Peter Alkema

Peter helps lead digital transformation at FirstRand, the biggest financial services group in Africa. In 2020 he completed his PhD at Wits University and developed a ground-breaking theory of Agile teams. In 2016 he was awarded Visionary CIO of the year by ITWeb and Gartner. His first book has sold over 10,000 copies and his edx.com course has been completed by over 10,000 people. He is passionate about helping you be smarter. Connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

Fostering cooperation with start-ups

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. In a recent Harvard Business Review article titled ’Big Companies Should Collaborate with Startups’, the author outlined the rationales and how imperative it is for the large organisations to partner with emerging entrepreneurs. The new …

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Embracing agile with zeal

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. Increasing competition in the financial services sector has motivated South African banks to embrace Agile and DevOps methodologies. Agile is an approach that emphasises the product development process with quick, iterative product development. Through the …

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FirstRand Tech Month is a wrap; how we energised our IT and innovation community

Loads of “cool stuff” outcomes in the last month helped drive collaboration, skills and awareness across FirstRand. Over 2000 people were involved with Wethinkcode, FNB Codefest, Africa DevOps Day, Ideation Day, Leadership Conference, Masterclasses and Xfest. Aki Anastasiou on CNBC Africa talks to FNB about FirstRand’s “tech month” including Codefest, DevOps Day, Xfest and much more …

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Innovation In Business; How to Thrive Despite the Threats

African entrepreneurs taking on Silicon Valley got their big break at this year’s MTN Business Aspiring Innovators Programme. In its second year, the main event took place at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Africa 2016, arguably the world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. According to Gartner, CEOs globally are expecting an 80% uplift …

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Banking under siege by new entrants and new technology; inflection point or Kodak moment?

People and businesses will always need banking, but will they always need banks? This question is driving a wave of disruption and new thinking in the industry. Discovery has announced plans to enter the local retail banking market; telco and tech companies are making similar moves. Fintech is offering completely new ways of doing business and customers are …

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FirstRand IT Leadership Conference: Industry insights for the future of banking

More than 200 tech leaders from FNB, RMB, Wesbank, Ashburton and Corporate Centre convened on Zebula Bush Lodge for a couple of days to grapple with the forces driving the industry. Strategic suppliers were on hand to advise on the latest topics such as big data, cognitive computing, digitisation, cyber security and blockchain. Conference attendees enjoyed networking with colleagues …

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