CIO East Africa October 2016 Edition

VOL 8 | ISSUE 10 | www.cio.co.ke

LEADERSHIP TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS

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PETER GITAU

Exploiting technology for better user experience at Standard Chartered Bank

October 2016

Muya Wins iCMG Global 20 Peter Business CIO Award 2016 mega-project leadership to 29 Focused make Konza Techno City a reality JAMME on inspiring 33 MARIEMME Africa’s future through tech Kshs. 300 Ushs. 9,000 Tshs. 6,000 RWF. 2,200 Rest of the World US $ 9

An publication

Manage power your way

Intelligent power management for converged and hyper-converged infrastructure solutions

Converged and hyperconverged infrastructures are compelling architectures for IT organizations. Despite their sophistication, unplanned power and environmental events can have a detrimental impact on these infrastructures and lead to devastating consequences including operational downtime and reputational damage.

Eaton´s intelligent virtualization and cloud-ready power management solutions provide the essential bridge between IT infrastructure and efficient power management. They help optimize uptime, protect data integrity and maintain business continuity while simultaneously improving overall IT efficiency and reducing costs.

Learn more at www.eaton.eu/converged Manage power your way. With Eaton.

Intelligent Power Management—Manage Power Your Way

The five components of intelligent power management for converged and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions Your role has never been more challenging, with your IT infrastructure facing unprecedented growth, unparalleled workloads and unpredictable demands from users. Like many other IT organizations, you may be responding by adopting a converged or hyperconverged architecture.

The five key components of intelligent power management When you come to select your intelligent power management solution, here are five key components to look for to make sure you get the most benefit for your data center:

But, despite the sophistication of these modern architectures, they will underperform in the absence of one commonly neglected part of the infrastructure: an intelligent power management solution.

• Choose a solution that has been certified by the leading virtualization, converged and hyperconverged infrastructure vendors, so you can avoid any integration issues.

An unaffordable risk The reality is that converged and hyperconverged infrastructures are even more vulnerable to network downtime and the subsequent consequences—including reputational damage—than traditional architectures. Why? Because they combine compute, storage and networking in just one box so that any power outage could affect all these critical elements of the infrastructure at the same time.

• Look for a power management provider who can provide an end-to-end solution, from the UPS right through to the racks, cabling and power management software.

• Adopt a modular, scalable solution that allows for pay-as-you-grow (just like the rest of your data center).

And with mobility, virtualization, the cloud and the internet of things all dramatically increasing data volumes, downtime is simply unaffordable. In fact, a recent survey put the average annual cost of downtime for a large organization (1000+ employees) at a staggering €2.5m1. And for smaller businesses (100-1,000 employees) the average cost per hour still stands at over €66 thousand1.

• Simplify your job with a solution that has intelligent power distribution that enables load balancing and reveals locations with spare power capacity.

• Increase uptime with a solution that has the ability to automate business continuity and disaster recovery policies in the incident of a power outage or environmental event.

Intelligent power management: manage power your way Virtualization and cloud have made computing capacity dynamic—workloads, applications and storage are moved around both within and among data centers as business needs dictate. To ensure peak operating efficiency, data centers must monitor and manage power supply and distribution at a granular level, using an intelligent power management solution.

With intelligent virtualization-ready power management, you have the ability to monitor power from your virtualization dashboard and automate disaster recovery policies on power and environmental events. This gives you the opportunity to increase an uptime for your converged or hyperconverged infrastructure, ensure data integrity and business continuity.

Lower costs, better business continuity Eaton offers all these components, delivering a power management solution that unites efficiency with uptime, demand with capacity, reliability with availability, expertise with innovation. Your business stays alive.

Source: Eaton and Tech Target survey: How “software defined” is redefining the data center

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Learn more at www.eaton.eu/converged

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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Harry Hare EDITOR Davis Weddi TECHNICAL STAFF WRITERS Lillian Mutegi Baraka Jefwa Jeanette Oloo COLUMNISTS Bobby Yawe Sam Mwangi HEAD OF SALES & MARKETING Andrew Karanja BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Njambi Waruhiu ACCOUNT MANAGERS Amuyunzu Oscar Vanessa Obura SUBSCRIPTION & EVENTS Ellen Magembe Mellisa Dorsila DESIGN Nebojsa Dolovacki Published By

Printed By:

Offset Printing Ltd. Contacts

Davis Weddi

Prepare, CIOs in East Africa will gather soon HAVING LIVED IN NAIROBI FOR ALMOST A YEAR NOW, I MUST MENTION THAT I SEEM TO BE OBSERVING SOMETHING IN THE LINE OF EAST AFRICA SLOWLY BUT SURELY CHANGING, WITH ITS OWN WAY OF DOING THINGS.

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nlike South Africa the home of MTN, East Africans are jumping out of the situation of a non-bankable people and what is doing it for them? It is Mobile Money technology that is changing the region forever.

On the contrary, South Africans have shown a critical reluctance to adopt Mobile Money and telecoms like MTN who took MM to South Africa are actually losing out – there are indications right now that they may have to close down the entire operation entirely.

This month, our CIO East Africa base along Limuru Road in Nairobi is going to be a beehive of activity. There is a frenzy developing here at CIO East Africa. Suddenly, we have become busier than usual. Everyone is doing something and all members are determined to achieve a specific goal – to deliver the most memorable CIO 100 Symposium and Awards event ever seen in the region. While this is going on, I have seen our audience responding proactively. There are those who are judiciously filling in the CIO100 Survey. There are companies that have booked entire tables for their staff. I have also discovered that a number of CEOs in Nairobi are planning to storm this event to join the largest party of CIOs and IT Leaders, they surely can’t be seen missing to show-off the products and services they have worked so hard to bring to the market. If you company has not yet registered to be at CIO100 symposium and awards, you might

need to remind management. There are many ways to participate, ranging from registering to participate to sponsoring winners. It will surely be better and unlike previous CIO100 events. The survey team has confirmed that response to the call to participate has been fantastic.

This October, we bring forth a mix of stories ranging from an explanation of how the CIO100 Awards are done and how winners list is drawn.

We have also brought on to our pages Eng. John Tanui the CEO of what is probably East Africa’s biggest Techcity project, he explains how he is handling the project, which many believe may spur the equivalent of a Silicon Valley effect for the region.

Interesting is a development that could easily be overlooked. We have brought you a story about the Kenyan who has won the Global Business CIO Award.

Read on to get the details.

Our columnists did not sleep either, they have captured an array of interesting topics with big revelations that will keep you fully informed and entertained.

Last but not least, our doors are open to suggestions from you the readers. We are in the process of delivering a new design of the Magazine and if you have any comments, kindly discuss with me using the link below. Otherwise, I wish you happy reading this October.

eDevelopment House : 604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga : P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi : Kenya +254 725 855 249, Email: info@cio.co.ke

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The content of CIO East Africa is protected by copyright law, full details of which are available from the publisher. While great care has been taken in the receipt and handling of material, production and accuracy of content in this magazine, the publisher will not accept any responsility for any errors, loss or ommisions which may occur.

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SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION

TO CONTACT ME:

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

QUOTED VERBATIM

Peter Gitau CIO Standard Chartered Bank (East Africa)

“Always the challenge of head of IT, CIO, is to make sure things are running and running well; in the areas of system stability and availability, change management, and making sure you get the balance in cost management right,”

FROM OUR ONLINE LOCATIONS 5 Most popular stories >> on www.cio.co.ke Here come the solar-powered Wi-Fi hotspots for African schools Safaricom CEO named Africa investor Business Leader of the Year Google Drive gets machine-learning search features

Eng. John Tanui the CEO of Konza Technopolis Development Authority

Delano Longwe Columnist - CIO East Africa

Ben Roberts CEO Liquid Telecom

“Besides the construction of Konza in terms of the real estate component, we are building the Kenyan innovation ecosystem which requires active participation of all of us. The country has excelled in other areas like Logistics, sports, diplomacy, business and financial services but there is much more to be done in making Kenya a Technology/ innovation hub.”

“We’ve always expected the future to arrive in dramatic fashion with innovation and solutions that wipe away work challenges in an instant however the thought has rarely dawned on many of us that the hard work and labor in one’s field of chosen vocational interest can be so quickly vanquished into obsolescence due to a highly intelligent inanimate object (perhaps animation is the 5th Industrial revolution).”

“Protecting children online is a global problem that requires concerted efforts of parents, guardians, government and organisations that focus on children.

Initiatives such as Child Online Protection (POC), will be crucial in supporting Kenya’s transition to digital learning.”

www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

#oow16: Oracle extends support to the developer community through new cloud services and initiatives Dell acquires EMC Corporation

5 Top >> facebook.com/ cioeastafrica posts – with highest reach Eaton Electric Kenya has signed on to CIO Symposium INDOAFRICAEXPO South Sudan to prioritise Uganda connection SEACOM launches direct corporate services in Kenya SEACOM is Ruby sponsor for CIO 100 Symposium Safaricom CEO named investor business leader of the year

5 Top >> Tweets with highest reaction Thomas Kurian: Oracle Cloud runs all software stacks providing an amazing experience for those using Open Source #oow16 After Nigeria #Zuckerberg is now in Kenya!

In attendance @ #AITECBanking where @ aitecafrica will touch on trending tech with 60+ speakers @alykhansatchu Karanja, points to Sidian preferring behavioral pattern data to asses clients when giving loans. #AITECBanking Dr. Fred Matiangi says that the Digital Literacy Programme will be for all learners. “There are no private or pulic children” #CBS2016 5

GUEST EDITORIAL

BY BOB COLLYMORE

The Secret To Innovation NO ONE TALKS ABOUT INNOVATION NOT ONLY FORMS THE BIGGEST PART OF MY ORGANISATION’S DNA, IT IS THE FLUID THAT KEEPS THE BRAND YOUTHFUL, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY IN THE FASTPACED MOBILE INDUSTRY, RELEVANT.

To the outside eye, Safaricom’s success story can look effortless.

But on the road to success, we have met innovation’s ugly sister – failure – several times.

For instance, about four years ago, we decided to launch Daktari 1525 (‘Daktari’ means doctor in Swahili and 1525 was the short-code). It was a tele-triage service where customers could dial a number and speak to a doctor 24 hours a day to get first level healthcare, information and emergency services.

In a country where patient to doctor ratios can be over ten times the levels recommended by World Health Organisation but where every adult had access to a mobile line, Daktari 1525 was a first test of how transformative mobile could be for the health sector.

Situated at the intersection between need and opportunity, the product ticked all the right boxes.

It was award-winning stuff.

With little prompting, Safaricom suddenly found itself in the company of the world’s giants like Uber, Amazon or Target when we placed ninth on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies Awards in 2013. The award recognised the company for bridging a health care gap with telecom.

In the short 12 months of its existence, Daktari 1525 touched over 195,000 lives, with daily call rates growing from 290 calls a day shortly after launch to an average 1,500 a day.

With all the outward successes, it was understandably difficult to make the decision to shut the product down after just 12 months.

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Daktari 1525 was not a bad product, it was just poorly executed.

The market was ready but the approach was wrong. It took us a while to understand how to turn that failure to improvement but at least we got there in the end.

Where did it all go wrong?

After some deep analysis, we realised that subscribers were not getting the value they expected during the call. In short, it was difficult to establish the right level of triage using a simple one minute conversation.

Doctors who were supposed to be on call, were not.

And for many reasons, our relationship with the implementing partner for Daktari 1525 was not working. We soon realised pulling the product out of the market was inevitable despite its successes.

A few years later we find new partners where our visions are more aligned, build a brand new product, reconfigure the features and benefits for the customer and launch “Sema Doc” (Talk to the Doctor.)

Too often, when products fail, they are quickly swept under the carpet and focus quickly moves to the next big launch. And this is no more true than in my company.

THREE TIPS ON ‘FAILING UP’ 1. FAIL FAST. Don’t keep doing something if your instincts and the market tell you otherwise, no matter how successful it may appear to be nor how much you have sunk into the product or idea.

2. FIND THE BLACK BOX. The first priority for an airline after a crash is to find the black box. Without these Black Boxes flying would not be as safe as it is today.

3. SEPARATE THE PERSON FROM THE ISSUE. If you don’t do this you will never realise the real lessons from the failure.

Very few individuals or companies realise the value that comes from embracing constructive failure and learning to ‘fail up’.

This is often because society tells us failure is wrong. In truth, failure forces us to face the lessons markets may be telling us, and to adjust our behaviour accordingly.

Daktari 1525 was not a bad product, it was just poorly executed. The market was ready but the approach was wrong.

It took us a while to understand how to turn that failure to improvement but at least we got there in the end.

This is the only way that we can reap the benefits of failure, and benefit from the art of ‘Failing Up’.

This article was first published in September 2015 The Author – Bob Collymore is the CEO of Safaricom Limited CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

CONTENTS

OCTOBER 2016

6 The Secret To Innovation No One Talks About 8 InBrief 9 Appointments 10 Regional RoundUP TREND LINES

PRODUCT REVIEW

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Six years on, CIO 100 Awards and Symposium getting better

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PREVIOUS CIO of The Year Award Winners

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What does one need to win CIO100 East Africa Awards 2016?

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CIO100 Awards Categories Explained

OPINION

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What is the formula for digital education?

Learning initiatives face toughest test yet.

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Finding the Future

FEATURE

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Peter Gitau

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Peter Muya Wins iCMG Global Business CIO Award 2016

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CMOs much more likely than CIOs to lead digital transformation

Why Tech Companies Should Solve Social Problems

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Efforts and Effects in Transforming the Enterprise

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Why CIOs are embracing SaaS ID management

Focused mega-project leadership to make Konza Techno City a reality www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

START UP CORNER

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Blockchain Technology: a step by step explanation

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Exploiting technology for better user experience at Standard Chartered Bank

IT AND LEADERSHIP

Canon’s new professional 4K display models

DEMO Africa demonstrates how good pitching competitions can help startups

Hard TALK

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Open Data; a basis of innovation

WOMEN & TECH

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Mariemme Jamme on inspiring Africa’s future through tech

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IN BRIEF AROUND

INTERNET SOCIETY STUDY POINTS TO REASONS FOR SLOW INTERNET GROWTH IN AFRICA INTERNET ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY ARE NOT ENOUGH TO GET PEOPLE ONLINE, SAYS A NEW INTERNET SOCIETY STUDY RELEASED TODAY AT THE AFRICAN PEERING AND INTERCONNECTION FORUM (AFPIF) OF LAST MONTH IN TANZANIA.

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he “Promoting Content in Africa” report reveals that while significant improvements have been made in Internet infrastructure, most notably in mobile networks, Internet adoption rates are slowing in many countries because users lack compelling reasons to connect. According to the study, content and services are the main factors in making the Internet desirable, especially when the subject matter is relevant and in a language that users can easily understand. A lack of local content and services is affecting the number of new online users in Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, local language content is key to bringing new users online, as many are not comfortable reading in English or French. “Promoting Content in Africa” outlines the barriers to the development of local content and offers recommendations to improve local content availability and distribution.

SOUTH AFRICAN HACKER RESCUES THE FIRST NASA COMPUTER IN SPACE IN WHAT IS GOING DOWN THE HISTORY LANE AS A BIG RESCUE A SOUTH AFRICAN COMPUTER ENGINEER FRANCOIS RAUTENBACH HAS TRACKED DOWN ONE OF THE GREAT TREASURES OF THE COMPUTER AGE – THE FIRST SPACE FLIGHT GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION CONTROL COMPUTER LAUNCHED ON 1966’S APOLLOSATURN 202 MISSION, WAS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND ACCORDING TO WWW.GADGET.CO.ZA.

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t successfully led a rocket in and out of suborbit, paving the way for the mission to the moon. After that kind of pioneering adventure, you might expect this metal explorer to be safely ensconced in a museum somewhere. Until very recently, the machine was languishing in obscurity—first in a scrap heap, then in storage in Houston, Texas before self-described “perpetual hacker” from Tshwane, South Africa, came and identified, verified, and fixed it and also recovered the software used during the Apollo-Saturn 202 unmanned suborbital flight mission launch at Cape Canaveral (US), on August 25th, 1966.

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AROUND the

WORLD D-WAVE TO SHIP A 2,000-QUBIT QUANTUM COMPUTER NEXT YEAR FORGET PCS AND SERVERS: D-WAVE SYSTEMS IS LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE WITH ITS QUANTUM COMPUTER, UP TO 1,000 TIMES FASTER THAN AN EARLIER MODEL.

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he company will start shipping a quantum computer with 2,000 qubits, twice the size of its current 1,000-qubit D-Wave 2X. The D-Wave 2X is considered one of the most advanced computers in the world today.

The 2,000-qubit quantum computer will be 500 to 1000 times faster than its predecessor, said Jeremy Hilton, senior vice president of systems at D-Wave. He also said an even larger quantum computer based on a whole new processor design will come out two to three years after that.

Today’s PCs and servers could ultimately be replaced by a quantum computer, which has been researched for decades. Companies like IBM are also building quantum computers. D-Wave deployed what was considered the first quantum computer in 2011, and its systems have been purchased by Google, Lockheed Martin, NASA, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The ultimate goal is to develop a universal quantum computer, which is being pursued by IBM. There are many ways to build quantum computers, and D-Wave’s system -- which is based on the concept of quantum annealing -- is aimed at specific tasks.

IBM’s using a different model to build quantum computers that can run multiple applications, much like PCs.

“HEADS ROLL AT IBM FOR AUSTRALIA CENSUS DEBACLE” TWO SENIOR IBM STAFF HAVE “RESIGNED WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT” FOLLOWING THE CENSUS DEBACLE, ACCORDING TO REPORTS.

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he news follows the call from prime minister Malcolm Turnbull that heads would roll, made in a press conference on the day following Census night. Turnbull is quoted to have predicted some serious consequences.

IBM Global Technology Services, the Census’ service provider, have reportedly replaced the departed staff with senior executives from IBM’s Asia Pacific services business. The company won the $9.6 million contract from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to host the Census in 2014. The Census website was unavailable for days after it was pulled offline by ABS on Census night last month.

The ABS blamed denial of service attacks originating from overseas for the outage. ABS shut down the system to ‘ensure the integrity of the data’. The prime minister’s special cyber security advisor, Alastair MacGibbon said the fiasco would have a “lasting impact” on the public trust in the government to deliver digital services.

Though tight lipped following the debacle, IBM eventually made a statement days after. “We genuinely regret the inconvenience that has occurred,” an IBM spokesman at the time. “We want to thank the ABS, the Australian Signal Directorate and Alastair MacGibbon for their continued support.”

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

APPOINTMENTS GEORGE NJUGUNA IS NOW CIO AT HFC

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ust one month after he appeared on the cover of CIO East Africa Magazine, George Njuguna as CIO of CBA, he is appearing on our Appointments page as the new CIO at HFC Ltd. To his new office, he takes with him more than 15-years’ experience in IT, and 10-years’ experience in Banking and Financial Services, specifically in technology, product development, project management, channel management, change control and system implementation. His LinkedIn profile explains that he is an experienced programme manager capable of simultaneously implementing multiple projects across organizations and geographies. In addition to those competencies, he says, “I am well versed in Banking Financials, Operations Management and Product Development.” He has also previously worked as an IT Security Analyst for Dollar Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). At an Industry level, Njuguna sits on the Kenya Bankers Association Operations and Technical Committee, as well as the CIO Council, where he works with other IT leaders on addressing common challenges like data security, while sharing experiences and knowledge.

EL TOHAMY APPOINTED TO U.S. PRESIDENT’S ADVISORY COUNCIL ON DOING BUSINESS IN AFRICA

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akreem El Tohamy, IBM’s General Manager for the Middle East and Africa, has been appointed to the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. The President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA) was created in 2014, as part of an Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama, to promote broad-based economic growth in the United States and Africa. Takreem El Tohamy is among a group of 23 private sector leaders selected to advise the U.S. President on ways to strengthen commercial engagement between the United States and Africa. As a PAC-DBIA member, Takreem El Tohamy will provide information, analysis, and recommendations on U.S.-Africa trade and investment priorities, including U.S. and Africa job creation; developing and strengthening commercial partnerships to increase U.S. public and private sector financing in Africa; and analyzing the effect of policies in the United States and Africa on American trade and investment interests in Africa.

PAULA TOLLIVER CIO INTEL CORPORATION

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aula Tolliver is corporate vice president and chief information officer (CIO) of Intel Corporation. Her organization capitalizes on information technology to accelerate the company’s vision of making things that are smart and connected, best with Intel. Thousands of IT professionals worldwide are protecting Intel’s assets, driving competitive advantage and providing innovative IT solutions under Tolliver’s leadership. Tolliver joined Intel as CIO in August 2016. Prior to Intel, she was corporate vice president of business services and chief information officer (CIO) at The Dow Chemical Co. In her 20-plus year career with Dow Chemical, Paula led a progressively expanding portfolio of global business services with a strong track record for driving business results and corporate level transformational change spanning strategic sourcing; business process and operating discipline improvements; digital initiatives; and leveraging advanced analytics for competitive advantage.

She led a services business for Dow Chemical with $1 billion in revenue, and is a sought-after industry expert in cybersecurity for global enterprises. Tolliver holds a bachelor’s degree in business information systems and computer science from Ohio University and also attended the Babson College Executive Education Program.

www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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REGIONAL ROUND-UP

COMPILED BY JEANETTE OLOO

MALAWI PROPHET STARTS NEW MOBILE NETWORK SOUTH AFRICA - BASED MALAWI-BILLIONAIRE PROPHET, SHEPHERD BUSHIRI LAST MONTH OFFICIALLY UNVEILED A NEW TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY - PSB CONNECT, SENDING A CLEAR COMPETITOR MESSAGE TO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION OPERATORS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

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ccording to Malawi’s Nyasa Times, the launch took place in Gallagher Estate in Midrand - South Africa

Bushiri becomes the first ever black African solo owner of a telecommunication.

“PSB Connect is the first telecommunication company to be owned by an individual and the first to be owned by a black person in the history of South Africa,” Bushiri, who is the Chairman of the company said in a statement.

“PSB Connect will offer services that will provide enjoyment to its subscribers while paying less. You will be able to make calls at, as cheap as, 90 Cents per minute. Cheap data programs have been aligned to suit a variety of users but at cheap cost,” he said. “We are going to partake, we are going to pursue, and we are going to overtake!” He declared amid a thunder of applause, clearly shooting a warning to available telecommunication service providers.

RWANDA GOVERNMENT ORDERS ALL PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SERVICES TO GO ONLINE BY 2017 THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF RWANDA’S PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AUTHORITY (RPPA) AUGUSTUS SEMINEGA HAS SAID THAT EARLY NEXT YEAR ALL THE GOVERNMENT ENTITIES WILL HAVE TRANSITIONED TO THE NEW DIGITAL SYSTEM.

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ccording to local reports, the Government is set to roll out the new electronic public procurement system, dubbed “Umucyo e-Procurement System of Rwanda,” at all public entities in a bid to transition from the paper-based work toward the digital age.

Since the launch of Umucyo e-Procurement System of Rwanda in July, about eight public entities, 81 procurement officers, and 275 bidders and suppliers have been registered and started using the system, according to Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA).

“So far, the results are quite encouraging because most of the activities that are supposed to go through the public procurement process are now being conducted by the procuring entities through this system,” Seminega said.

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CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

UGANDAN GOVERNMENT OFFERS FREE WIFI IN KAMPALA AND ENTEBBE THE NATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AUTHORITY-UGANDA (NITA-U), ANNOUNCED AN OFFER OF FREE WI-FI FOR THE PUBLIC WITHIN SELECTED LOCATIONS IN THE KAMPALA CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT AND SOME AREAS OF ENTEBBE.

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ccess to the service will be between 6p.m. and 6 a.m. Access is via hotspots broadcasting #MYUG. Registered users will log in using their preferred username and password,” said Leonah Mbonimpa, NITA-U’s corporate communication officer.

According to NITA-U, the free Wi-Fi users will enjoy maximum speed of up to 2mbps (Megabits per second) which will meet the basic Internet access needs and complement access provided by Commercial Internet Providers.

Mbonimpa said, “NITA-U was offering free Wi-Fi to make use of internet bandwidth that is not being utilised by the government offices after official working hours and the coverage of other residential areas would be phased in with a detailed hotspot location list to be publicised on social media platforms as it rolls out the service.”

SOUTH AFRICAN POWER SOLUTIONS COMPANY TO BUILD TIGO TANZANIA’S DATA CENTRE SOUTH AFRICAN POWER SOLUTIONS, MASTER POWER TECHNOLOGIES (MPT) HAS BEEN SELECTED BY TIGO TANZANIA TO DESIGN, MANUFACTURE AND INSTALL A NEW DATA CENTRE.

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PT job description will be to project manage the whole process and manage the building of a new structure for the data centre.

According to Tanzania media reports, the new data centre will support Tigo’s network expansion in the region, and will provide additional resources for the company’s other ICT requirements. Spare data centre capacity can also be rented out to other companies.

The success of the project has convinced Tigo to consider implementing another phase of the project, adding another five modules to the data centre.

MPT won the tender as it offered an independent, self-sufficient data centre made up of different modules, housed in containers. It is completely self-sufficient in terms of power management and does not require a connection to the national electricity grid to operate at full capacity. www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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Network Security Pitfalls in 2016 The world of Cyber Security is a complicated, ever changing beast which is hard to keep up to date with and impossible to control. The number of IT vendors with point solutions seems to be growing at an exponential rate to the point that it is hard to tell which will be bought for billions and which will go bust. Add to all this that many sales teams promise the earth and deliver…. well less than they promised; the head of IT security is a tough role. In the past 20 years silver bullets have been flying over-head with amazing regularity. With anti-spam companies promoting an end to compliance woes, or a Firewall vendor offering a single box to end Cyber Threat for good (and with every other solution in between) it is hard to steer your corporate ship around the rocks and hazards.

But we have started to see some clarity. The larger more mature vendors have realised that one size does not fit all. If you have 500 staff it is unlikely you need a device that will scan a million emails an hour on the inbound traffic flow and yet, you probably require some sort of log management or SIEM device to comprehend what is occurring across your dozen or so security boxes! They also understand rip and replace is never going to happen across every device so, even if you have a UTM framework, it doesn’t need everything turning on and possibly never will. “Best of breed” and “bleeding edge” is making way for “fit for purpose” and that is a real benefit to budgets and your work life balance- if there is such a thing? Fit for purpose is changing the mindset of users, buyers and vendors themselves as companies don’t want bells and whistles they will never use, they want an insurance policy that will cover them when everything goes to hell and solves the new issues that start to impact them and the business they work for.

Is one solution enough?

The security landscape today and the actors within it are quite worrying to the partially interested populace, who only notice the latest hack when it reaches them on Google News, the BBC or CNN in the evening. To those of us who actively seek out information and data on the latest threats, the reality can be terrifying. With Ransoms and millions of data files being leaked on the web from some of the most secure organisations, the targets are no longer large corporations but individual users and everyone in between. To make matters worse, over the past few quarters almost every major security manufacturer has been sighted to have security flaws, back doors and other additionally worrying weaknesses. It has long been the case that organisations over a few thousand users will normally be running two or more anti virus solutions side by side and often the case they will also run two Firewalls in a so called “Chinese wall” configuration. But is that what every organisation should be looking at and is the risk reduction worth the cost? The majority of IT contacts I talk to have reduced budgets and are looking at getting more for less but engaging with new vendors doesn’t come for free!

The ideal first step is to fully audit your existing environment to identify any free options that you have not recognised or initiated, even if they are time based. It is important to realise and measure any impact these services might have for example, an email Anti spam solution may also have AV as an option but even if that is a free service will it impact the number of emails your systems can manage and if it does, are the new throughputs acceptable to you and your requirements?

An additional option might be to look at Juniper Network solutions which provides IP routing, security and WAN application acceleration solutions to power and protect the network, and the applications and services that run on it. Juniper's high-performance network infrastructure supports converged data, voice, video and wireless applications across extended enterprises and creates a responsive and secure environment for accelerating the deployment of services and applications over a single network.

Many of the larger global System Integrators have proven multi vendor solutions that work well in harmony and can be changed out or configured to your specific need, but you don’t need to duplicate everything. A modern firewall with application security , VPN and AV turned on could cost you a few hundred dollars and would comfortably run at 25meg throughput, turn off AV and with IPS and a few IPsec VPN’s you would still be happy with 75 meg throughput. The option to duplicate everything is not always a core requirement but the ability to secure and protect your most valuable assets with a secondary or even tertiary solution can make a huge difference.

Mail : charles.ogwari@westcon.com

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Site : africa.westcon.com

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

TREND LINES

SIX YEARS ON, CIO100 AWARDS AND SYMPOSIUM GETTING BETTER THE SIXTH EDITION OF THE CIO100 SYMPOSIUM WILL SOON BE HERE. THE EVENT RECOGNISES EXCELLENCE IN THE ADOPTION AND USE OF IT. BOTH ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUAL CIOS OR EQUIVALENTS IN ORGANISATIONS ARE AWARDED.

W

inners are recognised at the CIO100 Symposium and Awards, a two-day high energy celebration of IT excellence marked with networking and knowledge sharing.

But how exactly did the CIO100 Symposium and Awards begin?

“The whole idea of CIO100 was born to get CIOs creating impact in their organisations through use of technology to be acknowledged through the innovations and the contributions they bring in the organisations,” said Harry Hare, Publisher and CEO of CIO East Africa.

During the 2010 inaugural event Safaricom emerged the overall winners with the M-Pesa Project which the judges termed not only innovative but impactful.

The first runners up was Nairobi Stock Exchange’s Automatic Transaction Settlement (ATS) system. Equity Bank’s MKesho was the second runners up. The year 2010 saw CIO100 recognize organisations that played ahead of the pack in the industry under the PlusOne award.

In 2011 Kenya Education Network (KENET) won the CIO100 Annual Awards.

KENET received the award for their project that seeks to provide internet connectivity to educational institutions. Eat Out Kenya were first runners up. Their project saw many restaurants go online.

Nakumatt Holdings scooped second runners up for project titled “IT enabled miscellaneous products and services”.

In 2012, however, CIO100 Symposium took a break as organisers took time off to re-align the event to what they wanted it to be.

“We wanted to re-strategize the whole activity because we were getting a lot of pressure from vendors who also wanted to be given awards during the awards,” he said. www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

This is like a twist from the usual DEMO Africa where Startups pitch before investors.

In 2013 the event returned with so much vigor. It was held in Kigali, Rwanda. The event saw introduction of The CIO of The Year Award, to acknowledge excellence amongst CIOs. “Initially we only listed 100 organisations and acknowledged them but we thought of making the awards more competitive and therefore CIO of The Year Award was born,” said Hare.

Engineer Wainaina Mungai of Royal Media was named the CIO of the year in 2013. Royal Media emerged as most innovative company. Kenya Judiciary was second and Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital third.

Mr. Kevin Kinyanjui, Information Systems Director and CIO of Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways, took the 2014 ‘CIO of the Year’ Award. Kenya Airways was named most innovative company for its Baggage Management System (BMS).

countries. 2014 also saw a special award go to Kili, a public Cloud platform which uses Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to deploy most Internet apps.

In 2015, The CIO at Britam East Africa Ltd Mr. Jack Maina, became the CIO of the Year. Maina, received his award following his leadership role in Britam’s Jawabu project. Victor Kyalo, the CEO at the Kenya ICT Authority (currently Principal Secretary Ministry of ICT) was awarded the CIO100 Leadership award for steering the transition of the Authority from the defunct Kenya ICT Board to the new Authority.

“We continue to introduce new categories every year. This year the 100 organizations to be recognized will be grouped in categories of Gold, Bronze, silver and Ivory categories The Gold category will be for the organisations that are using technology aggressively. The idea is to get organisations put the right foot forward,” added Hare.

For 2016, two new tracks have been introduced to the CIO100 Awards.

(I) The DEMO track - a partnership between CIO East Africa and DEMO Africa, which looks into some of the B2B Start-ups who have gone through DEMO Africa to pitch before CIOs. “This is like a twist from the usual DEMO Africa where Start-ups pitch before investors. This is mostly for start-ups working on B2B solutions,” said Hare.

In 2014, various IT initiatives in Kenya’s public sector were recognised. The IT Leadership award was given to President Uhuru Kenyatta. Savannah Cement were first runners up with an ERP project implementation. 2014 saw firms that were best performing in their industry awarded in PlusOne Awards.

(II) The other track will see CIO East Africa work with Council of Governors to come up with the track on e-governments.

In 2014, the event introduced Country awards where Uganda’s Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) emerged top for its Smart City project named e-Cities. Tanzania’s National ID Authority (NIDA) and Rwanda’s I&M Bank won the Country awards for their respective

“As the event organisers we expect that this year we will see more exciting ways of doing businesses. We expect to see great innovations from the different organizations especially across the region,” added Andrew Karanja, COO CIO East Africa.

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TREND LINES

BY LILIAN MUTEGI | ALL PHOTOS BY ARTHUR K. KINTU

PREVIOUS CIO of The Year Award Winners Engineer Wainaina Mungai, CIO of The Year 2013

E

ngineer Mungai is currently the Director of FixMyWard, an organisation developing technology platforms for addressing development issues such as public participation in governance.

He was the Head of ICT at Royal Media Services from 2010 to 2014 where he led the ICT for Efficiency and Effectiveness in Media project in 2012/13 involving applications development for newsrooms, election monitoring, audio/video streaming and HR Systems. Through his leadership Royal Media developed a paperless newsroom using an in-house news vault application.

The system uses a web based library search system implemented based on user feedback. Other IT implementa-

tions the firm has include streaming for 8 FMs stations and for a TV station.

A tapeless news playout has improved reliability and reduced the task involving searching 12 years of tape footage.

The company also pioneered the use of Google HangOuts on television on the International Womens’ Day. The initiative saw Royal Media reach 1 million monthly viewers on the Internet for Citizen TV. Egesa FM, which broadcasts in Kisii is able to reach more than 45,000 online listeners in a month. Printing costs have been greatly reduced too.

He also led the technical development of the web-based Elections Reporting System project for the 2013 elections and integrated with the elec-

Kevin Kinyanjui, CIO of the Year 2014

K

evin Kinyanjui, CIO Kenya Airways is an IT management specialist who has been in the IT industry since 1986. He started his career as a systems developer, moving on to people capacity development in IT, then IT management consultancy. He has been in CIO roles IT in busy commercial environments since 1995. First for Bamburi Cement (manufacturing), then Housing Finance (banking & finance) and now Kenya Airways (service and airlines).

Mr. Kevin Kinyanjui, was crowned 2014 ‘CIO of the Year’, taking over from Eng. Wainaina Mungai of Royal Media Services who walked away with the award in the 2013 edition.

Through his stewardship in the IT Department Kenya Airways had developed

Baggage Management System (BMS) which utilizes emerging technologies to promote passenger safety and reduce baggage mishandling. The system also provides visibility on passengers’ bag location throughout their journey and avails this information to Kenya Airways employees, ground handling agents and most importantly, its flight passengers via all customer touch points.

BMS uses wireless mobility, big data and complex event processing which enables association of data in real time.

Working from a centralized database, the system receives and maintains all baggage related data and associated events such as

toral commission’s results systems to displayed results verified by data clerks via the on-air graphics system.

He implemented the ICT Infrastructure Transformation project in 2010/2011 involving WAN, LAN, Data Centre, internet connectivity with BGP and multi-homing for redundancy where basic network infrastructure, a data center and ICT management office were previously lacking. The project led to industry Awards from CIO100. checked in, loaded, offloaded from an airline Departure Control System, DCS. The BMS system then reconciles this data with data input from baggage scans along the path to the aircraft. It ensures that only bags for a particular flight are loaded into the flight and that only bags whose passengers have boarded the flight are also loaded.

Centralizing the data offers real-time information to Hub connection points as well as Outstations, enabling key baggage information to be seamlessly shared ensuring consistency, and visibility throughout the operation.

This innovation saw him scoop the award in 2014.

Jack Maina, CIO of The Year 2015

H

e is currently the CIO for Britam.

Prior to that Maina was the Head of IT and Innovation at Safaricom. He also held the position of Business Systems Development Manager /IT strategy Manager at Safaricom for four years.

Mr. Maina also oversees the Jawabu Project that saw him get the CIO of The Year Award 2015. The Jawabu Project is designed to deliver the technology capabilities required to deliver the best 14

customer experience. The project was developed in partnership with Oracle, IBM, Fadata, and PwC, among others.

With products ranging from: life, health and general insurance, pensions, unit trusts, investment planning, wealth management, off-shore investments, retirement planning, discretionary portfolio management, Property development and private Equity, Jawabu helps automate key business processes, reducing time consuming manual tasks

and paperwork, increasing efficiency and enhance controls. It also provides a single view of the customer, as well as customer intelligence which allows financial advisors to focus on analysis as opposed to data crunching.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

BY JEANETTE OLOO

What does one need to win

East Africa Awards 2016?

The CIO100 Eat Africa Awards, currently on its sixth leg is a two-day event that takes place annually and is critical in celebrating companies from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania for their innovative use of IT.

T

he awards recognizes 100 companies that demonstrate excellence in Technology Innovation, Leadership in IT and Business Value Delivery. For all this to occur a survey has to be done, the CIO100 Survey examines how organisations in both public and private sector purchase, deploy and use IT. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC Kenya) handled the past two CIO100 surveys and this year it is Insights Wells Research conducting the survey. The company will be looking at the bigger picture, what is the project? This is the project. What are the objectives? Have the objectives been met? Was there budget allocation? Was the budget availed? Is the system running well?

In an interview with CIO East Africa, Mr. Sam Gicharu, CEO Insights Wells Research said the 2016 CIO100 East Africa Survey will focus on identifying, acknowledging and rewarding organisations which drive increased value, and overall business success through the use of IT innovatively.

TREND LINES

An org that has created a conducive environment for employees to freely and easily share their ideas is on the right track of generating innovative projects.

So why an innovative project? He explained that Insights Wells Research wants to identify the innovative aspects of IT in organisations.

“What we are encouraging here is that for an organization to be innovative in use of IT, We are keen in looking out for innovative use of IT in small, medium size and large organisations. A common misconception is that innovation can only emanate from an R&D department, top management or acquired.

While this is true, innovations may also come from the “watchman”, mail person, office caretaker etc. What matters is not the source but how the innovation was, converted from an idea or innovation to an actual project and how that project is benefitting the organization,” he said.

Since its inception in 2010, CIO100 Eat Africa Awards has grown significantly and is now one of the leading IT awards in East Africa.

Mr. Gicharu further explained, “An organisation that creates a platform where employees feel their ideas are welcome. Innovation comes from the employees, you will hardly go to the internet find an innovation then implement it. It is easier when it comes from the employees’ because these are the people who interact with the organisation system on a daily basis. An org that has created a conducive environment for employees to freely and easily share their ideas is on the right track of generating innovative projects. Such are the organisations that CIO100 is in the hunt for... CIOs have to drive the conducive environment, they need to ensure that the open conducive environment is created. At the end of it all if that project is clear and everything looks ok then credit goes to the CIO.” CIO100 East Africa will critically look at all submitted projects with a key focus on implementation and results/impact.

To know the outcome of the survey head down to Enashipai Lodge- Naivasha on the 10th and 11th November.

www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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TREND LINES

BY BARAKA JEFWA

Awards Categories Explained The CIO100 Symposium and Awards is a 2-day high energy celebration of IT excellence, the event is set to be held in Naivasha, Kenya on November 10th11th, 2016. The event, hosted by CIO East Africa, is in its 6th year and is expected to attract more than 1000 CIOs and IT executives from all over the world and specifically East Africa.

The awards are given out to winners of different categories, last year’s categories included; the CIO of the Year, CIO Leadership Award, Country Awards, Plus One Awards and Special Awards.

“This year, we will retain previous year’s categories but add an interesting twist to the CIO 100 list of companies. We will categorise the top 100 into four clusters, key distinction being the project implementation in regards to systems in place and tangible measurable results,” says Samuel Gicharu, CEO, Insight Wells Research, who will be working with CIO East Africa on this year’s CIO100 Symposium and Awards.

Mr. Samuel Gicharu Survey Lead

from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda covering all the major verticals including Government, Education, Health, Financial Services, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Utilities, Transport and Logistics.

The CIO 100 2016, top 100 categories will be as follows: Range

Category

From 1-25

GOLD

From 26 to

SILVER

From 51-75

BRONZE

From 76-100

IVORY

Last year, there were 120 companies nominated and 100 of which made the year’s CIO100 list. The short list included companies

Survey team members busy on the desk

At last year’s CIO100 Symposium and Awards, it was a double win for Britam as the company took home the two most coveted awards.

The company was voted the Overall Winner among 100 companies during the 5th edition of the Awards, jointly organized by CIO East Africa publication and accounting firm PwC. Britam’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Jack Maina, was voted the CIO of the Year 2015.

Gicharu went on to speak on what it would take for companies to walk away with an award this year, saying that: Survey Team Member Peace Musomba conducting a survey on telephone 16

“The answer is simple. Has your organisation used IT innovatively? Then you could be the one we are looking for.” Concluded Gicharu.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

Artificial intelligence adds value to the automotive industry with advancements such as self driving cars. The number of fatalities from road accidents is expected to drop to zero with the introduction of new driving technologies.

How do you think technology will change our future?

Join the conversation

#TechIStomorrow

Internet Solutions Kenya

@IS_Kenya

@internetsolutionskenya

PICTORIAL

BY RYAN MUSEMBI MULE

CYBER SECURITY CIO BREAKFAST SERIES AT FAIRMONT HOTEL NAIROBI Wednesday 24th August 2016 New players in the market Eset partnered with Sophos, Total Solutions and Footprint Africa Business Solutions to bring you the cyber security and disaster recovery event where participants inquired about the best ways to protect themselves when it comes to cyber-crime.

Moderator- William Makatiani – Managing Director, Serianu, Karien Bornheim – CEO, Footprint Africa Business Solutions and Philip Obondy, County Manager – Sophos

Alistair Freeman – CEO ESET East Africa presenting on the weakest link

Moderator - William Makatiani – Managing Director, Serianu and panel discussion comprising of (L-R) Alistair Freeman – CEO ESET East Africa, Karien Bornheim – CEO, Footprint Africa Business Solutions

CYBER SECURITY BREAKFAST AT SERENA HOTEL SPONSORED BY GEDA LIMITED AND KOMODO CONSULTING Thursday 25th August 2016- Cyber Security

Victor Kyalo – Permanent Secretary ICT & Innovation listening to the proceedings at the Cyber Security breakfast event sponsored by Geda Limited.

Eng. John Waweru, Chairman, Geda Limited addressing participants on the rate at which cyber threats are increasing.

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GEDA Limited and Komodo Consulting took the forefront to outline how companies could validate their security layers and how this in turn would help curb cyber-crime. In this day and age organisations are asking: how best to protect themselves against large scale cyber-attacks which are planned for with extreme efficiency where Komodo Consulting goes all the way in demonstrating how vulnerable the said organisations are.

Yossi Shenhav, CEO , Komodo Consulting talking about Large Scale Cyber-attacks: What we have learnt CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

PICTORIAL

SME TROUBLESHOOTING BREAKFAST AT NAIROBI GARAGE, SPONSORED BY LIQUID TELECOM

Danson Muchemi (Right) listens to an official from Liquid Telecom at the SME Trouble-shooting breakfast

Philip Obondy, County Manager – Sophos talking on The Security & Updated BFSI Sector of today and Tomorrow

Moderator Robert Yawe (Extreme Right Standing) Listens to presenters during a round table discussion

Zohar Shachar of Komodo Consulting Presenting on How to Validate your Organisation’s Security Layers www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

A participant raises a question to a Liquid Telecom official during the troubleshooting breakfast 19

FEATURE

Peter Muya Wins iCMG Global Business CIO Award 2016

Peter Muya, the co-founder and Managing Partner of PTI Consulting, was recently awarded the iCMG Global Business CIO 2016 for his contribution in the development of Kenya Health Enterprise Architecture blueprint, which in itself won the award of Best Enterprise and IT Architecture in Healthcare from the same awarding body.

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H

e was among a team of 30 Global CIOs from Europe, Middle-East, Africa, Americas, Asia and Australia who were feted at the iCMG Architecture Summit held in Bangalore, India on 8th and 9th of September 2016.

This recognition evaluates CIOs based on their leadership in “projects” or “initiatives” with a high degree of business influence and measurable results using Enterprise and IT Architecture. Global CIOs are shifting to “Architecture driven” decision-making process to guarantee sustainable business value.

The Kenya Health Enterprise Architecture is a blueprint of health sector transformation guided by Kenya Health Sector Strategic Plan, Kenya Health Policy, the Constitution of Kenya among other key inputs. This blueprint is the basis for implementation of various initiatives to deliver the following value; 1. Present the health sector as a single enterprise: National and county governments ministries of health, private sector, SAGAs and other health priorities will be effectively integrated for the sector to function as a single entity

and provide a seamless range of services to the community through one common service delivery model.

2. Enable rapid execution of strategic priorities: - Provide measurable parameters for effective use of strategic information and information assets to enable the improved accessibility of health information and services through a range of channels and on a 24x7 basis.

3. Improving value for money: - Ensuring that health initiatives adopt a wholeof-sector approach that better supports service delivery in a more cost effective way by encouraging collaboration and information sharing to improve the effectiveness of decision-making.

4. Deepen collaboration with stakeholders: - Enable seamless partnering with the private sector and discovering new ways of delivering service.

This would be achieved through initiatives that involve the design and implementation of products and services that seek to encourage innovation and improve overall quality of healthcare.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

A NEW DAWN FOR LOCALLY-HOSTED CONTENT Since the East Africa Data Centre first opened its doors to businesses three years ago, service quality and standards have risen across the region. The facility is staying ahead with a series of refinements that will ensure its customers have a world-class home to host local content.

G

rowing demand for IT services and locally-hosted content is prompting businesses across Africa to intensify their search for reliable and secure data centre space.

The Middle East and Africa region is expected to have the highest cloud traffic growth rate globally through to 2019, during which it is expected to increase by a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 41%, according to the Cisco Global Cloud Index.

Spotting cloud looming on the horizon in Africa, the East Africa Data Centre (EADC) begun operations in 2013, emerging as the first facility of its kind to serve East and Central Africa region.

This head start has helped position the data centre as the perfect hosting location for African and international companies looking to protect their business critical applications and data in Africa.

Located at Sameer Industrial Park in Nairobi, the facility offers excellent access across Kenya and beyond to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as diverse fibre routes to cable landing stations in Mombasa.

Maturing with the market Three years may not seem much in the business world, but for Africa’s youthful data centre market, EADC is entering a period of relative maturity.

Setting out with a vision to help keep African content local, EADC has already accomplished much during its first few years of operation.

It has become home to Kenya’s Internet Exchange Point and has been credited by the Internet Society as playing a major role in driving down

Liquid Thought Advertorial EADC Oct 16 CIO AH EDIT.indd 1

internet prices in Kenya. More recently, the Technology Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) in partnership with the African Union Commission have announced that they are launching Africa’s first GSM Global Roaming Exchange (GRX) at the EADC. GRX will help cut costs for mobile operators in the region by removing the need for a dedicated link between each mobile service provider. It will also help reduce roaming charges as well as facilitate easy connectivity to the exchange.

Developments such as these are creating a more advanced ecosystem for digital business to thrive across Africa. But in turn expectations have been raised, and businesses in the region today are on the lookout for data centres that comply with the very latest international standards.

A powerful proposition Data centres have a fantastic appetite for power. In fact, the amount of energy consumed by the world’s data centres is set to treble in the next decade, putting an enormous strain on energy supplies.

A lack of reliable power infrastructure across Africa presents an even tougher challenge for the region’s data centre operators, which sometimes have to contend with rolling blackouts and service outages. Which is why EADC has taken a major step to ensure it has a more reliable and efficient power source by constructing a new power plant.

The power plant consists of two substations that supply two lines of power to the EADC, significantly increasing redundancy while improving power availability to the site from 85% to 97%.

Like other data centre facilities across Africa, EADC mitigates the risk of service outages by reverting to costly back-up diesel generators.

However, since completing the power plant, the facility is effectively no longer reliant on back-up generators, which translates into serious operational savings for EADC and its customers.

Construction of EADC’s new power plant in Nairobi

The new power plant also brings EADC further in-line with international standards. EADC has been designed to Tier III specifications as certified by the Uptime Institute, which is recognised worldwide for certifying data centre design, construction and operational sustainability.

EADC is currently undergoing further review by the Uptime Institute to qualify for both Tier III facilities and operational certification, with approval for the first expected before the end of the year.

Further certification from the Uptime Institute will reiterate EADC as a worldclass data centre facility for businesses in the region, as well as provide a platform for locally-hosted content to flourish.

For further information about the East Africa Data Centre, visit www.eastafricadatacentre.com

21/09/2016 10:17

www.liquidtelecom.com

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FEATURE

BY MATT KAPKO

CMOS MUCH MORE LIKELY THAN CIOS TO LEAD DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS NOT JUST ANOTHER BUZZWORD; IT’S AN ESCAPE PLAN FOR BUSINESSES THAT CAN’T KEEP UP WITH TECH MODERNIZATION. HOWEVER, NEW RESEARCH INDICATES MANY CIOS SHY AWAY FROM THE CHALLENGE.

C

MOs are nearly twice as likely as CIOs to lead digital transformation efforts within their organizations, according to new research from Altimeter Group (www.altimetergroup. com). The top three transformative initiatives — accelerating innovation, modernizing IT infrastructure and improving operational agility — typically fall under the responsibility of IT, but a disconnect exists between the trends driving change and the individuals who lead the efforts, according to Brian Solis, principal analyst at the research and advisory firm.

CIOs are more likely sit on the sidelines, because their agendas are already full, he says. When CIOs join an organization there’s usually a backlog of demanding projects they need to take over, according to Solis. “There’s an aspect of being in IT that is always looking in the past, or at least working in the past,” he says.

Conversely, CMOs “live and die by how successful they are in reaching new customers, driving sales and conversions.”

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Altimeter says its research is based on interviews and survey data from 528 digital transformation leaders and strategists. CMOs lead digital transformation initiatives at 34 percent of the companies surveyed, followed by CEOs (27 percent), CIOs or CTOs (19 percent), and chief digital officers (15 percent), according to the report. CIOs may be behind others in the C-suite when it comes to transformation, but plenty of opportunity exists for IT leaders to take ownership, Solis says.

Data rich and knowledge poor “The more research I do, the more I’m surprised at how little companies are advancing,” Solis says. Many organizations are still beset by cultural challenges, rigid mindsets and a short supply of empathy, according to Solis. “The CIO doesn’t work the way their employees work, and the CMO doesn’t live the brand the way their customers live the brand.”

IT and marketing also have vastly different views of the future, he says. IT leaders need to keep their workforces productive and operations running smoothly, whereas marketers perpetually struggle to keep up. “The entire [marketing] ecosystem is really about never keeping up, never having enough, and never being fast enough to keep up with all the customer changes and trends they’re seeing on the horizon,” Solis says.

“If there’s one thing that CIOs could get better at it’s becoming more human,” he says. “Technology is a function of how people operate, but the whole regime of the CIO was built upon command and control.” The more empathetic CIOs become, the more they can learn and understand that people aren’t going to conform, according to Solis.

“Now we have access to data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and all of these things that can help the company actually make better decisions,” he says. “But we’re still dealing with the way things were, and how we’re supposed to operate within the boxes that we’re in, when in fact there doesn’t even have to be a box.”

The Author Matt Kapko is a Senior Writer Matt Kapko covers social media for CIO.com The research can be downloaded from the link below: http://www2.prophet.com/ The-2016-State-of-Digital-Transformation

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

BY CLINT BOULTON

Why CIOs are embracing SaaS ID management Adopting single sign-on software to federate access to corporate applications is a key task priority for many CIOs seeking to make employees more efficient without sacrificing security.

E

xperian has consolidated identity management with a single cloud application, laying the foundation for a hybrid cloud computing model that supports its credit scoring software. The company has standardized on software from startup Okta, which has quickly become a favorite among CIOs seeking to gain efficiencies in anything from adopting cloud and mobile services to onboarding employees.

Bridging the cloud and on-premises gap ID management provides the digital handshake that allows employees to securely access corporate applications from computers and mobile devices with a single password, an activity known as single sign-on. It’s a critical function for CIOs, who can use the technology to grant and restrict employee access to digital services and bridge the gap between on-premises and cloud applications, an essential task in hybrid clouds.

Libenson began planning for such a hybrid cloud environment after moving to Experian in 2015 after a CIO stint at Safeway in 2015. Libenson quickly learned that the company had been relying on a mixed bag of Oracle ID management and homegrown tools accrued from several acquisitions, a scenario that proved inefficient and clunky. “We desperately needed a platform like this for our strategy,” Libenson says.

Shelving several legacy ID management products with one single sign-on tool is a common business case for Okta, as well as rival solutions from Centrify, OneLogIn and Ping Identity, says Gartner analyst Gregg Kreizman.

Such solutions also compensate for companies’ inability to retain skilled IT workers schooled in traditional ID management.

In 2016, Experian CTO Joe Manna began testing Okta for a mobile app that enables consumers to access their credit reports. Manna told Libenson both the software and company were great to work with so Libenson instructed his staff to use Okta to manage Experian identities worldwide across cloud, on-premises

www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

FEATURE

and mobile applications, including authentication into its core Oracle ERP system.

Okta forms the ID lynchpin for a hybrid cloud that allows Experian to run software on-premises using VMware virtualization software, with the capability to burst out to Amazon Web Services’ cloud. This model allows Experian to harness more computing capacity while retaining the sensitive financial history from citizens spread across 19 countries.

Experian has largely completed internal deployment of Okta and has begun expanding it to product development, where the software protects employees connections to AWS. If Experian needs to federate employee identities to a new service, it can do so within minutes. “Their cloud model, their open API model, all of the different interfaces they have to so many different platforms made it attractive to us,” Libenson says. “And the developers love it.”

Okta, which is valued at about $1.2 billion and is reportedly preparing for an IPO, is the bestknown vendor in a growing market for identity management-as-a-service, which Gartner says will comprise 40 percent of identity and access management purchases by 2020, up from 20 percent in 2016.

The Okta effect CIOs of several other large enterprise have also become smitten with Okta.

Broadcom CIO Andy Nallappan first implemented Okta in 2012 while serving as the CIO of Avago Technologies. Nallappan, who became CIO of Broadcom after Avago acquired the chipmaker last year, says Okta provides a single gate with which employees may log into, which also makes his life easier when the company needs to add or subtract employees.

“When people leave it makes it easier to close the gate,” Nallappan says.

Nallappan says that adopting cloud services, including Google Apps, Box, ServiceNow and Workday, have helped lower Broadcom’s cost structure and enables IT to focus on the business strategy. “It liberates us to get closer to the core, which is designing chips,” says Nallappan.

Mark Settle, who had used Okta in prior CIO roles at IHS and BMC Software, believes in the company so much that he agreed to become Okta’s first CIO this summer. He told CIO.com last month that he views his role as providing “adult supervision” to a growing organization whose 800-plus employees have subscribed to more than 150 SaaS applications without the IT department’s help or blessing.

The Author Clint Boulton is a Senior Writer at www.cio.com 25

COVER STORY

BY BARAKA JEFWA | ALL PHOTOS BY ARTHUR K. KINTU

Peter Gitau

Exploiting technology for better user experience at Standard Chartered Bank

One of East Africa’s top most CIO’s Mr. Peter Gitau is operating at Standard Chartered Bank, a bank that has been in existence for over 150 years in some of the fastestgrowing markets, across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

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CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

COVER STORY

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n Standard Chartered Bank the CIO role looks at both technology and back office operations, and I am responsible for that for the three countries in East Africa; Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania,” says Mr. Gitau.

Leveraging technology to Improve User Experience According to Mr. Gitau the bank’s current focus on technology is, leveraging on it to improve its customers’ user experience. Giving a good example of this he said that this year the bank rolled out a Mobile App on both the IoS and Android stores for its personal and priority customers, which is an improvement on its previous offering which was being done on a USSD menu.

“The key thing was to give our customers a more user friendly, a more intuitive way of interacting with the bank,” he continued.

With the App, the bank improved the experience of individual customers, but a bank the size of Standard Chartered also caters to companies and thus on the corporate and commercial side of the business and institutional banking, the bank has been working tirelessly to enhance its straight to bank platform, which companies can use for online payments and online collections.

“So one of the key things we have worked on this year is the tax payment modules, with that we have given our customers the ability to pay taxes, whether it is; income taxes, custom du-

ties, excise duties, etcetera, through online straight to bank twenty four-seven (always on),” he said.

“So the system allows you to do that anywhere you are, and allows you to get confirmation receipts twenty four-seven (always on),” he continued.

With its straight to bank platform the bank has also been able to integrate existing infrastructure in the form of mobile money wallets such as; M-pesa and Airtel Money, to create convenience for its customers.

“Also for a better client interaction experience, we have also launched Retail Workbench. This gives us the capability to interact with our clients, open bank accounts and receive loan applications digitally using secure tablets without paper filling,” added Gitau.

The bank, according to Mr. Gitau, has also done some core IT investments this year with the aim of creating further resilience within its platform, as far as hardware capabilities are concerned, in its quest for resilience the company revamped its entire hardware storage facility.

“On the IT side; whether it’s our network capability, whether it’s our storage capability; we have been working to deal with duplication, by virtualizing some of our servers,” Gitau adds.

What’s UP with Cloud?

“Cloud in the financial services sector has been a bit of a slow starter, as far as

WHO IS MR. GITAU? I’ve worked for Standard Chartered for just about 14 years now, in various roles and functions, I have an accounting background; accounting, audit and risk management is my training. As part of those 14 years almost half of it has been spent in Singapore, I worked in Standard Chartered Singapore for a period of time.

My experience is varied, I’ve done; audit, operational risk, mergers/acquisitions, I’ve run a group control function (on the risk side) but for me the part of IT came when I was running integrations for the bank, I was responsible for the corporate side of the bank on the integration of the operations, and that is how I came to know and understand the bank’s IT environments and the bank’s IT requirements, and that attracted me towards the IT side.

I started my role about three years ago at Standard Chartered, East Africa; in it I’m responsible for a team of about 700 across East Africa. customer services are concerned, and a lot of that is because of Data Privacy laws,” says Gitau.

The good news, according to Gitau, is that things are becoming simpler in terms of where you can store client data, how you can store it and who has the ability to store it for you with proper Data Privacy. But that hasn’t stopped the bank from going cloud, at least for its internal functions.

“We have an e-learning platform where we are using the cloud internally to provide a standard, very intuitive learning and knowledge platform to our staff, so all the 85,000 staff have access to the same training materials and e-learning material on the cloud,” asserts Gitau, as he goes on to add that as Data Privacy laws get resolved the bank will be looking at having an external cloud because, from an IT efficiency perspective cloud help a lot.

IT team duties Mr. Gitau pointed out that in Kenya, Standard Chartered Bank has an IT team of about 50 people, who do a number of things in IT, including: www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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COVER STORY IT operations- carrying out back office IT operations; Desktop support- making sure users are getting required IT support; Service management- making sure that systems are available, and should there be a system issue the team makes sure they are understood, they are being resolved and that there is proper employees with opportunities of being part of regional IT projects (to get a bigger diversity).

“In retaining the staff we motivate them through training and being part of regional IT projects. There is continuous internal and external training of our IT staff and that gives them the capability of, not only doing their job today but also being current in what is going on,” said Mr. Gitau.

“We also provide opportunities of being part of regional IT projects firstly in the 15 countries where Standard Chartered has a presence in Africa, and other countries in the Group – this provides a broader and diverse experience, and opportunities to take up roles outside of Kenya,” he added.

Security “We have an information security department within the bank which handles a lot of the technical stuff so that we make sure that the technical basics are right, whether we are talking about logical system access, internet securi-

ty, prevention of unauthorised access, malware,” added Mr. Gitau.

bit on CRM systems for better client customer relations.

Gitau notes that, recent research has shown that if awareness is low then that becomes a weak link in your environment, and with that in mind the bank is focussed on creating staff awareness, on matters security. In that regard Standard Chartered educates its staff by creating awareness around things such as; phishing e-mails, data leakage prevention and removal of mass storage devices.

Mr. Gitau also commented on the banking industry, stating that the main thing for banks is to understand how they can leverage technology more particularly around the building scale. Mr. Gitau posed the question: “How do you leverage technology to provide a sustainable platform for you and your client to relate in a cost efficient way?”, stating that to him, the answer is going to be the key way that technology will come to play in the future.

“At group level, there is a lot of collaboration; with other financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, just to make sure that the criminal element that is around information security is proactively deterred,” he continued.

Future priorities for Standard Chartered and the banking sector One of the priorities that Mr. Gitau highlighted as being important was getting the basics right. “Always the challenge of head of IT, CIO, is to make sure things are running and running well; in the areas of system stability and availability, change management, and making sure you get the balance in cost management right,” added Mr. Gitau Other areas of focus Mr. Gitau included; investments in infrastructure, where he pointed out that in terms of IT the bank spend quite a bit of time improving on resilience. While in terms of the business side the bank is investing quite a 28

He went on to talk about a major innovation dubbed the Kenya Interparticipant Switch (KITS) that that is going to be launched soon. The innovation, which is being led by the Kenya Bankers Association, will deepen financial inclusion in Kenya through an interbank mechanism to enable interoperability across KBA members for all retail payment streams. In the first phase KITS will grant customers the ability to do person to person (P2P) payments/transfers, in a very affordable way, twenty four-seven (always on), to a large value (so it goes beyond some of the caps that are around, for example, Mobile Money).

“It is largely a technology play; you have a switch, you have banks connected to the switch and you are able, within a click of a button, to transfer money to each other, in different banks, in real time, to a large value, in a secure way. It is leveraging on platforms like this that creates scale and could make a difference.” Mr. Gitau concluded.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

BY HARRY HARE

IT AND LEADERSHIP

FOCUSED MEGA-PROJECT LEADERSHIP TO MAKE KONZA TECHNO CITY A REALITY Last month, CIO East Africa Editorial Director – Harry Hare sat down with Eng. John Tanui the CEO of Konza Technopolis Development Authority at his office in Nairobi.

In the discussion that ensued, they covered a range of issues on Leadership and implementation of Konza Technopolis development agenda. Below are the excerpts…

Harry Hare: Who is John Tanui?

John Tanui: I am an engineer with over seventeen years’ experience in the ICT sector. I did my first degree in electrical and communication engineering at Moi University and later did a masters in International Business. I have worked in local and international firms, the last one being Huawei Technologies where I rose from an engineer and left when I was the deputy CEO. I have done several kinds of projects. I am a father of two; I love Kenya and believe it has the potential to be great.

What is your role as CEO at Konza?

I joined in April 2015 to take the lead in the task of Konza Technolopolis Development Authority - to develop and build Konza Techno City and ensure that we build a global innovation hub. As the CEO, I ensure we are very clear about how we a want to achieve a smart city, techno city. I ensure that my team, is able to work with the partners, consultants, the private sector, the professional institutions and others so that we build something that will last.

Since you came to Konza, what would you say has changed?

www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

Since joining we have charted the vision of the Project. As well, we have been able to engage with other key stakeholders, including our ministry and other government agencies.

This has enabled us to accelerate the pace of development of the project, achieving almost every milestone set on time, and surpassing in others.

We have entered into a number of Memoranda of Understanding, among them with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), the Kenya Property Development Association (KPDA).

We hear you have a target to relocate your offices to Konza by September of next year.

Is that correct?

Yes, we plan to work from Konza by end of 2017, engage our investors and those who want to be part of this ecosystem. We have made significant progress; we have designed the first building and construction is ongoing.

Projections are that it will be completed in 2017, ready for our use.

The building will enhance onsite presence for efficient service delivery and also initialize the creation of the much needed critical development impetus for the city to attract new 29

IT AND LEADERSHIP This Phase will comprise educational institutions ( Universities, Smart Schools, Research centers), Data centers, Hospitals, Commercial office space, Hotels and convention centers, residential properties, shopping malls, recreation/ entertainment venues ( sports stadium, film & media center), community support services (green spaces, houses of worship, police post) and world class infrastructure.

investors and be self-sustaining. It will also provide additional flexible office space for use by investors as well as ICT innovators.

That will give people confidence and therefore they will want to join you there

The city will have huge investments in terms of buildings which will comprise the bricks and mortar.

Yes, this will be a strong endorsement from the government and ourselves. We are confident about this project and it is a key milestone in the broader vision of developing the ecosystem of Konza.

We have 5,000 acres of land divided into four phases. We are very eager to see it succeed.

nificant investments yet in the project are. It will entail be a huge transformation not only for the Konza ecosystem but for Kenya because that university will be the equivalent of the Stanford to the Research Triangle It will have the impact of bringing in students, and attracting multinationals who want to be closer to a research institution.

Who are the first people that you think will be joining you in Konza. Do you have an indication?

From the inception of Konza, there have been over 300 Expressions of Interest.

Late last year we sent out requests for expression of interest to investors for the 24 parcels which were available in phase 1A, which is about 60 acres. We received 60 committed interests, which is a vote of confidence in the project.

Some of these developers expected include technology companies, service providers, academic institutions, real estate companies, o and leading banks who want to set up there. Different international companies are considering putting up software development centres, a hospital, and a hotel. The MoU that was signed between the Kenyan Government, ourselves and the Korean Government recently during the Korean President’s visit is one of the most sig-

KoTDA has allocated six acres of land for establishing the institute that will provide high quality education in Science and Technology.

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Point to me how Phase 1 of Konza will be?

Phase 1 of Konza will be on about 400 acres land. It will have commercial centres and residential areas. The implementation of Phase 1 (2014 – 2020) is already in progress. The Master Plan of this Phase begun on a 400-acre piece.

This Phase is projected to create 17,000 jobs, and housing for about 30,000 residents. By 2020, Phase 1 is anticipated to add over KES 90bn to Kenya’s gross domestic product, approximately 2% growth rate of the country’s GDP. When fully built out, Konza will be a thriving city with superb amenities and worldclass infrastructure supporting nearly 200,000 jobs and over 260,000 residents.

Also under this phase are Streetscape that will deliver Smart Infrastructure for Konza Technopolis to achieve highest levels of sustainability. These infrastructure will comprise road/streetscape and all sub-surface utilities (sewage lines, water lines, power lines, drainage lines, fiber lines e.t.c). The integrated nature of the project will reduce investment cost by ensuring sharing of infrastructure costs and IT resources, sharing of intelligence/information, e.g., video feeds, data from sensors, etc., reducing waste and duplication of investment and effort as well as ease scaling of infrastructure management.

There has been criticism that Konza is a construction project as opposed to a technology project, what do you have to say about that?

I would say it is both. The city will have huge investments in terms of buildings which will comprise the bricks and mortar. In addition to this Konza will be a self-sustaining city anchored by a cluster of Knowledge industries that focus on Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)/Information Technology Enabled services (ITES), Life sciences and Engineering. This will provide a good innovation ecosystem to educate new and existing tech entrepreneurs and for Multinational Companies entering Africa to consider setting their operations there.

We have witnessed great innovations coming out of this country including M-PESA and Ushahidi, putting Kenya on the global map. This needs to be advanced not only in ICT but also across other aspects like sciences, biotechnology, and engineering. Konza as a result will fill this gap and bolster Kenya’s innovation ecosystem.

Besides, Konza will also have city support elements like residential, hotels, commercial offices, hospitals, conferCIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

IT AND LEADERSHIP

ence facilities, entertainment, and public services among others.

I know this is not easy, so what have been your challenges so far?

The major challenge is that a mega project of this value requires a lot of stakeholder engagement and support of so many agencies - government agencies and the private sector. This is exacerbated by the huge funding required for the city to take off.

We are exploring alternative avenues to secure the needed funding outside the traditional method of direct funding from the Exchequer.

What would be the nectar, why should someone invest in Konza, what is the value proposition so to speak?

The value proposition for Konza 1, is the ecosystem that is being set up which will be similar to US’s Research Triangle, which has a presence of 2500 companies. The main attraction there is high-end-skill because of the presence of the three universities - University of the Duke, North Carolina and Chapel Hill. These three universities have actually transformed the state of North Carolina to be among the top states in the US in terms of wealth, technology leadership. Being the first city that Kenya is planning from the scratch, Konza will be an alternative location to Nairobi. As a country we have been attractive to the world and we have precedence www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

in international events happening in Nairobi and you can see people in social media proposing the need for an alternative location. Konza will provide an alternative location for international conferences and meetings, it will be an excellent place to live and to work and will attract investors in that aspect.

Konza will be a smart city; one of a kind in Africa and the best place to live, work and do business.

Konza also offers all the benefits of a green field, ‘clean sheet’ site which is nevertheless right at the center of activity. The city is located 60kms from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi; 50km from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the country’s main airport and 500km from the port city of Mombasa.

There is also a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) route that will ease connectivity from all directions.

objective that you can do. My value to the task at hand now is to see that Konza takes off. Seeing Konza become a global innovation hub and building that ecosystem that positions Kenya as part of leaders in science and technology will be quite exciting for me.

The Konza site is ideally placed for high speed and large bandwidth communication being adjacent to the main route for the long-distance fibre optic cables running between Nairobi and Mombasa. This provides easy access to the network of modern international submarine cables.

Konza will be a smart city; one of a kind in Africa and the best place to live, work and do business.

What are your core values as a person?

I believe in adding value to others. We should strive to give our best and make a contribution because for the time that God gives us to be - you need to find an

For the people who are aspiring to be in a position like yours, what advice would you give them?

I think opportunities come, you just need to keep on preparing, doing the best with the task you have at hand and doing your very best in the position that you have Anything else you want to tell our readers Besides the construction of Konza in terms of the real estate component, we are building the Kenyan innovation ecosystem which requires active participation of all of us. The country has excelled in other areas like Logistics, sports, diplomacy, business and financial services but there is much more to be done in making Kenya a Technology/ innovation hub.

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STARTUP CORNER

BY BARAKA JEFWA

DEMO Africa demonstrates how good pitching competitions can help startups On last year’s December edition of the CIO East Africa Magazine, on the Start-up Corner column, we touched on some factors that could make or break Start-ups.

One of the factors was good pitching competitions, where we gave DEMO Africa as a good example of such an event.

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EMO Africa, now in its fifth year, was for the first time held in Johannesburg, South Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre from 22nd to 26th August 2016. This year’s 30 finalists were picked from a record 723 technology startups from 27 African countries.

“The City of Johannesburg wants to position itself as the number one entrepreneurial hub on the continent. This requires that we play a significant role in the African technology innovation ecosystem,” said Ruby Mathang, Member of the Mayoral Committee from the Department of Economic Development for the City, at the time Johannesburg was unveiling details of the DEMO Africa Conference.

“The entries this year certainly kept up with the DEMO Africa spirit to produce innovative and creative ideas that are bound to transform the technology landscape and we are excited by the growth of innovation and technological advancement in Africa as portrayed by our finalists,” said Harry Hare, DEMO Africa Executive Producer while congratulating the finalists.

The question on your mind must be, how could a pitching competition help startups in their quest to become top companies? One good answer is that, with such competitions start-ups are helped to raise funds; a good example of this is when In 2015 DEMO Africa participants raised US$4 million in funding.

Apart from raising funds, DEMO Africa has an extra advantage to most pitching competitions, as each year the top 5 start-up companies benefit from the DEMO Africa LIONS programme, a partnership between DEMO Africa and the LIONS@FRICA initiative that curates a 2-week Innovation Tour of Silicon Valley. The Innovation Tour exposes the start-ups to the technology and investment ecosystem in the Silicon Valley with the aim of creating bridges and attracting investments from investors from the Valley.

The top 5 companies at this year’s DEMO Africa were as follows: Sortd- The product suite is aimed at helping people escalates conversations into action right from the source; ConnectMed- an online machine learning-enabled telehealth platform that allows patients to seek treatment from GPs over video for common ailments; Strauss Energy- sells electricity to homeowners and organizations at 75% cheaper than the national grid; Solstice Home Energy Solutions- Solstice has developed a low cost energy monitoring solution for Nigerian households; MediaBox- MediaBox can make any existing TV old or new a truly smart device for entertainment, education & access to the internet.

While announcing the winners, Stephen Ozoigbo, the CEO at African Technology Foundation, the agency implementing the LIONS@ FRICA initiative said the companies that had been picked have a global outlook and can benefit by seeing how other such companies are doing in the United States.

Startup Corner: (L-R) The moderator watches on as James Muir, Managing Director & Co-founder, Mediabox, and Roeland Van Nieuwkerk, Technical Director & Co-founder, Mediabox, pitch to the judges as the audience watches on at the DEMO Africa competition.

DEMO Africa 2016 list of finalist startups Grid Supply Chain Loystar Iyris KO Ltd Cocktail Insights Boresha Limited Ujuzi Software Solutions 32

MumsVillage Ltd Strauss Energy IT Brothers Nextwi Solstice HES WESABI

ArtNigeria Shuttlers Rubiqube Limited SharpHire Global Limited Vuga Ltd ConnectMed Reel Gardening SolarCap Pty Ltd

“These companies have a global appeal and have the highest potential to becoming global companies,” said Ozoigbo. “By participating in the innovation tour, we are helping to connecting these companies to the global innovation ecosystem and also continue connecting them to potential investors,” he concluded.

RadioVybe Sortd ION Comsys Ekasi Energy 4th Element

K Measure Pty Ltd Zivo Learning flexyPAYIntenational Telescrypts Lipa Mobile

See more at: http://www.demo-africa.com/news/demo-africa-2016-final-30-list#sthash.35jKHO7H.dpuf CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

WOMEN IN TECH

Mariéme Jamme on inspiring Africa’s future through tech MARIÉME JAMME, THE FOUNDER AND CEO OF SPOTONE GLOBAL SOLUTIONS HAS BEEN IN THE FOREFRONT TO REVOLUTIONIZE AS WELL AS INSPIRE THE AFRICAN FUTURE THROUGH THE USE TECHNOLOGY.

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orn in Senegal into privilege, Jamme describes herself as a “lost girl” who wanted to succeed in life relying solely on her efforts and not on her family’s connections.

In 1992, she moved to France after her father’s death. There, she worked in restaurants and took on cleaning jobs to fund her studies. To her, she fought all the way to be where she is today and was very eager to go and find her own identity and that’s how she landed in IT. Jamme, terms her journey as a tech-preneur as accidental. “I was more in sales and business development in the Tech www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

Sector, selling millions dollars software solutions to improve business and help them reduce cost while studying. I then became passionate about tech could do change the world and I never stop since.

We now help Major Software companies set a foothold in EMEA,” she said.

Passionate about Africa and technology, Jamme found it necessary to set up base outside her continent, making England her new home. Since she knew she can achieve more by not living in Africa where gender barriers still hamper many women from realizing their potential.

To date Jamme, owns consultancy company Spotone Global Solutions that helps technology companies to set a foothold in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She has supported many organisations such as Google, Ernest and Young, HSBC Private Banking, The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown, The Africa Progress Panel chaired by Kofi Annan, The Obama Administration, and multiple African governments through their STEM policies.

Often called the diplomat of technology, Mariéme was named one of the 100 most influential Africans by the African 33

WOMEN IN TECH the global market by creating profitable SME’s.

For the last five years, Jamme has also started mentoring young Africans, helping them to set up their businesses and teaching them how to strategize and sell their ideas. She says she finds great satisfaction in being able to help her continent by shaping the lives of young people and giving them the confidence to compete on the global stage.

To Jamme, she did not face lots of career obstacles going up the ladder to where she is now. “I did not face lots of obstacles in my career because I never wanted to have career, I wanted to be a leader in what I was doing, hence I set up my company 18 years ago to offer services nobody was offering.,” she said.

Business Magazine and 20 youngest powerful women in Africa by Forbes.

Marieme newly became Advisory Board Member of Data Pop Alliance, a global coalition promoting a people-centered Big Data revolution and a judge and Academy member of the Prestigious Global Teachers Prize Academy.

Jamme, was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for her activism work in empowering and investing in young girls and women in Africa through Creative learning, entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics and Design (STEAMD).

Co-Founder of Africa Gathering, one of the leading platform in Europe that enable businesses, governments, investor and entrepreneurs to share ideas about Africa for positive change, she also recently joined forces with a group of African leaders to create Accur8Africa, a new platform aiming at enabling governments, businesses, entrepreneurs and the civil society in Africa at measuring the success of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 with Accurate Data.

In Africa this is not often the case as options are limited but mastering what you are good at and loving it is more sustainable in the long term. her; women’s education, empowerment and freedom is paramount in Jamme life, hence the creation of the JJiguene Tech Hub in Senegal: the first women Tech Innovation Network supporting young women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Jamme also sat in Microsoft 4AfriKa team as a council member advising them on how to engage the youth in Africa’s development and increase their competitiveness in

To her, the biggest advantage of being a woman in the tech industry is having a voice in the industry, sitting at the table equally to men, and being able to sell solutions and look after sales teams all over the world.

However, Jamme says that what surprised her the most when she began her career was that there were not many women driven and wanting to be leaders in our field.

As an African woman in IT Jamme would love to be remembered as a technology diplomat who got to connect tech companies, sales teams and users in the most effective way.

To young women, “Always pursue what you love. In Africa this is not often the case as options are limited but mastering what you are good at and loving it is more sustainable in the long term. And always go for it but take your time to learn and master your craft.”

Jamme’s latest venture includes the launch of IAMTHECODE, a new movement aiming at mobilising governments, businesses and investors to support girls and young women in STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Design).

Having fought hard as a young girl in Africa for an education that was denied to 34

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

PRODUCT REVIEW The launch of this new display range comes at a time when the world is looking at quality products and as the world goes fully digital Canon understands the importance of this innovation.

The DP-V2420 is a 24-inch high-luminance reference display ideal for High Dynamic Range (HDR) content creation, whilst the DP-V1710 is an industry-first 17-inch professional display created for outside broadcasting vans and studios.

The models combine Canon’s image processing engine with a proprietary backlight system and an IPS LCD panel to deliver incredible colour reproduction, high-resolution and high-contrast visuals.

Next generation imaging technology – the DPV2420 The DP-V2420 is Canon’s flagship 4K reference display, developed in response to the diverse requirements in leading-edge broadcast and cinema production workflows. Supporting the new

Canon's new professional 4K display models IN SEPTEMBER 2016, CANON INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD TWO PROFESSIONAL DISPLAYS DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF 4K BROADCAST AND CINEMA PRODUCTION WORKFLOWS. ITU-R BT.2100 standard for HDR image parameters, the high-luminance reference display produces incredible colour reproduction that’s not been seen before. With an expanded dynamic range, the contrast between the light and dark areas of an image is increased, enabling a sense of three-dimensionality.

The display’s built-in debayer is able to show native 4K RAW footage direct from compatible Cinema EOS cameras, saving costs on an external debayer unit and dramatically improving 4K workflows.

CANON DP - V2420 www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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PRODUCT REVIEW Setting a new benchmark for 17-inch professional 4K displays – the DPV1710 Delivering stunning 3840 x 2160 resolution in a compact body, the DP-V1710 is the broadcast industry’s first 4K (UHD) 17-inch professional display. Weighing just 8KG, it’s perfect for on-location shooting, whilst the size and ability to use with 19-inch rackmounts makes it ideal for use in outside broadcasting vans with limited space.

The DP-V1710 supports HD/3G and 6G-SDI interfaces, enabling it to handle a 4K signal with a single cable. Optimised to support HDR EOTFs, the DP-V1710 delivers the level of black luminance performance demanded for broadcasting, supporting professionals who create Full HD, 4K, and HDR content.

The ultimate in reliability The DP-V2420 and DP-V1710 are encased in sleek and robust bodies and feature easy-to-use on-screen operation including assignable function buttons allowing various functions to be registered.

The displays sit alongside the DP-V2410 and DP-V3010 in Canon’s 4K professional display line-up, providing a range of display options for all broadcast and cinema production needs.

Conclusion The DP-V2420 will be available from December 2016 and DP-V1710 from March 2017. Prices will be set at dealer discretion. They can preordered from wherever you are across the world and these will be key displays that broadcasters will look at purchasing thus upgrading their current equipment.

CANON DP - V1710

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CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

OPINION

WHAT IS THE FORMULA FOR DIGITAL EDUCATION? LEARNING INITIATIVES FACE TOUGHEST TEST YET.

BY BEN ROBERTS

HEAVY EXPECTATION HAS FOLLOWED DIGITAL LEARNING INITIATIVES ACROSS AFRICA. AFTER ALL, SUCH INITIATIVES PROMISE TO DELIVER SO MUCH TO UNDER-RESOURCED SCHOOLS: THE WORLD’S BEST EDUCATIONAL CONTENT AVAILABLE TO CHILDREN ON AFFORDABLE TABLETS OR E-BOOKS AS WELL AS GREATER ONLINE TRAINING AND SUPPORT TOOLS FOR TEACHERS.

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r so the story goes. The reality for Kenya and other African nations has been rather different.

Kenya has faced challenges in fulfilling its ambitious plans to give first year primary school students access to laptops, but the Digital Learning Programme (DLP) also known as Digischool – is now up and running. In March, the DLP began a pilot scheme in 150 select primary schools across Kenya, before it is then rolled out to more than 22,000 public primary schools. By August 2017, the programme is expected to have reached all schools across the country, with over 60,000 teachers undergoing training by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) on how to use their own devices and those of their pupils.

Meanwhile, serious work is underway to bring connectivity to schools across the country. In September, Communications Authority (CA) of Kenya announced plans to connect 1,000 public secondary schools with the internet by June 2017, subsidised by the Universal Service Fund (USF) collected from telecoms operators.

I’ve done my part in my work at Liquid Telecom over the years, supporting tertiary education and specifically in Kenya by providing connectivity for the Kenya Education Network (KENET), to bring huge bandwidth to Universities. Just recently I witnessed first-hand the benefits of digital learning when we set up a project to provide tablets and internet access to Kiltamany Primary School in Samburu County. We partnered with Kenyan startup BRCK to supply the school with a Kio Kit; an award-winning rugged ‘Digital School in a Box’. www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

I grew up in the 1970’s as the first generation of children to use computers at school and home. Back then you could learn about programming a computer, and publish neat work using a ‘word processor’. Things are not so BASIC now and there is so much information online that it makes text books seem obsolete. Devices and apps now are so intuitive that my eldest son taught me how to use YouTube before his 5th Birthday. He’s now 10 doing robotics and programming at school.

So its that simple and the formula for digital learning is:Education = Devices + Internet Right?....

The scene has been set for a new era of digital learning in Kenya, but the work won’t simply end with the provision of connectivity and laptops to school. With the benefits of increased access online for children, also comes risks.

Protecting children online is a global problem that requires concerted efforts of parents, guardians, government and organisations that focus on children. Initiatives such as Child Online Protection (POC), will be crucial in supporting Kenya’s transition to digital learning. The recent ‘Be the Cop’ campaign pioneered by the CA campaign focuses on raising awareness amongst children on the risk of online crimes, such as cyberbullying, identify theft and online fraud.

It also warns children about the risks of internet addiction. Sadly, the image of a family sat around the dinner table hooked to their individual smartphones or tablets is becoming commonplace

throughout the world, and Kenya is no exception. You can often see families in Java café in a Sunday after church, sitting in silence busy playing games and uploading their selfies. It is important that the next generation of Kenyans grow up with a healthy balance between engaging with one another on online and building relationships with people in the real world.

The move to more digital-based learning will also intensify the Kenyan government’s ongoing battle with exam cheating. Exam cheating has been making the headlines of national newspapers since 2013, reaching a frenzy in March when the Kenyan government dissolved the national examination board and arrested its members after they were implicated in widespread cheating on university entrance exams. This will be a top priority for the government moving forward, which won’t want to imitate the extreme lengths taken by Syria. The Syrian government reportedly shut down the whole country’s internet access seven times within nine days to prevent exam cheating in August.

So perhaps the formula is Education = (Devices + Internet)log(Child Online - (Cheating /(Teachers + Family))

Protection)

Ah, I’ll just use Google and find the perfect formula….

If key stakeholders such as the government, education boards and network operators get it the formula right, then digital learning looks set to take off in Kenya in 2017. Let’s hope they pass with honours.

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OPINION

FINDING THE FUTURE

BY DELANO LONGWE

IT IS NOW SAID THAT ADVANCES IN AI, ROBOTICS AND BIOTECH COULD KILL OFF OVER 5 MILLION JOBS BY 2020. THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE RECENTLY AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN DAVOS. MORE STUNNING THAN THIS IS THE STATEMENT THAT THIS IS ABOUT TO DISRUPT THE BUSINESS WORLD IN A SIMILAR WAY TO THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (HTTP://MONEY.CNN.COM/2016/01/18/NEWS/ECONOMY/JOB-LOSSES-TECHNOLOGY-FIVE-MILLION).

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e’ve always expected the future to arrive in dramatic fashion with innovation and solutions that wipe away work challenges in an instant however the thought has rarely dawned on many of us that the hard work and labor in one’s field of chosen vocational interest can be so quickly vanquished into obsolescence due to a highly intelligent inanimate object (perhaps animation is the 5th Industrial revolution). A decade ago it was relatively easy to project the future of technology and we had many industry leaders projecting with absolute clarity 10 year roadmaps that were significantly accurate and have since been rolled out mostly on time. About 5 years ago though things began to get a little fuzzy with the onset of commercially viable Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence platforms. We’re now at a stage where the dynamic shift in industry is creating entire landscapes of new areas of technology learning the half of which our academic institutions in region may struggle to keep pace with and for which the value chain in the organization is beginning to experience role displacement effects as the various departments begin to scramble to get their hands on new advanced technology inherently making their stars shine brighter than their peers in terms of organizational relevance.

Nothing has ever been impossible in our new world of technological advancements and achievements it’s just that we didn’t expect everything to change so soon. But there’s more, much more it’s not just the highly visible and ob38

vious AI, Robotics and Biotech that’s causing the shift. The global security environment has spurred massive investments from many countries around the world that are developing extremely advanced tech that militate against the threat of global terror in an attempt to eradicate the threat to modern economies of terror.. Geo-Fencing , Geo-locating and Remote-painting and tracking of targets and suspects have all but become the norm.

Looking back at CIO 100 awards 2015 we see that indeed a number of the awarded individuals and organizations exhibited clear leadership in the dynamic thinking and risk taking required to sprint ahead of not just the competition but the ever increasing market appetite for faster, easier solutions. It will be interesting to see the winners and achievers for 2016 in light of this. One major anticipated disruption is the high likelihood of never seen before technologies tipping the scale in favor of the awardees.

The world as we know it continues to change with the impending US Pres-

idential elections and their history changing impact regardless of the outcome to our local and regional sudden hunger for political leadership and power influencing even the most rational of minds. The one thing that at least provides us assurance of better days ahead is the constant, consistent and steadily growing stream of Foreign Direct Investment into the region in fields spanning from Energy to Mining and the development of Smart Cities.

It’s always been slightly difficult to find the future in our region, accurately predicting the new norms 10 years ahead of time, but now it’s become even more difficult. Everybody from the Japanese (TICAD) to the rest of the world (UNCTAD) is talking to Africa, courting her, preparing her for a future which by all means within the next 3 years is going to take our world by storm. Are we ready perhaps not but the only way to go is to find our future. The largest robotics and drone factories will likely find their home in Africa where all the natural resources are easily available for manufacture and export to the rest of the world.

The largest robotics and drone factories will likely find their home in Africa where all the natural resources are easily available for manufacture and export to the rest of the world.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

OPINION

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY: A STEP BY STEP EXPLANATION

BY JAMES MURITU

SIMPLY EXPLAINED, BLOCK CHAIN IS THE TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE BEHIND DIGITAL CURRENCIES SUCH AS BITCOIN; IT IS COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS A DATA STRUCTURE THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO CREATE A DIGITAL LEDGER OF TRANSACTIONS AND SHARE IT AMONG A DISTRIBUTED NETWORK OF COMPUTERS.

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he technology relies on cryptography to allow participating users on the network to manipulate the ledger in a secure way without the need for a central authority. At a time when companies are facing new challenges in data management and security, it’s emerging as a way to let companies make and verify transactions on a network instantaneously without elaborate red tapes and bureacracies.

Today, more than 40 top financial institutions and a growing number of firms across the world are experimenting with this technology as a secure and transparent way to digitally track the ownership of assets, a move that could speed up transactions and cut costs while lowering the risk of fraud.

Such companies see an opportunity to track the movement of assets throughout their supply chains or electronically initiate and enforce contracts.

Blockchain is no longer being seen as a preserve of the fintech startups and several companies are already executing transactions via the blockchain platform. A recent case that happened in early September 2016 was when Barclays Africa executed a letter of credit transaction via a private blockchain with a Seychelles based company. The conventional process of preparing a letter of credit involves several parties and often takes days to execute. With a private block chain, the process took just a few hours. According to Barclays: “One of the biggest headaches in global trade currently is the vast movement of paper required to facilitate transactions, with multiple organisations in www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

the chain. That is why we’ve been very keen to partner with Wave in using blockchain technology to save time and money for our clients, and potentially transform trade finance for businesses around the world.”

Africa though is yet to fully tap in to this technology, without most corporates getting lost in the tech speak or regulators getting too much involved and often with a negative tone.

The simple bottom line is that this technology eliminates the need for costly middle men, especially with regard to financial transactions. Some practical applications of Blockchain especially within an Africa context include: Put land records on the blockchain so that prospective buyers can quickly, easily, and cheaply verify that the owner of the land does really own the land

By using Blockchain, an escrow system can be created to protect both buyer and seller by not releasing any funds until both parties have confirmed they are satisfied.

Put “Know your customer” data on a block chain so as to help finance firms easily and quickly check new customers as part of the process of verifying new customers; very helpful for the financial sector

Escrow transactions. By using Blockchain, an escrow system can be created to protect both buyer and seller by not releasing any funds until both parties have confirmed they are satisfied. This process can be confirmed by smart contracts and removes the need for third-party moderation.

Counterfeiting is a big problem in Africa and across the world. Blockchain can be utilised as a public ledger for the registration of all new products and accompanying transactions. Using Blockchain, customers can easily determine whether the product already exists on the system and whether it has been sold. Manufacturers can work out closely with their product distributors to identify counterfeits via a block chain network

Though sounding quite futuristic, according to some tech geeks, Blockchain could be adapted for elections to allow early voting from smartphones; allow second-by-second, public audit transparency of the ballot; allow you to change your vote right up to the poll close; and provide instant results right then and there. Stealing elections will hopefully be a thing of the past with the embracement of block technology.

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OPINION

WHY TECH COMPANIES SHOULD SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS SAM MWANGI

IN 2015, THREE KENYAN COMPANIES BEING SAFARICOM, EQUITY BANK AND M-KOPA, WERE LISTED IN THE ‘FORTUNE CHANGE THE WORLD LIST’ WITH SAFARICOM TOPPING THE 50 COMPANIES THAT MADE IT TO THE LIST GLOBALLY.

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he Change the World list recognizes companies that have had a positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy. Most of the companies that appear on this list are technology firms such as Google, General Electric, Intel, Siemens, Salesforce.com, LinkedIn, IBM and many others. Thus, it was no mean fit for the Kenyan companies to be recognized, acknowledging that Kenyan people can find Kenyan solutions to Kenyan problems with technology playing a key role. Safaricom’s MPESA and Equity’s model played a key role in financial inclusion while M-Kopa provided solar power solutions to households off the national power grid.

Kenya is still facing problems ranging from lack of proper health care, constrained education systems, lack for safe drinking water, food insecurity, terrorism, burglary incidents, high number of road accidents, low electricity penetrations and so on. A country survey conducted by the World Bank in Kenya in 2015 indicated that agriculture de-

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velopment at 42% of respondents, economic growth at 31%, job creation at 29%, and education at 27% would contribute most to poverty reduction. Most of these challenges can be resolved using technology. Charitable and non-governmental organizations have increasingly started adopting technological innovations and approaches to solving societal problems in recent years. From mobile health and telemedicine to educational apps and micro-finance, digital advancements have greatly benefited a number of nonprofits, giving them the tools to create lasting change. Technology has solved enormous social problems — antibiotics, hygienic plumbing, immunization, the green revolution.

Throwing technology at problems can be helpful, but the fundamental problems are political and economic and rooted in human nature.

Global companies are making significant progress in building large-scale social enterprises with an aim of solving major social problems in profitable ways. Food companies such as Nestlé,

Unilever, and Danone are repositioning themselves as nutrition and health companies. Carmakers such as Nissan and Toyota are redefining their purpose as providing low-emissions mobility.

And technology and telecommunications firms such as IBM, Intel, and Verizon have made improving education and health care and making cities more livable their central missions. Bridge International Academies, with more than 400 nursery and primary schools across Africa, are data-driven and technology-enabled. Using smartphones and tablets, the academies monitor teacher and student performance in real time, constantly reviewing and revising.

One facet of technology that is prominent in Kenya is the mobile penetration.

According to the quarterly sector statistics report by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), at the end of the July to September 2015 quarter, mobile penetration stood at 88.1per cent with 37.8million subscribers up from 36.1 million in the previous quarter. The mobile phones can be of great use in resolving social problems. There is a rising in the number of hubs and startup communities in Kenya making use of mobile technology and prospering. Apart from the examples already mentioned, there are other initiatives that have been implemented. M-Farm for instance, sort to solve the challenge of market for farm produce by providing up-to-date market prices via an app or SMS, direct to farmers. It also connects farmers with buyers directly, cutting out the middlemen. Kenyan social entrepreneurs have an opportunity to take advantage of the social problems, they can solve them using technology at a profit.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

OPINION

EFFORTS AND EFFECTS IN TRANSFORMING THE ENTERPRISE

BY PETER MUYA

ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA, THE PARETO PRINCIPLE STATES THAT “FOR MANY EVENTS, ROUGHLY 80% OF THE EFFECTS COME FROM 20% OF THE CAUSES”. ECONOMIST VILFREDO PARETO DEVELOPED THE PRINCIPLE BY OBSERVING THAT 20% OF PEAPODS IN HIS GARDEN CONTAINED 80% OF PEAS.

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his term has found its way in boardrooms in a bid to find a formula to be efficient in a never ending turblent sea of change that faces the enterprise. Referring to Pareto’s observation in his garden, for 20% of peapods to contain 80% of peas also implies that 80% of the rest of the peapods only contained 20% of peas. In other words looking at the effort versus effects we would say the 20% peapods producing 80% peas were very efficient while the 80% peapods producing 20% peas were very inefficient.

But indulging further on this, the assumption is that 80% of the peas produced by 20% of peapods were all good peas. This may not be the case. It is also true to say that not all the 20% peas produced by 80% peapods were bad. In other words, less effort that produces large effects doesnt mean these effects are necessarily good effects. They are likely to be a combination of good and bad effects. On the other hand, more effort producing little effects doesnt mean that these effects are bad all effects.

Supposing the 20% peapods that produced 80% peas had 90% of bad peas and 10% of good peas. Further on, supposing the 80% peapods that produced 20% peas, had 90% of good peas and 10% of pad peas. In this scenario, which set of peapods was more effective and efficient www.cio.co.ke | OCTOBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

in producing good effects? On effectiveness, 90% good effects (of 20% total effects) came from 80% effort. On efficiency, 10% good effects (of 80% total effects) came from 20% effort. Both of these cases, point to an immature process of transformation. While less effort is used to produce more, the good effects are too few to justify efficiency. On the other hand, while more good effects are produced, there is too much effort expended.

These scenarios characterize many an enterprise. We may call the set of 20% peapods “agile” and the set of 80% peapods “waterfall”. Note that these two terms are used for illustration purposes and not necessarly to compare the agile and waterfall methodologies, although there are certain subtle resemblances. Going back to the argument, while “agile” in this case used less time and effort to create tremendous effects, little of that effect was actually absorbed rightly by the enterprise. On the other hand, while the slower and more rigid “waterfall” took too long to deliver little effects, almost all of these effects were abosborbed rightly, little as they may be.

In this case, does it mean “waterfall” was better than “agile”? This quesiton cannot be answered at face value (some enterprises often fall for this trap). It would require a deeper understanding of the context that led to choice of either of these methods based on the information available and how they were adopted as suitable to produce the desired effects.

According to POET(TM) to adopt any framework, “the framework should define different levels of maturity recognising that there is no right or wrong way of doing something but rather there is a continuum of maturity and that anyone utilising a framework is the best person to judge what level of maturity is appropriate for them.” This definition must not only be for purposes of assessment but also to determine how and why to move from that level of maturity. So if say, the “agile” framework was assessed on WHAT, HOW, WITH WHAT, BY WHO and scored well on WHAT, HOW and WITH WHAT but scored poorly on BY WHO, chances are the good effects will be significantly diminished. On the other hand if “waterfall” framework was assessed and scored well on WHAT, WITH WHAT and BY WHO but scored poorly on HOW, chances are the required effort will be significant.

Albert Einstein is quoted to have said, “we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking we used when we created them”. The context of choice of approaches transformation cannot be bound by the context in which problems exist. There must be new information which exposes possibilities of maturity of how an enterprise “does” transformation in order to increase the chances of 20% peapods producing 80% good peas while decreasing the chances of having to use 80% peapods to produce 20% good peas.

Transforming transformation increases the chances of achieving 80-20 principle in a pragmatic way.

Peter Muya, is an award enterprise transformation practitioner, possessing 15 years experience conducting mid and large-scale transformation projects in the telecommunications, financial services and public sector industries. He is the co-founder and a managing partner of PTI Consulting, a pan-African consulting practice providing ICT related business advisory services Web: www.pticonsulting.co.ke | Email: peter.muya@pearltouchint.com 41

HARD TALK

BY BOB YAWE

OPEN DATA; A BASIS OF INNOVATION

A few editions ago I wrote about data and the phobia we have for creating it and more still interrogating it to answer questions and thus generate knowledge.

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thought that after writing the piece Kenyans would attack me as they did with the “hot bed of . . . “ author and proof me wrong.

However, it seems that we not only ignore the prophets within but also the critics, maybe I should look for a foreigner to make the same statement if I am to expect a response.

Nonetheless, quite a bit of data that has been collected over the years and resides on digital storage devices across the country under lock and key meaning that it is adding no value to the nation even though its collection was financed through public funds.

When the Kenya Open Data initiative was hatched it was my expectation that freedom to information was going to follow soon after, but this was not to be as the data was locked away on some server in a foreign land accessible more to those foreigners than to those it affected the most.

So we continue to lack access to vital data that could have been utilised to answer questions and therefore provide a basis for product and process innovation resulting in employment creation, reduction of famine and improved education delivery.

I recently came across called the “Newsletter” produced by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) that summaries the results of the Kenya Certificate of Primary and Kenya Certificate of Secondary examinations.

What this tells you is that the diamond that lies within the mountains of data requires individuals with a myriad of skills and experiences, which are practically impossible to get in the one person, to bring out.

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The information provided gives a clear indication that there is more to an exam that just the top 100 students or the rating of schools, the exams are prepared by education specialists to test specific knowledge. From the data provided in the newsletter data is captured at question level so imagine the amount of data generated from 50 questions attempted by one million students, that is for a single year.

Unfortunately, like most other public data, it is locked away in a bunker in South C and access to it requires no less than a signature from the head of state in the presence of the deputy president, the AG and the CGS. I did attempt to get the data but I ran out of steam when almost shot while climbing into the StateHouse compound.

So here I am making a plea on the only platform available to me which will not censure it out, I also extend my plea to Safaricom to release anonymised of mobile phone movement as this could be used to analyse traffic flow patterns.

Recently Microsoft released a data science training program in association with edX as a way to fill the gap that exists between the data and those able to turn it into knowledge or information, did I mention that the training is free and online?

What this tells you is that the diamond that lies within the mountains of data requires individuals with a myriad of skills and experiences, which are practically impossible to get in the one person, to bring out.

A doctor looking at cellular traffic flow data is likely to see a different pattern to an engineer therefore the need to give data analytics skills to all and sundry, data science needs to become as ubiquitous as dialing.

As a country, we need to have an office of the National Data Scientist who would be responsible for bringing all public data into one place and then developing ways for the public to interrogate it freely, unless we do this we shall remain dependent on foreigners telling us what we need.

CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

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