Business expectations for ICT in East Africa at a new high

LONDON – While East Africa has always been at the forefront of digital transformation from a consumer standpoint, being the birthplace of mobile money, local enterprises have moved at a slower pace compared to both the consumer market and their enterprise peers internationally.

Ahead of East Africa Com, the region’s leading ICT event, research firm Omdia ran a survey with IT-buying enterprises and organizations and produced new research. The report provides expert insights into the landscape for emerging technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), edge computing and 5G-enabled services.

“Leveraging ICT to take advantage of the changing market landscape is the number one business priority to consider in IT ordering and deployment”, said David Molony, principal analyst for enterprise services at Omdia.

He said the research shows that business expectations for ICT are at a new high in the region and that the East Africa Com respondents are preparing for the emerging technologies in which they see the greatest benefits and opportunities.

In this new universe of next-gen technologies, each type of tech offers its own opportunity. The findings of the research show advanced technologies are in sight, and enterprises are distinguishing the benefits of commercial applications. However, IT service providers must be clear what their B2B clients want from digital business technologies. Within this, scaling and securing core infrastructure for expanding market opportunities comes first.

Though concerns remain around security and risk, East Africa is following some key global trends in the following areas:

There are also specific benefits associated with each of the advanced technologies, including those that the respondents are less invested in.

Discover the full findings in the report by East Africa Com and Omdia. Download here.

About East Africa Com
East Africa Com, the region’s leading telco and digital transformation event, brings together experts and industry stakeholders from across telecommunications, technology and digital media in a premium two-day ICT event; it connects and informs the entire East African digital ecosystem.

New sessions will explore the importance of understanding different East African markets, the region’s 2020 position in the 4IR, why unlocking the potential of public-private partnerships is a key driver of change, how M-Education is helping empower the next generation of technologists, amongst many other new topics for 2020.

East Africa Com will take place from September 14-15, 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya. Find out more here.