Interview: Seacom chief commercial officer Steve Briggs

Loading player...
In the second of a series of promoted podcasts with Seacom, TechCentral's Duncan McLeod talks to chief commercial officer Steve Briggs about how technology is reshaping society.
The conversation touches the digital divide - especially in the South African context - and what can be done to address it. This divide is not only about access to the Internet, but also to work opportunities and growth in an environment where technology skills are increasingly prized by business.
Automation and digital processes are transforming businesses, and Briggs believes this could ultimately have a very real social impact. Are we rushing blindly into this future without giving sufficient thought to the potential consequences?
Briggs talks about how the concept of work is changing, how new skills will be needed as business transforms for the digital era and the impact this will have on employment and employability.
The conversation touches on the concept of a universal basic income grant and whether it has to a role to play in avoiding social unrest and other problems that might emerge as the world moves to the so-called fourth Industrial Revolution.
Briggs talks about the impact of social media, why it's not necessarily a force for good, the impact on democracy and the role of government regulation. He explains why he believes it's ultimately up to ordinary citizens to escape the echo chambers that social media platforms tend to reinforce.
12 Mar 2019 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

Meet the CIO | Chris Shortt on what a supermarket becomes

Chris Shortt, chief technology officer at Shoprite Group, says the work of the next five years is meeting the customer at their point of need, wherever that is – and that this does not mean the end of the store. Speaking on TechCentral’s Meet the CIO podcast series, brought to…
9 Sep 43 min

Watts & Wheels | Why electric trucks are beating electric cars to South Africa

South Africa has still not crossed 1% of new vehicle sales going to electric vehicles, well short of the 5% mark at which adoption typically accelerates, The Electric Mission executive director Hiten Parmar told TechCentral’s Watts & Wheels with Wills. Parmar, who heads the non-profit advocacy body and co-founded the…
3 Sep 31 min

Winstone Jordaan on building a national EV charging network

Winstone Jordaan was building charging infrastructure before South Africa had electric cars to plug into it. GridCars began developing its backend platform in 2010. The first EVs arrived in 2013. In this episode of Watts & Wheels with Wills, the GridCars founder tells William Kelly why the hardware was never…
2 Sep 22 min

Watts & Wheels S1E8: ‘Tesla lands in Africa, just not here’

Episode 8 of Watts & Wheels – TechCentral’s electric motoring show – opens with William Kelly on his soapbox, clipboard in hand, and a simple demand: keep left, pass right. Too many South African drivers, he argues, treat the left indicator as an invitation to be overtaken rather than a…
24 Aug 1 hr 11 min