THE CHASE:AI CHATGPT & THE REST OF US NIGERIAN

THE CHASE:AI CHATGPT & THE REST OF US NIGERIAN

AI (Artificial Intelligence) a form of computing that allows the machine to take decision and learn from individuals to give a feedback is on the rise. In a simple terms AI can be defined as:the ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that are usually done by humans because they require human intelligence and discernment.

Now the leaders of this is CHATGTP(In caps for emphasis) this is an open source platform that can help you do a lot of things easily without you lifting a finger. A student used the platform to have an all A’s in her assignment. I typed a query on how to write an article and the platform brought out a fantastic article written for me on my chosen subject in few seconds. Well written more than human!

So as you can see, just like the way industrial revolution displaced many people in their jobs and also creates job, the way computer age displaced many people and trust me this 4th industrial revolution will displace many of us and I am scared of jobs like Journalism, editing, copywriting, proofreading, advertising , content creators etc ! AI will take over .

Many countries of the world are in the race to build a fantastic AI  platform today which can be incorporated into many things from autonomous driving to aviation , from medical to education, Google recently tried to launch their own platform (Sparrow) but where was a glitch and they lost billions of dollars but that doesn’t mean they have rested on their oars! Google don’t give up they will be back !

Chinese biggest tech firm Baidu will be launching their own version of ChatGTP by March this year ! Trust Chinese to always deliver on things like these. With this race of AI going on, the Africans are left behind !

With the elections coming up in few days time, Nigerians are contemplating to either vote a senile man that doesn’t understand the concept of building smart cities or the need to galvanise the youths to build robust solutions and creating a techhub around the nation. Nobody is talking that .

As the world is tilting towards 4th industrial revolution, just like other ages and revolutions before us , Nigeria is doing a catch-up game; a country that is trying to sort out the basic things and mundane things that should be overlooked such as energy, electricity, fuel, security and capacity building ! The country is still saddled with these basic things an indication that the rest of world will leave us behind!

Anthony Emeka Nwosu
Anthony@techandbiz.com.ng

Industrial cybersecurity challenge in Africa for 2023: defences in energy and mining need to be strengthened

Industrial cybersecurity challenge in Africa for 2023: defences in energy and mining need to be strengthened

Throughout 2022 (https://bit.ly/3wQqhGM), 40% of industrial control system (ICS) computers globally were attacked with malware. In Africa, the figure sits at 47% according to Kaspersky (www.Kaspersky.co.za) ICS CERT*. For countries monitored on the African continent, the three countries which experienced the most attacks on ICS infrastructure were Ethiopia (62%), Algeria (59%), and Burundi (57%). Among others, they are followed by Rwanda (46%), Kenya (41%), Nigeria and Zimbabwe (both stand at 40%), Ghana (39%), Zambia (38%) and South Africa and Uganda (both stand at 36%). This is a high growth threat landscape in Africa that no public or private sector entity, especially in critical sectors like energy and mining, can ignore.

 

“One infected USB drive or a single spear-phishing email is all it takes for cyber criminals to bridge the air gap and penetrate an isolated ICS network. Traditional security is not adequate to protect industrial environments from rapidly evolving cyber threats. As attacks against critical infrastructure increase, choosing the right approach to secure systems has never been more important,” says Brandon Muller, Kaspersky tech expert and consultant in the Middle East and African region.

Think of an ICS as a collection of personnel, hardware, and software that can affect or influence the safe, secure, and reliable operation of an industrial process. IT is one component of this environment with operational technology (OT) another key element. While traditional cybersecurity solutions focus on data-oriented businesses, ICS protection is geared towards OT security where it is all about cyber-physical companies such as utilities, mining, manufacturing, and so on.

Effective OT cybersecurity measures must therefore include industrial endpoint protection to prevent accidental infections and make motivated intrusion more difficult, OT network monitoring and anomaly detection to identify malicious actions on the level of programmable logic controllers, and dedicated expert services to investigate the infrastructure, conduct expert analytics, or mitigate the impact of an incident.

“However, despite all the innovations in modern cybersecurity solutions, human error still plays a significant role in compromising ICS systems. As such, it needs to be managed much more proactively than what is currently happening. This requires utility companies, mines, and others operating in the industrial environment to look at building a Human Firewall,” adds Muller.

As attacks against critical infrastructure increase, choosing the right approach to secure systems has never been more important

One of the best ways to achieve this is through the right security awareness and training solutions that go beyond basic training. Instead, it is about delivering training that is easily digestible, practical, and memorable so it will always stay top of mind. Companies must provide training to ensure staff are armed with the very latest skills and knowledge, especially given how quickly cyber incidents evolve.

Beyond the Human Firewall, there are sector-specific interventions to consider. For instance, modern electrical power systems are complex environments requiring protection, automation, and control solutions covering all areas of electric power facility operation. Notwithstanding the technical challenges of securing this environment, organisational issues must also be considered. For instance, a lack of guides defining actions to be taken when suspicious activity is detected within automated systems. There is also a lack of documents and practices relating to the investigation of disturbances in technological environments including malicious influence on control systems.

Mines are also hotbeds for potential attacks especially at a time when Industry 4.0 digital technologies link key operational systems to data analytics and cloud environments. Mines are confronted by escalating cybersecurity threats but lack the in-house skills to adequately protect their OT and ICS environments. Combining ICS cybersecurity solutions with ongoing user education and training are non-negotiables especially when human lives are at risk.

“It is a holistic approach towards ICS cybersecurity that incorporates hardware, software, and user awareness training components that will result in a hardened defensive posture around all aspects of OT security processes,” says Muller.

For more information on Kaspersky’s product offering for Industrial Cybersecurity, visit: https://ICS.Kaspersky.com/

Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity is a portfolio of products and services specially designed by Kaspersky to secure Operational Technology layers and elements of industrial enterprises. Aimed to provide a holistic approach to industrial cybersecurity, Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity brings value on any stage of the OT security process – from cybersecurity assessment and training to advanced technologies and incident response.

BaaS: Tomorrow’s financial solutions, today

BaaS: Tomorrow’s financial solutions, today

 

 

The world of financial services is changing – for the better. A multitude of virtual banking and payment options, cardless and accountless services, and now, Banking as a Service (BaaS) are making financial inclusion the norm instead of a privilege, says Anton Coertzen, CCO of leading fintech enablement partner Ukheshe. 

 

BaaS is the latest technology making waves in the financial services world and Gartner predicts it will hit mainstream adoption within two years. BaaS is one of four technologies that Gartner says have the potential for high levels of transformation in the banking sector – the others being chatbots, public cloud for banking and social messaging payments apps.

 

A Deloitte report also says BaaS is becoming ubiquitous. “It’s reconfiguring the banking value chain, opening the door to disintermediation, and enabling new sources of growth,” it notes.

 

How does BaaS work?

BaaS came about because the ability to offer banking services such as cards and loans as a non-bank enterprise improves the customer experience and boosts revenue. However, offering banking services requires a banking licence that is difficult to obtain – it also requires significant capital and compliance with strict regulations.

 

BaaS allows licenced banks to integrate their services directly into the products of non-bank businesses. This means any business can offer its customers digital banking services such as mobile bank accounts, debit cards, loans, and payment services, without needing to acquire a banking licence. The non-financial business can also distribute these financial products under its own brand.

 

All of this happens through third-party distributors. These distributors build tech that allows digital banks, fintechs, and other third parties to connect directly with a bank’s systems via APIs.

 

In a nutshell, it enables embedded finance: banks integrate fintech or other FSP products into the banking journey (BaaS), while non-financial companies embed banking products into their own services (embedded finance).

 

The benefits of BaaS

BaaS is reconfiguring the banking value chain by enabling third-party distributors to offer banking products and services. It’s opening the door to disintermediation and enabling new sources of growth for all parties – whether the bank, the fintech enabler, or the third party.

 

Ukheshe offers banks and other financial institutions a cloud-based API-first BaaS platform that can be white-labelled – essentially allowing the bank’s customers to offer embedded finance offerings to their own customers, under their own brand. Examples include wallet as a service, card as a service, KYC as a service, and more.

 

Here are just some of the benefits of Eclipse within BaaS:

 

For banks:

  • Increased sources of revenue: Banks BaaS with Eclipse offers increased sources of revenues for their customers. Not only are banks able to enhance their value proposition to their existing consumer and merchant base, but they could also pivot to be the bank of choice for other Fintechs and Telcos in the market.
  • Cost savings: Banks can leverage third-party technology and infrastructure. Eclipse provides a dedicated environment with a frontend that is specific to banking institutions’ specific needs.
  • Increased customer insights: more customers mean increased insight into customer preferences and experiences. Eclipse provides exactly that – BaaS that has the customer at the heart of every solution, with less hassle, all through a single platform.

 

For non-banks and fintechs:

  • Less red tape: BaaS allows fintechs and businesses to bypass banking licence regulation by integrating directly with a bank’s system through banking APIs.
  • Increased customer trust: businesses can leverage consumers’ trust in banks to increase their customer base.
  • Higher competition: BaaS enables competition in financial services by enabling non-banks to offer core banking services. This means that more players can enter the market, innovation gets a push, customers get access to new products, and it leads to greater financial transparency.

 

The future

BaaS will become to fintech what Amazon Web Services is to data centres – a game changer; an absolute essential.

 

Through its multi-functional platform, Eclipse, Ukheshe has long been ahead of the fintech curve by offering both BaaS and embedded finance – even though it falls under the Software as a Service (SaaS) category.

 

Our strategy has always been to partner with banks, telcos and fintechs to shape their digital payment offering to their customers. It is core to our services to help shape their BaaS solution. We, in effect, enable the enablers and increase financial solutions to banking customers

Protect against Business Email Compromise – or it may cost you dearly 

Protect against Business Email Compromise – or it may cost you dearly 

Don’t let your business be punished for, and by cyber fraud 

 

As the business landscape rapidly evolves, a general awareness of security vulnerabilities is no longer enough. Cyber fraud, data and payment breach risks need to be managed urgently and strategically with the right tools, says Ryan Mer, CEO at eftsure Africa, an automated Know Your Payee™ (KYP) platform provider.  

 

South African companies are facing a surge in Business Email Compromise (BEC) and other cyberattacks, exposing gaps in organisations’ payment systems with serious financial, reputational, and legal consequences. In January 2023, leading South African law firm, Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) was ordered by the High Court in Johannesburg to pay R5.5 million including interest to a property buyer, Mrs. Judith Harwarden.

 

Evidence in the trial showed that ENS attached a PDF letter to an email addressed to Hawarden, containing its bank account details. However, the email was intercepted by criminals and bank details were changed before it reached Harwarden. Harwarden then paid R5.5 million into what she believed to be ENS’s bank account, which in fact was a separate account controlled by criminals.  

 

Mark Heyink, an attorney at Michalsons, who provided expert evidence at the trial explains: “The basis of the court’s judgement is that ENS owed a general duty of care to Harwarden. ENS was aware of the risk of Business Email Compromise and was in the best position to prevent the loss. The court found ENS information security was deficient and its staff poorly trained. ENS relied on the defence that the use of email and PDFs was a common practice by conveyancers, however, the court found that this did not excuse ENS from its duty of care to Harwarden.”

 

Conveyancing firms, their clients, and other organisations handling many large non-recurring type transactions are particularly vulnerable to BEC fraud. “All too aware of large deposits made to and from conveyancing firms, criminals target and intercept email accounts and scam victims into making payments into the incorrect account,” says Mer.  

 

Mer adds that with strong case precedence for South African firms being liable for payments that do not reach the intended account as a result of fraudulent interference, organisations need to handle email correspondence containing bank details and personal information with care. “Most threats can be avoided with the correct operational and financial controls as well as server, IT, and email monitoring processes. It’s important to acknowledge the fact that employee email accounts are gateways to sensitive information and attacks, and organisations should therefore enforce policies restricting what information can be kept in email inboxes prior to secure archiving. To help minimise the risk of BEC attacks, firms should re-evaluate their manual email-based processes and consider software solutions to digitise, automate and safeguard these processes, as well as the financial controls in place when it comes to payments by considering the use of independent real-time verification systems that cross-reference payments an organisation is about to release with independently verified bank account details,” he says.  

 

Business Email Compromise is a significant threat to any organisation and its clients. In circumstances where organisations are unable to meet their financial obligations as a result of a BEC attack, third parties may seek compensation for disrupted business operations and other losses. Heyink says that the Protection of Personal Information Act requires businesses to safeguard personal information appropriately. “While the ENS case relates to a conveyancing transaction, the principle applies to all businesses. If a business processes or communicates personal or sensitive business information, it must safeguard the information appropriately,” notes Heyink.  

 

Ends.

EVENTNEWS Lagos hosts gathering of Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers 2023

EVENTNEWS Lagos hosts gathering of Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers 2023

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, is hosting the opening edition of Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers February 14, 2023 at the prestigious Sheraton Hotel & Towers.  Nigeria’s Digital Economy is evolving positively in spite of a diversity of challenges for organisations in the public and private sectors.

Inspired by the need to express both the challenges and the iconic actors that have emerged to drive Africa’s fastest growing digital economy, the continent’s major tech-biz publication, published since 2007, IT Edge News.Africa (www.itedgenews.africa) and its Partners will be focusing on Nigeria’s Leading Lights referencing Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers at an Industry Colloquium &Award Ceremony this February just before as the country goes to the poll to elect new political leaders.

The One Day Industry event is featuring a Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers Recognition Ceremony; an Industry Networking Lunch; Nigeria Digital Economy Special Report; and the forum on  ‘Nigeria’s Digital Economy – Myth or Fact?’

According to the Project Team Lead, Dr. Sola Afolabi, The event is “a platform for industry Recognition, Industry Stock-Taking & Industry Insights with a view to provide a guide as to what direction Nigeria’s entire spectrum of ICT ecosystem will take as the transition for a new government begins.”


He adds: “This event is driven by collaboration of stakeholders within and outside the media to ensure a wide,and more inclusive selection of the sector’s leading lights as well as to offer a broader understanding of the challenges and the inspirations that drive Africa’s largest ICT market. Event partners include TechEconomy; ITPulse; TechandBiz.com; and TechTV (NTA).

Also, while the event is focusing on the leading lights within the rank of CEOs/Director Generals across corporate Nigeria, the Nigeria’s Top 50 Digital Economy Enablers team recognises the great efforts by certain members of management in helping to drive the agenda of their organisations’ at advancing Nigeria’s digital economy agenda.

The event, therefore, will be specially recognizing the commitment of certain individuals in being not just their organizations’ voices but als articulate purveyors of themes of progress around Nigeria’s Digital Economy.

DEXTER TO INTRODUCE INNOVATIVE FINTECH SOLUTION THIS Q1 CALLED CROWDBUX

DEXTER TO INTRODUCE INNOVATIVE FINTECH SOLUTION THIS Q1 CALLED CROWDBUX

 

Dexter Digital Technologies Limited, a Nigerian financial technology (Fintech) startup company with core emphasis in churning out world-class financial solutions – informed by research – into the ecosystem, has announced their plans for 2023 starting with the launch of their flagship product called Crowdbux, this first quarter.

Speaking to the media, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dexter, Chidebere Onwuzurike said “We are a research-based software startup founded in May 2021, we are leveraging the boundless powers of data and insights from excellently curated user experience research to develop and innovate more powerful, and inclusive software for the fintech sector. When asked if Crowdbux as a solution will make the needed impact in the fintech sector of the software industry, he responded “Yes, I can confidently say that it definitely will. For starters, we only develop and innovate software premised on credible insights from diligently curated consumer research; and Crowdbux is one such innovation as a result. We have received early validation for the Crowdbux solution from potential investors, current and prospective partners and users. Put in perspective, during our waitlist marketing campaign in October, we successfully waitlisted over 2000 individuals within 3 weeks of the campaign – a few of whom we have identified to be decision makers of potential partner organizations, the expectations are high but we are definitely geared to make a lasting impact in the industry.”

He added that “Research and development are the bedrock of our operations at Dexter, I must point out that for us, it is most gainful not to compromise on research, because we maintain a heavy dependence on quality feedback for iterations. Achieving this successfully has been a bit challenging, due in some parts to limited resources available to recruit paid volunteers and analysts to sustain the execution of a series of extensive user experience research online and offline for product development.”

Though as a startup, there has been challenges along the way. Speaking on these challenges, Chidebere opined that “We are challenged in the same way every other startup creating amazing innovation is, the main issues of access to financing – whether a credit or investment facility – can be challenging when you are new in software industry because you have to prove your worth even to your team – that that you are uniquely positioned to generate huge revenues from innovating scalable software solutions, and more importantly, that these software solutions go on to consistently ease the pain-points of a large group of people and businesses anytime, anywhere”

On launching of their app, Chidebere said “This for us is a research-informed decision, we want our users to tell us if and when they want it, however the Crowdbux web application will be accessible using any web enabled device from March 2023.”

In an ecosystem that is offering credit to lots of Nigerians today, there is a need to have a robust and standardized credit ratings for Nigerians. Dexter’s Boss is desirous of changing the narrative by introducing a wonderful credit scoring system. He said “Credit scoring is essential in helping us to determine who is creditworthy on the crowdbux solution, we have innovated a fantastic proprietary scoring model that takes important data points into account, and learns data and patterns in order to provide accurate scores for users. We are also partnered with Nigeria’s biggest credit bureau to further validate our proprietary model and provide a more robust credit reportage for users, while providing our credit vendors with the information to apprise their lending decisions. In the same vein, we are leveraging the facility and expertise of our partners to provide a free comprehensive credit report to our users every year. I believe that, as the CBN’s cashless policy continues to soar, FinCo’s in the credit market would begin to experience a growing demand for credit scoring as a market-standard assessment accessory for accessing any form of credit finance.”

 

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

FINTRAK’S E-CHANNEL SOFTWARE ADDRESSES BANKS’ DRAWBACKS IN DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS

FINTRAK’S E-CHANNEL SOFTWARE ADDRESSES BANKS’ DRAWBACKS IN DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS

 

 

 

 

The reconciliation module enables maintenance of record of channels transactions, enabling near real-time representation of transactions and refund in case of technical machine problems.

E-Channel Solution reconciliation module comes with an inbuilt algorithm that decodes complex Electronic Journal Files, carry out data extraction from all available sources

 

 

 

Fintrak Software, an indigenous Fintech solution and software development firm in Lagos recently brought to fore their electronic channel (E-Channel) solution forvarious  tiers in the banking and other financial space. The product is designed  to address many drawbacks bankers face in various forms of electronic banking transaction, such as data collation and analysis in their various electronic channels.

Speaking on the importance of the solution, Bimbo Abioye, the Group Managing Director of Fintrak Software Limited said” Fintrak E-Channels solution aims to aid financial institutions to extract and create insights from data obtained from all the electronic channels customers carry out transactions through. These electronic channels include ATM, POS, USSD, Agency Banking, Mobile Banking, AND Internet Banking.”

He also added that “The solution that banks and other financial institutions need, must be able to quickly and accurately collect data off of all electronic channels and other data sources (where applicable), analyse and visualize them in order to enable stakeholders can easily make informed decisions to increase sales or boost other performance metrices on those channels. These are the core things that Fintrak e-Channel solutions are addressing.”

With loaded features embedded in the solution such as reconciliation module, ATM module, POS module, SSD module, Agency banking, Internet banking, Mobile banking and debit/credit Card business module.  The reconciliation module stands out. This module enables maintenance of record of channels transactions, enabling near real-time representation of transactions and refund in case of technical machine problems.

Speaking on this particular feature, Bimbo Abioye opined that “With the use of a consolidated database (picking data from CBA, e-Journals among others), the solution is able to store the opening and closing balance for each day or for each cash cycle of every ATM. This helps the users to keep a track of all the source data. The data being extracted from various sources can be consolidated from all legitimate bank sources; it becomes easier to trust reports which are generated on periodic duration. This helps the user determine settlements for shortage or excess of cash observed in the ATM Machine and other channels.”

Made up of different modules that will be addressing various types modules such as ATM module, POS module, SSD module, Agency banking, Internet banking, Mobile banking and debit/credit Card business module. The software is designed to specifically addresses these drawbacks in one platform.

Olakekan Adewale, Unit Head, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence, Fintrak said “The Fintrak E-CHANNELS solution is a highly scalable and robust management solution, An E-CHANNEL solution that provides all the functionality needed. There are many modules in the e-Channel solution, including ATMs, POSs, USSDs, Agency banking, Internet banking, mobile banking, and card business modules based on what channels the client offers.

Adewale added that “Unlike most of the solutions in the market currently, Fintrak e-Channel solutions has many objectives such as an automated end-to-end e-Channel solution that displays data as needed by teams. “

“With various scope of the software such as Data Extraction, Data Integration, Data Cleansing, Data Analysis, Report Building and Visualizations, Volume and Value Monitoring, Transaction Management, Revenue Analysis, Budget Analysis and all other Reporting Requirements as needed by client. E Channel software helps organizations in cleansing and analysis of data, each module provides reports such Transaction Count and Value by branch, region and customer. Successful versus Unsuccessful transaction summary. Also reports on other transactions such as Actual ATM (volume and value) versus budget, Transaction Failure rate analysis, Transacting Customer Analysis, Active Ratio analysis and Predictive Analytics”,Adewale concluded.

The FinTrak E-Channel Solution reconciliation module comes with an inbuilt algorithm that decodes complex Electronic Journal Files, carry out data extraction from all available sources and provide a status for any transaction ID in no time.

 

 

Anthony Emeka Nwosu

 

 

“With various scope of the software such as Data Extraction, Data Integration, Data Cleansing, Data Analysis, Report Building and Visualizations, Volume and Value Monitoring, Transaction Management, Revenue Analysis, Budget Analysis and all other Reporting Requirements as needed by client. E Channel software helps organizations in cleansing and analysis of data, each module provides reports such Transaction Count and Value by branch, region and customer. Successful versus Unsuccessful transaction summary. Also reports on other transactions such as Actual ATM (volume and value) versus budget, Transaction Failure rate analysis, Transacting Customer Analysis, Active Ratio analysis and Predictive Analytics”

 

 

OUR SOFTWARE KACHASI IS IN PRODUCTION IN MANY COMMERCIAL AND MERCHANT BANKS IN NIGERIA TODAY – ONYEBUCHI

OUR SOFTWARE KACHASI IS IN PRODUCTION IN MANY COMMERCIAL AND MERCHANT BANKS IN NIGERIA TODAY – ONYEBUCHI

 

In this media chat, Chuks Onyebuchi, the Chief Executive Officer of Union System Limited an indigenous fintech and software development firm with “solid” footprints in financial sector in Nigeria and beyond talks about their various solutions in Nigerian banks and how they have been able to deploy world-class financial trading solutions with robust support system. He talks about other issues bedeviling the industry such as dearth of human capacity and skills and perception of Nigerians towards indigenous software. Anthony Nwosu captures this in an exclusive interview.

 

Union System Limited has been in the ICT ecosystem for some time, can we know the journey so far?

USL has been a player in the delivery of financial software solutions to financial institutions for over 2 decades, in this time, we have seen a steady increase in the intricacies of software requirements from these institutions as their process have evolved to suit the increasing sophistications of their customers. This has inevitably brought about the demand for more efficient but simpler to use solutions, this is what USL prides herself in being able to continuously deliver.

Can you consider yourself as a Fintech considering that you deal with Trade Finance Software?

Yes, USL is a financial technology provider, we however deal primarily at the provision of business to business (B2B) enterprise financial software solutions. These solutions have a longer development cycle, a longer implementation cycle and are very integral to achieving the objectives of the financial institutions that adopts them.

You have deployed your solutions for notable financial houses and banks such as Access, Coronation, FCMB etc., how has this been?

These implementations and many others have not only been successful but have helped these banks meet their strategic objectives. Our solutions are very flexible and highly configurable eliminating almost completely the need for customizations. This has increased the rate of adoption within our client’s organization and faster return on investments (ROI).

You recently had a seamless integration to the CBN monitoring, can we know how this happened?

The TRMS is one of several regulatory portals through which the CBN monitors specific international trade and treasury related transactions. Through collaboration with major financial institutions in Nigeria, we had integrated to similar regulatory portals such as the NSW, NCS and the NIBBS portal, so the integration of the TRMS portal was achieved with little challenges. It also helped that we were involved, also through our existing collaborations, with the testing of the initially release pilot version.

Do you think that Banks are investing much in IT infrastructure now that a lot of skills are leaving the country especially in the area of software development?

Yes, banks are investing more in technology as the volume and sophistication of the transactions and process they must do is increasing. However, banks should concentrate on banking and investing more in technology partners such as indigenous OEMs. Whichever way they choose to invest, whether directly into the business or by paying the right prices for indigenous software solutions, they would be saving money in the long run. These savings can take the form of little or no need to source for FX to pay for software solutions, the availability of local support, reduced maintenance cost, just to mention a few.

What is your take on capacity building in the industry?

We are losing a lot of talents to the sweeping “japa” syndrome engulfing us, as such more targeted social welfare initiatives must be invested in by both the public and private sectors to not only build new capacities but retain existing ones. If there are deliberate regulations in place to support home grown systems and they are paid appropriately for their solutions, these companies would in turn be able to pay those with the needed skillset commensurately with their international counterparts, ultimately reducing the brain drain plaguing the industry.

Do you think that Nigerians have the capacity to build a world-class software?

Definitely yes, USL has demonstrated this already with our flagship Kachasi international Trade Finance solution and our other financial solutions (Sakobia, Optimus, EGORA and tentacles). The same can be said about other sectors of the economy such as health, agriculture, education and so on where we have Nigerians driving change and competing effectively. As the support and adoption for world-class indigenous solutions, such as ours, increases, Nigerians will continue to break the glass ceiling and produce software that can compete on a global stage.

Kachasi, tell us how and where you have deployed this important trade software?

Kachasi is in production in 5 commercial and merchant banks in Nigeria today. We are in advanced stages of negotiation with several other banks in Nigeria and Kenya.

What is your support system like?

Our approach to support starts with building capacities within the banks right from the implementation stage thereby ensuring a formidable first line of support from within and that the right sense of ownership is attained before the end of the implementation project. Where the bank is unable to solve the problem with its first line of support, the issue is logged on our support portal, ISURA, where our team of experts representing a second line of support are available for prompt resolution.

ISURA is accessible by all our clients 24/7 for receiving and managing support request and a dedicated support team that ensures that all support requests are attended to in the shortest time possible. We also provide premium level support services for clients with more intense support requirements.

Did you build Trade-X, Isura and Optimus as software and what are the advantages?

Yes, Kachasi (previously Trade-X), Optimus (Single and multibank), Isura, Sakobia, Tentacles and Egora were all designed and developed by USL in our Lagos, Nigeria Head office. A major advantage of adopting our solutions is the elimination of the need to source for FX to license them. Our multiple decades of experience and understanding of the challenges of a particular market coupled with the ease of configuring a system to adapt to that market while providing international/standard best practices guarantees that all our solutions give the needed advantage to our clients and partners.

What differentiates your Tentacles software from others?

Tentacles is our Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) managing integrations and interoperability between diverse applications, channels, and portals both within and external to a financial institution. The drag and drop simplicity of setting up mediation for multiple message types, real time monitoring of all integration nodes and channels, and the very friendly user interfaces, requiring no technical knowledge are some of its advantages.

Can we know the challenges that you face as an organization?

Every sector has its peculiar challenges, I’d like to believe that one of the major challenges with the sector we operate in is that of a mindset. A lot of decision makers still believe that foreign solutions are always better than indigenous ones, and that the indigenous solutions are synonymous with less quality, this is not true for us as Union Systems. There is also this believe that indigenous software must be cheap because it is indigenous. What most people fail to realize is that the skillset required to create a software abroad is the same required in Nigeria. This is important because we must pay our people commensurably with their counterparts . This faulty mindset and low pricing push local software providers to lower their standards thereby creating products that are subpar when compared to their international counterparts. Ultimately there needs to be a concerted effort in the push for more partnership with credible and experienced local OEM and in turn increased adoption of indigenous solutions.

 

 

We are losing a lot of talents to the sweeping “japa” syndrome engulfing us, as such more targeted social welfare initiatives must be invested in by both the public and private sectors to not only build new capacities but retain existing ones. If there are deliberate regulations in place to support home grown systems and they are paid appropriately for their solutions, these companies would in turn be able to pay those with the needed skillset commensurately with their international counterparts, ultimately reducing the brain drain plaguing the industry.

WE TRY TO BALANCE LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION WITH HIGHLY SKILLED RESOURCES – MITIGET BOSS

WE TRY TO BALANCE LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION WITH HIGHLY SKILLED RESOURCES – MITIGET BOSS

 

 

In this media chat, the Chief Executive Officer of Mitiget Assurance and Technology Services Limited, an indigenous information technology (IT), Sunny Ukeachu talked about how Mitiget has been able to help public sectors and financial sector in the area of cyber security and business continuity. He also made a case of challenges of power as it affects their operations and also their strides in other African nations. Anthony Nwosu captured this in an exclusive interview.

 

Mitiget Assurance and Technology Services Limited  is a leading Enterprise Information Security company in Nigeria, tell us more about the company?

Mitiget is an enterprise Information Security company enabling small and large organizations and business to build information management and security resilience. We help them in critical areas such as cyber-immunity by using people, process, and technological solutions. Our promise is to deliver measurable value from where we take over, minimum of 25% improvement. Just as our mission statement, we are poised to make a mark in African markets and globally by providing superior assurance and technology solutions to our customers through innovations, professionalism, and ethics. And we have done quite a bit.

Mitiget Assurance and Technology Services Limited has been into the IT ecosystem for some time, tell us more about your strides in this ecosystem?

As part of our security solution delivery, we have bundled information technology (IT ) as a leverage for businesses to create value. For instance, in delivering a secure data center or server room for our customers, we design, implement, secure and support all the IT infrastructure, be it, structured cabling for data, voice or power, physical security including CCTV, Access control, vaults, perimeter reinforcement and networking covering supply and configuration of switches, routers, firewalls and access points, the deployment of hardened IT hardware with supporting applications and services. If you are moving into a new office and need a partner to work with for your end-to-end IT and secure tech services, you cannot go wrong with Mitiget. We try to balance leading-edge technology innovation with highly skilled resources to deliver cost-effective, dependable, and adaptive IT solutions that meet or exceed our customer needs.

Mitiget is doing a lot to help organizations go paperless, tell us more about your strides in this space?

You know that our communication in Nigerian and many parts of the world are largely paper based. Many organizations have been carrying operational risks associated with storage of legacy documents with significant impacts. Many may have been exposed to looming financial and or reputational losses without knowing. Mitiget created a model that successfully helps many businesses in different industries to digitize, store and retrieve these critical documents in a controlled manner. From issuing the governance framework for effective records management to setting up a secure archive for documents within the retention period to scanning paper documents to any format, irrespective of volume, to deployment of a document management software to workflow automation. Because, we are an information security company, whenever we are implementing projects of this nature or we are hand-holding organizations through their digital transformation roadmap, protection of information asset is paramount. Apart from our projects with clients, we have also done some interventions for some past failed projects. We cannot stop until you go paperless because it gives any organization competitive advantage.

You have made tremendous strides in the public sector, tell us about these strides such as GDPR Implementation, PCI DSS Implementation, and ISO 22301 Certification?

Yes, we have enabled public sectors to come up with their digitization process and we have been on that journey with select few of them.  Recall that earlier it was stated that we approach security from process point of view. That we have done helping businesses implement and comply with both privacy and security standards in Nigeria. Some examples of them that we or example, GDPR, NDPR, ISO 27001, ISO 22301, and PCI DSS. Apart from helping them walk-through the implementations of the requirement of each of the standards, we hand-hold them through successful certification. We do this once and hit the target for them while entrenching the culture of continual improvement. Our footprints are in financial and public sectors in Nigeria.

What about the ECOWAS Region and other parts of Africa, what are your footprint in these areas?

We have done couple of interventions for organizations in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa to help them improve maturity in their frameworks around these standards. Another area we have excelled is in the provision of Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions. We are the number BCP facility provider in Nigeria. Some financial institutions use our facility to run their periodic BCP/DRP tests to ensure resilience and to meet regulatory requirement. Apart from that, both individual and corporates use our cloud-based data backup solution with cybersecurity protection for an assurance that their data is secure, and business can quickly recover at any unforeseen event.

How can Nigerian’s key into your training programs such as Cybersecurity, risk management, programming?

Mitiget Learning Academy (MLA) is an arm of Mitiget that provides cutting edge technical learning interventions and capacity building endeavors for small, medium, and large-scale enterprises both in public and private sectors in Nigeria. This was our way of helping to develop relevant skills to support our teeming unemployed and unemployable youths. All our courses are hands-on, and project driven with the objective of exposing the trainees to real-life tasks and problem solving. Those that would want to take up career in cybersecurity, risk management, python programming, web and mobile app development should make Mitiget learning Academy their starting point to build requisite capability to be relevant in the marketplace in their job of dream. We are discussing with a strategic partner, a tech incubator, to collaborate with us in identify and bring together some of our trainees who excelled and are ready to take their solutions and ideas to a startup level to nurture them. Our focus is around tech services using the skills we impart on young people.

What can you say was your greatest achievement this 2022?

Mitiget’s greatest achievement in 2022 was its deliberate stride in helping the governments at all levels to build and deliver physical security and effective surveillance to protect students and staff of schools. We use an innovative technology powered by solar system to help support government efforts in fighting the prevalent insecurity in our country Nigeria. This is apart from helping a financial institution digitize and secure more than 10 million document ranging from active to legacy ones.

What are your challenges that you face as an InfoSec firm in Nigeria?

Inadequate power supply and efficient internet are the biggest challenge tech services ecosystem faces. The cost of generating our own power stifles creativity and innovations. It drains resources that would have been channeled to spark up economic activities and foreign exchange earnings for the country. Another challenge is the lack of a skilled workforce. The ‘Japa’ syndrome has aggravated the issue. However, we see opportunities in all these.

You deploy Acronis as a cyber security solution. tell us more about it?

Yes. We have a strategic partnership with Acronis in delivering disaster recovery solutions with cyber protection. For CIOs or even CTOs, Acronis Cloud is one platform that gives a simplified management console for automation of data backup and cybersecurity. It gives rest of mind to those that value their critical data. More so, the solution is affordable.

Data Centre, Business Continuity and Disaster recovery are huge areas that you have made an impact on. How will you describe this space?

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a lot of paradigm shifts. Apart from adoption of remote working, enabling services and technologies were also adopted. In the data center space, focus shifted to hybrid cloud, solid-state storage, and sustainability measures. Demand for cloud services will continue even in the coming year. For MSMEs and large organizations conscious of protecting their data, they should think of Mitiget. We do data right anytime, any day, anywhere. We are the home of data center management expertise. Whether you need a complete design, incremental improvements, accredited servicing, and maintenance or even IT infrastructure decommissioning, we make them happen.

What are we to expect from you this 2023?

Great things are coming in 2023. Mitiget is an ambitious brand. Apart from continuing providing superior assurance and technology solutions to our customers through innovations, professionalism, and ethics, we will be a robust solution for schools to secure our children’s future. This is big and will disrupt the educational technology (EduTech) industry. Our goal is to provide exceptional and innovative solutions that enable our customers to make smarter decisions and maximize their potential.

 

“…That we have done helping businesses implement and comply with both privacy and security standards in Nigeria. Some examples of them that we or example, GDPR, NDPR, ISO 27001, ISO 22301, and PCI DSS. Apart from helping them walk-through the implementations of the requirement of each of the standards, we hand-hold them through successful certification. We do this once and hit the target for them while entrenching the culture of continual improvement. Our footprints are in financial and public

Business in the Era of Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) (By Eiji Ota)

Business in the Era of Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) (By Eiji Ota)

Today, products, services, and experiences are all being swept up in the phenomenon of Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) – remote and on demand access to any business offering provided as a service

​By Eiji Ota, B2B Sales and Marketing Director, Canon Central and North Africa (Canon-CNA.com)

The ‘as-a-service’ model, whereby businesses can subscribe to a service or offering without the need to pay upfront, has revolutionised B2B operations forever. It was initially introduced, with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), a pioneering business model for accessing software through the cloud. SaaS helped businesses offer a standard, distributed solution at a lower cost of entry. This new model also meant that customers no longer needed to worry about large installation and ongoing maintenance costs.

Two decades on from its mass introduction, and the SaaS model no longer exists solely within computing, but now touches every industry. While software industries have been spearheading the as a service model for decades, other industries such as print, are in the earlier stages of applying such models to their own business offerings. The market is moving at pace, and it was the cloud that fully accelerated its widespread popularisation.

More recent adaptations of the ‘as-a-service’ concept include Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS),and more, that utilise the cloud-based model and offer businesses increased flexibility to scale up or down based on need As the service is hosted in a shared environment, the service itself and updates can be rolled out instantaneously, and allows customers to outsource key business functions, revolutionising industry operations.

Today, products, services, and experiences are all being swept up in the phenomenon of Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) – remote and on demand access to any business offering provided as a service.

The XaaS model

As early as 2018, it was predicted that the global XaaS market will surpass $340 billion by 2024[1]. The pandemic has only served to accelerate this trend as organisations have sought to adapt their business models to thrive in the new normal. In fact, 60% of adopters believe they are gaining a competitive edge through their use of XaaS[2].​ Optimised running costs, freed up resources, faster implementation and providing customers with access to the most up-to-date technology are all benefits too great to ignore.

The rise of the ‘on-demand’ economy has created a shift in consumer behaviour where more is expected from businesses than ever before. The XaaS model uses ‘servitisation’, which is the transformation from merely selling products to also delivering services, to meet these increased demands. ‘Servistisation’ creates an opportunity for businesses to deepen customer relations through engagement and that collaboration is key to the success of an XaaS offering.

Beyond implementation to creating real customer value

Many companies have been using customer delivery techniques for years to analyse how customers are using products and rolling out updates accordingly based on feedback. However, the cloud has advanced this trend by making it easier for businesses to gain real time insights, facilitating a deeper understanding of customer journey.

It is now not enough for businesses to simply provide an as-a-service offering as a tick box. Investment in the model is key to creating a service that the customer sees true value in. Only by leveraging the cloud to engage and collaborate with customers, monitor their usage and make improvements to the product or service, accordingly, can you keep your business truly competitive.

Engagement is the first building block to understanding consumption

Customers are directly connected to a business each and every time they use a product, service or function. The world is changing at speed and customers’ needs are evolving with it. Direct customer engagement allows companies to stay ahead of these changes and understand how, why, and when their product is being used.

Monitoring customer use to ensure a seamless user experience

Businesses can measure how customers are using a product, service or function through usage metrics such as adoption, what functionality is being used, and how quickly an action is completed. This gives them insight to identify and proactively fix any problems that could arise before they impact a customer’s experience. The XaaS model also presents companies with a space to evolve their service or test new strategies in an agile way.

Ongoing collaboration is vital for long-term investment

The XaaS model naturally lends itself to a customer and provider collaborating to ensure that a user gets the best from what they are using. In the old world of purchase and use, solution providers were not so connected to whether a customer managed to extract a purchase’s full value. However, flexibility and scalability has changed this dynamic.

Today, an ongoing collaboration between a customer and XaaS provider is key for long-term investment. The nature of the model means the buyer makes a repurchase decision every subscription term, reconsidering the value of the service more frequently than ever before. In fact, 80% of adopters agree that XaaS has led their organisation to reinvent business processes and even change how they sell to customers[3]. The XaaS model is seeing us into a new era, one in which we ‘pay by outcome’. This payment model holds businesses accountable for bolstering product value on a consistent basis.

XaaS: setting businesses up to thrive in the new normal

The XaaS model represents a new era for the ‘as-a-service’ model and its uptake is quickly becoming an essential building block for business growth. A true XaaS proposition must offer real engagement, close monitoring of a product in use, and a commitment to continuous improvement to meet today’s evolving customer demands. As more and more businesses implement an XaaS proposition it is increasingly difficult to stay competitive just by adding a digital connection and subscription model to current offerings. The as-a-service model is becoming an expectation for consumers, as the demand for convenience and ease is more prominent in a hybrid working world. Customers are now looking for true value in what they consume, and the as-a-service model is no exception.

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