The Dell Technologies Forum 2026 will take place at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in Johannesburg on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The event will gather business leaders and technology specialists to discuss how companies can scale artificial intelligence, upgrade infrastructure, and create more resilient digital environments.
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear presentations from Dell Technologies executives and specialists, participate in live demonstrations, and network with peers. The Forum will explore how modern infrastructure, intelligent devices, data-ready architecture, and AI expertise can drive the next stage of business growth.
Significance of the Event
For many organizations in South Africa, AI has moved beyond an experimental priority and has become a key factor in corporate technology strategy. According to IDC forecasts, AI spending in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) is projected to reach $319 billion in 2026, marking a 19.2% year-over-year increase and growing more than three times faster than total IT spending. This highlights the rapid transformation of budgets, infrastructure decisions, and business priorities by AI in the region.
These discussions are particularly relevant as companies across various industries seek to modernize their operations, boost productivity, strengthen resilience, and support increasingly demanding AI-driven digital workloads. Thus, the Dell Technologies Forum Johannesburg is a timely event for the local business and technology audience. The event is designed to assist organizations in making decisions regarding infrastructure, workplace, and security that will determine whether AI and digital transformation can scale effectively in real-world business operations.
The Forum is expected to cover several key topics:
- Real-world AI scaling: What companies need to implement to ensure safe, responsible, and effective AI operation across the entire business.
- Infrastructure without complexity: Why organizations require faster, fault-tolerant, and easily manageable technological foundations capable of supporting AI, analytics, and resource-intensive tasks while remaining aligned with business outcomes.
- Sovereign AI and trusted data: How companies can implement AI strategies that provide greater control over data, infrastructure, governance, and compliance, especially in South Africa where technology decisions are shaped by requirements for sovereignty, privacy, and regulation.
- AI-ready workplaces and intelligent devices: How modern endpoints, AI PCs, and smart devices can enhance employee productivity, collaboration, security, and experience.
- By design cyber resilience: Why data protection, recovery, security, and governance must be integrated into AI infrastructure, devices, and environments from the outset.
Habib Mahakian, Vice President for Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa in Dell Technologies' CEEMETA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa), stated that the adoption of AI has entered a new phase. He noted: 'For organizations in South Africa, the priority is no longer studying what AI can do, but ensuring the readiness of infrastructure, data, devices, security, and governance foundations to support this at scale. As conversations around sovereign AI, cyber resilience, and trusted data become increasingly important across South Africa, the Dell Technologies Forum Johannesburg will help customers focus on critical decisions—how to modernize confidently, reduce complexity, and build technological environments capable of delivering long-term business value.'