While Africa may be eager to innovate, digital transformation has ushered in new regulation forcing CIOs to manage the responsibility head-on and relevant changes.

Saidah Nash Carter, SVP Innovation – Africa at Thomson Reuters, said, "Technology is undoubtedly changing the way many industries operate, with old functions being eliminated or automated for more efficiency, and new delivery channels emerging that allow companies to interact with each other and their customers in ways not imagined even a decade ago."

Regulation is changing rapidly and to comply, business leaders must fully understand the implications.

According to Carter, the buck stops with CIOs. She said that digital-ready CIOs can articulate the vision of how their business needs to develop and the role that new technologies will play in that evolution.

"However, such forward thinking requires risk assessment an legal consultation to navigate the compliance mine-field and as such, legal representation and know-how, included at the start of any initiative, can go a long way to circumnavigate and prevent future concerns," she said.

Carter advised companies across the continent to check the legal implications of their innovations and even create departments to handle this.

"I think it's critical and if you do not have the resources to do it in-house, you need to find a partner that can guide you through these changes and laws. And there are going to be changes! We have already seen an increase in data privacy laws and new regulations around security as cyberattacks become more frequent and larger in nature and any company or individual that processes personal data will be held responsible for its protection."

In terms of technology adoption and application, Carter dismissed the notion that AI could 'take over' the legal profession. "Impressive advances in AI technology tailored for legal work has led to lawyers worrying that not only the profession is changing, but their role as well. Automating legal work will be a slow, task-by-task process and while some redundant work can be shifted over, technology will not be replacing the profession and its people any time soon."