What's Next with Aki Anastasiou What's Next

In this What’s Next in Business Banking interview with Aki Anastasiou, Investec Business Banking’s Hazel Banach and Dr Greg Cline discuss finding the right lending and import partner.

Hazel Banach is the Head of Product for Investec’s business lending division and boasts extensive experience in areas like business development, key account management, and product development.

Dr Greg Cline boasts a career spanning over 20 years and is currently the Head of Corporate Accounts at Investec Business.

The interview begins with Banach outlining the opportunities and challenges businesses grapple with regarding business banking – particularly in the mid-market sector.

Banach also notes how views on debt have changed in this sector, before detailing the funding options these businesses can access to support their growth strategies.

Cline then explains how Investec Business simplifies imports for mid-market businesses through its fully integrated trade and import support.

Cline also details how this support helps these mid-market businesses retain competitive rates and generate cost savings.

Banach and Dr Cline conclude the interview by offering their advice to businesses looking for a lending and import partner that will put them first.

Investec Bank Limited registration number 1969/004763/06, an Authorised Financial Services Provider (11750), a Registered Credit Provider (NCRCP 9), an authorised Over the Counter Derivatives Provider and a member of the JSE. Investec is committed to the Code of Banking Practice as regulated by the National Financial Ombud Scheme. Copies of the Code and the Ombudsman's details are available on request or Investec COBP.

In this interview with Aki Anastasiou, Cipherwave CEO Shamith Maharaj discusses Cipherwave’s partnership with OADC to deliver cloud services through its data centres.

Maharaj has extensive knowledge in project management, network design, network activations, network operations, network management, IT management, and service assurance.

He previously worked at CMC Networks for over 14 years, serving as the Head of NOC (Network Operations Centre) and Service Assurance, and then as the Vice President of Global Network Operations.

Maharaj begins this interview by discussing Cipherwave’s main cloud services and the importance of partnering with OADC to deliver these cloud services using OADC’s data centres.

He then explains the key benefits of this partnership, including world-class security, an extensive network of data centre infrastructure, and fantastic power rates.

Maharaj also discusses the cloud technologies and trends that Cipherwave is keeping an eye on for the future.

He concludes the interview by giving viewers a sneak peek at the presentation he will give at the 2024 Cloud and Security Conference.

In this Driving Sustainability with Aki Anastasiou interview, SolarAfrica Head of Commercial Brandon Horn discusses the impact of rising electricity prices on South African businesses.

Horn boasts over 16 years of sales and business development experience, and has a proven track record of driving sales growth and business expansion.

Horn begins the interview by discussing the current electricity prices in South Africa.

He explains that while there is plenty of doom and gloom about these tariffs, businesses can protect themselves against rising electricity prices by embracing electricity wheeling.

Horn then discusses the intricacies of what electricity wheeling is and how it helps businesses save money.

He also provides a practical example of this service in action.

Horn concludes the interview by explaining how businesses can determine if wheeling is the right choice for their electricity needs.

In this Investec What’s Next in Business Banking interview, Investec’s Kevin Hogan and Thivian Moodley discuss the importance of security in business banking.

Hogan is the Head of Fraud Risk at Investec. He has worked in the banking industry for 21 years — first as a credit analyst at Nedbank and then as part of the first retail banking fraud prevention team, which he led until 2009.

Moodley is the Head of Product and Development for Investec Bank’s Transactional Products and Solutions, and Client Value Proposition segments. He leads the team responsible for building and launching the Investec Business Transactional Banking platform for business and corporate clients.

Hogan begins the interview by discussing the changing cybersecurity landscape and which threats are particularly prominent at the moment.

Moodley then explains how Investec implements security measures into its business banking products, noting how it approaches the challenge of balancing security with a great customer experience.

Hogan also discusses which security tools are indispensable for business banking, while Moodley explains how smaller businesses can protect themselves without the huge budgets of a large enterprise.

Moodley then discusses the key focus areas that Invested Business Banking is examining right now, particularly in the mid-market segment.

He touches on the PayShap rapid payments programme RPP and its security benefits — including reducing the amount of physical cash South Africans use and more secure payment authorisations.

Hogan concludes the interview by explaining the importance of customer education, noting that modern threats are still underpinned by the same fundamental premise – social engineering.

Investec Bank Limited registration number 1969/004763/06, an Authorised Financial Services Provider (11750), a Registered Credit Provider (NCRCP 9), an authorised Over the Counter Derivatives Provider and a member of the JSE. Investec is committed to the Code of Banking Practice as regulated by the National Financial Ombud Scheme. Copies of the Code and the Ombudsman's details are available on request or Investec COBP.

In this What’s Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Head of MarTech and Data Product at CloudSmiths Anton Kopytov explains the benefits of Salesforce Data Cloud.

Kopytov is a visionary technology leader with over two decades of experience leading digital transformations across various industries.

He is renowned for crafting robust technical roadmaps and driving significant organisational advancements globally.

Kopytov begins this interview by explaining what CloudSmiths does and what his role at the company entails.

He then discusses the role CloudSmiths plays as a Salesforce Partner, before expanding on the value of Salesforce Data Cloud for South African businesses.

Kopytov explains how it helps businesses thrive in a rapidly evolving data landscape by helping them better understand their customers – and how CloudSmiths approaches integrating Salesforce Data Cloud into its clients’ systems.

Kopytov also covers several emerging trends in the data management sector – including AI and machine learning – and discusses how CloudSmiths takes these trends into account when helping its clients leverage the full power of Salesforce Data Cloud.

He concludes the interview by sharing how their Salesforce Data Cloud Workshops help participants learn more about the solution and how it addresses specific business challenges.

Find out more about CloudSmiths Data Cloud Workshop here: https://ww2.cloudsmiths.co.za/datacloud

In this What’s Next in Business Banking interview, Investec Head of Treasury Sales and Structuring Dhiren Mansingh, and Investec Head of Digital for South Africa Davina Maharaj, discuss the evolution of business banking in South Africa.

Mansingh has worked at Investec since 2011. He specialises in many areas, including interest rates, the money market, foreign exchange, commodities, and equities.

Maharaj has been with Investec for 20 years and has accumulated experience in both client-facing and technology-focused roles.

Mansingh begins the interview by unpacking how business banking has evolved in recent years, while Maharaj explains how this has been driven by digital technology.

This leads Mansingh to answer the pressing question: With the rise of digital interfacing, do customer relationships still matter?

Mansingh then outlines what he is seeing in the digital payments sector in South Africa, noting that large volumes of physical cash transactions are set to be replaced by PayShap — South Africa’s real-time rapid payments programme.

Maharaj also covers the critical topic of security, noting that Investec Business Banking is in a position of incredible trust with its clients — and for good reason.

Mansingh and Maharaj conclude by explaining what we can expect from business banking in the future, especially in the mid-market.

Investec Bank Limited registration number 1969/004763/06, an Authorised Financial Services Provider (11750), a Registered Credit Provider (NCRCP 9), an authorised Over the Counter Derivatives Provider and a member of the JSE. Investec is committed to the Code of Banking Practice as regulated by the National Financial Ombud Scheme. Copies of the Code and the Ombudsman's details are available on request or Investec COBP.