Connect with us
Anglostratits

Business

Paper versus Digital: The Future of Work (By Somesh Adukia)

Published

3 years ago

on

Canon

One of the most prevalent challenges facing employees working remotely is access to important documents, both digital and physical

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 22, 2023/APO Group/ — 

By Somesh Adukia, Managing Director, Canon Central & North Africa (www.Canon-CNA.com)

Digitization is revolutionizing the way businesses operate across the globe, and Africa is no exception.

Over the past two years, remote and hybrid arrangements have become the norm in the workplace. We have seen the proliferation of new digital tools and platforms to support hybrid work, such as video conferencing, cloud-based software, and collaboration platforms like Teams and Zoom. IT teams have had to support this transition by providing technical support for these new digital tools and platforms, all the while ensuring cybersecurity and data protection, and managing remote access to company systems and applications.

The challenges of navigating digitization in a hybrid working world

Navigating digitization in a hybrid working model can be challenging for both businesses and IT teams. Research conducted by Walnut Unlimited on behalf of Canon shows that there is a divide between businesses and employees when it comes to hybrid working. While businesses think they are largely digital, employees are experiencing a host of niggling issues.

One of the most prevalent challenges facing employees working remotely is access to important documents, both digital and physical. This, combined with other related issues (such as difficulties with business processes, and having to visit the office to print, pick up or sign documents in person) suggests a wider problem – organizations have not yet completely rebuilt their business processes to function in a virtual environment. As a result, we’re seeing employees struggling to perform basic steps in everyday document-based workflows, like processing invoices or contract approval, when outside of the office.

Moreover, equipping new workspaces has been a major challenge for IT teams.

According to 2021 research conducted by McKinsey (https://apo-opa.info/45zgbun), 65% of companies had increased spending on digital and technology during the global pandemic, despite significant cost cutting elsewhere in the business. This suggests that most companies are aware that they need to undertake digital transformation, fast.

According to our report, 71% of IT departments say that solutions that would support their hybrid working are not compatible with their legacy infrastructure. Furthermore, 72% say their printers and scanners used in different locations were not designed to work together.

While companies may have the basics in place, most businesses have yet to rebuild their document-based processes for a new hybrid work. By creating a digital-first culture that empowers employees to work smarter, businesses can help ensure that their digital aspirations are aligned with the everyday work experiences of their workforce.

According to our report, 71% of IT departments say that solutions that would support their hybrid working are not compatible with their legacy infrastructure

On the African continent, the challenges that employees face with technology are more complex than regions elsewhere. Some of these challenges are:

  1. Limited internet connectivity in parts of Africa: In many parts of Africa, internet connectivity is limited or unreliable, which can make it difficult to maintain consistent connectivity between employees working remotely and those working in the office.
  2. Limited access to hardware: In some cases, employees may not have access to the necessary hardware, such as laptops or smartphones, to effectively work remotely.
  3. Inadequate IT infrastructure: IT infrastructure in companies may not be equipped to handle the demands of hybrid work.
  4. Security concerns: Hybrid work can create new security risks for companies, particularly when employees are accessing company data and systems from remote locations.
  5. Lack of digital skills and expertise: Many countries face a shortage of skilled professionals in the tech sector, which can be a significant barrier to the adoption of digital solutions.

It’s important for businesses to recognize the unique challenges faced by employees in Africa and work to create solutions that meet their needs. To overcome some of these issues, companies can invest in improving internet connectivity and providing access to digital tools and technology to support remote work.

By addressing these challenges proactively, businesses and IT teams can help ensure a successful transition to a hybrid working model in Africa.

The transition to paperless operations

Despite the adoption of digital technologies in the workspace, businesses have still not moved to paperless operations. While digital solutions have made it less expensive and easier to store, retrieve and share information, paper documents still have a place in many business operations, especially in Africa. A great deal of business on the continent still gets done on paper in the workspace via scanners, printers, photocopy machines and faxes. Many small-to-medium sized business operate in a paper centric environment, using paper as part of their everyday workflow and transactions.

One of the advantages of the blend of paper and digital in the hybrid workplace is its flexibility. The use of digital technologies allows for seamless collaboration across physical locations, while paper documents provide a sense of tangibility and familiarity that can be useful in certain contexts.

To make the most of the blend of paper and digital in the hybrid workplace, businesses must identify which processes require paper documents and which processes can be digitized. This may involve investing in document management systems, scanners, and other technologies that can facilitate the transition to digital workflows while maintaining the use of paper documents in specific contexts.

By identifying which processes require paper documents and which can be digitized, businesses can create a flexible and productive workflow that accommodates both in-person and remote work.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA).

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Business

AFRICLOUD Opens Lagos Region and Local-Currency Payments in African Markets

Published

8 hours ago

on

September 23, 2026

By

AFRICLOUD

The company’s third African region keeps Nigerian workloads in Nigeria, and customers from Abidjan to Nairobi can now pay in the currency they earn, without an international card

MIAMI BEACH, United States of America, September 23, 2026/APO Group/ –AFRICLOUD (https://AFRICLOUD.com), a cloud infrastructure company, has opened its third African region in Lagos and now accepts payment in local currency across West, Central, East and Southern Africa. Businesses across the continent can run servers in Nigeria, South Africa or Portugal from one account, and pay for them the way they already pay for everything else.

 




  

Download document (1): https://apo-opa.co/4Ardfz9

Download document (2): https://apo-opa.co/46FWH8Y

Buying cloud infrastructure in Africa has meant living with three compromises: traffic that leaves the continent and comes back, payment in dollars behind a card many businesses do not hold, and data sitting under somebody else’s law.

Lagos answers the first. Compute and storage for Nigerian customers stay in Nigeria, and the region also serves Accra, Abidjan, Lome, Douala and Ouagadougou. Traffic from landlocked West Africa that once reached comparable infrastructure by way of Europe now stays on terrestrial West African fibre. Johannesburg serves Southern and East Africa. Lisbon serves North Africa and Europe, and reaches Brazil over a direct subsea route. Across the three regions, AFRICLOUD’s own continent-wide measurements place 42 of the 53 African countries measured within a best-case round trip of 70 milliseconds, countries home to about 1.28 billion people.

A company in Accra or Abidjan now reaches West African infrastructure without leaving the region, and pays for it in the currency it earns

Payment answers the second. Customers across West, Central, East and Southern Africa pay in their own currency, including the naira, the cedi, the shilling and the CFA francs, by local card, bank transfer, USSD or mobile money, with no international card needed. Mobile money is live in twelve African countries, and cards, PayPal and more than 300 cryptocurrencies are accepted everywhere. The GSMA reports that 74 per cent of the world’s mobile money activity by transaction count took place in Africa in 2024.

Residency answers the third. Nigerian data runs under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, South African data under POPIA and European workloads under EU law, chosen server by server from the same dashboard.

“African businesses have been asked to choose between infrastructure that is close, infrastructure they can actually pay for, and infrastructure that keeps their data under their own law,” said Oluniyi Ajao, Founder of AFRICLOUD. “Removing that choice is the reason we built this.”

“Lagos is the piece that completes the map,” he said. “A company in Accra or Abidjan now reaches West African infrastructure without leaving the region, and pays for it in the currency it earns.”

All three regions run the same platform: AMD EPYC processors with all-NVMe storage, IPv4 and IPv6 on every server, and a new server online in about two minutes. Dedicated Servers are built to order in all three regions. Support is available around the clock by chat and email.

Cloud Servers are available now at https://AFRICLOUD.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AFRICLOUD LLC.

 

 




 

Continue Reading

Business

Hong Kong outlines strategies for deepening development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and enhancing green transformation

Published

13 hours ago

on

September 23, 2026

By

Hong Kong

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 September 2026 – Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee announced the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) (2026-2030) and his fifth Policy Address on September 16, rolling out measures to further sharpen Hong Kong’s edge amid global competition, consolidate development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and promote green transformation.

Initiatives aim to support high-quality development of the GBA, align rules and mechanisms within the region, and promote cross-boundary collaboration.

 




 
 

“The HKSAR Government will continue its efforts in fostering synergistic development of the GBA,” said Mr Lee. “We will strengthen co‑operation in technological innovation, promote ‘hard connectivity’ in infrastructure, foster ‘soft connectivity’ by deepening the alignment of rules and mechanisms, and achieve ‘connectivity of hearts’ among residents of the three places.”

The HKSAR Government will continue to actively participate in the development of the various major co-operation platforms, including Qianhai of Shenzhen, Nansha of Guangzhou, Hengqin of Zhuhai and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Co-operation Zone, to promote mutual benefits.

In terms of “hard connectivity” the HKSAR Government will support Nansha in its role as a high‑standard gateway for opening up, including encouraging the trade to participate in Nansha’s infrastructure development.

“To promote the co‑ordinated development of rail transit in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, we are pressing ahead with the Northern Link Project and the Hong Kong‑Shenzhen Western Rail Link (Hung Shui Kiu‑Qianhai), with target commissioning in 2034 and 2035 respectively, to fully connect the rail transit networks of Hong Kong and Shenzhen,” Mr Lee said.

Regarding “soft connectivity”, Mr Lee said the HKSAR Government will set up a Task Force to explore ways to advance the alignment of rules and mechanisms within the GBA.

To achieve “Connectivity of Hearts” among residents across the GBA, Hong Kong will strengthen co-operation between its higher education institutions and those in other GBA cities by establishing cross‑disciplinary partnerships, facilitating scientific research, knowledge transfer, and commercialisation, with a view to promoting high‑level research.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Janice Tse, noted that the First Five-Year Plan clearly states that Hong Kong will participate in the development of the GBA into an international first‑class bay area and a world‑class city cluster with global influence.

“Hong Kong will forge closer alignment and synergy with the nine GBA cities in Guangdong Province and Macao, making full use of our respective advantages to jointly promote the high-quality development of the GBA,” Miss Tse said.

To foster financial development in the GBA, Hong Kong will continue to capitalise on institutional innovation, financial infrastructure upgrading and enhanced regulatory alignment to encourage the orderly flow of financial elements among GBA cities.

The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s Core Climate, in collaboration with the Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre, is working towards the pilot trading of national renewable‑energy, green electricity certificates in Hong Kong in 2026.

“On connecting the Chinese Mainland and the world, the HKSAR Government will continue to support green technology development through the HK$400 million (aboutUS$51 million) Green Tech Fund, leveraging Hong Kong’s function as a springboard for green technology and assisting national green technologies and products in going global,” said Hong Kong’sSecretary for Environment and Ecology, Tse Chin-wan. “On the development of hydrogen energy, we have participated in drafting national hydrogen energy standards with a view to helping these standards align with international practice.”

To meet the country’s “dual carbon” targets and fulfil Hong Kong’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality before 2050, the HKSAR Government steered the establishment of a production base for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Dongguan, leveraging the leading position of Hong Kong enterprises in the international SAF industry.

“By combining technology strengths with industrial foundation, Hong Kong and Guangdong will jointly develop a globally influential green industry,” Mr Lee said.

The HKSAR Government will take forward the construction of an SAF blending facility in Hong Kong to build an end‑to‑end SAF value chain and reduce logistics costs to make SAF prices more competitive. The target is to achieve an SAF consumption ratio of 1% to 3% for flights departing from Hong Kong International Airport in 2030.

Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan promotes the integrated development of culture, sports, and tourism, to develop the GBA into a cultured bay area.

Under the strategic framework of the Agreement on Strengthening of Sports Cooperation and Promotion of Integrated Development, Hong Kong will deepen co-operation, and strive to co‑organise important regional and international single‑sport events. It will also strengthen cultural exchanges, pass on Cantonese opera and the characteristics of Lingnan culture, and promote the sales and cross‑boundary exhibition of Hong Kong publications.
 




 

Continue Reading

Business

Alamein Africa Forum to bring together key political and business leaders

Published

14 hours ago

on

September 23, 2026

By

Alamein

The forum is to become the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future

CAIRO, Egypt, September 22, 2026/APO Group/ –The inaugural Alamein Africa Forum (https://AlameinForum.com/) will take place from October 2-4 in the historic city of Alamein on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in parallel with the 2026 African Union mid-year summit.

Established in response to a mandate from the African Union, which called for a permanent African Business Forum to convene biennially in Egypt, the inaugural edition will bring together Heads of State and official delegations as well as some key actors in business and finance.
 




 

The forum is to become the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future.

The Alamein Africa Forum will serve as a pan-African platform bringing together the private sector, investment and financial institutions

The Presidents of Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Senegal, Somalia, and South Africa are expected in Alamein as well as President Al Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt who is the host of this year’s AU Mid-Year Summit. Business leaders from across the continent have confirmed their participation including Ralph Mupita, MTN; Idrissa Nassa, Coris Bank; Mohamed El Ketani, Attijariwafa Bank; Hichem Eloumi, Groupe Shakira; Wale Tinubu, Oando; and many more. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s biggest industrialist is also expected to attend, with the organisers hoping to set up a Business Advisory Council to help advance private sector priorities and investment throughout the continent.

Bringing together leaders in politics, business and policy from across the continent, the Alamein Africa Forum will provide a unique opportunity to shape Africa’s growth agenda by aligning policy and investment priorities, mobilising partnerships for implementation and strengthening financing and investment pathways. The private sector must become an integral part of Agenda 2063, the AU’s strategic 50 year masterplan to transform the continent.

Co-organised by the Government of Egypt, Afreximbank, the African Union and AUDA-NEPAD, the Forum brings together Africa’s most influential decision-makers in an unprecedented alliance of public and private sector leadership.

Speaking on the imperative of the summit at a joint press conference by the government of Egypt and Afreximbank on Thursday, September 17 2026, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Expatriates Abroad said (https://apo-opa.co/4ygiQag): “The Alamein Africa Forum will serve as a pan-African platform bringing together the private sector, investment and financial institutions, and representatives of various productive and service sectors, to strengthen direct links between companies and markets and decision making at the highest level.”

Continuing, he noted that the Alamein Africa Forum is part of a series of high-level African events that Egypt will host in early October, stressing that holding the forum reflects Egypt’s commitment to advancing continental economic cooperation

In his own comments, Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank described (https://apo-opa.co/4ygiQag) the Alamein Africa Forum as a pan-African platform for promoting intra-African trade and investment and connecting the business community and financial institutions with priority projects and investment opportunities in the continent.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Alamein Africa Forum.

 




 

Continue Reading

Trending