Leadership Insights Blog by Peter Alkema

The use of hard cash as a percentage of total global payments is steadily declining but the key driver of its supply and demand is the consumer’s propensity to adopt alternatives such as digital transactions. The use of legal tender such as coins and notes has been declining in mature first world economies since the …

Moving Towards a Cashless Society Read More »

FNB Codefest is an Innovation contest run annually by FNB which includes a 48 hour coding marathon during which developers build innovative solutions to business problems. Three codefests have been held, two in 2015 and the third one in October 2016 which attracted over 250 participants who created over 30 working prototypes. A total of …

FNB Codefest and Agile: Collaboration Read More »

Managers can help Agile projects succeed if they understand their environment better. The previous article considered practical examples of how managers are affecting the environments of Agile projects in large organisations. While there are benefits to adopting Agile methods, most of its research and methodologies are focused on the inside-out aspects of running software development …

Agile in the Enterprise – A scenario model to help managers succeed: Part 2 of 2 Read More »

From one manager to another – you need to rethink your model of leadership. Agile Software development has its roots in iterative product development characterised by small, autonomous teams that are highly empowered. As early as 1986, Harvard Business professor of Strategy Hirota Takeuchi proposed changing the “relay race” or sequential approach of product development …

Creating the Best Environment for Succeeding at Agile:Part 1 of 2 Read More »

The future landscape of business remains highly unpredictable as the rules have changed so much in the last two decades. High school dropouts and software nerds are running multi-billion dollar companies while mobile phone apps and highly intuitive websites are disrupting 100 year old Fortune 500 firms. Former CEO of IBM Sam Palmisano epitomises the …

Winning at leadership in the 4th Industrial Revolution Read More »

FNB supports entrepreneurs with insights about tech and banking; #thisiswhywehelp The 4th Grindstone Accelerator workshop was held at ENS Africa’s offices in Cape Town, attended by techpreneurs such as Xuviate, Autopilot, Fonk and Picsa. A range of experts presented agenda topics such as intellectual property, due diligence, tax and culture, all of which aimed at …

Grindstone Accelerator Workshop and FNB Business Read More »

Field-tested, lean principles for high growth businesses and corporate projects that rely on disruptive, constant innovation for growth and sustainable success A business executive once told me that Agile is just a catch-phrase for making it up as we go along and “you IT guys need to get back to disciplined process” I didn’t disagree …

[Book Review] The Lean Startup by Eric Ries Read More »

The billionaire rocket-scientist and exponential thinker recently sat down with TED’s Chris Anderson for a wide ranging interview. Having disrupted a number of industries with his never-take-no-for-an-answer entrepreneurial flair there was keen interest in his latest physics defying venture. Musk is currently trying to solve Los Angeles’ traffic congestion problems by creating a 3D network …

Elon Musk gets boring: “I’m not trying to be anyone’s saviour” Read More »

Full-time MBA students at Wits University in Johannesburg study the management of technology and I was honoured to present a guest lecture as part of this learning module. Among a range of 4th industrial revolution topics we covered two brief case studies (Standard Bank and JP Morgan), exponentials and incumbents, the rise of the techpreneur …

Wits MBA guest lecture: Managing technology in the age of disruption and digitisation Read More »

As an IT leader you need to set a clear and compelling vision, make sure it’s business-friendly, backed by sensible financials and explains clearly how you will achieve it. According to Info-Tech research, only 50% of business leaders are satisfied with IT core services and less than 40% are satisfied with IT’s ability to deliver …

Developing an IT Strategy Read More »

JP Morgan recently unveiled new internal technology that reviews contracts using machine learning which is faster and more accurate than any human lawyer. The software robot is called Contract Intelligence (COIN), it literally reads contract loan agreements and according to this article could save 360,000 legal hours annually at the global financial services firm. The …

Robotic Process Automation – coming to a job near you! Read More »

The Institute for IT Professionals in South Africa recognises visionary IT leaders and personalities through an annual award supported by ITWeb, GIBS and Gartner. It showcases executives who have “demonstrated exceptional leadership in using technology to support and grow business.” CIOs of Standard Bank, Absa, Telkom, Discovery, Eskom and other leading South African companies made …

What is a Visionary CIO Read More »