The COVID-19 pandemic once again demonstrated the importance of digitalisation, making it important for all stakeholders to discuss how to fast track Africa’s digital transformation.

This is according to Leandra Chinniah, Marketing Director, Enterprise Business at Huawei South Africa, who was speaking ahead of GovTech 2022, of which Huawei is a sponsor.

GovTech will get underway at the Durban Exhibition Centre from 13 to 15 September with the theme ‘Reshaping the citizen experience through enhanced service delivery’, focusing on Africa’s efforts to play a leading role in 4IR. .

The event, now in its 14th year, presents a golden opportunity to connect, dialogue, collaborate and share knowledge.

“Huawei will engage with attendees to explore how we can contribute to South Africa's – and pan-Africa’s – digital transformation,” says Chinniah. “COVID-19 led to a rapid expansion of remote work, which requires ubiquitous connectivity, which puts new demands on network infrastructure. Now is the time to sit down with government, industry leaders, OEMs and OSMs to discuss how we can support the digital transformation of government in the post-pandemic era, to give citizens access to the best services, digitally. GovTech is the ideal platform for this.”

Chinniah says Huawei has aligned with the event to highlight solutions for different scenarios in government.

She adds: “Huawei is a global ICT leader, providing ICT services in more than 100 countries, and we bring all that experience to share best practice and help South African and pan-African business and government with its digital transformation. In South Africa, we have been rooted and growing for more than 24 years, so we know South Africa well. This understanding, combined with our international experience, will enable us to effectively participate in GovTech's discussions and contribute to the South African government's digitalisation efforts.”

Chinniah notes that Huawei serves more than 100 smart cities around the world where the application of ICT technology has improved the citizen experience. “We have unrivalled experience in different technology areas, from network connectivity, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, to big data and blockchain,” she says.

“We also see it as our social responsibility as a large ICT company to explore how we can use the latest technologies to help governments achieve digital transformation. Huawei has always been a facilitator of the government's strategy and aims to actively contribute to achieving the NDP2030 and SA Connect strategies.”

Chinniah outlines Huawei’s strengths which can support Africa’s digital transformation: “In the field of cloud computing, Huawei has the ability to build cloud databases. By building a cloud computing base, we provide users with elastic cloud services, reduce repeated construction costs for government agencies, improve government operating efficiency, and build a database for AI technology and big data technology.

In the field of network connectivity, we are the pioneer of SDN technology. Through SDN-oriented transformation, government organisations will get a better network experience and improve the service level of citizens.

In the digital energy field, we have built a green and low-carbon modular datacentre for government private cloud. The modular datacentre effectively reduces the overall energy consumption and contributes to sustainable development.

Moreover, we have rich practical experience in digital energy, public cloud, artificial intelligence, big data and other fields. We are confident, capable and willing to work with partners and leaders of government industries in South Africa to jointly facilitate the digital transformation, which is sustainable and will generate new inclusive economic growth and will benefit all citizens, no matter where they live.”

For more information about GovTech 2022, visit https://www.govtech.gov.za/