We live in an era where science fiction is becoming fact at an astounding rate. Robots and artificial intelligence were not that long ago seen as far-off realities, yet today they are so commonplace we're almost used to them. Granted, we don't have robot servants, yet, and nobody has replaced the human mind with a machine equivalent. But our capacity to accomplish new things has grown incredibly, thanks to these types of technologies.

Yet, while the technologies exist, you can only win if you adopt them. This begs the question: are South African businesses on board to capture this emerging future?

SYSPRO wanted to find out, so it commissioned World Wide Worx to survey 400 IT decision-makers at large enterprises in South Africa on their futuristic investments. The picture turned out to be quite positive, says Deirdre Fryer, SYSPRO's Regional Product Manager for Africa: "South African enterprises clearly get the message that these new technologies are changing how their markets operate, and if they don't follow through, they will be left behind. They can see the changes happening with peers in other regions and they want to learn from those events. Actual action is still lagging, but attitudes have definitely changed."

The survey uncovered a number of interesting insights. Local enterprises are definitely starting to prioritise strategies and budgets that embrace new IT norms, such as software as a service and mobility. They also have a growing appetite for robotics, they are very bullish about IOT (Internet of things) and big data/machine learning, and there is a clear appreciation for emerging technologies such as virtual reality and blockchain.

Enterprise SA's future plans

IOT is a very exciting investment for local companies. Though the healthcare and education sector leads in implementations (91%), retail, construction and engineering are all above the three-quarters mark, followed at the 60th percentile by mining, real estate, IT and manufacturing.

More telling, though, are the trends among current users. Of companies asked if they intend to increase IOT usage, 100% said they do. Over 66% of surveyed businesses already deploy IOT technologies and of those that don't, nearly 85% intend to.

Big data/machine learning trends are not far behind. Mining and some types of retail are the most bullish about this, at 80%, but every sector represented, from logistics to education to manufacturing, sit at above the 50% mark and most above 60%. That being said, only 13% are currently using big data services, with 63% of those not doing so planning to change. Of the companies that are using big data technologies, over 75% intend to increase their usage.

Among the newer and more cutting-edge technologies, blockchain is clearly making big inroads. Even though only 3.2% of the companies surveyed are using blockchain, all of them intend to expand usage, and over 40% of non-users plan to change that. The technology is most popular among logistics, freight, courier, medical, educational and mining companies. But, there is major interest growing among construction, engineering, distribution, real estate and numerous other sectors.

Interestingly, blockchain stands out for having cost cited as a major reason for holding back adoption.

Virtual/augmented reality is also gaining more support, and over 13% of respondents are using it at their companies. But, of the active users, over 54% don't intend to expand their use of the technology. Also, 57% of those not using VR or AR don't plan to do so. At the moment, it is most popular with distributors, as well as the medical and education sectors.

Finally, the dark horse of new technology may well be robotics. Even though only 6.2% of local enterprises use some form of robotics technology, 64% intend to expand usage and almost 48% of non-users plan to make the switch. Mining is by far the biggest user of robotics, followed by the freight and logistics sectors, while health and education services are showing the most future interest in it.

"It's clear that South African enterprises are not shying away from the technologies defining tomorrow," says Fryer. "There is certainly an air of caution and some technologies, such as VR, have some limits to them. But, overall, local companies are keen to adopt and adapt while learning from each other's lessons. They've seen the changes in other markets and they are not willing to be caught off guard."