Although traditional business intelligence (BI) is currently seeing a definite upswing locally, SA does not yet seem ready for the wide adoption of corporate BI in the cloud.

MANY BI PROVIDERS have seen a rise in interest for this service lately, especially in the last six to 10 months. Much of this attention can be attributed to the latest King Report on Corporate Governance, King III.

The latest report, which resulted largely due not only to the anticipated new Companies Act, but also because of altering trends in governance on an international level, was released on 1 September 2009 and came into effect in March this year. Notably, King III deals in detail with the strategic role of IT and its significance from a governance perspective.

“King III is forcing companies to look at governance, which is not necessarily a bad thing,” explains Aldo van Tonder, CTO of AccTech Systems. “BI is fast becoming the number one priority for CIOs, and will soon become crucial to any organisation.”

Charl du Toit

The report has definitely had an effect on local BI maturity being achieved, as well as successfully bridging the gap between business and IT.

IN THE CLOUD
According to Gillian Ker-Fox, GM of Dimension Data, BI interest is rising significantly because companies have started to realise its true value. “It used to be that the enterprise was waiting to see what this technology was going to be all about, but now it is being widely adopted. Cloud computing, in fact, is currently at the ‘wait and see’ stage – business wants to see where it goes.” Sean Paine, director of Enterprise Worx, believes it will be at least another year before BI in the cloud makes it big locally. “BI deals with a large amount of data. Transporting terabytes of data in the cloud is currently not a viable option for local businesses. Once bandwidth speeds increase sufficiently – possibly in about a year’s time – the rate of cloud adoption will increase.”

Not surprisingly, latency remains the biggest concern for the successful adoption of cloud computing technologies, which is especially pertinent to BI. Says Ker-Fox: “BI deals with large amounts of data and although BI in the cloud is attracting a fair bit of local curiosity, there has been very little adoption. It is still very much in its infancy.”

SECURITY CONCERNS
Despite the obvious cost-saving that can be achieved through cloud computing, many businesses would rather pay more than risk having their data hosted outside of the company firewall. Although this seems to be another main barrier against general adoption, it may be less of an issue than some organisations realise.

“There are always dangers when you transport data,” explains Paine. “But we are seeing strong governance frameworks and sufficient technology being used and implemented locally. There are already several companies already keeping data off-site without the occurrence of breaches.”

According to Du Toit: “Among larger corporates, the perception still exists that there are security issues to accessing a BI solution via cloud computing, even if the reality is that technically the issues are virtually non-existent. There is no reason why most if not all BI functions can be done in the cloud – whether as a service (SaaS), or utilising cloud infrastructure and/or platform.” However, King III principles demand that the organisation has full control of data assets at all times. “BI in the cloud is almost in breach of corporate governance compliancy,” argues Mervyn Mooi, director of Knowledge Integration Dynamics. “This is currently a grey area,” he says. “But King III requires a business’ data to remain within its own domains. When using external hardware to host data, there is no guarantee that the data is being protected.”

Despite these barriers and various adoption issues, the cloud computing industry is definitely experiencing a worldwide boom, and will continue to increase in worldwide uptake, whether South Africa is ready or not. A recent Gartner report shows a growth of 16.6% worldwide for the cloud computing industry. Not surprising, considering the many benefits cloud computing can offer business, both large and small.

“As speed becomes less of an issue, storage capacity becomes almost infinite, and cloud providers become more mature regarding security, we might see more and more BI solutions being made available in the cloud, especially for the SME market,” Du Toit concludes.

I fall in love with my own shadow
As it grows in the setting sun.
While my feet beat the street like a drum
To the rhythm of none – but one.

The essence of my lessons flows through me
And with strength it whispers softly to me,
“Don’t inhibit – inhabit.”

The new month started with a bang as Tanz Café officially opened its new venue in Fourways on Thursday, 1 July, 2010. Prime Circle helped draw the crowds in – although I don’t think much urging was needed. Many loyal Tanz fans (from its rocking Bryanston days) were there as well as new.

Situated in The Buzz Shopping Centre (next to Hooters, with which many of you will be familiar), the new Tanz Café is far bigger than the old version. It now has two bar areas, a dining area (including the stage/live entertainment area), a lounge, upstairs balcony/viewing area and a large outside area with a marvellous view. There is no smoking inside, but the outside area is welcoming, social and has fire pits for warmth.

Sleek, modern, and spacious

I was invited by Prosound, which does the lighting and sound for the venue, and they let me have a peek at the band room, or “backstage” area (although its not technically behind the stage) and it’s a marked improvement from the single-couch-behind-black-curtain set-up that existed at the old venue. It is sleek, modern, and spacious.

I caught up with the owner of Tanz Café, Grant Van Zyl, and asked him for some insight behind the reasons for the move. “We needed a bigger venue so that we can host more people and cater for larger private functions,” he said. Top of the list, however, for the increase in floor space is to bring in bigger bands. “We are working on getting in more international acts and more well-known local acts to Tanz Café,” he said.

Positive feedback

According to Van Zyl, the response to the new venue has been very positive. “The people love the new venue,especially since it’s so central. There has also been great feedback about the live acts we have hosted so far.”

Although its focus might be to increase international acts and to draw in more established local bands, Tanz is definitely not shirking the smaller, lesser-known outfits. During a mingling session on the outside balcony, I ran into local band Delta Grove, a fairly new band with a blues/rock/punk sound. Two of its members, Mike Baldwin and Byron Kennedy, told me about Delta Grove Presents, a mini-festival held at Tanz Café once a month on a Saturday to showcase the country’s up-and-coming new talent – all gypsy-style and blues bands. The next one will be on 31 July from 2pm.

“The new venue is wicked,” Delta Grove agreed. “We’re very excited to see where it goes from here.”

The rest of the evening was spent among my very hospitable Prosound hosts enjoying Prime Circle’s show – truly, those boys never fail to impress! My dinner consisted of a delicious butternut soup and green chicken curry and there was plenty of red wine doing the rounds.

Having moved to the area recently, I am more than happy to be so close to Tanz Café – and look forward to seeing what acts they will be hosting in the near future. So far, so good …

A new Musica Megastore in The Zone @ Rosebank opened last week showing the company’s new vision for its retail outlets. The store is filled with CDs, DVDs, games, books, and accessories, and features live bands.

A life-sized Super Mario was eager to pose with guests for photographs at the launch, and free drinks and snacks were in constant supply. The 856m2 store is fitted with energy-efficient LED lighting and displays larger-than-life posters of movie scenes, CD covers and the like. The store also includes a colourful children’s section, and has both listening booths and gaming stations.

“It has taken us three years to make the transition from our original vision of ‘Listen with your Soul’ to providing consumers with the ultimate retail entertainment experience,” said Ralph Lorenz, MD of Musica. “Our focus areas through the revamp have been look, feel, and service.”

The new store offers over 14 000 CDs and 2500 DVDs across all genres.

Live performances in-store

Probably the most unique feature of the new Megastores is the regular live performances that will be taking place in-store. The shows will be followed by artist signings so that fans can get up close and personal with their favourite local idols. Artists like Kwela Tebza, TKZee, Mandoza and Ntando have already rocked shoppers.

The launch featured South African musician Louise Carver, who sang many of her best-loved ballads, including some from her new album “Look to the Edge”.

Other Megastores have already been rolled out at Cavendish Square, V&A Waterfront, and Canal Walk. Gateway in Durban will be the next shopping mall to unveil a revamped Musica.

More information and full gig-guides for live in-store performances can be found at www.musica.co.za.

As host, FHM never fails to impress and this year’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World party was no exception. On Friday, 21 May, 2010, The Corner House in Simmonds Street accommodated some of Johannesburg’s finest people, drinks, food and entertainment.

ProVerb

Master of Ceremonies ProVerb reminded the crowd how, every year, FHM readers get the chance to vote for who they think is the world’s most beautiful woman. The top 100 are revealed and compiled into a sexy supplement, which is published and packaged with the magazine’s July edition.

This year, the support was simply staggering. “There were 2 million votes this time around,” ProVerb told the crowd. “That is a growth of 1 million from last year!”

A 100 percent increase in nothing to scoff at. Neither was the celeb support shown at the event. Walking in on red carpet a la Hollywood, three lifts, each with its own operator, took VIPs and party-goers up to the seventh floor, where drinks and hot ladies were in plentiful supply, and DJ Ricky H spun the decks.

Scene and heard

Vanessa Carreira, our Miss SA 2001 and second runner-up for Miss Universe in 2002, made an appearance – with hardly a camera leaving her alone. Tracy McGregor, winner of 2008′s top 100 Sexiest Women in the World was there as well, and appears as number 14 in this year’s competition.

On the male front, Jacques Terre’blanche from Idols was at the party, as well as Irvin from Big Brother. Graeme Watkins, also from Idols fame, worked the crowd with his new pop-electro band, The Graeme Watkins project.

He revealed to Bizcommunity.com that the band will soon be releasing its first single, called Real World, followed by a European tour.

“I’m loving the event. I’ve been to an FHM party before and it’s always good,” he told me. “I’m just waiting for someone to jump out of a cake like last time.”

The Graeme Watkins Project consists of Ryno Zeelie on lead guitar, Rudo Pieterse on bass guitar, Matthew Marinus on drums and Graeme Watkins on vocals.

Fellow local musicians Gareth and Paul Wilson from Southern Gypsey Queen were also spotted. Paul Wilson often appears in Heat magazine’s sexiest men lists and calendars.

And the winner is …

Sexy FHM ladies

During the night, five lucky voters were called on stage to compete for the grand prize (worth R50 000) consisting of a 40-inch 3D LED Samsung TV, a Blue Ray player, and two 3D glasses. Having grabbed hold of the marked Miller’s bottle, Matthew Gregory scored the goods and, as ProVerb pointed out, would be having a very enjoyable FIFA World Cup viewing experience.

And after that, the moment everyone had been waiting for was upon us – the naming of FHM’s top sexiest woman in the world. And the winner is … 22-year-old Roxy Louw, daughter of former Springbok Rob Louw. As she danced on stage amid smoke and lights, the crowd went wild – cheering, whistling and clapping. Hagen Engler, editor of FHM, was there with a suitcase filled with R25 000 in cash for the deserving dame. Roxy had finished at number eight last year, and was voted FHM’s Girl of the Century in its 100th issue.

After the announcement, 19-year-old twin brothers Brian and Andrew Chaplin from Locnville took over the stage to wow the crowd with their well-known hits, including Sun In My Pocket.

All in all, a successful and very entertaining event – I will gladly don my dancing shoes for it again next year.

Locnville

Wayne Brady

Entertainer Wayne Brady has returned to South Africa to once again share his ‘Making it Up’ improvisation show with South African audiences. Meeting with him shortly after his arrival early this week was an extraordinarily inspirational experience for me. Here is what he had to say.

Ilva Pieterse: What is unique about ‘Making it Up’?

Wayne Brady: As the name implies, the show is improvisational and no two shows are ever the same. Audience involvement plays an important role because the more the audience is used, the clearer it becomes that the entertainment is being made up on the spot; that the show is being created right with their help. It will never be duplicated anywhere else ever, because it’s simply not possible. I’ve been doing this show in various incarnations for about 12 years now, and have been involved with improv for nearly 20 years.

IP: What do you think of South Africa?

Brady: Well, it’s good enough to have come back twice! Trust me, if I didn’t like it, there would be no reason for me to endure a 20-odd hour flight. I fell in love with the country when I first did my show here last year. The people are so nice – everyone that I have run into has been showing me warm camaraderie. Plus, the audiences here are great. I also love the food – I actually had to promise myself that this time I wouldn’t go quite so overboard in the sampling. Honestly, between the people and the food, you’ve got it made. I think I’ll come back as long as folks will have me.

IP: Have you got advice for aspiring entertainers?

Brady: Only advice I can give – and this will sound pretty vague – is just do what you do. By that I mean, if you know your strengths, do things that appeal to those strengths. There is nothing worse than watching a contestant on something like Idols that sounds like a donkey being kicked by a donkey. They know they can’t sing, their mom knows they can’t sing, their neighbours know they can’t sing, yet they’ll still fight with the judges. Don’t try to be famous. Anyone can be famous by doing something stupid and sadly, these days infamy often passes as fame. Know your strengths and become really good at them, even if it means going to a school of arts to learn more about it.

IP: What are your inspirations, both in life and professionally?

Brady: My daughter inspires me because she is the thing that I work for. My work also inspires me – I love doing what I do. I love being on stage; it’s the only thing I’ve ever done. It’s been my job since I was 16. The fact that I am pursuing my dream inspires me and keeps me pressing on. As for what inspires me career-wise, I started off as a kid loving Sammy Davis Jr and all of the old comics and black and white movie actors. Later, as I got older, I started looking up to guys like Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams. They are all incredible actors, incredible stand-ups, incredible improvisationalists – folks that did it all. That has pretty much been my mantra my whole career – I want to be able to do it all. I don’t do just one thing; I sing, dance, improvise, act. And folks always look for the magic trick, but there is no magic trick – it is hard work like any other job. Being an actor-singer-dancer-improvisationalist-writer – well, those all go hand-in-hand.

Wayne Brady

IP: Where to from here?

Brady: Well, I am stoked about my South African tour and can’t wait to interact with the people. I look forward to some of last year’s audience members returning to see a ‘different’ show, and to welcome the ones that missed it last time. I also look forward to having sceptics at the show – those that think shows like ‘Who’s Line is it Anyway?’ are not quite above board and possibly not improvised. Well, come on down, I will show you.

After this tour, I’m doing a bigger version of this show in Vegas at The Vencian. I’ll be starting on the second season of a game show that I host called ‘Let’s Make a Deal’, and finishing off my second musical album. I’ve also been writing a series of shorts to go with a kid’s album I made, which will be released by Disney on The Disney Channel.

‘Making it Up’ South African show dates:

Carnival City, Johannesburg – 13-15 May

Grand West Casino, Cape Town – 19-20 May

Durban ICC, Durban – 22 May

I caught up with The Sick Leaves front man Eksteen Jacobsz last week to chat about the new album; what’s in store for 2010; playing live, and the process of song writing. Here is what he had to say.

Eksteen Jacobsz

How has the third album “Last Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” been received since its launch last week?

The media has been good to us and we have received some good comments on our Facebook and MySpace pages. Many of them are saying how different it is from the previous albums, as we knew they would, but feedback has been positive.

What is the story behind the name of the album?

I read it in a book a while ago, the name stuck with me, and I really wanted to tie it in with the album. In this context, a “fairy” is something very dear to you in your life and you need to realise it can be taken away from you at any time. Be sure to look after your “fairies” and nurture them.

What is your favourite song on the album?

My favourite is “Run Away”. As a song, it is the one that is best tied-together. Lyrically, it is unique and says a lot. Musically, it is the best of three albums in terms of chord progressions. Also, it was one of the easier to put together.

What is your favourite part about performing live?

I love the energy and immediacy that comes with live performances. In studio, a song only comes out about three to four months later and then you still have to sit back and wait for feedback. It is best to play songs live first before taking them to the studio. When you play live there is a lot of excitement that you can feed off. Also, from being on the road, you can meet new people, and see new places.

What is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you on stage?

There are always ridiculous things happening. For example, I once almost lit a stage on fire in Mossel Bay. We also had the bassist lose his spectacles on stage once, and the look on his face was classic.

Has it always been your dream to be a musician?

When I was kid, I always liked music and having it around me. I only took up guitar and started to play in high school at the age of 17, though, which is quite late compared to most. It pretty soon became more than a hobby, so I went to London to check out the scene over there. From the beginning I loved writing songs and I had written hundreds before I started The Sick Leaves in 2005.

What is the best part about being a musician?

The best part for me is writing new songs – seeing where they are going, developing them, and coming out with the complete song. Although you never know when a song is finished. A year or two will pass after recording and you’ll think “why didn’t do this?”, but that always happens as you gain more experience. The trick is to leave it once it is recorded. You can sometimes modify it live, but just for experimental reasons. All you can do is to work really hard at it – once you find you are going in circles and not moving forward, it is a good indication to stop.

Do you write songs alone, with mates, or with your band?

I prefer to do solo song writing. It is a different process when you write songs with others – it is a compromise. I have tried it in the past, and I find it is a much quicker process when writing alone. It gets harder the more people there are. Some bands are lucky, though, they find a formula and write songs according to that.

What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry?

Firstly, learn how to play an instrument and be as good as you can be on it. Secondly, surround yourself with the right people – realise that whatever it is you are gonna do, you cannot do it alone. One very important thing to keep in mind – probably the most important – is to get a manager or an agent to promote you. Remember, you should be focusing on the music. And, finally, don’t do half a job. You need to go into this with everything you can. Stay committed and don’t just do half a job.

What is your strategy for the next six months?

My primary aim is to push the new album. We’re playing Splashy Fen on 1 April and will be doing a whole bunch more live performances this year. I am also thinking about going overseas – most probably England. I feel The Sick Leaves’ sound would work in England rather than in a diverse country like America, so I’m are going to aim there for now.

- Ilva