#CIOYearAhead: Less Legacy in the East Africa Region will help drive digital disruption in the region

One of the great advantages East Africa has over other continents in riding the disruptive wave is that there’s far less legacy to get in the way than in other regions, creating a clean sheet on which companies can develop their own distinctive business models.

According to Lenin Oyuga, Director Government & Legal Business – East Africa & Indian Ocean Islands at Thomson Reuters, disruption is the answer for both public and private managed business enterprises.

While making a presentation at the ongoing CIO The Year Ahead Conference themed Reshaping the Industry, Oyuga predicted 2018 as one of the major years of digital revolution and catalyzed connectivity across the East African region.

“Technological disruption is transforming markets and societies across in ways that wouldn’t have been possible even five years ago. And this opens up huge and still largely untapped commercial potential for domestic and international businesses,” he added.

Oyuga also added that on the Internet of Things (IoT) front, solutions shall this year continue to emerge, the amount of available sensor data shall grow.

He noted that businesses which are ready and others which are designing and integrating the right data architectures while establishing robust IoT data analytics platforms shall thrive in the IoT ecosystem. “We do not have any other moment to wait to transform but to seize the opportunity created by lack of legacy systems,” said Oyuga adding that this should happen as organization form the right teams to leapfrog the enterprises.

“We need to be in-touch with the culture as and still appreciate that disruption is the answer since change is inevitable,” stressed Oyuga.

“The companies shall find relevant insights and deeply embedded value in their sensor data and put it to work to drive innovation in their enterprise,” he added.