Sunday Independent 2021-12-05

David Meintjes One of the most important considerations for businesses, as they strive to squeeze out efficiencies and become more competitive, is understanding that to be relevant and appealing, they need an intelligent business communication platform. This implies the ability to adapt and react based on real-time insights. At the heart of having an intelligent communication platform is making sure the customer journey throughout the business is easy and the touch-points are pleasant. Everyone will have a host of positive and negative experiences. Let’s take a moment to think about the last time we were stuck in a seemingly endless contact-centre vortex as a customer, where every new agent had no idea who we were, what we needed or how to solve our problem. Those days are ending, precisely…

Wesley Diphoko wesley@fastcompany.co.za Jack Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO this week, for the second time. This time around he leaves the social media platform in a far better position than his first term as a leader. Although his second term was clouded by his dual roles at Twitter and Square, he turned Twitter around to become a public utility. When he booted out the 45th president of the US from the platform the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth fought tooth and nail to keep his Twitter account of million followers. Dorsey does not get enough credit for the role he played at Twitter. Under his leadership, Twitter was not just a piece of technology but a values-driven company that took seriously its role as a platform…

REGARDLESS of what industry you’re in, there’s no denying that the work environment is very different now to what it was two years ago. New health and safety policies have been introduced to workplaces, many employees now spend most of their week working from home and, unfortunately, many people had to be let go of from their jobs, or take a pay cut. In addition, employers have also been faced with many other tough quandaries such as whether to implement a vaccination mandate, the disciplinary process around violations of their new Covid-19 safety protocols, and how to approach possible lay-offs and new hires in the future. Of course, this is no simple feat for business owners who want to ensure they are compliant with the regulations and employment laws. While…

Siphelele dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE R50 billion economic destruction left by civil unrest and looting of businesses in July will have a lingering impact on South Africa’s prospects to reduce its unemployment rate, especially in the country’s economic hubs. The violent unrest found fertile ground to worsen the country’s jobless rate as economic activity was beset by supply-chain disruptions, lockdown restrictions and an energy crisis. As a result, it did not come as a shock when, earlier this week, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealed that the unemployment rate increased to a 13-year high in the three months to September, mainly due to the unrest. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey showed that the jobless rate has risen by 0.5 percent, from 34.4 percent to 34.9 percent. Stats…

It is said “it takes a village to grow anddevelop a child” this couldn’t be more true for our country, it will take all sectors of the economy to come together and develop “this child”(country) if we want to see “this child”(country) grow. The title of the lecture is beautiful for learning however it comes with sorrow, to imagine that after so many years of inclusivity articles written by government and all forms of policy written, we still find ourselves having to explain the importance of inclusivity in any sector. With that being said, who better has shown the nation that its possible other than Saul Gumede himself, to contribute to the development of a sector from its roots, trunk and branches. Today the real estate sector stands like…

Bethonie Butler TONY Soprano (James Gandolfini) had just finished detailing the sorrow and helplessness he felt over his son’s depression when the tears welling up in his eyes turned to seething anger. “It’s in his blood,” the sensitive mob boss told his psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) in a memorable Season 6 episode. “My rotten ... putrid genes have infected my kid’s soul. That’s my gift to my son.” It’s been more than 20 years since Tony reluctantly sat down in Melfi’s office, where he was referred after suffering a panic attack. And although The Sopranos wasn’t the first TV series to feature a therapist character, many practitioners cited it as a refreshingly authentic representation of what therapy actually is. Tony’s competent and compassionate shrink set a new standard. In…