In typical fashion, my esteemed editor announced the theme for one of this issue’s cover stories (State of the Nation) with a grossly understated and very simple single sentence: “As is traditional, we pause halfway through the year to see what the year is bringing to the channel; and to identify any new channel challenges or opportunities.”
This so-called “brief” totally ignores the context that characterises today’s overall trading environment and the conditions under which the channel and – more critically – the channel’s customers have to face and overcome in order to operate effectively.
Factors that are contributing to extremely difficult financial and economic trading conditions include issues such as unpredictable and extremely volatile foreign exchange fluctuations, as well as challenges associated with a wide range of factors governing wild and difficult-to-manage inflationary pressures linked to basics such the cost of fuel and disruptions of supply chain continuity based on the closure of key shipping lanes along key trading routes etc.
The global economic and political turmoil that is sweeping across the world in the aftermath of armed conflict centred on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the unprovoked attack on Israel by Hamas, has been compounded by equally disruptive and potentially devastating terror and counter-insurgency incidents across other areas in eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and countries in South America.
On the political front, the run-up to the general election in the UK and the presidential race in the US is not making things any easier when it comes to considering what needs to be taken into account before critical investment decisions are made across markets throughout the world.
But not all is doom and gloom.
Here at home, the “Wildebeest Regime” has come to power in what can only be described as South Africa’s “second coming” – another chance to gain true independence.
While the economic and service delivery benefits of the new political order still need to be realised, the electorate’s decision to dump unfettered corruption and gross incompetence based on cadre deployment and other forms of nepotism, must be applauded.
The new order does, therefore, offer a glimmer of hope that the local economy will create opportunities for the channel to prosper for at least the next five years.
And, just in case the channel has not been keeping up with the overwhelming hype and mind-boggling marketing jargon that is currently dominating every aspect that has any vague connection with the IT industry, my esteemed editor has identified the most significant opportunity as “artificial intelligence” (this issue’s second cover story).
In a more elaborate brief to describe the Cover Story subject matter, the “wise one” makes a very bold claim: “In this issue we’ll look to identify the directions that AI, automation and RPA are taking; and where the challenges and opportunities for the channel lie.”
Let’s hope that by the time any reader gets to this final page of the magazine that the question of what AI is really all about has been fully explained so that it represents a business opportunity that will put MS-DOS, MS Windows and the PC to shame when it comes to revolutionising the industry and making money.
For those who are still confused and don’t really understand what AI is all about and what it can do for the world, let’s get down to some basics.
First and foremost AI offers nothing more than the ability to “work smarter”.
Based on greatly accelerated processing power and almost limitless access to referencing material in the form of data that is easily accessible from a virtually unrestricted global pool of resources, businesses across every industry sector now have the opportunity to discover how to go about improving and developing their processes and operations.
To what degree they succeed in developing and implementing these improvements, and realising the benefits is where the channel comes into the picture.
And in this respect, the channel’s role is exactly the same as it has always been – the provision of expert and appropriate technical consultancy; the supply, support and maintenance of cost-efficient software applications and hardware platforms.
And given the current explosive nature of the interest in AI “solutions” right now, the rest of the year should be really exciting and profitable for the channel.
So, my Esteemed One – QED!
(QED: Latin meaning quod erat demonstrandum, translated as “Which was to be demonstrated” – or a fancy way to show off you just logically proved something – Ed)