CIO East Africa September 2016 Edition

VOL 8 | ISSUE 9 | www.cio.co.ke

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Capital Laggards 20 Data ‘Probably In Trouble’ GILBERT SAGGIA: 29 DR. The CIO has to evolve

towards being the person that creates a business strategy

ALKANE PATEL

KEZA GARA 33 AKALIZA changing the face of

September 2016

ICT in Rwanda

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Dr. Sindiso Ngwenya

Secretary General COMESA

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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

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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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Davis Weddi

Can CIOs give Open Source the credit it deserves?

LAST MONTH, THERE WERE TWO EVENTS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE. THERE WAS THE HUGE GATHERING IN JOHANNESBURG – DEMO – AFRICA THE LAUNCHPAD FOR EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS.

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hen there was another in Kampala where Uganda’s Ministry of ICT participated in the Open Source software Summit of Africa – IDLELO7. While DEMO Africa sounded more fun (in fact I will have another session to talk about it), I got obsessed with prying into what exactly was going on in the Kampala event after reading some tweets that thanked Uganda’s Government for its role in the summit. So I decided to look up some information on Open Source. Then I discovered that the primary goal of IDLELO7 is to increase the awareness, integration and adoption of free and open source software (FOSS) in Africa. I discovered that the theme of IDLELO7 was emphasising how such Free and Open Source solutions are being (can be) used to achieve Open Data and Open Government frameworks.

In my search for more information, I soon discovered some statements around the relationship between CIOs or IT leaders and Open Source software.

“Again and again, we encounter executives who do not grasp how much their organization already depends on open source. More importantly, they do not see the key role that open source technologies and thinking will play in enabling their efforts to transform into a customer-obsessed business that really can win, serve, and retain customers,” said a quotation on Inforworld.com.

Another quotation says, “There’s been a stunning and irreversible trend in enterprise infrastructure. If you’re operating a data center, you’re almost certainly using an open source operating system, database, middleware, and other plumbing.

No dominant platform-level software infrastructure has emerged in the last ten years in closed-source, proprietary form.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Is this true about the East Africa CIOs playing field? I wrapped up my search when another quotation came around in question form: “There are no exceptions to this -- so why are these CIOs and other IT decision makers so slow to give open source the credit it deserves?”

Well, that is for the leaders to think about, of course the questions on cost and reliability of Open Source are still lingering and have answers.

This September, CIO East Africa decided to cover Big Data solutions, Smart Cities and Enterprise Security. These are important, emerging technologies in the region and as you read on, you will notice cutting-edge solutions the leading companies in the region have on offer.

Our IT and Leadership section is covering Dr. Gilbert Saggia, one of the Region’s best IT leaders. On Women in Technology we bring to you Akaliza Keza Gara who is changing the face of ICT in Rwanda. As you have noticed on the cover page, our top story is an interesting one - about the CIO at the edible oils, fats and personal care products manufacturer - BIDCO. More leaders in the technology enterprise are writing in our Magazine. It is good Bob Collymore has added us another article, Ben Roberts pen is still working as ever, and this month we introduce Brett Parker the MD of SAP Africa.

The CIO100 survey is still ongoing. You can also register to attend the CIO100 Symposium and Awards Gala that will take place in Enashpai, Naivasha in November 2016.

Please take a moment and give us your feedback using the QR Codes below.

You are welcome to the September Edition of CIO East Africa.

SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION

TO CONTACT ME:

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

QUOTED VERBATIM

Brett Parker MD SAP Africa (Page 24-25)

While Africa may be behind when it comes to IT infrastructure compared to more developed nations, the fact is that more than double the population of sub-Saharan Africa has mobile phone access. With smartphone usage on the up and IT literacy expanding, bringing Internet of Things (IoT) level connectivity is a natural progression for this tech-hungry continent.”

FROM OUR ONLINE LOCATIONS Facebook Posts with highest reach It’s no longer “Little Cabs” but “Little” President Uhuru Kenyatta assents to Engineering Technology Bill 2016 Jumia to provide E-commerce training to over 3,000 women in Kenya

Dr. Gilbert Saggia Leader Oracle Kenya (Page 29-30)

The CIO has to evolve towards being the person that creates a business strategy or being part of the business strategy creation than someone who creates an IT strategy that supports the business.

CIO East Africa Director among speakers at TGAIS – COMESA Rwanda Okoa Jahazi loan stands at Kshs 30 billion making Safaricom a significant player in the credit market

Tweets with the highest reaction This year’s #CIO100Awards will be held at the beautiful @Enashipai Resort & Spa, in Naivasha, Kenya register here:

Akaliza Keza Gara member Microsoft 4Afrika council Board (Page 33-34)

Although we are still the minority in the industry, the few of us that exist are celebrated, with the hope of inspiring more young girls. A great example is the Ms. Geek Rwanda competition that has been running for the last couple of years. It has received tremendous support from all sectors of society.

95% of all breaches in organisations originate at end points #CIOExecBreakfast #CIOExecBreakfast people are becoming more and more mobile leveraging on Big Data 34% of companies are taking advantage of using IT as a source of innovation #CIOExecBreakfast #infinixNOTE3 will retail for Kshs. 14,999 exclusively on @JumiaKenya

Most Popular read stories on www.cio.co.ke

James Muritu CIO EA Columnist (Page 39)

With a conservative and risk averse mindset, the public and private sectors in Africa are still stuck with a school of thought that true data exists only within structured data sets.

Vinny Lingham to speak at #DEMOAfrica2016 10 acquisitions driving Oracle’s cloud strategy Prisma review: Intelligent photo effects app taps into deep learning for an edgy art connection V-Club Kenya highlights data availability as imperative for the Always-On digital enterprise It’s no longer “Little Cabs” but “Little”

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

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GUEST EDITORIAL

BY BOB COLLYMORE

Why We Need TO INVEST IN TRUST WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY’S MOST VALUABLE ASSET? IS IT THE EXPENSIVE MANUFACTURING PLANT THAT DELIVERS EFFICIENCIES AND CUTS YOUR TIME TO MARKET?

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s it the decision you made to recruit the best management team who are executing on a deliberate strategy?

Or is it the prudent use of your investments that equips your business with the right tools for growth?

For most companies, their most valuable asset can be a combination of all of the above.

But in my view, the most critical asset a company can own is Trust.

Trust drives our economies, businesses or personal careers.

But today, we are a world in crisis.

The fact is, there is a growing deficit of trust in society at large.

We face an increasing lack of faith that is directly proportional to how wealth is distributed in our societies.

Somewhat tellingly, the richest 1% across the world has greater trust in leadership (in all its spheres) than the remaining 99%.

This is because this small group is often the direct beneficiaries of any actions undertaken by leaders.

For instance, as the world watched Britain file for divorce from Europe during the Brexit vote in June, it was clear that there was more at play than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote to stay as part of the union.

Both sides of the debate reflected the massive deficit of Trust in some of the systems that guide our societies – be they government or business.

Specifically, an increasingly disenfranchised middle class find themselves unable to reconcile their (lack of) economic prospects with those of big business, who they perceived to be the biggest beneficiaries of Globalization.

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For individuals, businesses and government, it is becoming increasingly clear that Trust is the only asset that will make all other investments truly matter.

THREE ‘DO’S’ TO BUILD TRUST 1. BE AUTHENTIC – People are more likely to Trust you if you are honest and transparent.

2. BE INCLUSIVE – Embrace and engage all your stakeholders to build value for them. Include them in your growth strategy to ensure no one is left behind.

Put simply, they do not believe in the benefits of Globalisation.

When big business declares its profits, it can be hard to relate to as there is little to no direct personal impact.

This perceived gap between the ‘have’s’ and the ‘have-not’s’ was the biggest factor driving the Brexit debate.

But there is an opportunity to create a new world order that is based on more trustworthy business practices.

Today, more consumers believe that businesses have the ability to take specific actions that can both increase profits and improve the economic and social conditions in the communities in which they operate.

For instance, I am often asked what has made the mobile money transfer service M-PESA so popular in Kenya and some parts of the world.

3. BE CONSTANT – People trust in the consistency of continuous effort to uphold trust. Demonstrating a clear commitment to meet certain goals will translate to believable action.

For individuals, businesses and government, it is becoming increasingly clear that Trust is the only asset that will make all other investments truly matter.

Good corporate leaders have the ability to rebuild trust not only in their businesses, but also the societies in which they operate.

Research shows that companies with high levels of Trust enjoy better shareholder relations, superior profits, and better retention of key employees.

The 2016 Edelman Trust Index measures how impactful Trust can be on a business’ output.

There are a number of unique and titillating factors, but at its core, the service owes its growth to the deep Trust that our customers have in our brand.

The global survey finds that its respondents believe companies are relatively more Trustworthy than governments or civil society.

This belief has enabled them to entrust their savings to our platform, allowing the service to act as a ‘digital match-maker’ pushing a wide range of economic and social transformation.

So why do we need to invest in Trust?

It is just the right thing to do.

The Author - Bob Collymore is the CEO of Safaricom Limited

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

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 2016

6 Why We Need to Invest in Trust 8 InBrief 9 Appointments 10 Regional RoundUP TREND LINES

ADVERTORIAL

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Measures to ensure enterprise ease with data From the Africa Security Summit

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Big Data made simpler by Machine learnin

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Data Scientists, Datapreneurs the next big thing in the IT market

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Nokia: Prepare to transform into smart sustainable cities

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Getting to the networked, sustainable and smart cities

18 Cover story:

Alkane Patel on ERP implementation for business at BIDCO AFRICA

IT AND LEADERSHIP

29 Dr. Gilbert Saggia:

The CIO Has To Evolve Towards Being The Person That Creates A Business Strategy

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Data Capital Laggards ‘Probably In Trouble’

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The exciting future of a continent that can access the power of Internet of Things

START UP CORNER

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Ocharge

The winner at 2016 Nairobi innovation week

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

PRODUCT REVIEW

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September Review: Epson LW_400

OPINION

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Why more is better when it comes to subsea cables and Africa

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Big Bang

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The Digital Business Ecosystem

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Taming Tough Enterprise Trails

Enterprise Security

FEATURE

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The Age Of Customer: Make Your Customers Love You

Creating Competitive Advantages via Unstructured Data

Hard TALK

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Beyond Lights ON

WOMEN & TECH

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Akaliza Keza Gara

changing the face of ICT in Rwanda 7

IN BRIEF

AROUND

FROM CHINA, WECHAT EYES AFRICAN MARKET WECHAT AFRICA CEO BRETT LOUBSER GAVE THE INSIDE SCOOP EARLIER THIS WEEK ON WECHAT’S INTENTIONS TO TAKE OVER THE AFRICAN MARKET.

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eChat Africa, a joint venture between Chinese internet company Tencent and South African media conglomerate Naspers have so far been successful in implementing their services in Africa however they are hoping to expand and overtake South Africa’s favorites – WhatsApp. Reports by Johannesburg data research consultancy, World Wide Worx, 2014 show that WeChat had around half of WhatsApp’s user numbers (estimated 10.6) million. Loubser states that their popularity may be due to the simplicity of WhatsApp’s platform, which primarily focuses on social communications where-as the CEO claims that WeChat’s services go way beyond this.

WeChat already dominates the Chinese market being used for almost everything from internet messaging to investing in stock markets and now WeChat Africa is planning to do the same.

AROUND the

WORLD AIRBUS TO COMPLETE A SELF-DRIVING, FLYING-CAR PROTOTYPE NEXT YEAR URBANIZATION IS QUICKLY MIGRATING POPULATIONS BACK TO CITIES WHERE THEY ONCE THRIVED BEFORE SUBURBIA’S GROWTH BEGINNING IN THE 1950S.

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n just 15 years, 60% percent of the world’s people will live in cities, a 10% increase. As city populations grow, so will traffic jams, which already cost commuters around the world up to 100 hours in wasted time annually, according to an INRIX study.

In order to get above the noise and pollution of congested city life, Airbus plans to produce the first working prototype of a self-driving flying car by the end of next year. “In as little as ten years, we could have products on the market that revolutionize urban travel for millions of people,” Rodin Lyasoff, project executive at Airbus’s A³ group in Silicon Valley, said in an article on the Airbus website.

“Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics are most of the way there,” Lyasoff stated. What’s still needed is reliable sensing and object avoidance technology, which is next on A³ group’s plate. “That’s one of the bigger challenges we aim to resolve as early as possible,” Lyasoff said.

SOURCE IDG NETWORK

MTN REVEALS EARNINGS OF $70M FROM AFRICAN MUSIC THIS YEAR ACCORDING TO RECENT FIGURES, DISTRIBUTING MUSIC DIGITALLY IN AFRICA HAS EARNED AFRICA’S BIGGEST MOBILE PHONE OPERATOR’S SERVICE - MTN MUSIC OVER R944 MILLION ($70 MILLION) IN REVENUES DURING THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2016 ALONE.

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n a recent media interview in South African, MTN Group chief digital officer Herman Singh explained that MTN has developed the capability to offer music to its customers in eight different formats: MP3 (full tracks), ringtones (true tones), caller ring back tones, streaming (music on demand), radio streaming, IVR radio, music subscriptions and music videos. MTN does not produce music, but instead earns income from music distribution via these various formats.

With 70 million customers in Africa downloading 50 million of its songs monthly, MTN has built a reputation in the African music space, said Singh, confirming that the company had hit $70 million in revenues for the first half of 2016. In the past few years, the Johannesburg-based mobile giant has grown into Africa’s biggest digital music distributor 8

NEW BATTERY TECHNOLOGY COULD DOUBLE CAPACITIES FOR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS A STARTUP CALLED SOLIDENERGY SAYS THAT IT HAS DEVELOPED A NEW DESIGN FOR A SAFE, RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM METAL BATTERY, POTENTIALLY REVOLUTIONIZING ENERGY STORAGE FOR SMALL DEVICES LIKE SMARTPHONES AND WEARABLES.

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reakthroughs in materials science mean that former MIT post-doctoral student Qichao Hu’s company can produce batteries with double the energy density of current-generation lithium ion batteries. This means that they can either be twice as powerful as a lithium ion battery of equivalent size, or pack the same capability into a unit half as large, according to MIT News.

SOURCE IDG NETWORK CIO EAST AFRICA | SEPTEMBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

VODAFONE APPOINTMENTS NDEGO AS NEW CEO IN UGANDA

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odafone Uganda has appointed John Ndego as its new Chief Executive Officer with effect from 11 July 2016.

John Ndego replaces Allan Richardson, who returns to the Afrimax Group office in preparation for the next market launches following the recent launch of operations in Ghana and Zambia.

The company statement notes: “Ndego has a proven track record of transforming businesses, acquisitions, integra-

tions, and building winning management teams. His appointment is coming one year into the entry of Vodafone in Uganda and at a crucial time in the telecommunications industry in Uganda, with data services poised to dictate the pace of growth in the years ahead.”

Ndego is a driven, passionate, people oriented and entrepreneurial business leader with twenty six (26) years in Telecoms, FMCG, Advertising and Public Relations.

He was previously Managing Director, Airtel Congo Brazzaville and Airtel Burkina Faso; Group Commercial Director Zain Africa. He also held various senior management positions at Nestlé in Nigeria, Benin and Togo. He holds a in Mass Communications degree and has attended “Leadership, Strategy, and Management” programs at the London Business School, Harvard University and HEC Paris. He is an alumni of the Leadership programme from INSEAD Singapore.

VIVEK BADRINATH OF THE AMAP

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odafone Group has appointed Vivek Badrinath its new Chief Executive for Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific (AMAP) region. The appointment is effective 15 October.

He replaces Serpil Timuray. He has reportedly stepped down from the Nokia Board of Directors effective immediately after this new appointment.

Vivek Badrinath joins Vodafone Group from the international hospitality group AccorHotels where he is the Deputy Chief Executive responsible for marketing, digital solutions, distribution and information systems. He was previously Deputy Chief Executive with Orange and has a long career in telecommunications and technology. Prior

roles include Executive Director responsible for Orange’s Business Services division, leadership of Orange’s global networks and operators division and Chief Technology Officer for Orange’s mobile activities. He is a former Chief Executive of the consumer electronics firm Thomson India.

MTN GROUP APPOINTS DEPUTY HEAD OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

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TN Group has appointed Kholekile Ndamase as Deputy Head of Mergers and Acquisitions,

effective 10 September 2016. In his new role at MTN, Ndamase will report into the Group Executive for Mergers and Acquisitions. He joins a Strategy and

Mergers & Acquisition team that has been tasked with taking advantage of opportunities presented by a rapidly changing sector. Ndamase joins MTN from Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).

“Kholekile brings extensive experience to the role, particularly in transaction

origination, structuring and execution.

His knowledge and skills are essential to the attainment of MTN’s broader growth strategy, as we continue to focus our efforts on developing our participation in adjacent sectors,” says Phuthuma Nhleko, Executive Chairman, MTN Group.

EQUITY BANK GROUP HAS A NEW CIO

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n its website, Equity Bank Group names and profiles Alexei Chirokikh as the Chief Information Officer. According to the profile, Alexei graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (with honors), majoring in Physics (1992). In 1998, he graduated from the University of Rochester, USA with PhD in Plasma Physics.

He holds MBA in Finance and International Management from W.E. Simon School of Business, University of Roch-

ester. Alexei started his career at IBM in 1998 at Somers, NY as IT architect for IBM financial sector clients, he was responsible for development and support of IT solutions for Wall Street clients.

He holds IBM certification as TOGAF architect. In 2007, he returned to Moscow as VP of IT, CIO Gazprombank to be responsible for IT strategy, IT transformation and governance, support and maintenance core IT systems including development activities both for bank-

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

ing and corporate information systems.

In 2011 he joined Uralsib Bank where he was responsible for the centralized core banking system rollout at Uralsib Bank as Chief Information Officer and VP of IT. His last position was CIO at Skolkovo Institute Science and Technology (joint venture with MIT). While there, he was responsible for establishment of overall IT organizational structure, setting up University IT infrastructure and providing support to organization staff.

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REGIONAL ROUND-UP

COMPILED BY JEANETTE OLOO

NINE REGIONS TO JUMPSTART TTLC’S TARGET TO PROVIDE TANZANIA WITH LTE INTERNET BY 2018 THE TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY (TTCL) HAS SET A TARGET OF PROVIDING LTE INTERNET COUNTRYWIDE BY 2018 WITH NINE REGIONS AS THE FIRST IN A BID TO REJUVENATE ITSELF BY PROVIDING QUALITY AND MODERN SERVICES.

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ccording to media reports, the nine regions that will initially benefit from the TTCL drive are Arusha, Iringa, Mbeya, Dodoma, Morogoro, Mtwara, Mwanza, Tanga, Kilimanjaro and Unguja.

Nicodemus Mushi, TTLC relationship manager said, “The Company will connect public institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs) and individual users with LTE internet to ease their telecommunications.”

This comes after The Tanzania Roads Agency (Tanroads) announced that it had signed an agreement worth TZS 1.1 billion with the Tanzania Telecommunication Company (TTCL), to connect all the agency’s offices countrywide with internet services.

TTLC said that it hoped that the project completion will be in twelve months and will be implemented in 25 regions and three weighbridges using its fibre.

According to Daily News, Tanzania Telecommunication Company (TTCL) announced in July that it was installing 50 more LTE network sites in Dar es Salaam to improve data speed for mobile phones and data terminals with about 266 towers needed to provide blanket coverage of the whole of the region.

KENYA, UGANDA, TANZANIA TELCOS TO FULFILL MICRO-CREDIT GAP WITH CBA QUICK LOANS FOR EMERGENCIES AND SMALL BUSINESSES, MORE-SO SMALL-SCALE BUSINESSES THAT BARELY HAVE BUSINESS RECORDS IN AFRICA HAVE FOR A LONGTIME NOT BEEN FULFILLED. IN EAST AFRICA, CENTRAL BANK OF AFRICA (CBA) HAS ENSURED THAT THE GAP IS BEING FILLED BY PARTNERING UP WITH DIFFERENT TELCOS TO CREATE A MICRO-CREDIT PRODUCT.

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he journey began in 2012 when CBA partnered with Safaricom to unveil M-Shwari, a paperless banking product that allows customers to save money that is in M-Pesa to a bank account without actually going to the bank to open an account. One can either send Money to their ban account or withdraw for free. The product also allows you save money from as low as 1 shilling and credit of as low as 100 shillings and one can pay bank loans from as low as 100 to20, 000.

Since the Safaricom partnership CBA has transversed in Africa with the recent partnership with MTN Uganda with an introduction of MoKash, a mobile money loans and saving product to bring unbanked members of the public into the financial services loop for MTN subscribers. Earning interest of 7.5% a onetime facilitation fee on the borrowed amount, payable within 30 days.

MTN Mobile Money customers can save from as little as UGX 50 on their mobile money savings accounts while earning interest of 2 percent to 5 percent. Users can borrow from UGX 10

3,000 to UGX 1,000,000 at an interest rate of 9 percent. The loan repayment period is 30 days. Defaulters will be blacklisted from taking up the service for a given period of time.

Tanzania’s M-Pawa is also a product of CBA due to a partnership with Vodacom.

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

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

LIMITED KNOWLEDGE ON EDMS LEADS EASTERN PROVINCE TRADERS TO REQUEST RRA INTERVENTION EBMS WERE INTRODUCED BY RRA IN 2012 TO MAKE THE WORK OF TAX COLLECTION SIMPLE AND HELP MONITOR BUSINESS OPERATIONS, ESPECIALLY IN THE AUDITING ENTITIES IN TERMS OF TAXES TO BE PAID AND OPERATIONS MADE.

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ccording to Rwanda media report, traders in the Eastern Province have admitted that their knowledge on using Electronic Billing Machines (EBMs) is limited.

They are, therefore, requesting Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) to train them such that they can use the machines accordingly.

“We thank RRA for ICT innovation but some traders have limited skills on the use of EBMs and they need training,” says Fabrice Habanabakize, the chairman of the Private Sector Federation (PSF), Eastern Province.

The deputy commissioner general of RRA, Pascal Ruganintwali, affirms that workshops are normally organized for traders before they start using EBMs. “However, we will organize more EBMs training so that those machines are well used because it simplifies the traders’ work,” Ruganintwali.

RRA targets an income of Rwf 1.084 billion for the 2016/17 fiscal year and government has identified increased use of EBMs as a way raising domestic revenue.

Statistics from RRA shows that EBMs usage is increasing every year, with the current figure standing at 14,000 users.

UCC RAISES ALARM OVER SMS FRAUD THE UGANDA COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (UCC) WARNS PUBLIC AGAINST AN EMERGENT TREND IN THE INDUSTRY IN WHICH FRAUDSTERS IMPERSONATE SUBSCRIBERS WITH THE INTENT OF EXTORTING MONEY FROM THE UNSUSPECTING CORRESPONDENTS OF THE VICTIMS.

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ganda Computer Emergency Response Team (UgCERT), a program under the UCC that deals with computer risks incidents shared the public notice issued by UCC on its twitter handle which stated clearly that the fraud was being orchestrated using automated online systems largely through the SMS messaging platform.

“This is, therefore to advise you to take extra caution and always confirm the originator of any money related messages to avoid falling prey to such acts,” the statement read.

The regulator wanted to ascertain the public and protect the consumers of communications services hence said it was working relentlessly with other stakeholders in the industry to combat this latest vice. www.cio.co.ke | SEPTEMBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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TREND LINES

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

Measures to ensure ENTERPRISE EASE WITH DATA From the Africa Security Summit The threat of cybercrime cannot be understated but is Africa ready to tackle this issue? Security concerns around the rise of hacking, a threat outpacing other means of attack by a large margin and which has grown alongside today’s lucrative information black market.

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his was a key take away from the just concluded inaugural Africa Security Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The two day event was organised by Oracle in conjunction with CIO East Africa.

According to recent report by Verizon databases are the second most frequently targeted asset by people inside an organisation, trailing only desktop computers themselves.

It is surprising, then, that businesses don’t prioritise investment in protecting their databases.

“It is crucial for businesses to monitor databases for anomalies that could indicate suspicious activity. This proactive approach is fundamental to spotting and neutralising threats before they have a significant impact on company data,” he added.

Building a database security strategy is the first step in ensuring security is addressed. Even if an organisation’s perimeter is breached, by placing security controls around sensitive data, detecting and preventing SQL injection attacks, monitoring database activity, encrypting data at rest and in transit, redacting sensitive application data, and masking non-production databases, reducing the risk of data exfiltration.

So what measures should organisations take to ensure they are safe? According to Mr. Jasnusz Nackliki, Senior Director Central Europe, Oracle a more proactive approach to data security is required to help organisations in Africa tackle the issue around cybercrime.

All too often, much of the information targeted by attackers is lying around relatively unprotected in test and development environments.

“All too often, much of the information targeted by attackers is lying around relatively unprotected in test and development environments. If organisations secure applications but leave the databases unguarded, they risk succumbing to application bypass attacks. To help prevent these types of attacks, application and database security must go hand-inhand,” he said.

Eliminating breaches may be an impossible task but organisations can stop exfiltration of sensitive information via database. Modern enterprise-class cloud platforms have the capability to inherently secure, meaning businesses can enjoy the full agility and cost benefits of cloud computing.

He added that database administrators and security professionals must make encryption a priority if they wish to protect the vulnerable elements of their IT systems.

However, businesses must research to ensure their cloud provider delivers the levels of security they require. The gold standard is enterprise class cloud solutions which build security right into the silicon through the latest hardware advances and are capable of stopping attacks which in the past have caught businesses off guard.

Cloud platforms therefore enable organizations to consolidate existing and new applications on a shared and common architecture secured with robust identity management, access management and data encryption – ideal for a business looking to stay competitive in our fast-moving business environment.

“One of Oracle’s advancements in cloud security at the silicon level is the M7 microprocessor chip family, boasting faster hardware and encryption rates, where security is never switched off,” concluded. Mr. Nackliki.

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

BY BARAKA JEFWA

BIG DATA

MADE SIMPLER BY MACHINE LEARNING BIG DATA IS A TERM USED FOR DATA SETS THAT ARE SO LARGE OR COMPLEX THAT TRADITIONAL DATA PROCESSING APPLICATIONS ARE INADEQUATE. CHALLENGES OF BIG DATA INCLUDE; ANALYSIS, CAPTURE, DATA CURATION, SEARCH, SHARING, STORAGE, TRANSFER, VISUALIZATION, QUERYING, UPDATING AND INFORMATION PRIVACY.

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ig data is a term used for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges of big data include; analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy.

on the social network. While in Kenya 95 percent of the active users use mobiles.

But what if there was a way businesses could overcome these challenges. CIO East Africa held an interview with Chris Orwa, Lead of data science, iHub, to find out whether there really is a solution to most, if not all of these problems.

With this in mind, such an environment makes Africa a great place for businesses to utilize big data. But while the number of possible customers is encouraging for businesses, the enormous nature of the possible data can discourage companies using traditional analytics tools from investing in Africa.

“Big data came about when, previously, we had to conduct surveys or questionnaires we had a limited sample set, but now big data allows you to access more people and a varying range of information which means that you have more data points to score things,” said Mr. Orwa.

“If you think about it, it’s social media that brought about the word big data.

So if I track someone’s different social media accounts, I can have a 360 degree view of this person,” Mr. Orwa added.

In Africa, social media users are constantly on the rise. According to statistics released by Facebook in 2015, the social media platform had nearly 20 million users in Nigeria and Kenya, with Nigeria having 15 million monthly active users as of June 30 2015. In Kenya, monthly active users were recorded at 4.5 million. According to the statistics, in Nigeria all the active members use mobiles to like, share and upload content

“Mobile is not a trend; it’s the fastest adoption of disruptive technology in history of communication,” said Nunu Ntshingila, Facebook’s head of Africa, in a statement.

“When you use computers and mathematics to solve problems you always have a formula you apply to solve the problem, if anything changes about that problem it means the formula or the code you wrote for it will no longer be applicable for that programme,” Mr. Orwa continued.

Mr. Orwa explained that Machine learning is ideal for exploiting the opportunities hidden in big data, because it ensures that if anything changes about a problem one is trying to solve, it is able to capture that change and incorporate it into the solution, so it adapts.

“Traditional methods do not know how to handle huge volumes of data, machine learning cuts the cost of doing business, with its predictive nature it can be used to solve new types of problems and it can also be used to do real time analytics,” he added.

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

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BENEFITS OF MACHINE LEARNING Accuracy- machine learning guarantees accuracy for any problems that you have; It’s able to solve inter disciplinary problems- machine learning can link two disciplines e.g. (medicine and technology) in order to solve problems; It’s able to solve risky problemsmachine learning, via robotics, can be used to analyse data in environments that are not habitable for humans.

There is an almost guaranteed RoI- if you have defined your problem well and understand that the problem is best solved by machine learning then it has a guaranteed return.

CHALLENGES OF MACHINE LEARNING Companies require employees with a wide array of knowledge in; mathematics, statistics, computer science and creativity; In applying machine learning for Big Data, as the name suggests the fact that data is big it will require enormous resources for storing data; Manipulating the data is also another problem, because data is so huge it may take someone a lot of time just to find very basic statistical averages; The other problem is the different forms of data.

Giving an example of machine learning being used for big data Mr. Orwa touched on Google’s ability to tell where one works and where they live by looking at their routine, by just analyzing how one move’s Google can easily have that information. This is just one example but as new data sources continue to emerge, so will machine learning continue to grow.

Speaking, earlier this year, ahead of the Gartner Business Intelligence & Analytics Summit in Mumbai, India, Alexander Linden, research vice president at Gartner, said: “Ten years ago, we struggled to find 10 machine learning based business applications. Now we struggle to find 10 that don’t use it.”

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BY JEANETTE OLOO

Data Scientists, Datapreneurs the next big thing in the IT market Data Scientists and Datapreneurs are the next big thing in the IT market, this was said by Ben Mann, Program Director of Africa Software Offerings at IBM during an interview with CIO East Africa pertaining Big Data.

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ccording to IBM Big Data website, Big Data is generated by everything around us at all times. Every digital process and social media exchange produces it. Systems, sensors and mobile devices transmit it. To extract meaningful value from big data, you need optimal processing power, analytics capabilities and skills.

“There is a new, emerging, very exciting discipline called Data Science that is going to become one of the key skills that we need globally, particular in this region. It will attract the best salaries, the future heroes of the IT organizations. Three to five years ago the heroes of IT were the guys who could build the new mobile app. The future, it’s going to be those that can translate what the business needs to do into using the data to understand it,” Mr. Mann said.

IBM recently unveiled the Data Science Experience which is an environment that has everything a data scientist needs to be successful, which begs the question, who is a data scientist? Though this is not a new discipline, it has gained momentum due to Big Data and Analytics with organisations trying to make sense out of the data. To be a data scientist, he/she will have to use their data and analytical ability to find and interpret rich data sources, merge data sources, present and communicate the data insights/findings.

IBM is working with universities, ICT hubs and developers at the grassroots level to ensure

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data science skills are achieved plus help local developers realize that to be successful they don’t have to build apps there is another path that involves data.

This is where datapreneurs come into play (a word that Ben Mann is hoping will catch on in Africa). Datapreneurs are entrepreneurs who take in raw data, apply analytics, produce insights and sell that data on.

Mr. Mann added, “We need to start acknowledging that there is an entrepreneurial path in Africa that begins and ends with just data not with a new mobile payment tool. The big challenge that we have on building this data economy is data. Organisations have the data but many of them are underutilizing that data massively and in addition they are unwilling to share that data with anybody else.”

The main issue that Africa has is, for many of the interesting insights you want to gain from data no one entity, organization or individual has it all. But until we are able to share data in a way that it is a win-win situation for everybody, we’re stuck at this impasse.

“More importantly more than just one organization monetizing their data is if this data starts becoming available then it creates a market where datapreneurs can take data from different places, apply analytics to it and start to deliver insights. This could create new classes of applications and services that can be very profitable and that is the ultimate goal in sharing this data,” he concluded.

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

info@accesskenya.com

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BY JEANETTE OLOO

NOKIA: PREPARE TO TRANSFORM INTO SMART SUSTAINABLE CITIES

October 2014 saw the Smart Cities Council declare that the Smart City sector is still in the “I know it when I see it” phase, without a universally agreed definition, so the institution defined it as one that has digital technology embedded across all city functions.

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okia’s Director for Solution Line Management, Global Digital Economy Practice, Dr. Muneer Zuhdi explained in an interview with CIO East Africa, the importance of Smart Cities when it comes to the macro-trends affecting cities. His explanations ranged from population increase, urbanization to the increased role of social, economic & environmental sustainability. He said that one of the ways for cities to be prepared is to transform themselves into smart sustainable cities and this can be achieved through Nokia’s framework.

“Our portfolio basically includes a very secure, independent and fully horizontal platform that brings services and enables operators or cities to provide services to markets very quickly and to have all the right analytics on top of their platforms,” Dr. Muneer said.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY- CityCloud combines the Nuage Portfolio, the CloudBanks portfolio, Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Data

Center Interconnect solution to support low latency and highly secure connections between data centers. This help cities reap in the benefits of open cloud architecture in a very secure manner by providing them with cutting edge technology in open cloud networking gear.

IoT PLATFORM- CityIoT platform - branded as IMPACT (Intelligent Management Platform for All Connected Things) - provides the necessary layers for device management, for data collection management and for connectivity management to enable the different applications to access the different platforms that will be found in any smart city initiative.

NETGUARD SECURITY PORTFOLIO- Nokia’s NetGuardian security solution ensures that only certified devices are connected to the network. It does two-way authentication. It also samples the traffic throughout the network and makes comparison to make sure that there are no anomalies in the traffic. So there are different measures implemented to ensure end-to-end security FIXED AND MOBILE TECHNOLOGY- Nokia develops some of its devices like on Fixed through Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON) technology, Next-Generation Passive Optical Network (NG-PON) or Time Wavelength Division Multiplexing (TWDMPON). Mobile network technologies that support standard cellular protocols, Wi-Fi, Long Range(LoRa), Multefire, Long Term Evolution (LTE) or NarrowBand-IoT for public safety and first responders. The company also has the CityShare Network that is done through their networking gear, Internet Protocol -Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS), Optics and Microwave.

ACCESS TECHNOLOGY- Nokia enterprise IP communications and collaboration solution provides an open, agile, and incremental framework that lets city administrators take control of their communications services.

Dr. Muneer emphasized on the need for governments to invest on Smart Cities: “I would say investing in transforming cities to make them smart has to be a priority for cities because sustainability is a very critical element of any smart city initiative.

Cities have to take advantage of the latest innovation in ICT technology to improve the quality of life of their citizens, the efficiency of their operations and their competitiveness.”

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

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

Getting to the networked, sustainable and smart cities AT THE TRANSFORM AFRICA CONFERENCE, IN KIGALI, RWANDA, LAST YEAR ERICSSON DEMONSTRATED THE TRANSFORMATION THAT ICT AND A TRULY NETWORKED SOCIETY CAN BRING TO AFRICAN CITIES.

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he technologies included an automated Fare collection system, Fleet Management Solution and a Passenger Information system with the aim of improving the transport sector in the urban cities.

This according to Shiletsi Makhofane, Vice President and Head of Government and Industry Relations at Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, are ways that Ericsson envisions a Networked Society in which connectivity is the starting point for new ways of innovating, collaborating and socializing to drive the emerging of Smart Cities in Africa.

According to Ericsson’s report on Networked Society City Index 2016, Ericsson’s engagement in urban development dates back to 1876. The company built the very first telecommunication networks in cities all around the world in that year. Since then, they have driven the evolution of communication by developing technology and providing communication networks and services.

In Ericsson’s vision of the Networked Society, many powerful forces converge, such as near-ubiquitous connectivity, mobility, big data, 3D printing, robotics, and cloud technologies. Globally, the proportion of mobile subscriptions to people associated with smartphones is now around 45 percent. The number is growing rapidly, increasing the amount of data created and consumed.

Since 2001, ICT has become more powerful, accessible, and widespread.

However, in 2016, the proponents of technology still argue that ICT can be an important enabler of sustainable growth. First, the development of ICT constantly moves the frontier forward, creating new possibilities about ICT’s potential.

Second, the fast-paced impact of ICT increases importance of policy change and environmental footprint. This will require forming an intention to achieve a sustainable future, setting goals and directions, and creating ICT-based fol-

“Forty percent of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks.

Now we’re making sure these networks are capable of serving the current explosive growth in smartphones and app usage, seen particularly in urban environments,” said Mr. Makhofane.

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

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low-up systems to ensure that the road is followed.

To grasp the potential of ICT we need to go beyond smart cities. Today, concepts like “smart cities “and “intelligent transportation” are used to optimize existing systems and behaviors in cities leading to more sustainable cities, but with limitations.

According to Ericsson’s Networked Society study, the future Networked Society has the following characteristics: RESILIENCE: Cities and communities are robust yet adaptable. All systems and services should be integrated to facilitate collaboration and mutual exchanges between individuals and actors.

MOBILITY: Services and communities are accessible, regardless of who you are and wherever you live in the city. Everybody and almost everything is connected. Extensive data resources are used to simplify and improve city life, and to optimize and improve urban systems. Technology and ICT in particular, is a prerequisite in this context.

STRONG AND VISIONARY LEADERSHIP on multiple layers is necessary for cities to develop. Reform institutions and systems to empower participation and knowledge sharing are also important to enable new ICT solutions to be implemented.

NEW REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS must be provided to the digital future to allow cities to adapt to new collaboration patterns and to grasp the potential of ICT. A HOLISTIC APPROACH is necessary to promote more resilient cities, and ICT needs to become an integral part of a city’s overall development plan for the future.

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BY RYAN MUSEMBI MULE

Enterprise SECURITY ENHANCING MOBILE SECURITY FOR INDIVIDUAL AND ENTERPRISE USERS ON SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7

Mobile devices are more prevalent in today’s work environments than ever before and can be accessing, holding and transferring a rich concoction of sensitive information at any one give time. That information can get in the wrong hands through simple acts of theft or more calculated acts of cyber thievery through hacker attacks or malware attacks.

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he new Galaxy Note7 is equipped with a variety of features that can boost the productivity of business people while on the move. More importantly, it is designed with mobile security in mind. Features such as the new Iris scanner and Samsung’s inbuilt, defence grade mobile security platform known as Samsung KNOX, offer deeper protection of personal and work data than ever before.

When a smartphone’s software needs the hardware to do anything, from changing the brightness of the screen to initiating a call, it sends a request to the kernel. As the most central part of the operating system, security attacks here can be the most destructive. The Samsung KNOX mobile security system running on the Galaxy Note 7 is an advanced defense grade mobile security architecture that adds strong layers of encryption and data protection protocols to the software and hardware layers of the device. This system actively runs

in the background of Samsung devices like Note 7, offering real time kernel protection that thwarts malware attacks and unauthorized modifications to the system that may be attempted by cyber criminals trying to breach and compromise the device’s systems. Note 7 runs the latest iteration of the KNOX system which is ver 2.7 with support for device containerization.

Note 7 also takes biometric security a notch higher. The fingerprint scanner as featured in the outgoing Galaxy Note 5 still remains, but is now accompanied by an Iris scanner for added security.

The Galaxy Note 7 now features an Iris scanner that will allow users to unlock their mobile device simply by looking at it.

The Note 7’s Iris scanner works by recording the unique biometric patterns of the user’s eyes which it then stores as an encrypted code. When the user sets

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up Iris scanning as an unlock option, the Note 7 will then scan the user’s eyes and match them to the saved Iris patterns to unlock the device. The Iris scanning feature provides a higher level of biometric security than ever before, as each individual has a uniquely different and highly intricate iris pattern that is nearly impossible to replicate, making Note 7 a highly secure option for industries and enterprises needing to comply with high security regulations.

In addition to the new Iris scanner, users of the new Note 7 will also now have access to a new security feature known as secured folder. The secured folder on the Note 7 will allow users to lock away sensitive files/data and even apps in a secure section of the phone only visible and accessible to the user once the right access credentials have been provided in the form of password, PIN, fingerprint, pattern or the new Iris recognition feature. The secured folder uses Samsung’s highly secure KNOX platform explained earlier, to essentially create a secure encrypted container on the device where private and sensitive files, data and apps can be stored.

The secure folder benefits both regular and business users.

In a BYOD (bring your own device) world, users may be concerned about IT snooping on their devices once they are connected to the corporate systems they require to be able to work on the move. The secured folder on the Note 7 will offer users peace of mind as it cannot be accessed by their company’s IT thus giving users more confidence in using their personal Note 7 for business as well.

The Secure folder feature is also ideal for small enterprises without mobile device management software to secure sensitive files and apps. It can be accessed using any of the 4 authentication options on the Galaxy Note 7, with the Iris scanner providing the highest level of biometric security With its improved biometrics, secure folder and Samsung KNOX defense grade mobile security architecture working in the background to protect from malware and other forms of cyber-attack, the Galaxy Note 7 is favorably positioned to lead the charge for secure mobility in 2016.

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

PICTORIAL CIO EXECTIVE BREAKFAST ON DATA CENTRE TRENDS 2016

Held at the Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi.

Sponsored by Dell and Intel

SAP CIO ROUNDTABLE AT THE HYATT HOTEL, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania The roundtable event exposed participants to exciting keynotes on Digital Business Transformation from SAP executives.

Participants got to learn best practices that help harness the power of data and digitisation in addition to personalising their experience during the high-value discussions, breakout sessions, and networking

Shillah Mwakesi, Channel Manager Dell telling the Dell Story.

SAP also demonstrated on businesses that run the SAP HANA platform and SAP S/4HANA suite function with reimagined business models, reinvented business processes, and new ways of working that drive value, simplicity, and transformation for the digital economy.

Robert Yawe of CIO East Africa moderating a session at CIO Breakfast on Data Centres Trends.

An SAP Executive presenting on “New Assets, New Insights Maximizing Employee Value”

Bernard Wanjau of Dell, Jimmy Wahome of Intel, Michael Wachira of Intel and Dan Kwach of East Africa Data Centre during a panel discussion at the CIO Executive Breakfast on Data Centre Trends

CIO East Africa staff Ellen Magembe registering participants arriving for the RoundTable

CIO East Africa’s Melissa Dorsila serving one of the participants

RoundTable participants having chat during tea time

CIO East Africa Director, Andrew Karanja introducing speakers.

Ashley Boang, MD East Africa SAP presenting on “Reimagine Business for the Digital Economy.”

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

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FEATURE

BY ROB PRESTON, ORACLE

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aul Sonderegger, Oracle’s big data strategist, sees it as nothing less than a fundamental building block of competitive advantage—a form of capital on par with financial and human capital.

It’s estimated that 84% of the market value of S&P 500 companies comes from intangible assets, including patents, software…and data. As a result, Sonderegger said, every company needs to create a data capital strategy.

Data Capital Laggards

‘Probably In Trouble’ Never has a technology movement been so misunderstood, overhyped, yet undervalued as big data.

To do that, he said, companies must accomplish three things: Create unique data capital (your data not only should yield a true competitive advantage, but it also should be difficult for rivals to copy); reduce their overall cost of gathering, managing, and analyzing their data capital; and, ultimately, increase their return on invested data capital.

“Data capital” isn’t a metaphor—it’s not like data is the new oil or the new currency. The term “data capital,” Sonderegger said, fulfills the literal definition of economic capital: a necessary input for producing goods and services. It’s an economic factor of production.

The old definition of data was along the lines of “recorded information needed to improve a business process,” Sonderegger said on Monday during a presentation at the Oracle OpenWorld customer conference in San Francisco. He offered the example of Bethlehem Steel at the turn of the twentieth century, when Frederick Taylor and his assistants conducted time-motion studies on how long it took laborers to shovel iron ore and coal ash.

That data helped the steelmaker figure out a way for the work to be done 270% more efficiently with refined techniques, tools, and coordination. As a result, Bethlehem was able to reduce that workforce to about 140 men from 1,000 and boost their average wage from $1.15 per day to $1.88.

If we take more observations of the world, we’ll probably understand it better.

And big data is simply capturing more observations and using them to make better decisions and take better actions.

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TRANSFORM INDUSTRIES That was the data model for most of the twentieth century. Today, companies are using data capital not just to improve internal processes, but also to create wholly new products and services as well as new business models. As a result, companies that master data capital can transform industries.

By strengthening the data component of a business activity, whether it’s providing transportation, distributing movies, renting rooms, or selling merchandise, “you change the skills, technology, and processes involved, as well as the money required to pay for it all,” Sonderegger said. “In a real way, data capital can be substituted for other kinds of capital.”

If a company doesn’t have the data necessary to create those innovative products and services, but a rival does, that company is at “a serious disadvantage and probably in trouble,” he said. Consider the icon of digital disruption, Amazon.com, and how it changed the face of retail (and buried quite a few entrenched rivals) in part because it substituted data-based customer acquisition and commerce for the interaction of physical stores.

The intersection of proven business models and new, disruptive technologies is “where the magic happens,” Sonderegger said, “to lay a foundation for the future.” Creating unique data capital, he said, stems from three tenets:

• Big data comes from activity—a market-

ing campaign, for instance. He boils down big data to a simple definition: the capture and use of more data in more daily activities.

• Collecting data tends to produce more data. Consider fraud detection algorithms, which adjust as fraudsters change their ways and more data comes in.

• Platforms win. Think Uber and Airbnb among digital upstarts, but also the data-centric platforms of American Express, Ford, John Deere, and GE. “It’s just an extension of the scientific method born during the Enlightenment, where a new kind of philosopher started taking observations of the natural world,” Sonderegger said.

“If we take more observations of the world, we’ll probably understand it better. And big data is simply capturing more observations and using them to make better decisions and take better actions.”

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

DELIVERING THE RETAIL TECHNOLOGIES OF TOMORROW The retail and distribution sector could be one of the major beneficiaries of Africa’s growing confidence in technology. But what does the continent need for the likes of delivery drone technology to really take off?

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omorrow’s technologies are arriving quicker to the retail sector then even the science fiction movies from the eighties could have predicted. A world where businesses market their products via augmented reality then deliver them via a drone does not seem light years away in 2016.

But for now, the retail sector in Africa is less Blade Runner and more daytime TV shopping channel. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), 90% of transactions occur through informal channels in the African retail market. Formalisation of the sector is expected to gather speed over the coming years, with IT and connectivity providing the platform for it to flourish

Moving fast with perishables The groceries segment is expected to be a major driver of Africa’s overall retail growth. Choppies Enterprises is Botswana’s leading supermarket chain and is ranked as one of Africa’s fastest growing retailers by Deloitte. According to Choppies CEO Ramachandaran Ottapathu, IT and connectivity has helped strengthen the distribution of its products across Botswana and surrounding countries.

clearance will really help to improve speed and delivery of products.”

Local expertise counts in Africa’s retail sector, where knowledge of supply chains and local suppliers can give local retailers a strong advantage over multinationals.

However, one of the biggest brand names in the world, Coca-Cola, has been bringing its innovative thinking to Africa, and has started a pilot project to introduce Wi-Fi enabled coolers.

“We have inserted LED displays on our coolers which enhance product visibility and improves shopper engagement. We have also launched a project to embed Wi-Fi into some of our coolers,” says David Visser, IT Director of Coca-Cola Southern & East Africa.

Automating the supply chain

“Technology has helped us a great deal in improving our distribution capabilities. Particularly in preserving the quality and lifespan of both fresh and wholesale long-life products,” he says. In 2014, the company opened a distribution centre in Zimbabwe as it looks to grow its presence across East Africa, and Ottapathu is keen to see more technology deployed throughout border controls across Africa.

Advancements in connectivity and IT are playing a major role in helping Coca-Cola drive efficiency across its distribution and supply chain. For example, the company assists its bottlers with a process called Right Execution Daily (RED), which ensures that its products are displayed in the correct manner in a range of outlets from supermarkets and petrol stations to small ‘spaza’ shops.

“Technology can help make clearance at borders more efficient,” he says.

“Full scanning of trucks and electronic

Previously, Coca-Cola’s sales teams would identify manually if stock was priced at the right point or if it was

displayed correctly. “Now the sales rep just has to take a picture of the cooler or point of sale and upload it onto the photo recognition app,” says Visser. “Automatic retail pricing reading, recording and reporting is critical for price communication and price recommendation.”

Drones take to the air Looking into the not-so-distant future, some African markets could also be the perfect testing ground for drone technology, due to a lack of transport infrastructure and more liberal air regulations. Rwanda, for example, looks set to launch the world’s first airport for drones later this year, which will eventually be home to a delivery network of drones that will help deliver medical and emergency supplies as well as commercial products.

“With delivery drones, a hospital that requires a certain blood type for a transfusion or certain medications to treat an outbreak, can message through to a larger urban area and the equipment may be delivered quickly and safely,” says Dr. Linda Seward, Communications Officer for the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Robotics. “But while medical supplies are the obvious target, there are plenty of other means - for example if an area doesn’t have good transport links then it makes it hard for people who live there to trade - delivery drones can change that.”

From inventory management and automatic retail pricing to futuristic delivery drones circling the skies, connectivity is the critical and underlying platform for the retail technologies of today and tomorrow.

For more information about Liquid Telecom visit www.liquidtelecom.com

www.liquidtelecom.com

AFRICAN. We can make Africa’s supply chains stronger.

We believe logistics systems in Africa can match those anywhere in the world for efficiency. It’s why we’ve built Africa’s largest fibre infrastructure and provide an award-winning satellite network, ensuring deadlines are met, deliveries are made and supply always meets customer demand. Because we are not just a telecoms company.

We are your technology partner.

Building Africa’s digital future

FEATURE

BY BRETT PARKER

The exciting future of a continent that can access the power of Internet of Things

mechanisms, like SAP’s SORMAS, could see many lives saved and the spread of disease minimised.

AFRICA IS NO STRANGER TO CONNECTIVITY. WHILE AFRICA MAY BE BEHIND WHEN IT COMES TO IT INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARED TO MORE DEVELOPED NATIONS, THE FACT IS THAT MORE THAN DOUBLE THE POPULATION OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA HAS MOBILE PHONE ACCESS.

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ith smartphone usage on the up and IT literacy expanding, bringing Internet of Things (IoT) level connectivity is a natural progression for this tech-hungry continent.

THE FUTURE IS CONNECTED The IoT should be considered more than just technology. Rather, it is an ecosystem of products and services - from software to cloud technology - where effective connectivity adds real business value. This derived value presents an exciting prospect for the region. It also has the potential to drive significant economic growth and, in time, bring African IT up to speed with the rest of the world.

And the adoption of IoT solutions across Africa is not a farfetched idea: Research from McKinsey estimates that Africa will have tripled its internet penetration to over 50% - the equivalent of 600 million regular internet users - by 2025. It’s also predicted that the potential of the IoT in developing countries is huge, with such nations to be accountable for 40% of the worldwide value of the IoT market by 2020.

Currently, 15% of the global population resides in Africa. More than half of global population growth from now until 2050 is expected to stem from the continent.

This means having a global, connected system is crucial.

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES The IoT has the potential to solve many of the issues the continent is currently facing. And many African countries have already embarked on the IoT journey.

Healthcare providers in Ethiopia are monitoring the health status of outpatients to better adjust treatment. Intelligent traffic lights in Nairobi are helping ease traffic congestion. Utility providers in South Africa are using load-limiting smart meters that can warn residents ahead of imminent controlled outages.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satel24

lite imagery, DNA analysis and apps are being used as part of conservation efforts - by predicting poaching attempts and monitoring wildlife.

The potential is limitless. As technology advances and encroaches upon most people’s day-to-day lives in some shape or form, people can expect more IoT enabled solutions that address the unique issues facing Africa.

Agriculture is a vital, yet struggling, industry. Sub-Saharan Africa has 95% of arable land that is dependent on rainfall-fed agriculture. This means food crop productivity is often low, with food insecurity a constant issue. This is where the IoT can help: wireless sensors can track crop growth, soil moisture and water tank levels. Unmanned vehicles can reduce physical labour. The result will be better yields at a lower cost. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, food production must increase by 60% to be able to feed the growing population expected to hit nine billion in 2050. With SAP’s help, John Deere for example, is taking the IoT out into the field and boosting efficiencies with the goal of improving per-acre crop yields. They are using Big Data to step into the future of farming. This interconnectivity with owners, operators, dealers and agricultural consultants helps farmers enhance productivity and increase efficiency. Sensors on their equipment help farmers manage their fleet and decrease downtime of their tractors as well as save on fuel. The information is combined with historical and real-time weather data, soil conditions, crop features and many other data sets.

The future looks bright, but there are still barriers to overcome. The cost of implementing the IoT is huge and investment will most likely come from outside the region. As well as that, the potential risks of hacking remain a threat as long as there is internet-enabled technology involved. And, having the right skills and training programmes in place will be imperative when making the most of the opportunities that come with new technology.

Overall connectivity is clearly an important enabler. As it stands, many African nations fall short in this area. Yet the lack of a legacy infrastructure can actually be beneficial for Africa. Instead of gradual tech upgrades, the continent can jump ahead into new technologies in ways more developed countries cannot. This also means that the decisions of those spearheading change now are likely to impact the solutions of the future.

There is no question: the IoT is coming to Africa and African businesses cannot ignore it. For now, having the right mindset to embrace innovation is crucial. Added to this, being aware of the inevitable security challenges, and being able to articulate the return on investment to fellow board members will be key skills when pushing for a new tech ecosystem. For a continent fuelled by its entrepreneurial spirit, the prospect of an IoT enabled future presents an exciting period to come.

The Author - Brett Parker is MD SAP Africa

Connected robots and systems can help limit the effects of a mass disaster. The ongoing Ebola outbreaks in West Africa highlight the ramifications of human contact. While current technology is still relatively immature, the future of the IoT-enabled technology and better-developed robots and outbreak control CIO EAST AFRICA | SEPTEMBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

BY LIMO SADALLA

THE AGE OF CUSTOMER:

MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS LOVE YOU HOW TO SUCCEED IN THE AGE OF THE CUSTOMER The age of the customer is upon us. Today’s customers are more powerful than ever they are exponentially smarter ,faster have more knowledge and therefore many options to choose from. Customers are now more mobile, consume more reviews and buy more online than ever before. They’re looking for a seamless customer experience. They want immediate value and will go elsewhere if you can’t provide it.

Companies must respond to this powerful shift .Every business needs to innovate and transform in order to succeed in this new era.

At Blue Consulting KE, we are helping companies adapt to this era through the use of Salesforce CRM; the customer success platform. Salesforce CRM connects your entire business around the custom-

er, aligning your sales, service, marketing, community, analytics, and apps around a unified goal: customer success.

The sales process is drastically shifting away from the linear model. Succeeding in selling means knowing where your customers are at all times, and being prepared to engage with them on their own terms. Your team needs selling tools designed for this faster, mobile, customer-first world. Sales Cloud Lightning puts the power of the lightning experience into every sales rep’s pocket for a faster, smarter selling experience.

But in the Age of the Customer, selling is only one piece of the puzzle. In this new era, customer service reigns supreme, and your agents need shareable, omni-

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channel, 360-degree views of every single customer. Service Cloud Lightning empowers your agents to make your customers love you, and Field Service Lightning expands this power to your field service technicians.

It’s crucial for your business to connect to customers, but also to leverage and build peer-to-peer relationships. With Lightning Community Builder, you can build a powerful community of customer evangelists and create more meaningful, one-to-one experiences for every customer. And with Lightning Trailhead, you can continue learning and building even more connection points to your customers.

The Age of the Customer is a powerful shift.

The opportunities are immense and every business needs to innovate and transform in order to succeed. At Blue consulting we have the tools your business needs to succeed in this new era.

HERE ARE 10 THINGS COMPANIES NEED TO DO TO SUCCEED IN THE AGE OF THE CUSTOMER 1. Align brand strategy with 4. Use customer intelligence customer experience to gain insight at scale that It is key for companies to leads to better products over align brand strategy with time customer experience in order Companies need to not only to be focused on their cus- just listen to and solicit feedtomer. If you have 70% cus- back; they need to act upon tomer retention, your com- it to develop the products, pany must increase sales services and brand their cusby 30% year on year just to tomers desire remain at the same revenue 5. Invest in Customer expelevel. This mostly involves rience hiring more sales people.

Companies need to focus 2. Focus on customer sattheir strategy, energy and isfaction retention over cus- budget on processes that tomer acquisition enhance knowledge of and Most companies focus on engagement with customacquiring new customers as ers and prioritize these over their top priority rather than maintaining traditional comretaining current customers. petitive barriers.

3. Get connected 6. Create a 360-degree view Companies need to create of the customer that maps seamless service experienc- the customer journey and es and customer experienc- details customer history and es across the standard and feedback across all chanemerging channels their cus- nels. Then they use this in tomers are using every day. real-time service

7. Be flexible to customers’ needs Customer service is not a one size fits all companies need to make sure that each customer interaction is personalized and satisfying.

8. Invest in content creation over advertising Develop and deliver helpful, shareable content rather than pushing promotional content and advertising.

9. Create a relationship of trust Use data to get to know and show that you know each customer, and then go beyond this to predict and suggest best next actions and purchases.

10. Create a connection with your customer after a sale transaction Focus on customer engagement both shortly and long after the sale. Engagement means everything.

Author BIO Limo Sadalla launched Blue Consulting in 2014 with an aim to improve the customer experience landscape in Africa.

Blue consulting is the 1st and only certified local Salesforce.com partner in East Africa to serve EA and the greater Africa region. He has over 8 years experience having worked in the USA implementing Salesforce.com for multiple multinationals. www.cio.co.ke | SEPTEMBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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COVER STORY

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

Alkane Patel on ERP implementation for business at BIDCO AFRICA

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is enabling the manufacturing companies improve their processes and increase their productivity.

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ne such company in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Sector is BIDCO Africa formerly BIDCO Oil Refineries. In every single day millions of Africans use BIDCO Products to feel good and live healthy.

The Company is owned by the Shah’s family. Kenyan businessman Vimal Shah is one of the region’s most prominent entrepreneurs with a long list of awards behind his name, chairmanships of various industry bodies and is the CEO of BIDCO Africa.

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

COVER STORY

BIDCO Africa started off as a family owned garment-making business. As time went by, the business lacked local demand and often led to dead stock that would be sold off at throwaway prices.

It was then that the family decided to study the entire garment business all the way down to cotton farming. They discovered that when crushed, cotton seeds deliver oil as well as a by-product for making soap. Shah immediately spotted an opportunity to produce cooking oil and soap. The demand was higher on oil products was high as compared to the clothing business.

Worth of $1.6bn. Over the years BIDCO Africa has successfully won over the market, becoming the largest and fastest growing manufacturer and marketer of consumer products.

Introducing technology into business Currently, BIDCO Africa markets and distributes the largest and widest range of product categories in the East and Central African regions such as: Edible Oils,

In 1985 the family started with a small soap factory in Thika Town, and then ventured into edible oils in 1991. Over the years BIDCO expanded its product portfolio and in the early 2000s it entered Uganda and Tanzania. In 2002 BIDCO outbid rivals to buy four Unilever brands, including the popular Kimbo and Cowboy brands of cooking fat.

Mr. Shah is seen as an entrepreneur who transformed his parents’ garment-making business into the largest edible oil manufacturer in East and Central Africa.

To date, The Kenyan-headquartered edible oils, fats and personal care products manufacturer has more than 40 brands. The group has operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and its products are distributed in 17 countries across the continent. In 2013, BIDCO reportedly had an annual turnover of more than US$500m.

That same year, Forbes ranking placed Shah as one of the richest men in East Africa with a net www.cio.co.ke | SEPTEMBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

Cooking Fats, Margarine, Baking Products, Hygiene Products, Detergents and Laundry Bars.

The Company is set to serve daily consumer needs to enhance Happy Healthy Living by Branding, Transforming and Distributing the goodness of Mother Nature.

Riding on a mission to offer happy, healthy living and a natural, wholesome lifestyle to all its consumers via health-preserving and life-enhancing products BIDCO to date has over 30,000 farmers registered with the company.

They are trained and educated in the most advanced farming techniques, so they may gain the most profitable results and of the best quality.

With all this in place, BIDCO Africa is choosing innovative technology services to drive local and cross-border expansion for their products and services.

BIDCO is a perfect example of the innovative technology services Technology Companies can deliver and the value Companies not in the IT industry can get through leveraging on technology hence helping them benefit from the many growth opportunities emerging in Africa. “Our IT initiative has helped BIDCOAfrica being real time online to reduce MUDA (Non value adding activities) from the business processes and make it very efficient. We have 27

COVER STORY created consistent and transparent availability of information across the organization for on-line eporting at various levels. Integration with other technology helps automate the processes to increase productivity of the employees. Knowledge transfer is the key for the employee to resolves their day-today operation making each of them a knowledge worker, “ said Alkane Patel, CIO BIDCO Africa.

The end-to-end managed services will offer proactive 24-hour monitoring of the infrastructure to improve services, help eliminate unexpected IT-related expenses by providing a predictable billing stream, improve customer experience through enhanced computing capacity and drive seamless performance to all of BIDCO’s business users.

“For some years now, IBM has been a critical technology partner, providing seamless IT services supporting BIDCO’s business operations, including sales and operations. Based on that experience and faced with the need to upgrade our infrastructure, we chose an IBM infrastructure-as-a-service solution to support our rapid business growth in Africa,” added Mr. Patel.

As a CIO, I ensure seamless operations in the company and try to link technology with production to ensure real time production and ensure that at any given day our customers across the 17 countries are satisfied with the end product. Time and again we run online campaigns and this has helped drive our company and live our mission and vision,” he added.

Leaving technology to technologists and concentrating on core business In 2010, The BIDCO Group moved its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) legacy, to be managed by SAP. This has now seen BIDCO take numerous steps to reinforce its manufacturing and marketing prowess in the region. SAP has also helped BIDCO provide powerful solutions to the most challenging business issues while still unlocking more opportunities for the BIDCO’s market.

It is through this that in 2013, in a bid to further integrate its human resource (HR) with business processes to improve efficiency BIDCO Africa implemented SAPs ERP Human Capital Management (HCM) which is a fully integrated HR and Payroll solution To help entrepreneurs embrace technology and improve delivery of products easier as well as help them concentrate more on their core business as they give the best to their clients, IBM provides IT infrastructure and managed services to BIDCO Africa.

The deal worth Kshs 45 million (US $ 0.5 million) payable in a period of six years, will also see IBM help BIDCO in its expansion strategy across Africa which is part BIDCO Africa’s 2015 growth plan.

The IT infrastructure and managed services deal with IBM allowed BIDCO to 28

improve its business application performance by 40 percent, lower capital expenditure and improve return on investment by 20 percent.

Mr. Patel explained further that, through the partnership, IBM transited BIDCO’s current systems and applications to four Power Systems servers, one V7000 Storage system, one Power Systems Hardware Management Console, two IBM System Storage SAN Switches, and two IBM Storage tape drives. The systems is located in BIDCO’s data centre, but owned and operated by IBM, which provides the technology as a service to the client.

The first phase was to involve the migration from existing infrastructure and project management during transition.

Now IBM overseeing remote monitoring, maintenance and overall delivery of hardware provided as a service, all managed remotely via IBM Global Delivery Centers.

BIDCO first tapped IBM’s infrastructure in 2010 when it purchased IBM Power Systems servers and IBM DS3400 storage. IBM’s commitment to Kenya through its investment in the first IBM Research Lab in Africa, the Kenya office and Africa regional hub based in Nairobi, were also critical factors in BIDCO’s decision to continue and expand its services relationship with IBM. Speaking on the same Gustavo Alvarez Infrastructure Services Leader at IBM also added, “BIDCO is a progressive company who understands that the role of the CIO is changing to lead innovation that will enable his organization’s business strategy and growth. They are focused on embracing technology and improving IT as a growth engine to help BIDCO concentrate on their core business and aggressive strategic expansion in Africa. The IT team has a strong business mindset and a deep financial skill, which helps them focus on improving the service for internal clients and BIDCO’s clients, while shifting IT investment from CapEx to OpEx and improving the Return of investment.”

Recognition BIDCO Africa has also acquired some of the ICT accolades which include: Information Technology Practice, Company of the Year Awards (COYA) – 2000, Best Kenya content website of the year, CSK Annual award – 2003, Information Management award; Manufacturing Sector, Company of the Year Awards (COYA) – 2005,ICT Management Practices; Manufacturing Sector, Company of the Year Awards (COYA) – 2006, Gold Winner in Africa; Small to Medium-size SAP implementation, SAP Quality Awards – 2011 and Best Assessment Tool presentation, Energy Management Awards (EMA) – 2015.

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

BY DAVIS WEDDI

IT AND LEADERSHIP

DR. GILBERT SAGGIA: The CIO has to evolve towards being the person that creates a business strategy CIO East Africa met Oracle’s Dr. Gilbert Saggia, one of the regions Best IT leaders.

Below are the excerpts of the interview at his office in Nairobi.

CIO East Africa: What is your take on a CIOs preparedness to deal with the industry’s changing dynamics?

Dr. Gilbert Saggia: The CIO has to balance the current yield with future investments.

They should perform in the current but also making sure they have the future investment perspective in the right direction.

Values and standards - both internal values that we believe in and the standards of the work that we provide and the progress that we provide to our customers and stakeholders – should be at the heart of CIOs. What has changed in your role as the Leader at Oracle in Kenya, since the last time you were interviewed by CIO EAST AFRICA? A lot has changed in the market if you look at it from a product and technology perspective. Cloud has become a very key driver for our customers in helping them streamline how they want to conduct business. So, much might not have changed from a leadership perspective but in terms of how we are working as an organization to meet our customers’ demands, we have changed our engagement with the customers for the better.

What are the most important decisions you make as a leader at Oracle?

Every decision is important. I haven’t met a decision that was least important. A single decision has a huge impact both internally and our external interactions. Every decision has to be weighed in terms of its significance on the present and in the future, and how it balances between the two.

Decisions regarding people are

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

some of the most crucial since they form the organization; making sure you have the right people on board, and who possess the right values and standards.

Briefly, tell us your career journey?

I worked at Siemens for a couple of years, before moving out of the country briefly. I came back to join Cisco, a multinational- American, and worked with them for seven years.

I moved to Oracle three years ago, and I now starting my fourth year journey.

What challenges have you faced while overseeing this multibillion technology company and how are you able to work around these challenges?

I would not call them challenges, but rather, key issues. In my opinion, people are very important and when you have managed to streamline the structure across the different staff levels, you are in a position to translate the company’s objectives, values and goals to every staff in the organization.

The other key issue is ensuring that we help our customers to handle the technological changes in their lines of business. Change has become the new now. This means that change is not about managing the change, rather, staying ahead of that change to survive. Managing change is no longer a strategy but a survival necessity to ensure you stay ahead of the change. You are constantly looking at ways to assist you stay ahead of the curve both in the local market and globally.

Those are the key daily issues that we have to grapple with and ask ourselves; how are we addressing change? Are we ahead of the change that is happening in the market? Are we assisting our customers to stay ahead of the change as well? When it comes to people do we have the right people that are able to translate the strategy with global objectives of our company, our customer needs right up to our daily interactions with the customers?

It’s that simple.

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IT AND LEADERSHIP is much more difficult. The values they built as an individual especially towards accountability and values ensure they have necessary skills to stay at the top.

How has your engagement been with the government and what are some of the government projects that you’ve taken on that you can talk about?

We signed an MoU with the Information Communication Technology Authority in January 2015 (ICTA) to raise the level of technical understanding and IT skills required to underpin the deployment of eGovernment services in Kenya. We collaborated in the areas of capacity building, ICT literacy and awareness, best practice sharing, enterprise development and innovation. Initiatives will include internship and mentoring opportunities, sharing eGovernmentbest practices, corporate leadership activities that benefit the community, as well as enhancing ICT skills development programs and initiatives.

Oracle also participated in the Presidential Digital Talent Program where we took a couple of interns as part of the programme and had them with us here for a couple of weeks. After the programme, they go out with an idea of what is required of them in the industry.

They not only gain technical skills but also values of how to drive their professional life; soft skills to enable them succeed professionally.

Which is the most important to you in Oracle here, is it the mission, core values or the vision?

All are important with equally measure.

They are extremely important because without the mission the organisation cannot survive, without the vision you have no direction and without values 30

And what’s your advice to ensure that you are always ahead of the curve?

It takes hard work to better yourself and the key is; Read! Read! Read! A reading culture especially in leadership makes sure you continuously equip yourself with the necessary skills to be of service and value to the organization and to the people that are looking up to you. You also learn from other leaders and it can be through mentorship programmes where you try to get into their mind set and learning from how they dealt with various situations.

It takes hard work to better yourself and the key is; Read! you are not clear on what you adhere to as an organization. At Oracle we place equal emphasis on all.

What advice would you give someone who is looking towards becoming a leader or going into a leadership position for the first time?

In my opinion, someone who wants to go into a leadership position, for the first time, should not become a leader.

I know that sounds very harsh. But, to become a leader, you have to be a leader of yourself. You must be accountable of your time and resources towards creating value; accountable for every single hour of it. It is what we do with every single hour that makes a difference from a personal perspective and for an organisation. So, to anyone who wants to lead a team or an organization, they have to be accountable to themselves first and the power of the hours they have.

What is your message to CIOs in East Africa?

The role of a CIO for the last two-three years globally has been undergoing tremendous transformation and at the same time it has put to risk the traditional CIO role which has pretty much evolved from keeping the lights on to offering IT strategy. The CIO should be able to offer business strategy because technology has been able to transform itself to the point where it is no longer an enabler for business, but it is becoming the business. For instance, in the financial sector, if you look at some of the products that banks have come up with, they wouldn’t exist without technology.

The CIO has to evolve towards being the person that creates a business strategy or being part of the business strategy creation than someone who creates an IT strategy that supports the business.

Secondly, they need to equip themselves, knowing that leadership is not a place you get to, it is a journey. It evolves over time; responsibilities evolve over time and leaders need to constantly equip themselves.

Lastly, and just a little bit of caution, getting into leadership or getting to the top is the easy part, staying there CIO EAST AFRICA | SEPTEMBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke

CIO 100 AWARDS

Flashback: 2015 CIO 100 Awards IN 2015, THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER (CIO) OF BRITAM EAST AFRICA LTD MR. JACK MAINA, WAS CHOSEN AS CIO OF THE YEAR, AN AWARD BESTOWED TO THE OVERALL WINNER OF CIO EAST AFRICA’S ANNUAL CIO 100 AWARDS HELD AT ENASHPAI RESORT IN NAIVASHA, KENYA. Meet Harry Hare and Andrew Karanja the CIO East Africa Directors at the CIO 100 Awards

Jack Maina is joined on stage by Britam Holdings staff members and CIOs Harry Hare (Fourth Left)

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he CIO100 awards is an acknowledged mark of enterprise IT excellence. It’s a celebration of 100 organizations (and the people within them) that are using information technology in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers.

Maina recieved his award following his leadership role in Britam’s Jawabu project, Jawabu is the company’s IT journey started in 2011 when they formulated a new strategic plan focused on driving

Karanja smiles off as he gives the Award to Uganda NSSFs Linda Mirember

Manoj Warrier CIO Nakumatt, recieving the Award from Andrew Karanja

profitability and operational effectiveness across their organization. Jawabu was designed to deliver the technology capabilities required to transform Britam to a world class customer centric organization.

Kenya had the lion’s share of submissions and nominations followed by Uganda and Tanzania. Some of the notable companies at the 2015 CIO 100 Awards included Bidco Refineries, Ramco Group, Kenya Power, Kenya Airways, Sarova Hotels, Commercial Bank of Africa, Pan African Insurance, Jubilee Insurance, Nairobi City Water, Kampala Capital City Authority, and DHL to name just a few.

At the event, more than 50 C-Level speakers were lined up to make presentations on technology trends and advancements for business. Some of the topics covered included Cloud Computing, Business and Enterprise Mobility, Cyber Defense, Big Data and Analytics, IT Leadership and IT Commoditization.

Victor Kyalo, the CEO at the Kenya ICT Authority was awarded the CIO100 Leadership award for steering the transition of the Authority from the defunct Kenya ICT Board to the new ICT Authority. It included a merger of several IT-related government agencies into one.

Jack Maina was part of the 100 honorees who received awards following, a two day CIO100 Symposium that brought together more than 300 CIOs and senior IT executives.

The other award winners included: Education: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Financial Services: Equity Group, Healthcare: mHealth Kenya, Hospitality: Sarova Hotels, Resorts & Game Lodges, Manufacturing: Bidco Africa Limited, Utilities: Kenya Power Limited, Government: Social Security Regulatory Authority, Tanzania and in Transport and Logistics: DHL Express Kenya.

“We have seen very interesting submissions this year making the competition and selection of the 100 top companies and CIOs very stiff,” said Andrew Karanja, Director, CIO East Africa.

Currently, preparations for the CIO 100 Awards are ongoing. The event will also be held at Enashpai, Naivasha. There is also an ongoing survey and you are invited to participate. Don’t be left out.

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

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STARTUP CORNER

BY BARAKA JEFWA

Ocharge The winner at 2016 Nairobi innovation week This year’s Nairobi innovation week was in its second edition, held from 1st to 5th August 2016 it was a big event with participation recorded at over 1500 people, to highlight the event’s grandiose nature the organizers got Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta to officially open it.

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he event featured; speeches, exhibitions, networking opportunities and competitions, one such competition was the exhibitors competition which was won by a startup called OCharge, which saw off competition from the likes of Samsung to take top honors.

“OCharge is an Airtime Recharge App which rewards users with discount vouchers and deals from Kenya’s top brands, every time they top-up their mobile,” explained Pratik Kumar, CEO, OCharge, during an interview with CIO East Africa.

“OCharge is powered by Oliza, which is among the first investments of iSON Innovation and Investments (i3), a subsidiary of iSON Group, a global leader in BPO services. OCharge is the first initiative from Oliza, which aims to redefine consumer internet business in Africa,” added Kumar.

OCharge works when users recharge airtime through its app. OCharge then awards them with points with equal value to the amount spent on airtime. They can use those points to pick up deals from top brands OCharge has signed to its platform. The company’s focus on rewarding users for loading credit is based on the fact that most young Kenyans use their money for this, as revealed in a 2012 study

by Youth Dynamix, which stated that Kenyan youth consume airtime worth Ksh. 23.6 million.

“Airtime recharge constitutes the largest share of expenses for an average young adult Kenyan. The Kenyan youth is spending more than 50% of their disposable money on airtime and data, and so have to cut corners on other expenses. At OCharge, we want to enable them to do MORE with what they have, without having to compromise. The thought was simple -- spend KES 200 on airtime, and get KES 200 off on your next pizza purchase,” he continued.

According to Kumar the OCharge Android App was first showcased in a limited public launch at Panari Sky Centre in partnership with IMAX Africa. Prior to this, the company was doing various online surveys and beta sign-up campaigns to get initial feedback, which was mixed, given that their business model is new to the Kenyan Market.

“The immensely positive feedback during our showcase validated our conviction about the value we are bringing to our users. This was further reinforced during our showcase at Nairobi Innovation Week held at University of Nairobi, where we won the Best Innovation Award against 80 other companies, including the likes of Samsung, Safaricom, IBM and Barclays bank. However, we are continuously working hard to improve the user experience, based on the feedback we are receiving,” he added.

On how the company makes money Kumar pointed that apart from making a small margin from Airtime and marketing sales fees from its merchant partners, who advertise with them, the company also gets support from its lead investors.

“OCharge has iSON Group as its lead investors, who share our belief in the vision of this company. Let’s say we have enough of a runway to make a success out of our idea.” Kumar Concluded.

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

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

WOMEN IN TECH

Akaliza Keza Gara changing the face of ICT in Rwanda ACCORDING TO A STUDY RELEASED BY GSMA AT THE GSMA MOBILE 360- AFRICA, THERE WERE FOUR KEY REASONS WHY AFRICA IS STILL LAGGING BEHIND WHEN IT COMES INTERNET PENETRATION; ONE WAS NETWORK COVERAGE, AFFORDABILITY, LACK OF LOCAL CONTENT AND FINALLY LACK OF DIGITAL SKILLS.

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owever, one of the most influential Women in Tech in Africa, Dr. Omobola Johnson challenged African Innovators to work around developing local content to help drive digital transformation.

Days later, I had an interview with a young lady from Rwanda who is helping to bring digital transformation through developing content. She is passionate about creating content for Africans and by Africans.

At the age of 29 years, Akaliza Keza Gara, is the founder of Shaking Sun, a local multimedia concern, whose aim is to engage businesses and individuals to realise their ambitions through the use of innovative technology.

She is also the founder of Yambi Animation Studios, and recently she developed a mobile application called Ishusho, an animation studio to create cartoons and films targeting African children, and even more specifically, Rwandan children, by creating characters and settings that they can relate to and stories to entertain and inspire them.

She also sits in the Microsoft 4Afrika council Board since 2014 with the likes of other influential Women in IT like Juliana Rotich, Marieme Jamme among others. Akaliza Keza Gara is one of the few young Rwandan women who have made significant strides in changing the face of technology in the country.

Akaliza volunteers her time with several organisations. She is a mentor at kLab - an open technology hub in Kigali.

She is a part of the Kigali hub of Global www.cio.co.ke | SEPTEMBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

Shapers. She is also a member of Girls in ICT Rwanda - a group of female ICT entrepreneurs and professionals encouraging teenage girls in Rwanda to consider ICT as a career option to understand the value of developing ICT skills to succeed in any career.

Taking us trough her career journey in the industry, Akaliza developed her interest in computers at a tender age. “I got into computers at a very young age and took on different jobs during my holidays from school that helped me gain more experience in the tech industry. For example, as a teenager I developed a database to help my mom’s friend who owned a hair salon to manage her stock. Later, while I was I studying for my first degree, I set up a website for an antique store near my university. All these side jobs helped me out when I was putting together my CV when I finished my course,” It is this nomadic life that has provided Ms Akaliza with an insight into the values unique to different cultures. It has also helped her develop an remarkably creative mind as well as a unique way of viewing the world that has helped her easily adapt and thrive in ICT. When she arrived in Rwanda, Ms Akaliza started her career in a big way as a website consultant for the Public Sector

I am so thankful that I started young and got to make many of my mistakes early on in my career.

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WOMEN IN TECH Capacity Building Secretariat (PSCBS) at only 23 years old.

“I beat several other bidders to the tender. That’s when I realised that in Rwanda people don’t offer you a job based on your gender, age or financial muscle of your company. For my first job I even used my client’s laptop; they were only interested in my skills, she said.

After her first job, she moved to set up Shaking Sun and hired staff so that they could take on more web consultancies.

In 2014, she registered Yambi Animation Studios with the plan to begin creating cartoons and films targeting the Rwandan market. However, that year, she won a scholarship to study Master’s degree in Japan.

“I had always been very curious about the animation industry in Japan, I put my studio on hold and left for Japan.

While I was at university, I developed a mobile app called Ishusho to share Rwandan comics and other 2D art. I hope to graduate in September 2016, return home, and continue where I left off with my studio,” she said.

On what inspired her to get into tech, Akaliza said that she always had passion about art than technology however, growing up she saw many opportunities for artists to have a successful career by merging their talent for art with technical skills.

“I have worked with clients that I never met face-to-face. Finally, I know many women are interested in careers that give them flexible working hours, and there are many jobs in tech that allow you to work from anywhere and at any time,” she added.

I would love to know that families around the world are enjoying something beautiful, creative and authentic that I produced “I was truly inspired by Pixar films like Shrek and Toy Story which to me showed the amazing possibilities of computer animation and that’s where I want to be in a few years,” she said.

For Akaliza there are a lot of advantages that come with being a woman in IT especially in her home country Rwanda.

“Although we are still the minority in the industry, the few of us that exist are celebrated, with the hope of inspiring more young girls. A great example is the Ms. Geek Rwanda competition that has been running for the last couple of years. It has received tremendous support from all sectors of society,” she said.

But generally, around the world, Akaliza says that being a woman in tech allows women to see many untapped areas in the market that women might be more aware of. Another advantage about the tech industry is easier to be judged based on your skills rather than your looks or gender.

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As an African woman in IT Akaliza told us that she wants to create the most popular animated production on the continent. “I would love to know that families around the world are enjoying something beautiful, creative and authentic that I produced,” she added.

On whether people should people pursue what they love doing or what they possess a natural talent for, “In my case, I combined my passion and my skill. If you can, find a way to pursue what you love. That said, I know that sometimes, you have to work to eat, and I would never judge someone who chooses a job that can feed them and their family over one that they enjoy more,” she said.

Her advice to a younger woman interested in a career like hers was simple.”Go for it! I am so thankful that I started young and got to make many of my mistakes early on in my career. The great thing about this industry is you can teach yourself. 90% of what I use in my work, I learnt online and outside the classroom. Start today, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, and never stop learning,”

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

BY LILIAN MUTEGI

A

few years later we get a chance to review the Epson Label Works Printers, this case being The Epson LW-400. A day after receiving the gadget, everyone in the office has a labeled phone, laptop or file. Did I mention a colleague now has a labeled shirt?

Yes, this goes to show how convenient and flexible the device is.

PRODUCT REVIEW

September Review:

Epson LW_400

The Epson LW-400 allows you to create professional labels in the office or on the go. A lightweight, portable electronic label maker weighing 418g, the LW400 fits easily into your hand and takes care of all desktop and mobile labeling requirements, such as filing, storage, and asset tagging and equipment identification.

INTRODUCTION: Back in 2012, Epson launched its first new LabelWorks label printers in Europe, North America and South East Asia, with plans to roll out these products in other regions in the latter part of 2012 and beyond. Although the company has long manufactured such products for Japan and other limited markets on an OEM base, it was the first time Epson sold products outside East Asia under its own brand.

What we found interesting about the printer is that it offered us a huge range of symbols, frames, fonts, barcodes and tapes in a variety of styles, sizes and colors. The LW-400 is both easy to use and efficient. For instance all we had to do is to key in the words to the printer which reflected on the LCD screen. There is a print button on the far right hand side, we clicked on it, the screen displayed the length of the label in Centimeters and in a few seconds, the label was out.

The device also comes with an in-built scissors/cutter on the left-hand side that allows you to cut the label at a desirable length. All the process takes less than 30 seconds. As if that was not enough, the gadget has a built-in memory that stores up to 50 files, so you can save those commonly used labels. In any case, the LW-400 will transform how you organize and give you a new outlet for your imagination.

Key Board and Screen: The device comes with a Qwerty keyboard making it so simple to use but tricky. It also comes with a high-quality LCD screen. The buttons give quick access to cutting and printing functions.

The LCD Screen is well backlit giving a clear view, whatever the light conditions The LW-400 keyboard also supports printing in 14 fonts and 10 type styles, and has more than 300 built-in symbols and over 75 frames. As much as creating labels is straightforward at times it becomes a little bit tricky, as it takes www.cio.co.ke | SEPTEMBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

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PRODUCT REVIEW time to get used to the function keys as many of the keys are similar.

For instance, one function key toggles between upper and lower case; one sets type, one lets you choose the font and another, the type style (bold, italic).

However, you do not have to worry as Epson, has quick tips manual stuck at the back of the printer, making it easy for reference in case you need to print something quickly. The amount of tape remaining can be checked at any time via a small window at the back.

Wide Selection of Labels Epson’s wide selection of labels in 6, 9, 12 and 18mm sizes covers virtually every labeling need. For our review though we were given the 12cm labels, which came in black on green, black on yellow, metallic, iron-on, white on black. All Epson labels are very durable, resisting water and withstanding hot and cold conditions. For instance, we tried out the iron on label on a clothe then washed it up and the label was not tampered with.

Price: The Epson LabelWorks LW-400 Label Printer $49.99 direct which is slightly, Kshs. 5069.29 (changing rate being $1 is equal to Kshs.101.41).

Power The device comes with two power options, making it more efficient. LW-400 allows you to directly connect the device to a power source then power it on, via a button on your left hand side. Alternatively, The LW-400 is powered by 6 AA batteries. Should you forget to turn it off, it will shut itself off after 5 minutes.

The printer’s bottom snaps open so you can replace batteries or the tape cartridge. An optional AC adapter is available for $25 on Amazon. Inserting a label cartridge is literally a snap. Once you remove the printer’s bottom cover, you snap the cartridge into place, making sure that any excess tape is fed through the two guides.

BarCode Printing: LW-400 comes with a barcode key that lets you create specialty label types. Unlike its predecessor the EpsonLW-300, the Epson LW-400 has upto 13 different barcodes styles for labeling and inventory-ing of items.

Flexibility The LW-400 prints up to four lines and offers excellent versatility with eight barcode standards, 14 fonts, five character sizes, 459 symbols, 89 borders and 10 different styles, including bold, italic, outline and shadow. The customizable designs allow the Epson Label Works printers offer creative flexibility for users in creating unique labels. Even in darkness or bright sunlight, one could clearly see the labels – thanks to the LW-400’s backlit LCD screen.

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

OPINION

WHY MORE IS BETTER

WHEN IT COMES TO SUBSEA CABLES AND AFRICA

BY BEN ROBERTS

BETWEEN 2009 AND 2012, SEVEN MAJOR SUBSEA CABLES WERE DEPLOYED ALONG THE EAST AND WEST COASTS OF AFRICA, BRINGING AN ABUNDANCE OF INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIVITY TO THE CONTINENT FOR THE FIRST TIME.

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n estimated $3 billion poured into the construction of these undersea networks, which have played an important role in developing Africa’s internet ecosystem.

Today, most of these cables are less than 7 years old – to add some perspective, the average lifespan of a subsea cable is 25 years – and not all of their capacity has been lit.

Meanwhile, a new generation of subsea cables are making their way to Africa.

Earlier in the year several undersea cable projects have been announced on the East coast of Africa. These include Liquid Sea, which will run the length of Africa’s east coast with onwards connectivity to Europe, Djibouti-Africa Regional Express (DARE) connecting the Horn of Africa, as well as the consortium backed Africa-1 and O2Cs. On the West Coast there are several proposed projects to connect Africa to Latin America with a subsea cable link for the first time.

This has prompted cynicism from some industry leaders and market watchers, who suggest that all these new systems are unnecessary.

Africa’s phenomenal demand for internet access suggests otherwise – and efforts are currently underway to ensure that 80% of all African internet content is being served from Africa. This should mean less demand for sub sea cables as more data is accessed locally, but still the demand for these projects continues.

Here are six reasons why more subsea cables are beneficial to the market and the continent as a whole: 1 Connecting the unconnected: Not all African countries were connected by the first wave of subsea cables. Some countries such as Eritrea and Somaliland were overlooked, while there is fresh demand for access to cables from other nations – for example, northern Mozambique requires reliable highspeed internet to support the rise of new oil and gas reserves.

2 Greater diversity: Currently, there are a limited number of African landing stations where the major subsea cable systems interconnect, and traffic is sent onwards to Europe and Asia. More cables will help to establish new hubs across the region, which will offer telecoms operators greater choice and diversity as well as help bring down the price to interconnect.

3 Increasing competition: More subsea cables and the introduction of new landing stations will help make the African telecoms market more competitive and improve the reliability of networks. The price of bandwidth is often higher in countries reliant on just one landing station, which could also suffer greater repercussions from a cable cut. Two landing stations will help improve resiliency and pricing, but four or five landing stations will really start to drive pricing down and significantly improve reliability.

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

4 New players in the market: There’s been dramatic changes in the telecoms market since some of Africa’s first subsea cables were built in the early 2000s. Today’s telecoms ecosystem has many more players - including OTTs such as Google and Facebook - which were unrepresented in the first wave of subsea cable systems. These new players require capacity and are investing in new systems accordingly.

5 Advancements in technology: Technology is advancing all the time, which mean some of the older cable systems are falling behind fast. Although more modern systems can upgrade using 100G wavelengths, new systems can leverage this mega capacity technology from day one.

6 Keeping engineers in a job: The world has to keep building new cables in order to keep grey-haired engineers employed. Actually, they should hold off retirement just yet as the subsea cable industry is enjoying a major renaissance at the moment. We’ve seen lots of investment worldwide in new projects, and competition is heating up between vendors. In fact, many of them are offering great prices and many projects are also receiving government funding. There’s perhaps never been a better time to be a consultant or an engineer.

The Author – Ben Roberts is CEO of Liquid Telecom Kenya 37

OPINION

Big Bang

BY DELANO LONGWE

THE WORLD OF DATA HAS BEEN RAPIDLY CHANGING AND IN OUR REGION THE IMPACT IS SLOWLY BEGINNING TO MAKE ITS PRESENCE KNOWN. NOTHING SPECTACULAR, JUST QUIET RESULTS THAT MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THOSE CRITICAL MOMENTS WHEN THE RIGHT DECISION NEEDS TO BE MADE ON TIME AND ALL THE TIME.

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here is no such thing as guesswork here, carefully crafted, software defined, sentiment aware platform spewing out accurate, decisionable data time and time again.

Whether it’s the weather, healthcare, finance or defense Big Data and the Internet of Things has infiltrated every area of our existence silently creating a better planet to live and breathe in.

Although the tangible effects are being felt more at a large entity scale, the nuances and spillover effects are creating ripples of disruption and creativity like never before.

Part of the reason for this is that the platforms in use to drive change are shifting gear so fast that Moore’s law has for all intents and purposes been broken forever. It’s not just the processing power that’s gone clean out of the window, advanced encryption may be of no use to secure anything you have in the next few years with the advent of China’s development of the world’s fastest supercomputer. We went from bits and bytes to Teraflops.

The other advance in this changing fabric of the digital world is the sudden advent of Artificial Intelligence that is capable of making more sense out of the humongous amounts of Big Data info and it looks at this rate as if we will soon arrive at the point when we automate the vast majority of our hitherto manual activities such as say…driving, flying, cooking and the list goes on and 38

on. Now that we’re getting a grip on the concept of our changing society let’s look at what this means in the area for example of battlefield combat, fewer armed forces lives lost as the battle shifts to the deployment of unmanned ground vehicles, drones, and submarines that disappear and become ghosts waiting silently for the call of duty. This could mean that we might see robot wars a lot sooner that we expect. Picture this an unmanned combat suit that carrying a host AI. Stuff of dreams, maybe not but DARPA and other similar organizations spend their days and nights dreaming up this stuff. On the other side of the spectrum Utopia and Pleasantville seems to have come a lot closer. A world where it’s impossible to commit a crime and get away is far closer that we expect with a potential plethora of creativity starting now and rolling out over the next 20 or so years. We could also see an Agrarian revolution as the reality of a hungry world banished into history with automation of massive scale farming based on accurate decision making

and predictions of weather patterns and potential risks from pests and crop disease, no more guess work.

It all seems to be unfolding in a strange new way and if you think you’re not affected, think again your insurance is now measured and rewarded on your historical and projected risk analysis.

The adverts you watch on television and hear on radio have been carefully selected because of how you’ve responded to previous ones and in anticipation of how you will behave in a created environment. Stuff of dreams, not really.

Take the time to dig a little deeper and you will discover an amazingly busy and hyperactive world hovering just below the surface of our ordinary day to day lives.

A long time ago it was said that man could achieve the impossible, I think we’ll have to add the improbable to that and now on a daily basis. Welcome to the new world of Big Bang Big Data, silent, invisible but tangible, real and very, very effective.

Take the time to dig a little deeper and you will discover an amazingly busy and hyperactive world hovering just below the surface of our ordinary day to day lives.

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

OPINION

CREATING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES VIA UNSTRUCTURED DATA

BY JAMES MURITU

BIG DATA HAS OFTEN BEEN MISINTERPRETED TO IMPLY AN ANALYSIS OF DATA PURELY FROM A STRUCTURAL AND RELATIONAL DATABASES SPECTRUM. WHEREAS STRUCTURED DATA HAS A HIGH LEVEL OF STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION, AND IS EASILY SEARCHABLE, UNSTRUCTURED DATA LACKS ANY PRE-DEFINED DATA MODELS AND ANY FORM OF ORGANIZATION.

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mails, videos, social media, RSS, documents, and text are all examples of unstructured data. Internet of things and internet of everything offers another whole new domain of unstructured data. The best example though and easily the most untapped source of unstructured data is the Social Media with Facebook ingesting approximately 500 times more data each day than the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Twitter storing at least 12 times more data each day than the NYSE. With Africa enjoying some of the highest social media usage across the world, most Africa based institutions are yet to leverage on the power of unstructured data. With a conservative and risk averse mindset, the public and private sectors in Africa are still stuck with a school of thought that true data exists only within structured data sets. The opportunities are huge and companies that will tap into this area stand to gain a lot in terms competitive advantages and world class customer experiences. Culturally, Africans are a very opinionated people and won’t shy away to give an opinion on almost every issue.

A skillful leveraging of these opinions by application of mining techniques that dig deep and wide into the social media ecosystem will provide a huge opportunity for organizations to define and shape their futures in terms of how they want to relate with their clientele and

market their products. Suffice it to say that as business enterprises increase their social media footprint, their organizational success will fast be decided by the effectiveness of their social engagement strategies. The institutions will have to be spot-on in knowing what their customers’ likes, dislikes, wants and needs are. Their customers intents and sentiments that they so candidly express on the social media channels through chats, reviews, forum discussions, tweets, likes and shares will be instrumental in determining the potential and opportunities brought forth by unstructured data.

With Africa enjoying some of the highest social media usage across the world, most Africa based institutions are yet to leverage on the power of unstructured data.

How organizations chose to tap into this data is dependant on how serious they are about sentiment analysis and associated parameters. With elections looming in several African countries, it’s even more prudent to see how competing parties will maximize on the power of this domain. With telcos, retailers and other key industry players grappling for space in Africa, again it will be interesting to take notice of them that treat unstructured data with the due respect and honour. Tapping into this big data space can be done with minimal spending in the initial space with many applications being available out there.

The two most popular applications and costing almost nothing being Google Analytics and Hadoop. Get on board and let Big Data work for you!

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

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OPINION

THE DIGITAL BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM

BY MOSES KEMIBARO

WE ARE NOW FIRMLY IN THE SECOND HALF OF 2016 AND MANY BUSINESS LEADERS ARE STILL LOOKING INTO THEIR PROVERBIAL CRYSTAL BALLS TO SEE WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS THIS YEAR. ONE OF THE AREAS MANY MUST BE THINKING ABOUT IS HOW THEY CAN USE DIGITAL CHANNELS TO ADD VALUE TO THEIR OFFERINGS AND MAINTAIN A SIGNIFICANT COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

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t the same time, they are looking at how they can differentiate themselves sufficiently in the marketplace from their competitors so as to avoid ‘me too’ strategies and tactics that would therefore yield a limited return on investment (ROI).

My view is that there is only one thing that will matter when it comes to transforming businesses from a digital perspective in 2016 and beyond. This is the one thing that will make businesses and brands in Kenya standout from all the noise that is out there and will truly impact the bottom-line. This one thing will enable progressive and forward looking organizations to achieve a quantum leap in digital ahead of their competitors. In fact, they will no longer compete due to this one thing as they will digitally dominate their industries and sectors. This one thing is what I call the digital business ecosystem or DBE. The DBE is a complete reimagining and resetting of how digital operates within a business. It goes far beyond simply executing digital in the form of building a website or developing a mobile app.

The DBE is a massive departure from the digital status quo as it requires a business to put digital at the very center of everything it does. It is far more than merely digital advertising or social media. It means looking at all core business operations and fully integrating them with digital channels so as to achieve digital business transformation across the board.

In tactical terms, the DBE could be the integration of six (6) digital business channels, as follows: 40

• Corporate Website • Mobile Apps • Business Apps (E-Commerce, ERP, Intranets, Content Management Systems, Marketing Automation, CRM, etc) • Digital Advertising • Social Media The DBE requires that all of these digital channels are made to work together, almost like a symphony where musicians play their instruments in perfect harmony – conducted by an excellent digital strategy that makes the collective much more impactful that a single digital channel. To achieve a DBE, disparate digital business channels are fully integrated through the use of technologies like Application Programming Interfaces or APIs. The beauty about a DBE and APIs is that all digital channels talk to each other and using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can actually get more efficient and effective over time.

gers social media updates on Twitter and Facebook. These social media updates are then ‘boosted’ via digital ads and as a result are seen and read by users. As users read the social media posts and click on the blog post, your marketing automation system ‘picks up’ these interactions and records them for future automated interactions. However, if the blog post has a call-to-action or CTA to a lead generation form, this information gets captured in your CRM. Then, automatically, the lead captured gets an email thanking them for filling the form and generates a discounted offer that can be bought there and then using your e-commerce system. If they make the purchase it is then pushed to the ERP for the billing and fulfillment to be done. In a nutshell, this is how a DBE could work. Illustratively, see what the DBE could look like as below:

Imagine a scenario where you publish a promotional blog post online. This blog post then trigAbout Moses Kemibaro Moses Kemibaro is the Founder of Dotsavvy, Kenya’s first Digital Business Agency. He is also an award-winning TechBlogger at MosesKemibaro.com where he rants and raves about all things digital in Kenya and Africa. You can reach him at moses@moseskemibaro.com.

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

OPINION

TAMING TOUGH ENTERPRISE TRAILS

BY PETER MUYA

THIS POST IS INSPIRED BY AN ARTICLE BY CHRISTY WOODS, AN AVID TRAIL RIDER. SHE IS THE OWNER-TRAINER OF WOOD N’ HORSE TRAINING STABLES IN THREE RIVERS, CALIFORNIA. HER ARTICLE TITLED, “TAMING TOUGH RAILS”, ILLUSTRATES PRACTICALLY HOW AND WHY TO PREPARE THE HORSE FOR TOUGH TRAILS FOR BETTER RIDES. HER KEY MESSAGE BEING, HAVE FUN IN EXTREME CHALLENGES.

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am not a horse rider but I love the equestrian game. In my thirst to unlock the transformation conundrum facing many an enterprise today, I found this article a perfect pick. It bears vital lessons that an enterprise, seeking to mature its transformation, would draw wisdom from. I have repackaged these lessons through the eyes of an Enterprise Architect.

Ms Woods identifies five challenges (use cases) that horse riders face in tough terrains;

Make a Splash

This is about water crossings. The best way to get tame your horse is by getting it’s feet more wet a little at a time. This is by letting the horse sniff the water while urging him through it. In other words, demystifying the trail without intimidating the horse.

Transformation can be intimidating.

Standing on the water’s edge, enterprise anxiety abounds. The “aggressive strategy” must not be to intimidate the enterprise but to encourage it to step in the water. Ultimately, a rider cannot swim alone.

Step Over, Step Through

The challenge of fallen logs and trees or debris along the trail. Belly high obstacles are even much harder to navigate, says Ms Wood. She advises prior preparation with the aim to train the horse to figure out how navigate (pick his way out) through fallen objects. The horse must look at the logs or obstacles by himself.

a culture that trains and rewards people for “dropping their heads to pick their way out” and pushing back where there are risks.

Dig In, Climb Up, Inch Through

Horses often want to hurry up and down the hills. The horse must be trained to slow down and pick their ascent or descent carefully. The rider must set the rhythm of ascent or decent.

Motivation for change can be different for different people in the enterprise. Some may choose speed so they can get done with this thing. For instance, hurriedly discussed and signed off user requirements may be due to pressure by line of business teams to get back to their “normal work” because their KPIs are being affected by long days away from their “normal work”.

Additionally, aggressive go-live dates and short cuts that compromise on quality may be informed by a project team that is ready to “go live” so they can earn that much needed promotion to the next level.

Slog Through

Though horses that are willing to cross clear water, they often balk at mud and moist ground that sinks beneath them.

A good practice would be to go back and forth through a marshy ground to accustom the horse to the unstable ground. By stopping and turning around in the middle of the pile rather than simply crossing, makes the horse feel the ground and banishes the fear of marshy areas.

Transformation must not be left to the hands of a few to “run with it”. The rider may know the end game but he may be unaware “how to pick his way out of logs and obstacles”. This must be done by those charged with the responsibility of actually stepping through. There must be www.cio.co.ke | SEPTEMBER 2016 | CIO EAST AFRICA

Some projects I have been involved in give little airtime to risk or audit during the project. The audit reports can create a marshy ground. To accustom the horse unstable ground is an admission that a marshy ground exists. Exposing risks early and discussing them with a view to mitigating them is critical.

Tight Spaces

This is a trail challenge of navigation between tight spaces such as narrow hills, between trees or boulders. The objective is to make the horse stay calm in order to proceed carefully through the tight spaces. The horse must learn that when space is tight, he waits for the rider’s signal to ease his way through, so his default is to pause rather than rush.

Tight timelines shift focus “go live” date in comparison to the unfinished work.

Increase hands, extend hours, work on weekends etc in a bid to meet the timelines. The project enters are “rush” rather than a pause mode.

Proceeding one step at a time and pausing for a moment in each step enables easier navigation of tight timelines.

In conclusion, enterprise transformation will bring with it all or a combination of these challenges. Those responsible for driving transformation must learn a thing or two from Ms Woods’ training in order to “have fun in extreme challenges”. This calls for maturity in how they do transformation.

The Author is Peter Muya, an enterprise transformation practitioner, with 15 years experience conducting mid and large-scale projects in telecommunications, financial services and public sector. He co-founded and is managing partner of PTI Consulting providing ICT related business advisory services.

Web: www.pticonsulting.co.ke Email: peter.muya@pearltouchint.com 41

HARD TALK

BY BOB YAWE

Beyond Lights ON It is unfortunate that many years after the introduction of computer systems hardware remains a major fixation to many in the industry.

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his has resulted in many of those filling the positions of CIO and CSO coming from outside core IT, not even from the traditional finance field but from across all other departments.

I suspect the main reason is the usual one that I keep raising, we have refused to let go of the metal and instead develop those other more relevant soft skills, writing software is not a soft skill it is as much a hard skill as welding.

My peers refuse to attend management training or sit in during marketing events where staff get briefings on the organisations products, instead they opt to be left behind babysitting the “systems� then when they are left out during promotions to strategic positions they lament.

I sometimes wonder if the analogy of hiring a mechanic as your driver applies here, as the mechanic will always find something to repair in the car, since most cars can operate fine from one service to the next there is no need for a driver/mechanic.

However, is the issue the disconnection of those in ICT to play ball yet most advertisements for CIO/CTO/IT Managers make me wonder whether the organisation searching is an end user corporate entity or a technology company? Why would you need a CCNP or CCIE on your payroll yet you already have a managed service?

So maybe the problem begins with the recruitment process where the previous position occupants exit CV is the basis for preparing the job description, without first carrying out a job analysis, a job for HR. What this results in is under employment where you have a permanent skill pool that is less required than the windowpane repairperson.

The only way you can have a strategic discussion with your CEO is if he rarely needs to hear about crisis in your department.

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We know many of you would rather be elsewhere, but due to the good pay or lack of a better option you remain there creating all kinds of crisis to remain relevant, be warned it will not last long as sooner than later someone will address the pink elephant in the room.

What my suggestion is to those over qualified and underappreciated ICT staff is to move the lights on activity from being an active activity to a passive activity thus giving you more time to understand what exactly it is that your employer does to get money to pay you.

The ICT infrastructure can be optimised to run unattended for years without the need for physical human contact as the less there is the better for all involved.

Server rooms without; environmental control systems that can be remotely monitored, power supply units with SNMP capability and IP KVM switches is a no no in today’s environment especially with the rapid drop in the prices.

Your operating systems, databases and computer hardware have had SNMP capability ever since I was in my technology diapers, features that allow you to be alerted when something is about to go wrong thus allowing you to become proactive and not reactive.

The sad reality is that many of us pretend to be too busy to implement all this lovely time saving, time freeing and brain cell saving features and opt to work on crisis, fighting fires through the day and night as it makes us feel important.

Let go of the fear that if you are not seen holding up the light switch you become less relevant to the organisation. It is said that the best way to become upwardly mobile is by making yourself redundant at your current level. The only way you can have a strategic discussion with your CEO is if he rarely needs to hear about crisis in your department.

ICT is a core enabler in the achievement of any organisations strategic plans and until you can have the lights keep themselves on you will not be invited to the strategy table and your relevance will continue to diminish.

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

Upskilling your team and organization capabilities with our best practice certifications September 2016 • ITIL v3 Foundation 7th-9th September 2016, Nairobi, Kenya • Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM 10747), 12th -16th September 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM 10748), 19th-23rd September 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • PRINCE II Foundation and Practitioner 19th-23rd September 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Oracle Database 11g: SQL Fundamentals, 12th-16th September 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Electronics Records Management (ERM), 21st-23rd September 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Certified Fiber Optic Technician and Network Design Boot camp, 25th-30th September 2016; Dubai • Social Media Marketing (SMM), 28th-30th September 2016; Nairobi, Kenya October 2016 • MCSA: Window Server 2012 (3 modules), 3rd-21st October 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • PRINCE II Foundation and Practitioner, 10th-14th October 2016 Nairobi, Kenya • Oracle Database 11g: Administration 1, 10th-14th October 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Intensive VSAT Field Engineering for Installers, 12th-14th October 2014; Nairobi Kenya • Oracle Database 11g: Administration 2, 17th-21st October 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Cisco Certified Network Associate- CCNAX, 17th-21st October 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V6.0], 24th-28th October 2016, Nairobi, Kenya November 2016 • MCSE: Exchange Server 2013, 7th-18th November 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • IT Networks & Security Systems Management 16th-18th November 2016; Nairobi • FOA Certified Fiber Optic Technician, 15th-18th November 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • FOA Certified Fiber Optic Specialist Design, 22nd-25th November 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • PRINCE II Foundation and Practitioner, 28h November2nd December 2016; Nairobi, Kenya December 2016 • ITIL v3 Foundation, 7th-9th December 2016; Nairobi, Kenya • Cisco Certified Network Associate- CCNAX, 13th-17th December 2016; Nairobi, Kenya

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