TCS+

The cloud revolution has challenged businesses of all sizes by changing how IT teams go about implementing projects and managing infrastructure. IT service firms have been doubly challenged, having to sell a new computing paradigm to their clients while also practising what they preach and adopting cloud-first technologies in-house.

Consnet is an IT solutions firm that leveraged the Amazon Web Services distribution model to accelerate its own journey into the cloud, enabling the company to do the same for its customers.

In this episode of TCS+, Dion Kalicharan, MD at Consnet, and Xhenia Rhode, AWS partner development manager at Cloud On Demand, speak about the benefits of leveraging the support structures in the AWS partner network.

Rhode and Kalicharan delve into:

• What the AWS distribution model is and how it benefits partners in the ecosystem;

• Consnet’s 21-year history, the services it provides and how its journey into the cloud began;

• How Consnet being supported by Cloud On Demand gave it the know-how to support its own customers on their cloud adoption journeys;

• The technical and training support that helped guide Consnet to upskill its teams and gain cloud expertise;

• How Cloud On Demand “marked Consnet’s homework” by double-checking the quality and efficiency of its cloud deployments; and

• How Cloud on Demand strategically meets its partners where their needs are.

Don’t miss this informative conversation!

Cybersecurity is undergoing a quiet but important shift in South African boardrooms: from a defensive cost centre to a strategic business enabler. That was the central theme of a recent TechCentral TCS+ podcast discussion featuring Vodacom Business acting executive head for cloud security Lukhanyo Zahela and KnowBe4 Africa senior vice-president for content strategy Anna Collard.

Once seen primarily as an IT problem, cybersecurity is now recognised as a material business risk with direct financial, operational and reputational consequences. But the discussion made clear that security, done well, can also signal organisational maturity to regulators, investors and partners – and increasingly, become a source of competitive advantage.

Collard likened strong security controls to having “good brakes on a fast car”. Without them, businesses cannot safely deploy emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence or scale digital platforms with confidence. Availability and resilience, she argued, are foundational: “Businesses are in business to stay in business.”

That foundation is under growing pressure. Zahela said South Africa’s threat landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by a criminal ecosystem that is itself adopting automation and AI. Phishing attacks have become far more convincing, while ransomware continues to disrupt cloud migrations, often exploiting misconfigured environments rushed into production.

Defenders, however, are also using AI. Vodacom Business has integrated AI-driven detection and response into its managed security services, reducing the time taken to detect and respond to threats from hours to minutes, or even seconds. Crucially, these systems are adaptive, learning continuously from global threat intelligence rather than relying on static rules.

Despite advances in automation, human behaviour remains central to security outcomes. Many breaches still involve simple mistakes. Collard argued that well-trained employees can act as an extension of the security function, providing judgment and context that AI cannot. The challenge is that organisations must now secure not only people, but also the AI tools and agents they use – all of which can themselves be manipulated.

This requires what Collard described as “digital mindfulness”: a security-aware culture led from the top. Executives must model good behaviour, while organisations adopt zero-trust principles that continuously verify identity and access rights across employees, partners and devices, enforcing least-privilege access by default.

To turn security into an enabler rather than a blocker, it must be embedded from the start. “Security by design” – integrating safeguards into systems, processes and digital initiatives upfront – avoids costly retrofits later and allows innovation to move faster with clearer risk boundaries.

The payoff can be tangible. A strong security posture can reduce cyber-insurance costs, improve business continuity and prevent expensive operational disruptions. More broadly, trust built through resilience and good governance can attract customers, partners and investors.

The key message for business leaders, the speakers agreed, is to stop treating security as reactive. The more powerful question is no longer, “How do we protect what we have?”, but rather, “How does security enable us to do what we couldn’t do before?”

Don’t miss this important conversation!

Africa’s digital transformation continues to accelerate, driven by growing cloud adoption and rising interest in artificial intelligence.

Yet many organisations still face challenges in converting these ambitions into measurable business outcomes. According to Cliff de Wit, group chief innovation officer at Accelera Digital Group, the success of AI-driven initiatives depends as much on culture and governance as it does on technology.

In this episode of TechCentral’s TCS+ podcast, De Wit outlines the practical steps leaders can take to reduce organisational friction, strengthen data foundations and enable cloud-led innovation at scale.

“Cloud is no longer an IT decision. It is the foundation on which every modern AI strategy is built,” says De Wit. And technical readiness alone is not enough. “The biggest barrier is not the tech, it’s whether the organisation is prepared to manage change at the pace AI requires.”

In this episode, De Wit discusses:

• The concept of organisational drag and how it affects AI progress;

● Approaches to strengthening culture and governance within digital programmes;

● The role of the C-suite in accelerating cloud and AI adoption while demonstrating clear return on investment;

● What an AI-ready data foundation looks like and why it is essential;

● How strong data management practices unlock new sources of business value; and

● Why African organisations are increasingly well positioned to advance rapidly through cloud-first strategies.

The discussion provides practical guidance for business and technology leaders seeking a clearer understanding of how cloud, data and culture intersect to enable enterprise-wide AI transformation. Don’t miss it!

By Accelera Digital Group

Newly minted small businesses often struggle to establish themselves as reliable service providers among their more established competitors. To help cloud-focused business thrive, Amazon Web Services has created the AWS distribution model to support small businesses and help them grow.

In this episode of TCS+, Cloud on Demand’s Xenia Rhode and Developmenthub’s Odwa Ndyaluvane explain how the AWS distribution model benefits partners in the same ecosystem.

This is the second podcast in a series of three with Cloud on Demand on the AWS distribution model. You can catch the first instalment here.

In this episode, Rhode and Ndyavulane discuss:

• An overview of the AWS distribution model and its ecosystem partners;

• Who Developmenthub is and how the company started;

• The support Cloud on Demand, an AWS select partner, provides to Developmenthub;

• The business outcomes that Developmenthub has achieved through the partnership;

• The business development support available within the partner ecosystem;

• The new market access opportunities Cloud on Demand was able to avail to Developmenthub; and

• New revenue streams that Developmenthub was able to tap into because of the Cloud on Demand partnership.

Don’t miss the discussion.

Vodacom Business recently appointed an “extraordinary business advisory board”, a strategic initiative designed to strengthen its enterprise expertise and support organisations on their digital transformation journeys.

To unpack the decision to appoint an advisory board, TechCentral is joined in this episode of TCS+ by Videsha Proothveerajh, director of Vodacom Business, who explains that it’s all part of Vodacom’s shift from being a traditional telecommunications provider to a “techco”, or technology company.

In this episodes Proothveerajh chats about:

• The advisory board, who it is comprised of and the purpose it is meant to serve in the business services landscape in South Africa;

• The fact that the pace of technology change has accelerated coming out of Covid and how this influenced Vodacom Business’s approach to digital transformation;

• How the new advisory board influences Vodacom’s approach to guiding enterprise clients on digital transformation;

• The role the latest telecoms technologies, including 5G and the internet of things, are playing in the business-to-business environment in which Vodacom Business operates;

• How Vodacom Business tailors its digital transformation solutions to meet the needs of different industries or enterprise segments, or indeed of customers that might not be as advanced as others in their application of technology;

• The most common obstacles South African enterprises face when it comes to technology adoption and digital transformation; and

• The emerging trends and technologies that will have the biggest impact on the business market in the next few years.

Don’t miss an informative discussion!