningfully improve quality of life in our markets through connectivity.”

Commenting on this landmark agreement, Segun Ogunsanya, CEO of Airtel Africa, said that the company has once again demonstrated its commitment to creating value for customers and shareholders by subscribing to an environmentally sustainable growth model. “Airtel Africa’s corporate citizenship requires us to extend coverage to increasingly remote areas – and meeting this obligation is necessary to establish a sustainable partnership with a like-minded industry player. We continue to invest in infrastructure and distribution networks across the countries where we operate to support their economies and communities. Sustainability is at the core of our strategy, driven by our corporate purpose to transform lives across Africa and support people, businesses, and governments in getting access to better connectivity.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Bybit CEO Calls For Wall St to Embrace Crypto

October 2, 2022

The co-founder of Bybit, the top 3 crypto exchanges in the world by web traffic, Ben Zhou has called on Wall Street to work towards adapting to crypto, instead of the other way round adding that the traditional markets needs to embrace the change being driven by crypto.

Speaking at the Pantera Blockchain Summit Asia this week, Zhou discussed the growing convergence between traditional financial institutions and crypto. “The infrastructure is already in place and large institutions are already exploring and engaging at multiple levels with crypto leaders,” he commented.

But he said, “Wall St could do a lot more to truly embrace the innovation in the market and remain relevant.” adding that traditional financial service firms run the risk of facing the same fate as Nokia.

“Wall St has much more to gain if it embraces crypto, rather than the other way around.” he added.

Zhou was referring to Wall St’s traditional approach of assimilating innovation, within its increasingly outdated business model, only to see the innovation stifled and suffocated under internal processes and restrictions.

“There is a new financial services model for the world that is rapidly evolving,” the crypto CEO said. “The energy, innovation, and momentum are all with crypto.”

He used the exodus of talent to illustrate his point and how ‘The Street’ needs to catch up in this crypto race so as not lose out as top performers. “Talent is attracted to crypto by its faster-paced environments, its hunger, and its unrestricted ability to innovate,” he said.

Moderator Franklin Bi, confirmed as much when he talked of how during his time on Wall St, it would take 2 to 3 years to bring a new product to market, not the 2 to 3 weeks it takes Bybit.

Zhou co-founded Bybit in 2018 as a crypto derivatives exchange with a handful of trading pairs. Since then, it has grown into a one-stop shop for all things crypto with a 10-million-strong user base. Zhou achieved this, he said, partly because of crypto’s “can do” attitude.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry