Twenty years ago, if you asked business leaders what their most essential utilities and business enablers were, they would have listed electricity, a phone line, and internet connectivity, in that order. Today, after 16 years of load shedding and cloud-based everything, that list would be slightly different.
Most South African companies have invested in solutions to combat load shedding, so Eskom-supplied electricity is no longer a priority, nor is a traditional phone line, which has largely gone the way of the dodo thanks to hosted PBXs and other simi- lar solutions.
Internet connectivity, however, has never been more important. According to a survey from O’Reilly conducted at the end of last year, 90% of companies around the world use the cloud in one form or another on a daily basis.…
