Message of the week 13 - 17 May 2019

The anchor of the boat amid the sea’s undulations? Our ethics 

With the tsunami of technological change happening, sometimes, it’s hard to find the still point and reassess what we stand for and our role in the world (more than ever) as guardians of truth and morality.

I received the Institute of Information Technology Professionals (IITPSA) communique and I couldn’t have said parts of it better: “While IT professionals thrive on change and innovation, there are some aspects of our work which I believe should not change. Our approach to planning, modelling and testing, for example, should remain rooted in the old-style diligence that made the IT sector great.

”Our founder, Dr Kazuo Inamori said that the question which guides our most basic decision-making criteria is “What is the right thing to do as a human being?”. This makes it simple for us.

I believe that some of the recent ethical hiccups in the ICT industry in South Africa are due to businesses not knowing how to set pricing and how to ensure profitability, whilst keeping ethics as a top priority. Dr Inamori’s sixth management principle is about price setting. This kind of wisdom guides the way through the dark and the uncertainty of change.

Finding that one point where customers are happy and the company is most profitable, is both an art and a science and it anchors our boat in the ever-changing seas of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Werner Engelbrecht - General Manager - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa