South African businesses are under growing pressure to modernise their systems while keeping pace with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, as concerns mount over rising technology costs, outdated infrastructure and the growing demand for digital sovereignty.
These were among the key issues raised on Monday during a post-Red Hat Summit media roundtable in Bryanston, where technology leaders warned that African companies risk falling behind if they fail to prepare for a future increasingly shaped by automation and AI-driven systems.
While much of the global conversation around AI has focused on innovation and speed, executives at the event argued that businesses in Africa are facing a far more practical challenge: how to adopt new technology without overwhelming already stretched budgets and ageing systems.
Dion Harvey, Regional General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Red Hat, said many of the announcements made at the global summit in the US resonated strongly with African businesses because they addressed real operational pressures facing companies on the continent.
“The event was not all about just pushing the boundary on the next big thing. It truly felt like Red Hat was understanding the practical context of what our customers are going through today.”
Harvey said many organisations were still struggling with cloud adoption, modernisation and maintaining older systems while simultaneously trying to understand how AI fits into their businesses.
“The level of complexity is only getting bigger,” he said.
One of the strongest themes emerging from the discussion was the growing cost of AI adoption, particularly as companies move from basic generative AI tools to more advanced “agentic AI” systems capable of running tasks continuously with minimal human intervention.
Bruce Busansky, an application platform specialist at Red Hat, warned that many businesses underestimate how quickly AI costs can spiral.
Using a newsroom analogy, Busansky explained that AI systems operate like digital interns working around the clock.
“Same intern, same cost. But now look what I’ve got...And those fractional cents that I was paying that intern for every bit of information that they read or wrote has gone substantially way past your budget. And that ultimately is the token economy.”
Busansky said companies globally were already grappling with rising token consumption as AI systems become more powerful and widely used.
“The challenge today is because the world is becoming computer constrained,” he said.
“We’ve got enough power. We just don’t have enough computing.”
He added that the shift from generative AI to agentic AI was dramatically changing the scale of technology consumption.
“Agentic spools up long-running tasks, agents that spin up agents. And so, you're having this mini effect of the consumption of tokens sometimes without even realizing that's what you're doing.”
Beyond AI costs, another major concern raised during the roundtable was digital sovereignty, particularly as African governments and businesses become increasingly cautious about where their data is stored and who controls critical digital infrastructure.
Harvey said organisations were increasingly looking for technology platforms that offered greater flexibility and reduced reliance on a single global provider.
“What we want to do is give our customers the confidence to do what they need to do without having to think about it,” he said.
“We’ll give you a single platform to manage any kind of computing that you have to do… all in a safe and secure way.”
Executives said the conversation around AI in Africa was no longer theoretical, but centred on survival, efficiency and long-term competitiveness in an increasingly uncertain global economy.
“Modernising is mission critical...And legacy can never become too much of a risk.” Busansky said.
The Star
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