This is the result of the deployment of an advanced wireless network solution, the first of its type in Africa, in partnership with leading hybrid ICT systems integrator and digital transformation partner, Datacentrix.

Tharisa Minerals’ core asset is the Tharisa Mine, an open-pit platinum group metals (PGM) and chrome mining operation in the North West province of South Africa, situated in South Africa’s western limb of the Bushveld Complex, which is home to more than 70 percent of the world’s platinum and chrome resources.

Paul Collins, Tharisa’s chief information officer, approached Datacentrix to help solve a strategic challenge common to modern mining operations: enabling reliable, pit-wide wireless connectivity capable of keeping pace with the constantly shifting topology of an open-pit mine.

The organisation had previously relied on standard 3G coverage, through SIM cards in certain fleet vehicles.

However, this did not support Tharisa’s vision of ‘Connected Machines and Connected People’, where real-time data from mobile mining equipment, operational systems and field personnel is enabled to flow seamlessly across the site.

This level of connectivity is critical for supporting fleet management, telemetry and safety systems across assets such as excavators, drill rigs and haul trucks.

“From our perspective, the driver wasn’t the technology itself, but the operational use case,” says Collins. “We needed to ensure that our maintenance teams in the pit could remain connected at all times. Without reliable connectivity, their mobility and efficiency were limited.”

Overcoming the connectivity challenge

In an open pit environment, conditions are constantly changing. Benches shift, haul roads move and line-of-sight conditions are continuously affected, creating dead spots.

“The simplest way to describe it is that the hotspots are always moving,” Collins explains. “You don’t want to constantly rebuild your network infrastructure to accommodate this. It needs to adapt automatically as the operational environment evolves.”

Traditional wireless approaches, including mesh networks and private LTE or 5G, were evaluated but ultimately did not meet Tharisa’s requirements due to cost, complexity and limited adaptability.

“We did consider LTE and 5G, but the cost simply didn’t justify the value for our use case,” Collins notes. “We’re a low-cost producer, so we actively look for solutions that support this strategy.”

“The key consideration was finding an alternative to LTE and 5G that could deliver similar functionality, but without the associated cost and complexity,” adds Gys Malan, Solutions Architect at Datacentrix. “Tharisa also needed something easy to manage, without the overhead typically associated with traditional mesh networks.”

A flexible alternative

To address these challenges, the two organisations identified RADWIN’s FiberinMotion® technology as a viable alternative, offering high throughput, low latency and the ability to support mobility in demanding environments.

Following initial consultations, Tharisa and Datacentrix collaborated on a Proof of Concept (POC) to validate the solution in a live mining environment.

The POC incorporated a hybrid design of fixed high sites for point-to-multipoint and point-to-point connectivity, along with two temporary six-meter mobile towers simulating trailer-mounted high sites.

Testing extended across several fleet assets, including excavators, a dump truck and a light-duty vehicle, to assess roaming performance, handover capability and overall network stability.

“The POC phase involved multiple iterations, with repeated testing and validation under real-world conditions until we were confident in the solution, and the results were very encouraging,” says Collins. “We achieved broad coverage, and even where there were minor gaps, they aligned with our expectations based on tower positioning. It gave us confidence that we could meet our operational requirements.”

From concept to deployment

Following the successful POC, Datacentrix deployed the permanent network infrastructure, including two ruggedised, trailer-mounted towers acting as nomadic high sites that can move with the pit as it evolves.

The solution has now been operational for approximately a year, delivering reliable connectivity across the mining environment.

“The key outcome for us was enabling telemetry across our fleet and improving visibility into performance,” Collins explains. “We can now stream data, monitor operations and even support video feeds from equipment like excavators. That simply wasn’t possible before.”

In addition to operational efficiency, the solution has enhanced safety through improved monitoring and control of fleet activity.

“For example, we can track behaviours such as unsafe machine operation, enabling better operational control and contributing to safer working conditions,” he adds.

A scalable platform for the future

Beyond immediate benefits, the deployment has established a scalable digital platform for Tharisa’s broader operations.

“We now have a network backbone that can support both critical and non-critical traffic, which is something we didn’t have before,” says Collins. “There’s still a maturity journey ahead in terms of optimisation, but the platform is stable and performing well.”

According to Malan, the total cost of ownership of the infrastructure is also lower because it can be managed end-to-end internally. “This is different to an LTE environment, for example, which often would require external dependencies.”

Setting the benchmark in Africa

The Tharisa Mine deployment marks the first implementation of RADWIN’s FiberinMotion® technology in Africa, positioning the company at the forefront of connected mining innovation on the continent.

With additional deployments already underway across the region, the project is setting a benchmark for how adaptable wireless architecture can enable digital transformation in mining.

“What started as a challenge to achieve reliable connectivity has become a long-term proven platform strategy for us,” Collins comments. “We now know that we’ve invested in something that is not only effective today, but reusable across the group and scalable for the future.”

To this point, the organisation is currently extending its use of the same technology at Karo Platinum, its newest low-cost, open pit PGM asset, located on the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.

“The Tharisa deployment was the first in Africa, and a second is now in progress at Karo Mining in Zimbabwe,” he says. “The Zimbabwe rollout will cover a significantly larger operational footprint, further demonstrating the scalability of the solution in complex mining environments.”

The ability to deploy and manage the solution remotely has also been a key advantage. “We now have enough confidence in the platform to roll it out in another country without needing a team on-site within close proximity. That’s a critical factor for us.”

A trusted partnership

Collins highlights the role of Datacentrix as a key factor in the project’s success.

“It comes down to trust and responsiveness. If I can pick up the phone and get support when I need it, that makes a big difference,” he says. “Datacentrix understands both the technology and the mining industry, which means we can align quickly and move forward without unnecessary complexity.”

“The RADWIN FiberinMotion solution has subsequently been adopted by several other local mining organisations, with the assistance of Datacentrix, reinforcing its ability to enable safe, scalable, and cost-effective digital transformation across the full mining lifecycle,” Malan concludes.

As cloud adoption accelerates, many organisations find themselves paying for resources they don’t use, including oversized instances, idle virtual machines and underutilised storage.

Gert Haasbroek, senior cloud architect at leading hybrid ICT systems integrator and digital transformation partner, Datacentrix, notes that effective cloud cost management has become a critical discipline that requires continuous observability, resource optimisation and strategic FinOps-aligned planning.

“Moving to the cloud is not a once-off activity,” he explains. “Optimisation should begin while workloads are still on-premises and continue throughout the lifecycle of cloud adoption. The key is shifting from static provisioning to a data-driven optimisation model.”

The hidden cost of convenience

Cloud platforms have allowed businesses to launch infrastructure globally with minimal upfront investment, avoiding the upfront capital expenditure traditionally associated with on-premises systems.

However, this flexibility can also lead to inefficiencies. Industry research indicates that as much as 35% of cloud spending is wasted due to poor management and a lack of visibility.

“Some of the hardest waste to eliminate comes from what we call ‘zombie resources’,” Haasbroek says. “These are items that were created for a specific purpose and then forgotten, such as snapshots. Individually they may cost very little, but over time this accumulates and significantly increases overall cloud spend.”

Development and testing environments are another frequent source of unnecessary costs.

“These systems are often left running around the clock, even though they’re only needed during working hours. Simply shutting them down when not in use can deliver meaningful savings,” he adds.

Analytics-driven optimisation becomes essential

Visibility is central to addressing cloud inefficiencies. Haasbroek emphasises that businesses must continuously monitor workload behaviour to ensure resources are aligned with actual demand.

“At Datacentrix, we analyse workloads over defined periods, typically at least 30 days, to understand usage patterns,” he explains. “This allows us to identify peak and idle periods and determine where resources can be right-sized. Once workloads are in the cloud, this analysis should continue on an ongoing basis.”

Cloud-native monitoring tools, combined with advanced analytics, enable organisations to track compute, memory and storage usage in real time. This allows IT teams to make incremental adjustments, rather than dramatic changes that could risk performance or service availability.

“It’s important to take a measured approach,” Haasbroek notes. “If analytics suggest reducing resources, do so gradually and review the impact. Optimisation is a continuous process, not a once-off correction.”

Accountability drives efficiency

Beyond technical optimisation, organisational governance also plays a critical role in controlling cloud costs. One of the most effective methods is implementing structured tagging frameworks to track resource ownership.

“Proper tagging allows organisations to accurately allocate costs to specific departments,” Haasbroek explains. “When teams can see exactly what their workloads cost, they become more accountable and far more intentional about what they deploy and maintain.”

This visibility helps eliminate unnecessary provisioning while encouraging more responsible consumption across the organisation.

Designing to optimise from the start

Cloud cost optimisation is most effective when addressed at the architectural stage, rather than retroactively.

“Cloud environments must be properly designed from the beginning,” Haasbroek says. “A common mistake is simply replicating on-premises environments in the cloud without rethinking how workloads should be structured. The cloud offers opportunities to consolidate workloads, use smaller instances or adopt more efficient platform services.”

He adds that cloud provider selection also influences long-term cost predictability, particularly in regions affected by currency fluctuations or data transfer fees.

“Local providers, like Datacentrix, offer Rand-based pricing with more predictable monthly costs, and zero egress costs, which removes uncertainty and makes budgeting far easier.

“A great outcome is engineered, not improvised,” Haasbroek concludes. “With the right analytics, architecture and governance in place, organisations can ensure that their cloud environments deliver both performance and cost efficiency, supporting sustainable digital growth.”

The project, delivered by Datacentrix, a hybrid ICT systems integrator and digital transformation partner, also included the expansion of storage capacity at Zutari’s Cape Town data centre, to enable seamless virtual machine replication between its two sites.

Aging infrastructure reaches end-of-life

By mid-2025, Zutari’s primary server environment had reached end-of-life and end-of-support status, and upcoming platform shifts created additional urgency.

“We were moving to VMware vSphere 9.0 and the legacy CPUs weren’t supported,” explains Stephan Botha, IT Operations Lead at Zutari. “Our existing servers had performed well, but we had reached a point where replacement was essential.”

Datacentrix, a long-standing infrastructure partner to Zutari for more than seven years, was engaged to evaluate workloads, model future requirements and guide technology selection.

“Datacentrix supported us from start to finish,” he adds. “They provided options and recommendations, including the comparisons we needed to make an informed decision.”

A modern, high-performance platform for the future

After a full assessment, Datacentrix recommended x86-based servers for the Ashlea Gardens data centre, delivering higher performance gains, improved energy efficiency and stability, cost benefits, and better alignment with Zutari’s SQL-heavy workloads.

To meet disaster recovery needs, Datacentrix expanded production storage at Zutari’s Cape Town site. This enables the seamless replication of critical virtual machines from Ashlea Gardens to Cape Town.

As part of the solution, Zutari renewed its VMware licensing, moving to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and implementing VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) to automate and orchestrate cross-site replication.

“Zutari needed a platform that could support future workloads,” says Kristoff Kasch, senior architect at Datacentrix. “The combination of the new servers, storage platform and the automated disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity solution gives them a modern, scalable foundation with built-in resilience.”

A step change in performance and efficiency

The modernisation project has delivered immediate value to Zutari.

“We were able to consolidate from 12 production servers to just seven, which made a significant difference to our cooling and power consumption,” Botha comments. “While we don’t measure usage granularly, we are definitely seeing the positive impact on our utility bill.

“We’ve also observed noteworthy performance gains – performance has tripled, if not more – and the difference has been clear across our workloads.”

Furthermore, Zutari’s disaster recovery posture has been strengthened. With expanded production storage capacity, Zutari can now fully replicate its 20 most critical virtual machines to Cape Town.

The project also forms a key part of Zutari’s journey towards ISO 27001 certification, which requires all infrastructure to be fully supported, maintained and under warranty.

“This was step one of multiple office upgrades that we need to complete,” Botha discloses.

“Datacentrix has guided and supported us across multiple environments and even helped with the seamless move of our data centre to our new head office building in Ashlea Gardens several years ago. From maintaining our infrastructure to supporting offices across Africa, they’ve been a one-stop shop. We couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Kasch echoes this sentiment from the Datacentrix side. “Trust is earned over time. Zutari knows we’ll bring the right expertise, deploy correctly and continue to optimise the environment so that they enjoy maximum business impact and return on investment.”

As Jaap Scholten, head, Group Hybrid ICT Strategy at Datacentrix and COO at eNetworks, a wholly owned Datacentrix company and ISP, explains, the cloud is often the unsung hero – quietly enabling data, the raw material from which intelligence is forged.

From cloud adoption to intelligent transformation

Too often, Scholten explains, cloud adoption is seen as a tick-box exercise, focused on moving applications from on-premises to the cloud.

“But the real opportunity here lies in transformation and at the heart of this is data. If cloud is the behind-the-scenes champion, then data is the golden thread weaving intelligence throughout the enterprise.

“At the end of the day, AI is only as effective as the data it consumes, and the cloud is essentially the ecosystem where this data converges. By unifying structured and unstructured data from across the enterprise, organisations unlock richer insights.”

Cloud powers AI at scale

For AI to deliver enterprise-grade value, it needs infrastructure that can handle unpredictable workloads, vast data volumes and complex integrations.

“Unfortunately traditional IT infrastructures can limit the speed, volume and flexibility required to make AI impactful,” Scholten notes.

“What is required is a cloud-native architecture able to provide the elasticity, connectivity and continuous data flows that allow AI to operate seamlessly across the business, detecting anomalies, trends and opportunities as they happen.”

While technology provides the foundation, the true measure of cloud-enabled AI lies not in the tools themselves but in the tangible business outcomes they enable, he adds.

Turning potential into performance

Yet, while the combination of cloud and AI unlocks enormous potential, success is not a given.

Organisations must navigate a set of practical and strategic challenges to realise meaningful value. These include reliable connectivity, safeguarding data, addressing cultural shifts and proving clear return on investment (ROI).

“These hurdles require deliberate planning and execution,” Scholten continues. “Only by tackling them head-on can businesses turn cloud-native AI into a sustainable competitive advantage.”

By aligning scalable cloud infrastructure, intelligent AI capabilities and a strong data-driven culture, businesses can unlock new levels of agility, innovation and resilience.

“Many companies might wonder where to start,” says Scholten. “The first step is a strong data strategy. Piloting AI use cases early and embedding governance throughout the cloud are also essential. Addressing challenges upfront ensures the transformation remains both secure and sustainable.

“The message is clear: organisations that embrace cloud-native AI today will define the competitive edge of tomorrow.”

It therefore makes sense that local businesses are making the necessary changes to their cybersecurity strategies to accommodate the protection of rising numbers of remote workers and their endpoint devices.

So says Gideon Viljoen, Pre-sales Specialist: ICT Security at Datacentrix, a leading hybrid ICT systems integrator and managed services provider, who explains that agile endpoint security measures – which are able to adapt quickly and easily to the changing attack landscape – are paramount for ensuring an effective first line of defence.

“With millions of Africans now working remotely, at least part-time, local businesses have had to amend their cybersecurity strategies to accommodate users who need remote access to mission critical data and applications. In fact, recent research from Microsoft and IDC shows that 65 percent of South African organisations have invested in endpoint protection solutions, and 61 percent in access management.

“For those companies that still need to ramp up endpoint security, we have some straightforward advice to offer.”

The strategy behind endpoint security

It’s important to start with the basics and ensure that all endpoints and servers, as well as critical assets and devices, are covered by an anti-virus (AV) or anti-malware security product, explains Viljoen. “And, sticking with the basics, the patching of these devices and endpoints is an excellent way to ensure known vulnerabilities are not open to exploitation.”

With an ever-changing landscape and attackers using increasingly smarter techniques, machine learning (ML) and user behaviour analytics (UBA) have become absolute musts in the current landscape of cybersecurity, he continues. “In fact, for more mature cybersecurity portfolios, it is always better to have some form of ML and artificial intelligence (AI) in place, as these technologies can take the necessary action much faster than a human, leaving people to focus on critical risks.

“Furthermore, having an endpoint detection and response (EDR), or better yet, a cross detection and response (XDR) solution in place helps to identify, isolate and respond to suspicious behaviour on an endpoint or critical asset. These solutions also assist in reducing investigation and alert times, with far fewer false positives, which can tend to overwhelm engineers and analysts, and cause alert fatigue.”

EDR and XDR solutions have helped to reduce response times considerably, providing effective protection against threat actors.

However, their evolution is far from over, comments Viljoen, and with hybrid workforces not going anywhere soon, having agile solutions and technologies in place will continue to be beneficial to businesses.

Choosing the right endpoint technology (and partner)

The combination of a rapidly evolving landscape, changing attack strategies and new technologies being introduced on a daily basis means that organisations are under immense pressure to choose the ‘right’ endpoint security solution.

“Companies and their executives can be overwhelmingly bombarded with new technologies, and choosing the right solution for the organisation can be tough. With this in mind, it is essential that organisations wanting to outsource their cybersecurity requirements choose a provider that can provide technology solutions which are agile and quick to adapt and adopt; factors that far outweigh the cost element.

“Our recommendation is to look to independent, objective authorities like Gartner and Forrester for recommendations, which help provide guidance and greater confidence around which vendors and technologies are leading in which specific areas. Having a solution that is able to provide intelligence, visibility and response to the holistic network, while also being able to provide a single source of truth, is of utmost importance.”

When looking at potential cybersecurity partners, reference cases and business case studies can provide some confidence in selecting the best option for a business, Viljoen adds.

“Visibility of these mobile and hybrid ICT workforces is critical: no business can protect against, or remediate, what cannot be seen. It has become essential to ensure the provision of a solution that can deliver visibility of all devices and assets, regardless of where they are, as well as users and user behaviours. This will allow for reduced response times and decreased risk,” he concludes.

The CPDIF’s acquisition is alongside the existing Datacentrix management team that has successfully led the company for over 20 years.

Alviva is exiting Datacentrix pursuant to its delisting from the JSE in early 2023, to focus on its core operations in hardware distribution. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The transaction aligns with the CPDIF’s strategy of investing in high-growth companies that are leading champions in their field with strong management teams and deep customer and vendor relationships.

According to research, the IT market in South Africa has proven resilient even during periods of economic downturn and is forecast to outpace the country’s GDP growth. Convergence Partners believes Datacentrix is well poised to capture this growth.

Datacentrix provides ICT integration services and solutions to blue chip corporates in South Africa, ensuring their success and sustainability into the digital age. The company’s approach is to partner with its customers, equipping them with valuable insight and assisting them to align their ICT undertakings with their business strategy. Datacentrix offers a deeply specialised skills and is endorsed by the world’s foremost technology partners.

The company is recognised for its agility, in-depth industry knowledge, proven capability, and strong overall performance.

Datacentrix will continue to focus on expanding into technologies that delivers business value to its clients, including digital transformation solutions, hybrid solutions from edge to cloud that is informed by the customers data and workload requirements.

It will continue to operate independently as it has in the past and does not envisage any changes in operations or staff.

Ahmed Mahomed CEO of the Datacentrix group commented that he is excited with the development as the entities share a common value system, culture, vision, and approach. “We are excited about the future as we start a new chapter in Datacentrix 25-year history as a highly successful business that is well respected in the market. By joining forces with Convergence Partners, we will harness what has made us successful to date and leverage the wider capabilities of the group including its reach into the rest of Africa.

“We are immensely proud to announce the acquisition of Datacentrix as part of our Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF). The Datacentrix team possesses exceptional skills and profound expertise in Managed Services and System Integration (SI). This acquisition marks a significant step for Convergence Partners as we endeavor to work alongside the Datacentrix team in building a leading SI business in South Africa and across the African continent.

Our confidence in Datacentrix’s market leadership in Managed Services and System Integration is steadfast. The synergy between Datacentrix’s capabilities and Convergence Partners’ extensive experience in private equity, particularly through CPDIF, is poised to deliver unparalleled value to our clients across Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Central to Datacentrix’s success is its people – from the staff to the leadership team, they represent the company’s most asset. At Convergence Partners, we hold a deep appreciation for the talent and dedication of the Datacentrix team. It is through their collective expertise and commitment that we envision growing the business to new heights, furthering our impact in the digital infrastructure landscape.” commented Andile Ngcaba, Chairman of Convergence Partners.

The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2024, subject to the customary regulatory approvals including approval by the Competition Authority of South Africa and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).

Key Highlights of this Acquisition:

• CPDIF Fund: Last year, Convergence Partners raised a substantial $296 million through its Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF).

• Strategic Acquisition: As part of its ongoing investments, CPDIF has now utilized these funds to acquire 100% of Datacentrix Group from Alviva Holdings Limited.

• Market Resilience: Despite economic challenges, the IT market in South Africa is forecasted to outpace the country’s GDP growth, and Convergence Partners sees Datacentrix as well poised to capture this growth.

• Datacentrix’s Expertise: A leading provider of ICT integration services, Datacentrix is recognized for its agility, industry knowledge, and proven capability.

New figures from Statista show a staggering number of unemployed youth (15 to 24 years), reaching 60.7 percent in the second quarter of 2023.

Statista further noted higher unemployment rates for women than men since the start of 2016, measured at almost 36 percent in the second quarter of 2023, as opposed to 30 percent respectively.

From a technology point of view, a report released earlier last year by SAP Africa, called ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed‘, disclosed that three-quarters of the South African, Kenyan and Nigerian organisations surveyed reported negative effects from a lack of technical skills; including struggling to meet client needs (46 percent), reduced capacity for innovation (53 percent), and losing customers to competitors (60 percent).

According to the report, a top skills challenge for African organisations is attracting skilled new recruits, although in South Africa the retention of experienced employees was first on the list.

It further noted the most in-demand skills as being cybersecurity and data analytics (63 percent); developer and industry skills (49 percent); and digital transformation skills (48 percent).

Skills development and mentoring play an essential role

“It’s true that we’re facing many challenges in the local technology sector, but there are measures that private industry can – and should – put in place that can contribute to the alleviation of both unemployment and the lack of technology skills,” explains Charmaine Koffman, Head of Human Resources at Datacentrix, a leading hybrid ICT systems integrator and managed services provider.

“Datacentrix’s stance on skills development is well entrenched and we have several initiatives to support this, including our graduate programme, which has been running for 18 years. This initiative places an emphasis on cross-functional training, encouraging the outcome of multi-skilled individuals with experience across more than one specialised area of technology, as well as more business-focused capabilities.

“Our graduate and learnership programmes have a strong focus on mentoring, as well as the development of personal skills such as work ethics, something that is a core value at Datacentrix. We’re proud to have a high absorption rate of these learners and graduates at Datacentrix, as we want to be able to retain these talented young people.

“Mentoring plays a pivotal role in African skills development, regardless of industry, by providing the guidance, support and knowledge transfer needed to empower our workforce, as well as fostering innovation and bridging the gap between education and real-world industry requirements. Datacentrix actively encourages other local businesses to join us in mentoring local learners and graduates, further strengthening the foundation of skilled professionals across the continent,” she adds.

“Across the industry, we’re currently seeing the continuous movement of resources, especially at entry level, rather than within mid or senior management. It’s a highly competitive market, but we’re also seeing that a number of organisations are putting forward above-market-rate offers that are simply not sustainable over time.”

Koffman cautions those individuals looking at new prospects to undergo their due diligence before accepting an offer that might well be too good to be true.

“It’s essential to remember that genuine career growth and job satisfaction often come from realistic and maintainable environments. Therefore, my advice would be for people to scrutinise job offers before accepting them – research the company thoroughly and seek guidance where necessary. Sometimes it’s not just about finding a job; it’s about building a meaningful and fulfilling career that aligns with your long-term goals and values.”

Closing the gender gap

Datacentrix recently instituted a bursary scheme with Wits University, with plans in place to extend this relationship into the future.

This is one of the areas, says Koffman, that the company is using to support gender diversity within the ICT sector.

“There is a serious need for local businesses to implement targeted recruitment strategies to address the gender diversity challenge. Datacentrix is working hard towards an optimistic 50/50 gender split by the end of next year. In addition, it is critical to attract more young women to embark on STEM careers, like ICT and engineering, as we need to improve this diversity moving forward.”

Koffman maintains that the key to inspiring more women to join the sector, as well as addressing the broader technology skills shortage in the longer term, is for organisations to nurture an interest in STEM careers at foundational level.

“We need to make an immense effort to turn around the pressing issue of the technology skills shortage, addressing this challenge at root level – earlier than grade 8 at school – to create a skilled workforce for the future. This will help to ensure that individuals from all backgrounds have access to educational and career opportunities in the technology sector, fostering a more inclusive skills pool.

“Datacentrix is committed to being part of this transformative journey, and we encourage other businesses to join us in this essential endeavour, building a brighter and more technologically advanced future for Africa,” she concludes.

But what does the meta cloud actually mean for businesses; how and why should they embrace this new iteration of cloud technology?

“Local organisations aren’t strangers to the value that cloud computing offers,” says Brian Smith, Business Unit Manager at Datacentrix, a leading hybrid ICT systems integrator and managed services provider. “It does come with its own pitfalls though. For one, rising costs associated with cloud computing are seeing many companies opt out of blanket solutions,” he adds.

And while the exchange rate contributes to growing expenditure, management of an IT environment that is becoming increasingly complex is another key limitation. “For many businesses, one cloud is simply not enough.

In fact, Deloitte Insights notes that as many as 85 percent of businesses are using two or more cloud platforms – and 25 percent are using at least five.”

What we know today

Private clouds emerged over a decade ago, while the hybrid cloud model evolved into a mix of on-premises infrastructure and cloud-based services and applications, Smith explains.

Public clouds, including AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud for example, have made a compelling argument in favour of adaptability, scalability and reduced infrastructure investment.

“Opting into different cloud services, irrespective of where these services reside, has resulted in a multi-cloud scenario for many organisations. The point is though that cloud decisions didn’t always start out with a solid business and data strategy in mind, he adds.

As a result, doubts can arise over how best to harness cost savings where they occur, ensure tighter security controls, manage a heterogeneous IT environment and adopt the skills needed to address all of this.

Moving into a new cloud formation

The trend towards meta cloud adoption is taking root for these reasons, overcoming complex and expensive cloud architecture using cross-cloud services, but Smith believes that we haven’t yet begun to scratch the surface of how this might look down the line. In fact, it raises several questions:

• How can we take advantage of meta clouds today to design for the future and so maximise value from a multi-cloud environment?
• How can we best cater to our business and application requirements while optimising integration across multiple clouds?
• How can we take advantage of hyperscalers, which typically cater to their own needs, to leverage services on our own terms?
• Adding our own applications into the mix, how can we manage all of that from the perspective of a single-view architecture?

Smith maintains that we need to change our thinking to a best-use scenario. “The meta cloud service layer gives us an opportunity to derive greater value from cloud investments, ensuring closer application integration and enabling a single view of workloads wherever they are hosted to minimise complexity, cost and risk.

“While this may hail the future of cloud computing, any cloud initiative needs to be designed around your data and applications,” he says, noting however that what we know about technology today is not going to look the same tomorrow.

“This is ever true in the cloud computing paradigm. The meta cloud brings us a step closer to untangling the multi-cloud muddle. That the need exists for it at all should make us consider cloud solutions from the perspective of business value, and not lose sight of the challenges down the line,” he continues.

“Trends in cloud computing will continue to come and go, and the meta cloud is one viable approach to reduce the complexity of a multi-cloud reality. Moving beyond the buzzword and promises of benefits – and not jumping into cloud computing because everyone else is – is perhaps exactly where we need to arrive to use this model more appropriately.

“Thus, the key questions to ask before embarking on a cloud computing strategy should be: what value are you getting out of it? Where will this value come from? And, what makes the most business sense? It should never be a blind leap of faith,” Smith concludes.

However, cautions Ben de Klerk, Eastern Cape Branch Manager at Datacentrix, a leading hybrid ICT systems integrator and managed services provider, with these advancements comes a well-documented history of cybersecurity vulnerabilities that still demand attention.

The rapid development and deployment of new technologies are also often associated with limited protocols governing their use, which poses its own set of risks, he explains.

The complex landscape of cybersecurity risk

“The local transport and logistics industry relies heavily on the smooth flow of goods across a complex network of multiple entities; from suppliers and manufacturers to distributors and retailers,” De Klerk explains. “This intricate supply chain structure is highly vulnerable to cyberthreats, as attackers can exploit any particular point in the supply chain.

“Moreover, the industry’s reliance on IoT and OT devices – such as sensors, GPS trackers and automated control systems – introduces new potential vulnerabilities.”

In fact, De Klerk maintains that this is a serious security challenge within the sector, as these sensors often lack robust built-in security features. This vulnerability opens the door to cyberattacks that can disrupt operations, compromise data, and lead to costly downtime, he says.

“Another area of great concern to OT security leaders within the transport and logistics industries is the risk of either unwitting, unaware, or malicious insider threats.”

Addressing security challenges

In order to mitigate these risks and bolster cybersecurity, organisations within the transport and logistics sector should look at adopting a comprehensive approach that combines technical, personnel and policy-based measures, De Klerk advises.

Ideally, this should include:

• Identifying and prioritising assets: Start by identifying and categorising OT assets based on their importance to the business. This prioritisation helps focus security efforts on critical assets first.
• Safeguarding devices: Secure all IoT and OT devices by implementing encryption, firewalls, access controls and regular patch management to prevent attacks and the associated costly downtime.
• Securing supply chain and remote access: Establish secure supply chain access protocols to ensure that only authorised personnel have access to critical systems. Implement robust authentication mechanisms for remote access.
• Undertaking regular security assessments: Conduct routine security assessments to identify vulnerabilities and take corrective action before they occur, assess the effectiveness of security measures, and proactively address potential weaknesses.
• Establishing employee training: Employees can be a significant source of vulnerability in any organisation, so it is essential that employees are educated on cybersecurity best practices to enhance their awareness of potential threats and empower them to respond effectively.
• Putting in place robust cybersecurity policies: Develop and implement strong OT cybersecurity policies and processes, with continuous monitoring and a disaster recovery plan to ensure business continuity.

“As the African transport and logistics sector continues its digital transformation, securing OT and industrial control systems (ICS) systems is of paramount importance. By adopting a multifaceted cybersecurity strategy, including risk assessment, device security, employee training, and policy development, organisations within this space can navigate these challenges and safeguard their operations in this dynamic industry,” De Klerk concludes.

Amazon Web Services launched its cloud services in 2006, followed shortly by Microsoft’s Azure offering in 2010.

Three years later, the word ‘hyperscaler’ entered our lexicon – meaning large cloud service providers that can provide offerings such as computing and storage at enterprise scale – and #CloudFirst became the buzzword amongst everyone, from developer to CISO.

Systems integrators were unsure how to measure the potential threat of cloud business, compared to traditional hardware and infrastructure sales. However, the groundswell of cloud adoption was not to be ignored, despite raising so many questions.

Business benefits and costs under the spotlight

One of the biggest shifts in executive think-tanks centred around ICT results versus business outcomes.

Spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, cost-saving efforts were being applied at all levels of the business, and ICT – known for its ever-increasing price/performance indexes – was put under the spotlight as an easy target for cost saving.

The question being asked was how a cloud-first strategy would align to business outcomes: was this a pure-play in technological evolution, which would only benefit the new economy – the Ubers and Airbnbs of this world? And would the cost of modernising mainstream businesses into a cloud-first era outweigh the benefit?

Early results posed questions

After witnessing the mass-migration of numerous large customer workloads, the first rounds of feedback were not as euphoric as the technologists had hoped for. More questions were raised, and yet another word entered our vocabulary: ‘bill-shock’.

Compliance officers also raised concerns over the sovereignty of company data. Patient records, student marks, financial information and intellectual property… where exactly was all of this data being hosted? And why do organisations have to pay to retrieve their own records?

As the dust settled, customers began moving some workloads back, in an attempt to regain control, both financially and in terms of compliance. A serious re-think of the cloud-first strategy was required.

Dollar-based billing resulted in IT budgets experiencing unprecedented cost increases, without realising any associated operational benefit.

The cost of extracting data, as well as the compliance issues around data sovereignty, rapidly led to a new approach. Given that almost all of an organisation’s records – customer, supplier, product and financial records, applying to entities both large and small – now lived as data somewhere, it became paramount to place data at the centre of such a strategy.

And so, the #DataFirst concept was born.

New solutions, better results: ‘Data First’

A healthy data-first approach results in a strategy that supports the fundamentals of where data is hosted, how it is transported, and how it is secured.

These underlying principles must be supported by a 360-degree approach, encompassing assessment, implementation, support, modernisation and continued gap analysis to assess the strategy’s execution progress. Ultimately, a data-first strategy is aligned to business outcomes and outperforms a pure ICT strategy.

Systems integrators started building smaller private/public clouds, hosted in sustainable data centres where power is guaranteed, with easily accessible sub-millisecond onramp paths and high levels of physical and cybersecurity, while addressing Rand-based billing and locally-based data sovereignty.

These clouds offer organisations Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) as well as Platform as a Service (PaaS) options, which often mean a happy home for many applications that are not hyperscaler native.

With multiple availability zones, users of these services address their disaster recovery needs and can start to realise large-scale, long-term savings compared to their pure hyperscaler or on-premises deployments.

Systems integrators and cloud providers tend to concentrate top skills in these areas, thereby providing their customers with innovation, strategy, financial modelling and managed services all year long, while the customer can focus on their core business.

Multi-cloud adoption between different providers has proven to be both cost-effective and risk averse, now that multi-cloud management tools are readily available – even ‘as a Service’ – simplifying cost management, reporting engines, and optimisation efforts. Tools ensure that business outcomes are enhanced and realised.

As to the question “do we need another cloud”, the answer is therefore a resounding “yes!” – and there will be many more clouds to follow, almost moving into the boutique-genre of clouds designed for specific classes of workloads.