Amrote Abdella, Regional Director Microsoft 4Afrika, believes cutting-edge technology such as data-driven agriculture can solve the challenge of food security in Africa. Find out more on why she believes this through partner activities and programs across Africa.
One of most the prominent challenges facing Africa is providing food security for its citizens. While many farmers still rely on traditional techniques to coax a living from the land, there are opportunities to use cutting-edge technology to drive Africa towards a food-secure future.
2 billion – no access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) reports that over 2 billion people do not have access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. A steady increase in hunger since 2014 together with rising obesity, clearly indicates the need to accelerate and scale up actions to strengthen food systems and protect people’s livelihoods. It seems only fitting then, that in 2020, the theme for World Food Day is ‘Our Actions are Our Future’. Accelerating innovation in agri-tech will enable data-driven farming that can optimise yields, boost farm productivity and increase profitability – all while feeding a nation.
AI – Cutting-edge technology
AI in agriculture uses cutting-edge data, advanced analytics and machine learning to bring centuries-old farming knowledge into the modern age, giving farmers the tools to optimise crop yields and mitigate the effects of climate change through tools like smart irrigation. With agriculture sustaining 70% of Africa’s livelihoods, Microsoft is committed to ensuring that all farming communities are equipped with the latest tools including AI, IoT and edge computing to improve productivity and sustainability across the sector, leveraging our extensive partnerships and initiatives network in the process.
AI as an Enabler
There have been references in the recent past of AI replacing people in jobs, but what happens when AI and IoT devices enable people to spend less time on menial manual labour and more time boosting productivity and crop yields? AI and cloud technology can be used to monitor soil, climate changes and more to make better decisions on when, where, and how much to plant on farms. Precision farming, brought about by the adoption of advanced technologies into the agricultural sector, will revolutionise food production.
Kenya
In Kenya, SunCulture helps farmers improve their crop yields through solar-powered irrigation systems. Using IoT technology, SunCulture customers are generating 10x more annual income, experiencing a 300% increase in crop yields, and saving 17 hours of manually moving water per week. And by leveraging TV white spaces (TVWS) technology that expands high-speed internet access to underserved areas, SunCulture is bringing precision farming to more smallholder farmers.
Nigeria
The Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft to collaborate in helping Nigerian farmers become more productive, reduce costs, practice sustainable agriculture and achieve better agricultural outcomes through the deployment of the FarmBeats platform, which harnesses sensors, drones and cameras for seamless data collection, helping farmers improve crop yields as well as increase income. As many as 8 million farmers and 4 million hectares will be positively affected.
Particularly for smallholder farmers, it’s a challenge to get reliable weather and market information in real-time that can help with agricultural decision-making. But almost every farmer has a phone in their back pocket.
Democratizing access to information
A mobile platform has recently been built by a team of Microsoft developers to democratise access to information using a feature or a smartphone. Farmers can access information on pest and soil diagnosis, market prices, agricultural news, success stories from neighbouring farmers, weather, soil testing and personalised recommendations for maximising yields based on their soil tests, with an intended initial impact of 100 000 farmers.
Agri-tech social entrepreneurs
Other agri-tech social entrepreneurs are effecting real changes for farmers and their supply chains. Twiga Foods is a mobile-based business-to-business food supply platform that links smallholder farmers in rural Kenya to informal retail vendors in cities. N-Frnds brings the power of digital via mobile to subsistence and smallholder farmers in Africa and other emerging markets and has nurtured a community of farmers who can communicate with each other without the need for an internet connection or mobile data. It also provides access to financial services for market segments that are traditionally underserved by formal banking and insurance.
Microsoft believes in increasing access to agricultural knowledge through collaboration. It takes an entire ecosystem to initiate change, and that includes companies, government departments and agencies, and a network of startups and entrepreneurs, all with a common goal of solving food insecurity.
Microsoft, through the 4Afrika initiative, has collaborated with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to co-create technology solutions in Africa as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021. The partnership stands alongside investments such as our support of the World Bank’s 1 Million Farmers Platform, which aims to bring one million farmers onto a digital platform over the next three years.
Driving impact in agriculture across Africa
We are also working with ministries across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt to drive impact in agriculture. In Egypt, in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture, the engagement includes intelligent crop detection and water demand forecasting. Key focus being on a successful farmer engagement to promote good agricultural practices, secure data sharing between agricultural entities, and connected farms that enable data collection through agricultural IoT sensors.
Additionally, in South Africa, Microsoft commissioned Research ICT Africa, in partnership with the University of Pretoria, to help identify opportunities within the industry to make farming more efficient and cost-effective, and highlight key regulatory and policy issues to address.
Across the continent, from South Africa to Kenya, Ghana, Egypt and beyond, we are working hard to enable agri-tech through various channels and partnerships. Technology has the potential to change the face of farming, using smart tools and platforms for precision farming, predicting weather patterns, and maximising the use of scarce water resources.
By harnessing cutting-edge technology in agriculture, we can help solve the pressing issues around food security to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #2 of Zero Hunger and enhance economic development in the process.
Today, Microsoft is shipping out its Surface Duo Android-powered dual-screen mobile device to customers. This means we will hear in-depth reviews about the device. Here is a Surface Duo review roundup from some of your favourite tech YouTubers.
Like every other device review, the Microsoft Surface Duo review reactions are mixed. Most are fascinated by the hardware and design concept. A lot of them believe there is room for improvement and look forward to the next generation device to correct these shortfalls. Every reviewer seems to focus on an area of the device.
Microsoft Surface Duo Review Roundup
Here are summaries from the lengthy videos. Do well to click and check out the full videos for their thoughts on the Surface Duo.
MKBHD
MKBHD: It is an amazing piece of hardware but … it’s a bit of a mixed bag. It is the first of a lot of things. I don’t think most people should buy this. Overall, practicality suffering at the expense of folding in half is the thing that’s holding back all first-generation folding phones. And it is happening here with Surface Duo. When the fold is just another feature, that’s what i’m looking forwarding to. But keep an eye on it, i really think they are on to something. I like the dual-screen thing … because the productivity, flow, compartmentalization of having two screens work, it’s real. Click to check out the full review video.
iJustine
iJustine: This has a great future. I don’t think this is perfect by any means, there are so many things they will need to make this better. For a first-gen, i’m pretty excited about what the Surface Duo can be. Click to check out the full review video.
Daniel Rubino – Windows Central
Daniel: Microsoft nailed the hardware. The battery life is actually pretty good, it isn’t a two-day device, it should last you a full day. The camera is actually better than i thought. Where it fails should be obvious, night time. It’s kind of surprising, i like the colour science that Microsoft has done. Images look really nice even though you don’t get a lot of details. The front-facing camera is also very good for selfies and video conferencing, which is the focus of this device. The software is underbaked and Microsoft is going to have to work with Google to improve that and i expect they will. The OS is a little buggy, the hardware is missing a lot of stuff on it. This is early adopter stuff.
Microsoft has a long way to go with Google to solve dual-screen usability with Surface Duo. I think the initial hardware is encouraging. If the Surface Duo 2 or 3 can be a Surface Pro 3 category defining device then software problems will be a distant memory. We’ll wait and see. pic.twitter.com/LtbuY3Xro4
Michael Fisher: The Duo is more expensive than competing products. It is more ambitious as well. You probably shouldn’t buy one in its first generation, … almost every first-generation product is a risky buy. The things i was most concerned about going into this review, have been the least of my worries. Pocketability is a pleasant suprise. The lack of a cover display for notifictaions is solved by a smartwatch. The watches also let you tap to pay. You probably don’t need an outside display as you think.
Brad: The Surface Duo has average specs but opening it up is a lot of fun. The hinge is buttery smooth. Microsoft put in a lot of effort into this hardware. This device has a lot to offer and for the right user, this is going to be a fun thing to put in your pocket. When you hold it in your hands it is large, a big device, in a thin package. There’s a lot that goes on with the OS though, that is something we should talk about. There are a lot of minor hiccups and jaddering that appear from time to time. There is definitely a learning curve. It is not a great smartphone for the price. What you want this device for is to be your productivity hardware. Outlook is fantastic, Teams is fantastic. It is a great piece of hardware for getting work done.
Jenna: Lots of you asked different questions and i talk about them. I’m pretty impressed in the quality of the display. Compared to the iPhone this is very very clear. I think the hardware is there, the software needs some updates and improvements. It is a really cool device.
David: The hardware is different from any other you’ve ever used. There is going to be a lot of tradeoffs if you make a device that is this thin. The key problem is developers have to specifically implement the duo API into their app to get it to span correctly. Right now not even Google has done this. At the system level the duo thinks it is a tablet, the system registers it as one big display. The Microsoft Duo isn’t optimized yet. Microsoft needs a little bit more time to get the software under control.
Startup entrepreneurs are working to harness Africa’s potential. Together they represent a critical pipeline of innovation that is driving high growth high impact solutions on the continent. A critical juncture for any startup comes at the seed stage, a financing segment that has experienced significant changes these past months. In this article, we delve into the changing dynamics of seed-stage investing and as VC4A works to recruit startups for the 2020 VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed.
At the pre-seed stage, entrepreneurs are going after their first third party investment, raising $50K to $150K. Often Friends, Family, and Fools (FFF) + public funds in some African countries (for example DER in Senegal, Entrepreneurs of Tunisia, and the Technology Innovation Agency in South Africa), are the only investors at this stage.
Going on to the seed round, entrepreneurs are expected to be selling the product on the market and testing customer response. This is the moment the company needs to raise their first significant ticket and are looking for professional investors to help grow and scale the business. Overcoming these initial fundraises is a challenging test for any entrepreneur.
Tomi Davies, President of ABAN, explains, “Seed stage investment is when a startup has proven its Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and is in the process of finding product-market fit. In Africa, they will typically have revenues in the tens if not hundreds of thousands of USD.”
Overall, seed stage investment on the continent is still growing (see Partech figures) and expanding across more ecosystems in Africa. All active players on the continent see a better quality of startup/entrepreneurs due to A) better mentoring programs in most countries B) an increase of Business Angel networks and C) a new generation of entrepreneurs very open to technologies, with a pan African vision and a willingness to scale fast. That said, seed funding is still insufficient on the continent and concentrated on just a few ecosystems (predominantly Anglophone).
In Africa, the maturity of a startup raising seed funds is arguably higher than in other continents due to the scarcity of capital. For example, a team fundraising pre-seed would be expected to have already built a prototype or even have launched a product or service. Grégoire de Padirac from Orange Ventures adds, “It is nearly impossible to raise with only PowerPoint presentations in emerging countries.” And for all right and wrong, most seed-stage startups on the continent have to demonstrate their resilience (low cash burn), show clear traction, and be generating revenues. Tomi expands, “The expected revenue levels continue to increase and it is unlikely for a startup with less than $100K in revenues to get seed investment nowadays.”
These realities result in a higher threshold for the continent’s entrepreneurs and might also be contributing to the local vs. foreign founder dynamic, where management teams do better when they have their own resources and better access to networks at the earliest stages of venture building. At the same time, incubators and accelerators that have the mandate to prepare startups for their first pre-seed investment, the single most significant KPI, are too often concerned with their own financial sustainability. In reality, many of the incubators and accelerators are playing a numbers game focused on the number of cohorts and the number of companies graduated vs. the quality of support delivered and resources secured. Khaled Ismail of HiM Angels explains, ‘Too many incubators and accelerators fail to provide the mentorship and guidance the startups need at such early stages of formation and when they need it the most’. These are additional pressures on the startups when the road to funding is in actuality longer and more difficult to attain.
Grégoire expands, “the more mature the ecosystems are, the sooner the startup receives funding. In more advanced sectors such as Fintech, startups scale fast and so the valuation and level of maturity are getting close to the European standards.”
Khaled adds, “I still believe that the amount of money available for investment at Seed stage on the Continent is very low in absolute terms and as a % of the money invested in Series A and B. That is causing a distortion to the market and is depriving some good potential startups from growing at an early stage.”
These constraints need to be addressed, given that in every country, there is a growing pipeline with a clearly improving quality year on year. 2019 was by all accounts impressive, where in many ecosystems we saw a wave of new startups and entrepreneurs. For example, the Orange Ventures seed challenge received more than 600 applications from 7 target countries (Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt Jordan). The good quality of the applications was a testament to the tenacity of the continent’s entrepreneurs and their continued efforts to build world-class companies.
The good quality of the applications was a testament to the tenacity of the continent’s entrepreneurs and their continued efforts to build world-class companies.
With this mind, to harness this entrepreneurial talent more can be done:
More Government/DFI support to invest in seed capital instruments and programs (like the DER in Senegal and Entrepreneurs of Tunisia (EOT)) or as investment backing for local seed funds managed by local investors;
Better regulation such as Startup Acts to support local entrepreneurs and investors, where regulation needs to be open and conducive to innovation. Specifically to adjust legislation for startups when looking at issues like Company Registration, Employment Law, Taxation, Intellectual Property Protection and Capital Import/Export rules;
Review government procurement policies to see if they are friendly to startups. Encourage local institutions and corporations to be more active locally (with funding, programs, partnerships, and supply/sourcing contracts) and to open the markets for local startups;
Strengthen local accelerators and incubators, and further train and capacitate the teams in charge of startup programs. Support these programs with a stronger community of mentors and angel investors that can engage with their network, expertise and capital.
At the same time, competition for Series A & B is growing on the continent among VCs. It is key for African focused funds to be more active in Seed or Pre Series A investments to secure their access to the best deals and to maximize their financial return. This is good news for the ecosystem as we continue to see a growing number of investors moving downstream.
In this context, true to its mission to connect entrepreneurs with the knowledge, network, and funding they require to succeed, VC4A adds Seed as a category to the 2020 Venture Showcase. We are calling for 10 African startups looking to raise between $150K and $1M in collaboration with technical partner AWS Activate and network partners Afrilabs and ABAN. The funding/investment range may seem large to many, but reflects the variety of definitions being used across the continent, the growing diversity oft investors themselves, and the ever-growing range in ticket sizes. As a consequence, and to be fair with the applicants, the Seed ventures, assessed by an independent jury of investors, will be put into two different buckets: those seeking to raise less than $350K and those looking to raise more than $350K.
The 10 selected startups will get:
To participate in the VC4A Venture Showcase deal room, including 150+ early-stage investment firms
Professional edited 3-minute virtual pitch videos
30-minute deep-dive sessions with investors in a private room
Mentorship and pitch training by early-stage investor organizations
Amazon Web Services credits from AWS Activate worth $10,000, as well as tools, resources, and more to get started quickly on AWS
To join the Showcase alumni network and gain exclusive access to fundraising opportunities
With this Seed track, VC4A rallies resources and funding for a new generation of startups coming up across the continent. We encourage entrepreneurs to apply before 11 September and investors to refer innovative ventures to Thomas van Halen thomas[at]vc4a[dot]com.
The world is eager to do business with Africa but finds it difficult to access African markets because of poor infrastructure. Tonny Tugee, MD at SEACOM East Africa, discusses some of the factors impacting the development of infrastructure in Africa.
African Markets
Without a doubt, Africa is one of the world’s fastest-growing economic hubs. Crucial to this rate of development is the ability to meet the demand for key infrastructure. At the end of last year, a World Bank economic update reported that Kenya has seen its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector grow at an average of 10.8% annually since 2016, becoming a significant source of economic development and job creation with spillover effects in almost every sector of the economy.
While this is hugely encouraging news for Kenyans, it also raises questions about the factors which might impact the ongoing positive trajectory of infrastructure development, both in Kenya and the rest of the continent.
Fixed-line networks
In 2019, Kenya invested US$59 million in the Djibouti Africa Regional Express (DARE) submarine fibre-optic cable system, which reached the shores of Mombasa during March this year. The others include SEACOM, East African Marine System (TEAMS), Eastern African Submarine Cable System (EASsy) and Lion2 systems. According to Njoroge Nani Mungai, Chairman of Kenya’s Communications Authority, the investment demonstrates the government’s desire to improve Kenya’s position as a regional IT hub. It is also aimed at guaranteeing both companies and individuals’ access to a faster, more secure, and more reliable Internet connection. Revenues generated by the digital economy should reach US$23,000 billion by 2025, thanks to investments 6.7 times higher than those in other sectors.
In addition, terrestrial fibre networks have continued to expand, offering more connectivity options and better network redundancy – great news for land-locked countries. However, according to MainOne’s CEO, Funke Opeke, these remain underutilized due to high prices and a failure to establish an enabling environment.
Mobile network coverage
Telecommunications has continued to register positive growth, with increased uptake and usage of mobile phone services. High-bandwidth Internet infrastructure has become more widely available, while the rollout of 4G infrastructure by the MNOs has already led to substantial growth in subscriptions to data and Internet services. With the expansion of fibre-optic infrastructure across the country, more homes will be connected to better-quality, higher-speed broadband services, which will be extended to the rural areas.
Consequently, the increase in mobile network coverage has led to a decline in fixed-line networks related to voice calls. Alternative solutions need to be considered to ensure a stable Internet connection throughout Kenya to bridge the rural and urban digital development divide.
Poor infrastructure
The world is eager to do business with Africa but finds it difficult to access African markets because of poor infrastructure. Greater economic activity, enhanced efficiency and increased competitiveness are hampered by inadequate transport, communication, water, and power infrastructure. The World Bank economic update, mentioned earlier, highlighted challenges relating to the inadequate power supply, transport networks and communication systems as crucial to ensuring ongoing connectivity, and continental economic development. It found that the poor state of infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa reduced national economic growth by two percentage points every year and cut business productivity by as much as 40%.
It is estimated that about US$93 billion is needed annually over the next decade to overhaul sub-Saharan African infrastructure. About two-thirds or $60 billion of that is needed for entirely new infrastructure and $30 billion for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. Only about $25 billion annually is being spent on capital expenditure, leaving a substantial shortfall that must be financed.
Economic potential
The economic climate of Kenya will determine access to the tools needed to build the relevant infrastructure. According to André Pottas, Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Advisory Leader for sub-Saharan Africa, this translates into exciting opportunities for global investors who need to look past the traditional Western view of Africa as a homogeneous block and undertake the detailed research required to understand the nuances and unique opportunities of each region and each individual country.
The key to unlocking Kenya
With governments across the continent committing billions of dollars to infrastructure, Africa is at the start of a 20 to 30-year infrastructure development boom. Fortunately, we have access to a global network of exports, which we need to be utilizing optimally to ensure a stable infrastructure, both digital and physical.
However, in preparation for the boom, the only way for Africa’s infrastructure backlogs to be cleared and to unlock connectivity and communications in Kenya is through globally competitive, growth-oriented, mobile, and digital technology businesses. It is imperative to establish partnerships with trusted private sector players who already cater to the local and international communications market with reliable connectivity solutions.
Soromfe Uzomah, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Microsoft 4Afrika, shares on how SMEs can leverage cloud computing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Global Pandemic
The global impact occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic not only on public health but on business, cannot be underestimated. Policymakers and stakeholders must thus consider the impact such global disruption of trade poses especially to small and medium businesses (SMEs). Anticipating and mitigating for the impact of unforeseen global events on supply chain management is crucial if SMEs, who are reliant on goods from an affected area, are to survive.
Due to their size and lack of resources, SMEs are often the most vulnerable to unforeseen events and threats. These SMEs also often do not have a plan in place to deal with supply chain disruptions. Yet, in Africa, SMEs are important drivers of economic growth. Accounting for up to 90 percent of businesses in sub-Saharan Africa, an SME Initiatives advisory by the International Finance Corporation reports.
Regrettably, one thing clearly emerging from the global Covid-19 pandemic is that SMEs’ supply chains from hub regions across the globe have been severely disrupted on an unprecedented level, and with an unpredictable timeframe for resolution as the virus continues to impact industrial production. Companies that would usually import items to sell, particularly SMEs, are unable to continue with business as usual because of trade disruptions. So, the question we must ask is, how do these SMEs make their supply chain anti-fragile?
Cloud computing solutions
Digital commerce platforms and advances in fields like digital analytics and artificial intelligence can significantly help to mitigate the risks of supply chain fragility. Flexible cloud computing solutions, data collection and analysis and automation software can all contribute to the success of SMEs in the digital era. Cloud computing also gives businesses the ability to scale, cost-effectively, to new markets. This is particularly beneficial for SMEs, who often lacked the resources or infrastructure to expand before. Partnerships with companies like Jumia in Kenya and Nigeria has, for instance, made Microsoft products available to SMEs in local currency.
The challenge now is to establish new supply chain avenues within Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) can play the role of unlocking innovation, growth and productivity on the continent, especially for its SME segment, by translating spending power into economic development.
To date, intra-African trade is relatively limited; UNCTAD, the main UN body dealing with trade, said it made up only 10.2 percent of the continent’s total trade in 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, fuels represented more than half of Africa’s exports to non-African countries, while manufactured goods made up only 18 percent of exports to the rest of the world.
By creating a single continental market for goods and services, the member states of the African Union hope to boost trade between African countries. Some studies have shown that by creating a pan-African market, intra-Africa trade could increase by about 52% by 2022, although these predictions will likely be revised downwards due to the pandemic’s influence on the local and global economy. Regardless, better market access creates economies of scale. Combined with appropriate industrial policies, this contributes to a diversified industrial sector and growth in manufacturing value added.
Digital Platforms
Digital platforms and the adoption of mobile technology act as effective conduits for the exchange of value, and by aggregating demand across the continent, these platforms give small and medium businesses opportunities to access new markets, and to offer or identify goods and services previously limited by location constraints and marketing costs. These platforms create a diversification effect that boosts the robustness of supply chains.
Start-ups like CoinAfrique, which is based in Dakar, Senegal provide access to markets for SMEs through their free classifieds platform for new and used products. Which allows users to make money selling what they do not use and find bargains. The app currently has over one million downloads – and the team are now looking to scale to 10 million active users across francophone Africa. Other platforms, including Biz4Afrika, provide entrepreneurs and SMEs alike with access to valuable business information and resources, finance and markets, providing a boost to small business growth.
A powerful force expediting cross-border trade is the accelerating progress of digital technology in areas spanning from trade logistics, automated processing and e-payments to immediate access and exchange of trade information and documentation.
Cash flow is always a challenge for SMEs, no more so than when trade is constrained due to external factors. It’s always tricky for SMEs to balance working capital requirements with inventory availability. The growth of the fintech sector effectively simplifies any transaction challenges by creating multiple payment channels.
Microsoft 4Afrika
Many fintech start-ups across Africa aim to promote access for SMEs to financing options that were previously not available to them, which also opens opportunities for trade on a larger scale than was previously possible. As an example, Microsoft 4Afrika has partnered with African fintech start-ups, including Flutterwave in Nigeria and the MoVAS Group in East Africa, to open access to financing for SMEs. Diversifying and strengthening supply chains is crucial for SMEs to survive and flourish. When we consider that by 2035, the International Monetary Fund forecasts that Africa will have added more working-age people to our workforce than the rest of the world’s regions combined, it’s essential that we have a thriving SME sector to absorb these workers and help grow economies across the continent.
Ronnie Toerien, Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Sales Development & Strategy Leader Africa, shares how cloud-based HCM plays a critical role today.
The world of work has been changing for some time. Particularly over the last decade as emerging technologies equipped enterprises with the tools to operate with greater efficiency, innovate and explore a new potential. However, unprecedented events in 2020, have accelerated this transformation at an unimaginable pace.
With mandates to work from home if possible, the disruption of traditional business models is being driven by pure necessity. Like other contemporary, cloud-based business systems, Human Capital Management (HCM) has a vital role to play in ensuring business continuity, and resilience, as we march into the new world of work.
Cloud-based Human Capital Management
First and foremost, cloud-based HCM is essential to provide continued access to and support for remote workers. And at the same time safeguard the safety and health of employees. In the case of the latter, one product example is Oracle’s Workforce Health and Safety solution. Currently free to all Oracle HCM Cloud customers. A business’s workforce is its greatest asset and should remain its greatest concern. Especially now. With employees scattered, the data collected and analytics generated, by next-generation HCM solutions become crucial to combat absenteeism, identify at-risk individual employees and formulate a succession planning strategy across an entire organization.
Crises, and the manner in which they are handled internally, can have a major impact on talent retention and acquisition. Which will have a knock-on effect for business delivery. Reassurance through empathetic communication is essential. Empowering employees with information about the company’s strategy during such periods, as well as providing open channels for two-way conversation, gives people a sense of belonging to an organization that is looking after and listening to them.
Going hand in hand is the need to help grow employees. Learning and development are often affected when enterprises embark on crisis cost-cutting. But the current climate is the perfect opportunity for HR to equip staff for new roles. Or take advantage of employee skills and use them in new ways. (Possibly gig economy opportunities) that support the organization and the individual’s own professional growth.
New world of work
It is important to note that the new world of work is under a microscope. Business success is no longer solely reflected in revenue. Public perception can have a powerful impact on customer behaviour, as it spotlights caring organisations and their opposite: those enterprises taking advantage of a situation and their staff. Cloud-based HCM applications help make work inherently more human-focused.
The new world of work is also notable for its drastically altered business processes. Older ways of working are often proving too inflexible to overcome current challenges. Cloud HCM plays its part in breaking down rigid division, not only between departments but data sets as well. As a powerful integration tool, it can bring together information and related components that do not naturally connect. For example, analytical tools can be combined with a combination of absentee data and workforce plans to model scenarios and combat skill gaps in reality. Such is the case with newly available Oracle Analytics for Fusion HCM, which seamlessly draws together and uses cross-functional data.
Cloud HCM’s’ removal of barriers applies to people too. The future of work is about connection, and contemporary applications equip employees to work more diversely within an organization, collaborating with colleagues across the whole company ecosystem. Hierarchies and silos have given way to a flattened organizational structure of diverse networks working towards a single goal, opening the door to innovation and greater operational agility.
Culture shift
The foundation of a lasting, successful business process change is a culture shift. The latest HCM tools break down resistance to new systems, especially now as workers engage with the modules regularly from their remote work location. HCM is ushering in acceptance of a whole new way of working, with the likes of voice-commanded digital assistants proving their time-saving value, and other benefits, to users.
The new world of work is unquestionably one of co-existence between humans and autonomous systems, underpinned by the likes of machine learning and robotics. Just as traditional HR helped to streamline an employee’s entrance into an organization, maximize their contribution and bolster their employability, cloud Human Capital Management is fulfilling the same function. This, while bringing together man and machine, which is key to business success in the future of work.
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