The global development of mobile technology puts businesses under pressure to keep up with sufficient client solutions, software technology enterprise SAP executive Pieter Bouwer said.
According to the regional-based experience of Bouwer, the retail industry is the field that requests the most technological assistance.
South African clothing stores such as Foschini and Mr Price have recently launched their online marketplaces, an example of the growing trend.
Internationally-speaking, he pointed to recent news where stores in the United Kingdom went bankrupt because of losing out due to online sales.
“People are increasingly going to be buying on the internet,” he told HumanIPO in a recent interview.
Speaking to HumanIPO, Bouwer said:“The success factor is about building a bridge between what they’ve got and what they will need.”
Despite the growing global mobile market, Bouwer believes app interest will not overtake the software industry as a replacement.
He explained SAP’s role as focused on the simplification of apps and improved performance to businesses which provides an economic solution.
“The challenge lies in determining how it will work for you,” he commented on industry-specific modifications.
As the fourth largest universal business in its field, the SAP has 65,000 members of staff of which the majority work on software development.
Bouwer said: “Mobile phones made it possible to do more marketing in a technological sense to leverage social networks and to look at all of those things.”
Expanding on the concept of precision retail in real time offer management, he related: “We analyse a massive amount of data in an instant in order to make a decision.”
Although improvement in this area is needed, he cited Amazon and local Naspers-owned Kalahari.com as good industry-related examples.
On the future of African technology, Bouwer said: “I am an African optimist, I believe Africa is a good place and I think that the businesses in Africa is going to grow exponentially and I know a lot of people who believe the same.”
However, he also admits there are “complications”, such as the multiple regulations that differ across the African countries, making each market a challenge on its own.
HumanIPO reported earlier this year on founder of the Unreasonable Institute Daniel Epstein’s opinion on Africa as the future for entrepreneurs at the SAP-sponsored Unreasonable at Sea event in Cape Town.
