Christine Wu is a leading banking executive and joined Absa in January 2019 as the managing executive for customer value management at Absa Retail and Business Bank. At Absa, Wu is responsible for strategy, value proposition design, digital channels, strategic marketing and advanced analytics.

In this What’s Next episode, Wu explores the trends in the banking industry and the relevance of traditional banking services in the face of growing digital options. Wu explains that the banking industry is experiencing unprecedented levels of growth with multiple new entrants and discusses the place of a traditional bank in a quickly evolving digital environment.

Hylton Kallner is the CEO of Discovery Bank, and has 25 years of experience within the Discovery business. He previously worked at Discovery Life as a CMO and CEO before being appointed to his current title at the beginning of this year.

In this episode of What’s Next with Aki Anastasiou, Kallner discusses why South Africans are moving away from branch-based banking and towards digital alternatives, and outlines how Discovery Bank’s shared-value business model adjusts customer financial habits in a way that benefits all involved parties.

In this What’s Next episode, Aki Anastasiou talks to prominent ICT expert Deon Geyser, the CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies in South Africa. Geyser has over 15 years of experience in the ICT and telecommunications sector and is responsible for the leadership, strategy, and operations of Liquid Intelligent Technologies in South Africa.

In this interview, Geyser discusses how companies can save money by using unified communications solutions that eliminate the need for multiple devices and enable cheap cross-border communications.

Jeremy Osbourne is a prominent ICT figure and the Strategic Account Manager at Infobip. With over 25 years of experience in the digital communications, telecommunications and digital-security sectors, Osbourne has been a great asset to every organization that he has been a part of.

In this interview, Jeremy Osbourne gives an overview of how brands communicate with their customers and explains why listening is so important. He discusses how industries are required to adapt to their customers’ needs and how retailers need to be responsive to rapidly evolving customer expectations.

In the second What’s Next interview with Nihilent, Sabahat Kazi gives insight on the iVEN and iDEAL solutions and how Nihilent is connecting the supply chain for customers as well as vendors.

Sabahat shares how SAP is positioning its Business Technology Platform (BTP) and he gives insight into the adoption of BTP by SAP customers.

Johan Scheepers is an experienced IT expert working as a Senior Manager in Solution Architects at Red Hat in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a highly-motivated professional that has garnered 30 years’ experience in the information technology industry.

In this What’s Next interview, Scheepers discusses why organisations should automate and modernise their IT systems. Scheepers highlights the benefits to organisations of using open source software to implement automation and how Red Hat can help.

Sabahat Kazi is an experienced SAP expert and the Global Head of ERP at Nihilent – a global consulting and services company. He is also the CEO and founder of Intellect Bizware Services, the SAP business unit of Nihilent in the APJ region.

In this What’s Next episode, Sabahat explains how his team was able to produce the first Rise with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition solution in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region with Nihilent’s deep-rooted SAP expertise. He shares how Nihilent is now bringing its packaged solutions and the success formula to South Africa and explains how South African SAP ECC customers can transform into intelligent enterprises in just a few weeks.

Julian Liebenberg is a leading ICT executive and the Chief of the Converged Communications Business unit at BCX. Liebenberg has over three decades of experience in the ICT sector having served at numerous large-scale organisations across South Africa.

In this What’s Next interview, Liebenberg discusses how several enterprise network trends are combining and compelling businesses towards software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) and integrated cloud-based network security. He mentions why cybersecurity should be a high priority and lays out why you need to plan your network migration to SD-WAN with cloud-based security controls in mind as an integrated architecture.

Crispin Cheadle is an expert on smart home systems and runs the South African division of Advantage Air, the Smart Home manufacturer which has offices based in South Africa and Australia. Advantage Air developed the MyPlace Smart Home system 18 years ago and has been improving on it ever since. To date, their products have been recognised as world-leading products.

In this What’s Next episode, Cheadle provides background on Advantage Air’s MyPlace system and the solutions they provide. He discusses the life improvements that can be provided by MyPlace and how common, everyday pain points can be solved.

In this What’s Next episode, Aki Anastasiou discusses the future of SMS with tech experts Charles Stretch and James Pearce, the founders and joint CEOs of SMSPortal. Stretch and Pearce have built SMSPortal from a garage-based start-up to an international player and the biggest bulk SMS provider in Africa.

In this episode, Stretch and Pearce give some background on the journey of SMSPortal and how it has grown organically over the last few years. They expand on the recent growth in the African market for bulk communication platforms to achieve maximum reach and customer engagement.