This year's Oracle Day themed 'digital disruption' hit close to home. It had everything to do with Kenya's near future digitally. With the government looking to automate operations in the country both public and private, what oracle has to offer in conjunction with the government is exactly what Kenyan citizens need.

Kenya has in the recent past registered fast technology adoption that qualifies it a potential hub for major technology set-ups and companies. The speed at which organizations are adopting technology is elevating by day.  Cloud computing is now a term we have looked at over and over and maybe it is too huge a word and seems impossible to have practically but this should be no worry anymore.

Cloud technology allows companies to maximize on innovation .End users can access this services through normal browsers on computing devices – PC, Ipad, Mobile Phones etc. Therefore end users do not have to manage or scale the IT infrastructure resources and instead focus on their core businesses. Cloud technology also has innovation around it; Mobile app framework, mobile security, mobile cloud service and mobile app accelerator.

This is as easy as using mobile devices to do business as opposed to acquiring complex machinery this means reduced running/capital costs ,increased   productivity, mobility, collaboration and profitability of businesses.

Big data is also one the Kenyan technology market is looking at.  This is used to capture, curate, manage and process data within elapsed time. In a normal setting, all big data does is eradicate decisions by  HIPPO (Highest paid person in the Organization) before Big data analysis came in, head individuals in  companies were the ones depended on for guidance and decision making. Those were just some of the trending topics at the Oracle Day.

The day's theme was Digital Disruption. What is Digital Disruption?

It sounds so oxymoron but it means exactly that, Disruption by the digital world.  It is fundamentally better alternative for solving a customer problem, in a cheaper, quicker and more convenient manner with technology playing a key enabling role.  Think about online shopping disrupting physical shopping in the market. Even  more practical, think about how easy it is to open a business today through your mobile device as opposed to buying infrastructure in order to put up a shop.

This is disruption with best motives at heart. Disruption meant to boost the industry and at the same time a way of convenience.  Around the business environment it's clear that the velocity of change we experience as a consequence of digital technology is unprecedented and in most cases unpredictable. There have been many waves of change and the frequency of this is only growing.

Across the last three decades we have seen mainframes disrupted by minicomputers, which in turn were disrupted by PCs. Then the Internet brought a completely new paradigm, followed by mobile technology being launched at a rapid rate into the market. We now see wearable technology and 3D printing knocking on the door to introduce another wave of change in health, manufacturing and no doubt many other industry sectors.

  • Reduced Cost
  • Employee productivity
  • Ease of management
  • Reliability
  • Superior performance

These are the major impacts of Digital disruption on organizations and individuals today. This will hence result to shifting budgets to innovations from overseeing operations and maintenance as well as great customer experience. Today, 44% of customers are using digital platforms for customer experience, 30% for operational improvement and 26% for new business and platforms.

Digital disruption is already on in Kenya and only left to advance. A good number of institutions; Universities, telcos, innovation hubs and the government already have disruption going on and things are looking up good. Investment just shifted to knowledge. Oracle is in the same breathe looking to put up an East African hub centre in Nairobi soon as implementation falls in place with a strategy  of taking disruption to the next level by inspiring the country's future who are the youth of today.