Despite the undeniable potential of IoT (Internet of
Things) technology to help address the glaring inefficiencies that exist in key
economic sectors on the continent-- such as agriculture and healthcare, it's
difficult to shake the cynical view that big business stands to gain far more
than any individual African citizen ever will by embracing the trend.
Moreover, there's no doubt that the average African
citizen is inadequately enlightened to all the possible associated risks they
might be exposed to should regulators permit IoT tech to become ubiquitous.
Aside from the potential for the abuse of personal data by lurking criminal
elements, it is plausible that allowing big business to freely harvest ever
increasing amounts of deep data on everything in and around our personal lives
could widen the economic and power gaps that currently exist between, say, a
subsistence farmer in rural Kenya and a corporate powerhouse like Seed Company.
In this podcast, Jacques de Vos, MD at Vodacom's IoT
subsidiary, Mezzanine Ware, argues that the adoption of IoT is predicated on
value. Listen in to hear why he believes that the mobile-led IoT services, such
as those his company is looking to enable, will deliver a win-win situation for
both the big-name corporate clients they serve, as well as the man on the
street, or indeed, the woman in the field.
Read also: Tech Roundup: IoT a trend to watch
You'll need to decide for yourself whether the trend
towards what is often more appropriately dubbed "the Internet of
Everything", should be approached with open optimism, or perhaps at best,
cautious pragmatism.
Andile Masuku is a broadcaster and
entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the Executive Producer
at AfricanTechRoundup.com. Follow him on Twitter @MasukuAndile and The African
Tech Round-up @africanroundup.