Ericsson has announced the semi-finalists for the annual Ericsson Application Awards with Team SOP from Nigeria and Team WorkMode from South Africa named as semi-finalists in the company category and the student category respectively.

Team SOP developed an application that allows users to receive push notifications on availability and analytics on electricity in their area. This is a first for Africa and will harness the power of big data to make people’s lives easier.

Team WorkMode developed an application that empowers workers of tomorrow to manage their time effectively while in and out of the office. The idea behind WorkMode is to allow employees to see, at a quick glance, the real-time work context of other employees, their tasks, and in which context these tasks can be completed.

The two teams from Africa are competing for the first place spot with teams from Germany, India, Bangladesh, Finland, Poland, United States, Macedonia and United Kingdom

”New behaviours and emerging technologies are changing how the workplace is organised. Young professionals have high expectations to stay connected at work and have different expectations on communication tools and work life in general.

“These teams have developed applications that have the potential to define our next generation of working life, we wish them all the best,” says Shiletsi Makhofane, head of Marketing and Strategy Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa.

The Ericsson Application Awards is an annual competition for application developers organised by Ericsson. The purpose of this year’s theme “Working Life” is to promote innovations that will change how businesses are organised, as well as how we organise work, collaborate and share.

The semi-finalist apps will be reviewed by representatives from three to four countries globally and resulting in the selection of the top two finalist teams in each category.

The winning teams will be selected by an international external jury, winning teams; in each category will receive €25 000 in prize money in each category.