South Africa has the opportunity to realise great benefits by increasing its investments in the information and communications technologies (ICTs) infrastructure, which will ultimately drive the country’s social and economic transformation.

This is according to the Cisco’s latest World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report 2015 (GITR), which measures the relative capacity of 143 economies to leverage ICTs for growth and economic and social transformation.

In the report South Africa dropped five places to 75th in terms of the report’s Networked Readiness assessment.

Networked readiness is a crucial indicator of a country’s ability to implement and take full advantage of ICTs.

The report also notes that in order to improve its Networked Readiness ranking South Africa needs to focus on investment in infrastructure and education, support for the development of local content and create an enabling environment by promoting competition through sound regulation.

Cathy Smith, general manager at Cisco South Africa said, “South Africa can make massive strides in connecting more citizens and bringing about positive social and economic change by improving its Networked Readiness. With political will and commitment from the private sector, progress can be made in bringing the benefit of ICTs to all South Africans.”

She added, “As we face the next wave of the Internet – the Internet of Everything (IoE) South Africa needs to prioritise ICT development if it is to benefit from the new experiences and efficiencies that the IoE will bring… Technology is at an inflection point and the South African economy needs to prioritise ICT adoption to take full advantage of the benefits that embracing digital transformation strategies will offer.”