CIO EA May 2014

New trends in successful ERP implementationAs the market becomes less tolerant of big and expensive

implementation of traditional ERPs, providers are changing by offering customers choice and flexible solutions

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E A S T A F R I C A

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP

ACCFIN named Best ERP Provider in 2013 P12

From Connected Kenya to Smart Kenya Master plan P4

FEATURE: Dot Africa and individualccTLDs will complement each other P16

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Guaranty Trust Bank

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1CIO EAST AFRICA | MAY 2014www.cio.co.ke

450 000m² of connected warehouses on one networkDHL partnered with Vodafone and Safaricom to create a single network across Africa and the Middle East. This enables them to pinpoint almost 2 million orders across 450 000m² of warehouses. This partnership lets DHL commit to delivery times with 98% accuracy on time in full.

enterprise.vodafone.com/DHL

Vodafone Power to you

AMBR

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VGE Africa – DHL Endorsment – KENYA (277x200)

D45832 DHL Endorsement_Ad (200x270) FA2.indd 1 2014/04/08 2:32 PM

2 CIO EAST AFRICA | MAY 2014 www.cio.co.ke

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Harry Hare

EDITORMichael Ouma

TECHNICAL STAFF WRITERSLillian MutegiKamau MboteCOLUMNISTS

Bobby YaweSam Mwangi

HEAD OF SALES & MARKETINGAndrew Karanja

ACCOUNT MANAGERSAmuyunzu Oscar

Vanessa OburaBenjamin Anyetei

DESIGNBrian Kamau

ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDThe 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.

ContactseDevelopment House : : 604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga

: : P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi : : Kenya: : +254 20 404 16 46/7 : : +254 717 535 307

Email: [email protected]

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EDITOR’S note

Rumours about the possible wind-ing up of Orange operations in Kenya – though muted - have been there since mid 2012. They became more pro-nounced in November 2012 when France Telecom (FT) decided to convert its debt in Telkom Kenya into equity, thereby increasing its stake to 60 per cent, with the government retaining 40 per cent.

When FT again raised its stake in the Kenyan subsidiary to 70 per cent last year, many analysts knew that it’s just a matter of time before the France-based Orange calls it a day in Kenya by selling the unit to a new entity.

But then, more or less at the same time, other rumours surfaced that Essar Telecoms’ yuMobile was also in the red, and ready to sell. Officially, though, the yuMobile CEO was stating that the firm was only looking for a “strategic inves-tor” to put in cash to finance its expan-sion and not about to sell outright.

That was before March 2014 when Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) announced that it had approved the sale of yuMobile to Safaricom and Airtel Kenya for a total of about Kshs 10 billion (USD 117.2 million). The sale is yet to be concluded after CAK asked Safari-com to open up its M-Pesa infrastructure to competitors.

Now let’s go back to Orange, where we started, and look at some similarities.

During a media briefing on April 15,

Mickael Ghossein, the Orange Kenya CEO, insisted the company was only looking for a “strategic partner to inject new cash to support its growth.” Orange needs about Kshs 2.5 billion as Capex this year.

The choice of words here is quite telling. Just like the yuMobile CEO, Mr Ghossein said Orange is also looking for a “strategic investor.”

We know how yuMobile’s search for such an investor ended, with the India-based firm leaving the Kenyan market.

At the moment, the main question is which direction FT will decide to look when it eventually divests from Kenya – that’s whether it will face East and sell the Kenya unit to Vietnam’s Viettel or go South and let MTN have it.

Just as the industry is bidding farewell to an operator with another one unsure of its long-term future in the market, the CAK has moved to license 3 MVNOs, ena-bling the licensees to compete directly with existing MNOs by providing voice, data and mobile money as well as SMS services.

All these adjustments and trends are an indicator of interesting times for Kenya’s telecoms industry. And I’m sure by this time next year, we’ll have experi-enced even more transitions.

One down, one wobbly, two standing and 3 MVNOs

That’s the title that aptly captures Kenya’s mobile telecoms scene at this time, though this may not be the case a few

months from now going by how fast things are changing.

Michael Ouma

[email protected]


Quoted Verbatim

I have 4 children and 3 grandchildren…and they are really expensive. So next time you’re making a decision to work,

please consider Hitachi Data Systems as I’m paid according to how we sell…

Tony Reid, COO, HDS EMEA during BusinessDefined launch in Dubai.

They (MNOs) have enough capacity from the resources we’ve given them. They should therefore inculcate the culture of

sharing…”

Francis Wangusi, director general, Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) during the issuance of MVNO licenses to 3 firms.

Good leaders learn from their mistakes but since we are great leaders, we want to

learn from the mistakes of others…”

James Mwangi, CEO, Equity Bank during the release of the bank’s Q1 Financial results.

Maturity as far as payment systems is concerned is in Kenya…”

Paul Njau, MD, Tracom

PCK is the first stop for financial institutions who want to roll out agency banking services as we have over 500

outlets throughout the country

Dr Enock Kinara, Postmaster General, Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK)


Also new, is what we are now calling it. It was christened “Smart Kenya” in line with the thinking in the new administration. Although not entirely original, Smart Kenya is a good way of branding the master plan and remov-ing the tired phrases like “National” and “ICT” from the naming convention. I think Smart Kenya will be easy to sell even to the technophobes in govern-ment. It cleverly removes the “tech” tag from the name and provides an opportunity to engage without feeling the technology pressure.

Now that we are done with the cere-monies and positioning, it’s time to get moving. It’s time we seriously started working on the implementation of the strategy and get the expected out-comes. As they say, a plan is as good as those who see it through. For full dis-closure, I was in the team that crafted the document that was launched by the previous administration, and I must admit the new team has added quite some “meat” into “our” document.

What is unfortunate is that in most African countries, every change of government must always come with orphaned projects, which need to be realigned with the new administra-tion, but my experience knows better. We have seen this tendency affecting multi million dollar projects, which go to waste, just because it was not “our” project.

And this is not just within our sector,

it affects all sectors. And while one would want to appreciate that proba-bly the new sheriffs want to seem to be in control of the process and therefore create their own structures and put in place people that they believe will deliver the projects, it does not make sense for projects of a national appeal not to be insulated from temporary political re-alignments. These waste time and money and in some cases, kill projects in toto. But I digress.

The new team at the ministry now needs to move with speed to start executing the strategy. There is a lot of private sector goodwill to see this strat-egy through and it will be a shame that we go back to Connected Kenya 2015 without any of the flagship projects in operation. From the floor of the event, several organisations came up to pro-claim support for various components of the plan, and these should really be very low hanging fruits for the imple-mentation team to nail.

At CIO East Africa, we have taken a decision to independently monitor the execution and implementation of Smart Kenya and plan to publish a report that we intend to launch a week before the next Connected Kenya sum-mit. Ours will be an observer mission looking from the outside, our little contribution to the Smart Kenya plan. Walk with us.

every change of government must always come with orphaned projects,

which need to be realigned with the new

administration, but my experience

knows better.

[email protected]

PUBLISHER

From Connected Kenya: to Smart Kenya Master plan

from the

So, we launched the national ICT master plan again at the Connected Kenya Summit last month. This is about the second or third time the plan has been launched in the same number of years, but that should not take away anything from it, it’s a good plan. Harry Hare, Editorial Director


CONTENTS

MAY 2014

18 TrendANALYSISTecnotree eyeing clients from East Africa

20 SpecialFEATUREDemystifying Mobile Virtual Networks

23 NewAPPOINTMENTSAdil El Yousseffi

Roshi Motman

Lucy Quist44 LastWORD

Transaction Failed

22 Pictorial

6 In BriefCOVER STORY

According to a recent study by research firm Gartner the adoption of cloud ERP 2013 through to 2023 has the po-tential to replace the aging core ERP system with almost half of organizations interviewed saying they planned to

move within the next 5 years.

28

CIOPROFILE

Mr Hu Xin, CTO,ZTE CorporationPublic private model will enhance efficiency of Kenya’s LTE network

26

New trends in successful ERP implementation | 31

15 twitterINTERVIEWLinda Kamau,Vice President,AkiraChix

AkiraChix developingladies in tech thro’networking andmentorship

FEATURE

Dot Africa and individualccTLDs will complement each other

16Barrack Otieno, Administrative Manager, AfriNIC

Product Review

ASUS TRANSFORMERT100

24

OPINIONCyber Security Threat Preparedness: Are we?

Cybercrime: A Threat For Modern Day Businesses

Making a case for Kenya’s new Na-tional Digital IDs

After sixth edition, Connected Kenya goes regional next year

34

The Paradox: Innovation vs Best Practices

How to make Enterprise Architecture projects a success

7 TrendLinesTracom in drive to enhance access to financial services via biometric solutions

Cisco unveils new video collaboration solutions

Airtel Kenya infrastructure to be usedby 3 licensed MVNOs

HAKKEN sets up Kenya office

DISTREE Africa conference set for Nairobi in June

ACCFIN named Best ERP Provider in 2013


AROUND

AROUND the

Nigeria’s iDEA Centres to become financial independent in 2 Years

Nigeria’s Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (iDEA) is to become financially self sustaining by 2016, according to Federal Ministry of Communication Technology (FMCT) Progress Report on Projects & Programmes Implementation released recently.

iDEA provides essential support to entrepreneurs to build software skills, solutions and businesses critical to their success. Entrepreneurs accepted into iDEA Centres receive support in the way of physical work space, shared facilities, training, mentoring and

access to capital.

The report which covered July 2011 to February 2014, said that the iDEA centres which are currently being wholly funded by the government through the National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEVF), should be able to fund themselves more independent of government by 2016/2017. The plan entailed that iDEA would be funded through funds from multi-lateral agencies like Microsoft, IBM, Google, etc., local companies, private individuals and revenue generated by iDEA itself

W RLDEricsson Application Awards semi-finalists

announced

The Ericsson Application Awards have announced the top 10 semi-finalists for the 2014 €25,000 prize, five from the student category and five from the company category. Team WorkMode from South Africa and Team SOP from Nigeria are amongst the semi-finalists representing sub-Saharan Africa.

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

Nokia issues safety warning for Lumia 2520 tablet’s charger in select

EU markets

Nokia announced a product advisory for the European and UK variant of the AC-300 charger, which is used exclusively with the Lumia 2520 tablet. Consumers in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and UK are strongly advised to suspend use of the charger until further notice. Also, consumers who purchased the Lumia 2520 travel charger accessory in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, UK and the US are strongly advised to suspend use of the travel charger accessory.

www.cio.co.ke

The full articlesare available on

the CIO East Africa Website

inBRIEF DHL Express wins ‘Courier Operator of the Year in

Nigeria’prize at BoICT awards

Global logistics firm DHL recently won the “Courier Operator of the Year” award at the Beacon of Information and Communication Technology (BoICT) 2014 organized by Nigeria’s Communications Week Media. DHL was presented with the prize in recognition of its achievements as an exceptional international firm operating in Nigeria.

The BoICT awards were established to reward the vision and enterprise of individuals and companies that have contributed to the growth of the ICT industry. Communication Week said the objectives of the awards were to evaluate and recognize standards of excellence in the country’s quest for growth and development in the use of ICT.

“This recognition is reflective of DHL’s strength as the dominant express and logistics provider of choice in Nigeria. Furthermore we continue to offer innovative solutions to a growing consumer market especially in the life sciences and telecommunications sector and to the emerging SME market,” said Randy Buday, country manager, DHL Nigeria.


The purpose of the trade delegation is to engage with prospective businesses partners in West Africa who have strong distribution and/or reselling capabili-ties and a proven track record of successfully further-ing brands into their designated markets.

With global annual revenues of over U$2.5 billion and a presence in 54 territories around the globe, Garmin has sold over 100 million products sold world-wide and realised that it is important to have the right mix of channel partners, products and tools available in each territory to provide product support.

The extensive ranges of products serve many industries including Marine, Outdoor, Automotive, Sports and Wellness. Garmin’s products or tools are suited to developing economies where infrastructure requirements are extensive and mapping out of new boundaries, roads, waypoints are key to the countries expansion.

Sustainable farming and the information required to plot out a field, calculate the area for planting seed-lings or determining the land gradient of your farm to select the most suitable pump are just some key uses of our products.

Marine Echo range of fishfinders make use of GPS and sonar technology to map and view fish under wa-ter which is a great aid in subsistence fishing. Garmin Outdoor watches are great for hiking, where the handheld devices track waypoints. With the expansion of cities and roads in Accra, Lagos, Yamoussoukro, Yaoundé, Libreville and Dakar, the Garmin Automotive products become a valuable tool in navigating the streets, finding petrol stations, hotels, restaurants, and shopping centres.

In conjunction with PDSA Ghana, Garmin will be hosting discussions on West African business oppor-tunities to resell, distribute and service our wide range of GPS products and solutions.

Satellite navigation and communication solutions provider Garmin Southern Africa is set to host a trade delegation in Accra, Ghana from the May 12 to 16, 2014.

Satellite solutions provider Garmin looking for business partners in West Africa

Garmin AT’s headquarters

Marine Echo range of fishfinders make use of GPS and sonar technology to map and view fish under water

TrendLINESStaff Writer


According to Paul Njau, MD, Tracom, a regional provider of biometric identification solutions, Biometrics are in-creasingly becoming a viable option for securing identity of individuals especially in developing countries where it is seen as an enabler for economic growth. “Key areas where these solutions are employed include the financial sector where they are being used to enhance financial inclusion. Most of the adult populations do not have financial accounts because of identification issues, which makes enrollment inaccessible,” said Njau in an interview with CIO East Africa.

Njau said that biometrics can be used to help providers take financial solutions to the masses, by offering solu-tions that enable service provision in a convenient and se-cure manner. For financial institutions, said Njau, Tracom believes that biometrics can enable providers take their services out of the branch to the people, and “out of the brick-and-mortar structures to where the people are.”

Statistics indicate that 59 per cent of people in develop-ing countries don’t have formal bank accounts while 77 per cent also live on less than $ 1 per day. “This means that there is a large group of people that has not been reached by financial services based on their economic

situation as well as level literacy. But with biometrics, attracting new clients is easier as you only need to capture one’s physical attributes – face, iris, finger prints among others,” said Njau.

Currently, only 12 per cent of the market uses face recognition as most identification is done via finger prints. “Most of the biometric solutions we have are meant to address issues around illiteracy of account holders. The solution is also able to work offline meaning that even when there is no internet connectivity, one is still able to access services and manage fraud incidences in the pro-cess,” said Njau, adding that the key focus for biometrics is in micro-payments and poverty eradication programmes supported by NGOs and government.

Tracom’s clients from the financial services industry include Coop Bank, Equity as well as National Bank. “In terms of biometric systems, we see a lot of demand in South Sudan and Uganda because the two countries don’t have national identification systems and biometrics would make it easier for them to provide various services to the population. We also see growth in third-party pay-ment systems that require security in terms of govern-ment regulations,” he stated.

The uptake of biometric solutions is on the rise in the country and in the entire region with various firms using these products in various areas of their operations, mainly in areas such as ID control and registration of persons and voting among others.

Tracom in drive to enhance access to financial services via biometric solutions

59 per cent of people in developing countries don’t have formal bank accounts

TrendLINES Michael Ouma

Paul Njau, MD, Tracom


In a statement, Airtel clarified that the MVNO ser-vices will run on the unused capacity on its network, ensuring that it maintains seamless quality experience to consumers.

On April 14, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) director general Francis Wangusi announced the award of MVNO licenses to Equity Bank (through its subsidiary Finserve Africa), Zioncell Kenya - a tech-nology company that provides mobile value added services to mobile network operators - and Mobile Pay (which runs the Tangaza mobile money transfer service).

While handing over the licenses to the operators at a function in his office, Wangusi indicated that all three MNVOs will not own a spectrum license or need to put up their own infrastructure, but that they will utilize the installed excess capacity on the Airtel Kenya network with which they already have agreements.

The CAK boss also noted that “As you are aware,

spectrum for building mobile network infrastructure is limited and we are therefore unable to accommodate many mobile network operators (MNOs). At the same time the cost of building a mobile cellular network is high and few entities have the capacity to invest in such infrastructure”.

The companies have been awarded the MVNO licenses under the ‘Application Service Provider (ASP)’ category of the CAK’s Unified Licensing Framework adopted in 2008. Telecom and non-telecom compa-nies as observed from the three licensees can now leverage their existing brand assets and equity to enter the mobile industry and create value. The MVNOs will be able to provide cellular services similar to those offered by the existing mobile network operators including customer registration, SIM cards issuance, billing and customer care to end users. The CAK has developed guidelines that will generally act as safe-guards to the end users in terms of quality of service. The MVNOs are obligated to provide services within the set Quality of Service parameters and targets.

Airtel has opened a new chapter in the telecoms industry in Kenya with the announcement that it will host three Mobile Virtual Network Operators, (MVNOs) on its Kenyan Network.

Airtel Kenya infrastructure to be used by 3 licensed MVNOs

Adil El Yousseffi, CEO, Airtel Kenya

the MVNO services will run on the unused capacity on its network, ensuring that it maintains seamless quality experience to consumers.

TrendLINESKamau Mbote


The systems will allow people to effectively share video and content in rooms of any size depending upon their needs as well as the setup of the room. The fully integrated systems combine a sleek design with a simple and intuitive user experience and will be available for purchase from May 2014.

In its second generation, the Cisco TelePresence MX200 is optimal for smaller rooms, easy to install, and offers premium HD resolution out of the box while the Cisco TelePresence MX700 and Cisco TelePresence MX800 represent the performance line and are ideal for me-dium- to large-sized rooms. These integrated systems come equipped with premium HD resolution and support H.265, which will give users incredible quality at half the regularly-needed bandwidth.

Costing less than the price of a PC, the Cisco TelePres-ence SX10 Quick Set builds upon elements many compa-nies already have in smaller meeting spaces—flat panel

displays—to create incredible video meeting spaces. Sure to be popular with SMEs, this system turns any standard flat panel display into an HD video collaboration system in 10 minutes or less. By making such a high-quality experi-ence available at such an attractive price point, Cisco aims to make video the de facto collaboration tool for every conference room. The new products come when industry statistics indicate that more than 93 percent of meeting rooms globally aren’t equipped with high-quality video.

Sabrina Dar, Cisco GM for East Africa said: “Previous attempts to deliver collaboration have been incremental and good. But the cold, hard truth is that today’s collabo-ration tools are forcing users to do today’s jobs with yes-terday’s technology. It is time for a change. The industry is ready for a great leap forward, and Cisco is making that leap. These new products represent the first phase of a multi-phase rollout in how Cisco is reimagining collabo-ration and setting the foundation for a revolution in the industry; stay tuned for more.”

Cisco has announced a new video and collaboration solutions designed to put high-quality video at the fingertips of everyone in the organization—in organizations of all sizes.

Cisco unveils new video and collaboration solutions

the cold, hard truth is that today’s collaboration tools are forcing users to do today’s jobs with yesterday’s technology.

TrendLINES Staff Writer

Cisco New video and collaboration endpoints


Carlos Oliveira, Managing Partner, HAKKEN said that they have an already established a solid pres-ence in Portugal and in Nigeria, Kenya was the next key destination. “We have an already established, solid presence in Portugal and in Nigeria, hence it´s important to note that we are also here (in Kenya) for the long term. Therefore our clients should expect a specialized IT management company with global experience yet strong local presence that aims to work side by side with them on a long and strong win-win partnership,” said Mr Oliveira.

According to Oliveira, Hakken’s focus which is aligned to its areas of expertise is to help create value to customers through technology, by offering a blend of consultancy and solutions that will enable reduce costs, optimize on current and future IT resources and bridge the gap between IT and business.

After Kenya, Hakken – which provides IT service management consulting; IT service management solutions and dashboards; asset and configuration management; IT cost reduction as well as IT service management training – plans to set up a Dubai office

in the second quarter of this year. Hakken - which previously had a MoU with Seven Seas Technologies (SST) that expired in 2013 making it venture out inde-pendently – also has partnerships with other global IT vendors including HP, Compuware, EasyVista and Solarwinds.

“HAKKEN Kenya will be our ‘hub’ for the East Africa region. Focus on growing in the region is at the moment being split between myself and my 2 other business partners - Angela Mwelu and Nuno Pitta. We no doubt envisage to expand our local workforce as we continue to grow and expand our operations,” said Oliveira.

The Kenya hub is expected to enhance the firm’s interaction with clients who are drawn from various industries including financial, telecoms and insurance sectors. “Although our solution and service offerings cut across all industries - we nonetheless see huge potential in the financial sector due to our specific and unique offers for banks, namely helping them to control the performance of all their channels in a detailed and consolidated way,” he stated.

After setting up its operations in Portugal and Nigeria, Hakken has established a Kenya office to act as its regional hub for East Africa.

HAKKEN sets up Kenya office

(L-R) The HAKKEN Kenya management Team Carlos Oliveira, Angela Mwelu and Nuno Pitta

create value to customers through technology, by offering a blend of consultancy and solutions

TrendLINESMichael Ouma


According to Raymond Cheruiyot, CEO, ACCFIN East Africa, the award confirms that the company is responsive to client needs.

“The achievement basically boils down to being in touch with the market, being in touch with Sage ERP users, meeting clients’ expectations in terms of solutions and a bigger focus on understanding User’s position alongside that of our ‘Mother Partner’, Sage ERP Africa, to maintain the Standards and beyond,” said Cheruiyot After bagging the award, the firm has its sights now set on new partnerships and business opportunities, key among these being Kenya’s newly created County Governments.

“Beyond 2014, we are looking at partnering with County Governments in meeting their revenue management, having a procurement management process that meets transparency standards while eliminating bottle necks by invoking cloud technology, making it easy for all Gov-ernors to Manage their county affairs on the go through intuitive Business Intelligence tools and of course seam-lessly interfacing County System to National Government Financial Management System,” he said.

Over the years, ACCFIN has offered services to clients drawn from public and private sectors, implementing the Sage 300 ERP to a “satisfactory level to a number of clients,” according to the CEO.

“In private manufacturing some of the deployments are in the biggest beer manufacturer in East Africa, and in a big electrical cables manufacturer in the region as well. In the private sector, we provided solutions to two Standards bodies for both goods and seeds while in a health sector, we have it deployed in a leading healthcare facility in East Africa, AAR and health insurance provider Metropolitan Life,” he said.

ACCFIN’s deployments in the education sector have also involved the Sage 300 ERP (formally known as Sage ERP ACCPAC) in all public and private universities. The firm, which attained its Diamond partner status in 2013, offers ERP support, training, customization and implementa-tion. “Cloud Computing is the trend. The Sage 300 ERP works within the clouds and mobile, thereby eliminating bottle necks in terms of Business Management to achieve efficiency, make better business decisions and promote accountability,” said Cheruiyot.

ACCFIN East Africa, a Diamond Sage partner in East Africa that deploys ERP solutions across the region, has been named as the “Best ERP Solutions Provider for the Year 2013” by Sage.

ACCFIN named Best ERP Provider in 2013

Cloud Computing is the trend


Raymond Cheruiyot, CEO, ACCFIN East Africa


TrendLINESStaff Writer

The 3-day event provides channel partners with the opportunity to meet senior executives from major international brands in one place at one time, includ-ing Kingston, Sandisk, Seagate, Targus, Toshiba and WD plus many more. With each vendor pre-arranging meetings with participating channel partners in advance, DISTREE Africa offers the perfect platform to discuss new go-to-market opportunities or review existing relationships.

Farouk Hemraj, CEO at DISTREE Events said: “DIS-TREE Africa will cover the regional B2B channel as well as the B2C market,” added Hemraj. “Companies such as Brother, Ricoh, TP-Link and Trendnet are just some of the brands with B2B products that will use the event to identify new channel opportunities in Africa.”

DISTREE Africa will offer a compelling combination

of one-on-one meetings, conference programme, exhibition, awards, technology showcases and work-shop sessions to deliver a comprehensive business development platform for both exhibitors and chan-nel partners.

DISTREE Africa will allow exhibitors to build in-depth relationships with influential channel partners from more than 20 African countries including key markets such as Angola, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

The event will also gather multiple distributors looking to further develop their African channel cus-tomer base. Confirmed distributors for DISTREE Africa 2014 already include Asbis, BDL, Despec, GCT, Jurassic, Mitsumi and Space.

The DISTREE Africa 2014 conference which aims to unite technology and electronics vendors focused on developing and managing both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) channels is set for Nairobi, Kenya from June 19 – 21 at Safari Park Hotel.

DISTREE Africa conference set for Nairobi in June

A past Distree Africa Event

The African market is clearly ready for an independent channel event that allows channel partners to meet multiple suppliers



SAP positioned the 12 employees with four social enterprises operating in Kenya. The program, dubbed the SAP Social Sabbatical, saw 4 local organisations, Juhudi Kilimo, African Management Initiative, Open Capital and Sanergy gain from best practices when it comes to busi-ness processes and solutions implemented by the team. The program’s implementing partner is PYXERA Global, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. that helped facilitate the selection of the organisations partici-pating in the program.

Andrew Waititu, MD, SAP East Africa said that the Social Sabbatical Program not only provides an effective avenue for SAP to give back to the communities in which it oper-ated, but in addition, SAP is able to gain meaningful nsight and feedback from the field that will go a long way in customizing and improving SAP solutions globally.

“SAP East Africa is proud to bring the SAP Social Sabbat-ical program to Kenya, having watched it make progress in various other regions, including India, Brazil, South Africa and China. The program provides our employees time to share their skill-sets and gain an important understanding of challenges experienced by different businesses from all

corners of the world. It is also through initiatives like this that SAP is able to develop technology solutions that are tailored to emerging markets such as East African,” said Waititu.

The organizations that benefited from this year’s Kenya chapter of the program were African Management Initia-tive, which supplements learning institutions in the train-ing of business leaders in response to the growing middle class population with a target to train 1 million African managers by 2023 and Open Capital Advisors, a client facing business that provides financial consulting services to high impact small and medium sized enterprises. “SAP has helped us think of how we can better keep track not just of customers, but everyone we meet with,” said Rod-ney Carew, Senior Analyst at Open Capital Advisors.

SAP chose a number of Kenyan businesses for inclu-sion in its Social Sabbatical program based on their social impact and their focus on strengthening entrepreneurship in Kenya. Additionally, organizations selected for the first round were those whose business challenges matched with available SAP team skills. More businesses will be covered in the next round of the program.

Twelve SAP experts drawn from various fields including human resources, finance, IT and other business areas have completed a month-long program in Kenya.

SAP partners with Kenyan firms for Business Insights

The program provides ....time to share their skill-sets and gain an impor-tant understanding of challenges experienced by different businesses

The SAP Social Sabbatical team, which is drawn from 12 countries


TWITTER INTREVIEW Lilian Mutegi

@murugimutegi tweeted @Lkamau

AkiraChix developing ladies in tech thro’ networking and mentorship

In a nutshell, what is Akirachix? AkiraChix is a community of women technologists whose aim is to generate a powerful workforce of women in the field of ICT and STEM careers

What’s Akirachix’s major role in the society? Empower women through IT via training, outreach, networking and mentorship initiatives with a focus on the underprivileged women in society

Define your role at AkirachixI’m a co-founder and programs director. I develop programs based on community and industry needs focusing on planning and execution.

Last year, Akirachix partnered with Intel to form ‘She Will Connect’ initiative. What is it all about?The initiative aims to expand digital literacy skills to young women in developing countries which falls in line with what we do.

Do you have any other initiatives that you run as Akirachix?We have a training program for girls from the slums teaching computer literacy, Web design, entrepreneurship, mobile app development, graphic design. We also do high school outreach to encourage girls to take STEM-related careers.

Currently, we’re working with Precious Blood and Kenya High. We have just launched a kids’ tech and arts camp, which introduces kids to tech at an early age. We are using Scratch from MIT to teach.

So how was the idea of Akirachix born?Akirachix was born in 2010. During the iHub opening party, we noticed the room had very few women and there was a clear call of action from us.

What major milestones has Akirachix made since its inception?Successfully graduated 36 girls, partnerships with industry leads Intel, IBM and being recognized as “Unsung Heroes” by the US Ambassador. We’ve also received several grants from organizations such as Google (RISE), Half the Sky Movement, Infodev and SIDA

Five years from now, where do you see Akirachix?We aim to expand the Akirachix model in 2 other counties - Eldoret and Machakos. Transition 60% of our students into employment or entrepreneurship

What does it take to be part of the Akirachix community?A passionate heart and a beautiful mind makes one an Akirachic.

Akira is a Japanese word that means ‘energy’ and ‘Intelligence’, and those two words aptly describe this group of ladies. AkiraChix is an association that inspires and develops women in technology through networking, training and mentoring.

In a continent where women form a majority of the population and half of the workforce, it is an anomaly that the percentage of women working in technology is less than 15%. Technology is one of the key factors driving Africa’s

projected economic rise. As such, there is enormous potential for maximizing the growth of technology through increasing the number and quality of women in technology.

A passionate heart and a beautiful

mind makes one an

Akirachic.


AfTLD: Dot Africa and individual ccTLDs will complement each other

Feature

By Michael Ouma

The African Top-Level Domain Organization or AfTLD – the association of top level country code domain name (ccTLD) managers in the Africa region which seeks to help ccTLD managers discuss issues around management of ccTLDs - recently announced that it’s now registered in both Mauritius and Kenya. To shed more light on AfTLD’s engagement with the continent’s domain managers, CIO East Africa conducted an in-depth interview with Mr Barrack Otieno, administrative manager, AFTLD. Below are excerpts:

Barrack Otieno, Administrative Manager, AfTLD

AFTLD is now registered in both Mauritius and Kenya. What benefits can KeNIC and local domain regis-trars under Domain Registrars As-sociaction of Kenya (DRAKE) expect from this development?

The African Top Level Domains Organization was incorporated in 2002 to be a focal point for African Coun-try Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) managers in coordinating, formulating, developing and presenting a unified Ap-proach to issues related to the Domain Name System. AfTLD also presents a forum for sharing ideas between the re-gion’s Internet community with an aim

of promoting the utilization of territorial country’s Top Level Domains. Kenya Network Information Centre (KeNIC) is one of the members of Africa Top Level Domains Organization.

In 2011, AfTLD received an offer from KeNIC to host its Secretariat in Kenya. KeNIC has been an active member of the company by participating and host-ing AfTLD’s capacity building programs in addition to providing technical and operational support. Registrars are allowed to join AfTLD as associate members, currently most of our as-sociate members are ICANN accredited


AfTLD: Dot Africa and individual ccTLDs will complement each other

Feature

registrars on the African Continent. However, we welcome members of the Domain Registrars Association of Kenya (DRAKE) to join AfTLD as Associate Members as well. By being an active participant in AfTLD, KeNIC gets the benefit of building capacity and becoming experts on the domain name business and governance in the Africa region as well as globally.

The registration of AfTLD in Kenya comes at a time when there´s an on-going debate about the future management of the “.KE” domain. What´s AfTLD´s position on this matter?

AfTLD takes cognizance of the fact that ccTLDs are critical national resources and this is so in Kenya as well. We do realize that, for such resources, there are stakeholders with varied interests and, for ccTLDs, these make up the Internet community in such national settings. For these reasons, AfTLD accords each member the respect they deserve; we avoid interfering in sovereign national issues unless we are called upon to provide input where we strive to pro-vide professional input. In providing such input, we aim to strongly encourage the local Internet community to work on and resolve such issues at the national level.

How has AfTLD worked with individual cctld managers to spur uptake of domains considering that Kenya´s “.KE” domain has just about 30,000 users with only South Africa and Egypt leading with over 200,000 users each?

AfTLD has a 5-year strategic plan that is cur-rently being implemented. The ultimate goal of the plan is to enhance Internet management on the African continent through improved man-agement of ccTLD registries. Since inception, the organization has been conducting capacity building programs aimed at building technical competence of registry managers on the African continent.

We strongly believe that as an active partici-

pant in these, Kenya will benefit and be able to grow its domain registration and user base.

This year AfTLD in cooperation with and sup-port from Internet Society, ICANN, AfriNIC, the French registry and Francophonie the associa-tion of French speaking African nations will launch a ccTLD Study to establish the needs of African ccTLDs like Kenya. This will enable the adoption of a more focused approach in addressing the challenges faced by various African registries which are varied in addition to developing an observatory where data on African registries can be obtained.

In 2013 AfTLD, the Internet Society and ICANN, in partnership, launched a community of prac-tice known as the Africa Domain Name Forum as well as an award scheme for African ccTLDs in Durban South Africa. The forum attracted more than 200 participants from different parts of the world and has been replicated in differ-ent regions in the world. This year’s forum will be hosted by the Nigerian Internet Registration Association from 7th to 9th July 2014 in Abuja Nigeria.

The continent´s gTLD “.africa” is set to be delegated by ICANN. In your view, how will this impact on the uptake of cctlds - posi-tively or negatively?

Although ccTLDs and gTLDs are often consid-ered as competitors, they act and have acted to compliment each other in many cases and in many countries. This will apply to African ccTLDs and the Dot Africa domain as well as it applies to the whole region of Africa where AfTLD operates. We have seen this already in Europe where dot-EU and in Asia where dot-Asia are successfully co-existing with ccTLDs.

The uptake depends on the marketing strate-gies deployed by the different actors given their responsibility and mandate to manage the criti-cal Internet resources.

AfTLD takes cognizance of the fact that ccTLDs are critical national resources and this is so in

Kenya as well.


What is Tecnotree involved in with its presence in the East African market?

Tecnotree has multiple deployments in East Africa centred on Convergent BSS & Care and Managed Services solutions. Tecnotree’s existing customer engagements on the continent means that we are strongly rooted in Africa as a whole; however in particular, the East African market is a very attractive area for market growth. We predict a bright future for our work in the region and as the markets and customer demand both continue to grow; we’ll cer-tainly be considering further investment in the people and technology in the coming years.

Kindly detail the overview of Communications

Service Providers (CSPs) market in Kenya?

The CSPs market in Kenya has a strong focus on increasing customer loyalty and to do it, we are providing services that cater for online consumer needs. Accord-ing to a MobileSquared report, TV and video usages in Kenya now stand at 25% and partnerships are expected to arise between CSPs and mobile operators to offer ad-ditional services such as video streaming in order to retain customers.

Even without a partnership yet, as an operator, Orange Kenya has been looking to increase levels of customer loy-alty through offering bundled services such as fixed-line broadband, free airtime and mobile SIM services. With one

With one of the lowest churn rates on the continent, the adoption of Mobile Money has also had a positive impact

Tecnotree, a Finnish-based provider of messaging and charging solutions for operators and service providers, is keenly looking at attracting partners in Africa, particularly. The firm, founded in 1978, in Espoo, Finland – the hometown of Nokia – sees East Africa as very attractive for business. Stavros Vougas, VP for MEA and APAC, Tecnotree spoke to CIO East Africa’s Kamau Mbote on their plans.

Tecnotree eyeing clients from East Africa

Although South Africans have average loyalty levels, research by tefficient also

shows that South Africa has one of the highest churn levels.

With South African CSPs spending 20% of their revenue preventing churn to maintain customer loyalty, they need to direct more attention to their

customer relationships

TrendANALYSIS Kamau Mbote

Stavros Vougas, VP, Tecnotree, MEA


Tecnotree eyeing clients from East Africa

TrendANALYSIS

of the lowest churn rates on the continent, the adoption of Mobile Money has also had a positive impact on CSP loyalty in Kenya. Just one of the multitudes of mobile value-added services launched throughout Africa, CSPs are not only meet-ing customer demands but also supporting the community and its people in agriculture, education and healthcare.

What trends have you seen in customer loyalty to tel-ecom providers within the African region and how does it differ in other markets?

Customer loyalty trends across Africa vary, even within the same regions. In East Africa, loyalty figures in Kenya con-trasted significantly to those in Nigeria. Classified as the most loyal mobile users in Africa, two-thirds of Kenyan customers spend more than 2 years with their existing CSP and almost a third have been loyal for over five years. But only 44% of Nigerian respondents are classified as loyal and stay with their existing CSP for more than 2 years. South African loyalty was the average with half of users remaining with their CSP in excess of 2 years.

Although South Africans have average loyalty levels, research by tefficient also shows that South Africa has one of the highest churn levels. With South African CSPs spending 20% of their revenue preventing churn to maintain customer loyalty, they need to direct more attention to their customer relationships.

What opportunities lie in the telecom market and how can operators transform their businesses towards a marketplace of digital services?

It will be through Telco 2.0 that CSPs will be able to trans-form their business towards a marketplace of digital services. Telco 2.0 is about taking up a start-up mentality through adopting new and sometimes unproven technologies and business models, in order to compete and benefit from the massive innovation engine that is the internet. Working this way has enabled companies to focus more on relevant services for their end user customers.

For example, Tecnotree worked with Booxmedia to pro-vide a convergent IP-TV service, through the deployment of charging and customer loyalty solutions, which we demon-strated at AfricaCom last year.

For commercial opportunities in the telecoms market, op-erators should look to the next generation TV and video ser-vices that are predicted to dominate the LTE enabled world. This is where mobile customers are increasingly spending their money. It is estimated that an operator stands to gener-ate monthly revenues of between $12.2m and $146.6m a year through mobile TV and video services.

How can telecoms monetize from service bundles in the age of competition?

Investing in fast, reliable LTE is likely to be where there will be a positive impact on revenues. Almost 50% of CSPs believe that LTE will have an effect on increasing consumer data spend. Service providers should ensure to include, as part of their bundle, the popular services that are continuing to grow in demand. These popular services include on-de-mand video service, which are now attracting 54.8% of CSPs, followed by TV on 42.9% and then cloud and video storage both 40.5%. It is also worth taking advantage of opening up payment options, because prepaid and postpaid content are rocketing in popularity, up by 30 – 50% respectively in a single year.

What does the future hold for the telecoms market in Africa?

The price conscious African communications market is hugely competitive with low ARPUs hindering profitabil-ity and cost effective infrastructure delivery. However we are now seeing the market passing in to the more mature “growth phase” after more than a decade of subscriber acquisition and network build-out meaning that ARPU and subscriber growth have to come from new sources – new ser-vices, innovation, new segments, stickiness and net-positive churn.

In one key area, Tecnotree sees the move to “stickiness” in the form of CSPs experimenting with ‘Offer Personaliza-tion’: advanced Self Care, truly convergent and tailored user experience,

dynamic personalized bundling of product offering andreal-time offer creation based on subscriber behaviour, personalized campaigns and loyalty programmes. These are all designed to create the perfect relationship between the CSP and the subscriber on an ever-evolving basis. New styles of Value Added Services are being evaluated such as cloud IP-TV, video conferencing, content aggregation and delivery, and location-based services.

To compound the competitive landscape, other indus-try players with large customer bases, such as banks and supermarket chains, are now looking to establish own-brand MVNOs to offer their customers tailored communications services and to build on their own version of ARPU. Hence we see an increasing demand for multi-tenancy CSP platform sharing, cloud applications, new generation VAS offerings, analytics and behaviour-based campaigns, offers and loyalty management.

Investing in fast, reliable LTE is likely to be where there will be a positive impact on

revenues.


The three firms issued with MVNO licenses are Finserve owned by Equity Bank; Zioncell partly owned by Mobile Decisioning Holdings and Mobile Pay which operates under Tangaza Pesa brand.

Many Kenyans are however unaware of how the MVNOs interact with mobile network operators such as Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and Yu mobile, all of whom have been ordered by the regulator to share excess capacity with the new licensees.

Already, Airtel Kenya has led the way, offering its capacity to the three new firms with other operators expected to follow suit.“This new license category is among the benefits accrued from commission’s adoption of the unified licensing framework (ULF) in 2008. The ULF collapsed all the technology

specific licenses into three categories: Network Facilities provider, Application service provider and content service provider with the aim to harness the technological opportunities presented by convergence,” said Francis Wangusi, director general, CAK.

Although MVNOs are obviously a new phenomenon in this region, other countries such as Australia have as many as 50 companies acting as virtual network operators.

What is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator?Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) - also referred

as Mobile other licensed operator (MOLO) - is a company that offers network services to customers but has no network infrastructure of its own, but rather depends on MNOs for support.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) recently awarded licenses to 3 to operate as mobile virtual operators, providing voice, data and mobile money and messaging services.

other countries such as Australia have as many as 50 companies acting as virtual network operators.

Francis Wangusi, Director General, CAK

SpecialFEATURE Kamau Mbote

Demystifying Mobile Virtual Networks


SpecialFEATURE

A MVNO does thus have to enter into business contracts with mobile network operators to use their spectrum license with the MNO acting as a producer and the MOLO as wholesalers.

After entering into such agreements, MVNOs can at will provide the range of services offered by MNO’s such as voice, data, SMS and mobile money. Already, Kenya’s three licensees have said they plan to exploit all these avenues.

This leaves the MNO to simply provide three functions, namely: transmission, switching and network elements.

The first country to introduce a MVNO was Denmark which licensed Tele2, originally an ISP in 1993 which later rolled out to other markets afterwards.

UK’s Virgin Mobile was however the first commercially viable MVNO having been licensed in 1999 and later expanded to US as Virgin Mobile USA with the latter being acquired for $483 million by Sprint Nextel.

Closer home, South Africa is leading the way with several companies, including Virgin Mobile, already operating in this market.

During a recent MVNO industry summit, players called for more stakeholder consultations. “The MVNO Summit provides the insight for Regulators, MNOs, prospective MVNOs and associates.... highly recommended for African regulators and Operators,” said Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor, National Communications Authority, Ghana.

BenefitsTo the telecom industry MVNOs lead to more innovative,

value-added services to end users as they challenge MNO’s for more customers and ensure more loyalty, thereby leading to lower prices and more options.

MVNO’s also assist MNOs use underutilized capacity in various service provisions bringing in specialization in areas such as data and mobile pay which could help end monopolies by reducing market domination.

In Kenya for example, mobile money is expected to see more competition with the entry of Kenya’s largest bank Equity Bank and an existing player within the market, Tangaza Pesa, also expected to further raffle the market largely controlled by Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

Already, Safaricom has been compelled to share its mobile money infrastructure with its competitors, a boost for new entrants who will not have to invest resources in getting

agents with the likes of Finserve and Mobile Pay likely to ride on their parent company’s infrastructure.

For MNOs, MVNOs are an avenue for them to monetize in various services they are not good at by providing excess capacity for the new operators to customize attractive services.

“This excess network capacity can therefore be made accessible to MVNOs who are often smaller but innovative enterprises with the capacity to attract subscribers by targeting niche market segments to address user specific needs,” said Wangusi.

ChallengesThe decision by CAK has however not been received well

with a number of players already protesting the directive to share infrastructure and the cost of the MVNO license.

Safaricom has protested sharing of its infrastructure which it says it has invested heavily on while Orange Kenya says that the Kshs 100,000 license fee is too low and unfair as the MVNO will be competing against other players who coughed an arm and tooth to launch services. Apart from the license cost, it is also reported that Orange Kenya last week wrote a letter to the CAK protesting the issuance of licenses to the three MVNOs in the absence of contractual guidelines on how the new operators should engage and carry out business.

“We are not opposed to the MVNOs. However we have written to the regulator seeking clarification on specific issues such as the lack of framework that guide the operators and the MVNOs when entering into contracts,” Mickael Ghossein, CEO, Orange Kenya was quoted as telling Business Daily.

The protest come despite assurances from Wangusi who while issuing the licenses said that the commission had already developed guidelines that would act as safeguards to the end users on the quality of service, billing and customer service. He had promised that the guidelines would be available on the CAK website in the coming days but were yet to be displayed by the publication of this article.

“The guidelines further outline how the requirements, interconnection, termination of licenses and access to MNO facilities among other issues.”

CAK says the market for MVNOs is open even to existing application service providers and is now encouraging partnerships among MNO’s and any potential MVNOs so as to create synergies in providing customer centric and niche services to the public.

The first country to introduce a MVNO was Denmark which licensed Tele2, originally an

ISP in 1993 which later rolled out to other markets afterwards.


Pictorial

(L-R) Chase Bank Head Brand and Corporate Affairs Magdalene Mulandi, hands over a cheque of Ksh 3.87million to m:lab East Africa Manager John Kamweti in support of the PIVOT East 2014 startups competition.

Airtel Kenya MD Adil El Youssefi (Right) introduces himself to a ‘SportsPesa’ agent who is also an Airtel Money agent along Aga Khan Walk.

(L-R) Jason Finlayson, Director Security Risk Solutions; Loren Bosch, Head of Managed Services, AccessKenya & Internet Solutions and Fayyazz Ayoub, Director, Security Testing at Security Risk Solutions chat during the launch of the Managed Security Services solution recently

Seated from LEFT: Jeremy Ngunze the CBA Bank Kenya CEO, Joan Kariuki the M-PESA Product Manager, Danny Mucira the Multichoice Kenya General Manager and Felix Kyengo the GOtv General Manager (standing) display the partnership documents moments after the signing ceremony. Safaricom, CBA and Multichoice have launched a decoder financing option to ensure Kenyans catch 2014 FIFA World Cup action.


Mr Youssefi joins Airtel from the Millicom group in Ghana where he has been the Gen-eral Manager since June 2012. He joined the Millicom Group in 2008 as Senior Advisor to the Chief Officer Asia in Sri Lanka. In 2009, he joined the Group’s operations in Chad as deputy general manager and was appointed general manager one year later.

Prior to joining Millicom, Mr Youssefi worked for British Telecommunications and Philips Consumer Electronics. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in France and an M. Sc. in Engineering from ENSEIRB in Bordeaux, France.

Adil El Yousseffi

NewAPPOINTMENTS

Airtel recently announced the appoint-ment of Ms Lucy Quist as MD for Airtel Ghana. Ms Quist, a Ghanaian national, has strong experience in telecoms industry in Ghana and across Africa, joining Airtel from Vodafone Ghana where she has been the Di-rector for the Enterprise Business Unit. She joined Vodafone Ghana in 2011 as Head of Strategy & Planning and Managing Director of Vodafone’s Wholesale Business. In 2008, she joined Millicom International Cellular (Tigo), as Head of Business Development for Africa and as Head of Northern Sector in Ghana before becoming the Chief Marketing Officer in the DRC.

Ms. Quist started her career in 1994 in

automotive engineering with Ford Motor Company, working her way through design engineering, manufacturing and project management roles in the UK, Germany and Portugal. She later became a Change Manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London as part of the RBS-ABN AMRO Operations merger team. Lucy is a Char-tered Electrical and Electronics Engineer, holds a first class Bachelor of Engineering degree and an MBA from INSEAD. As MD for Airtel’s business in Ghana, Ms Quist’s technical and business acumen, industry ex-perience and in country perspective will play a pivotal role in driving the next phase of the company’s journey outside the traditional consumer arena.

Lucy Quist

Millicom has announced the appoint-ment of Roshi Motman as its new GM at Tigo Ghana. Ms Motman took up the her new role on April 1. Roshi joined Tigo after almost 10 years with various companies in the Kinnevik Group, a key investor in Mil-licom where she progressed in a variety of management roles at Tele2 in Sweden cover-ing product management, sales and most recently customer operations.

Prior to Tele2, Motman was responsible for the development of mobile entertain-ment at Modern Times Group, parent company of TV channel Viasat. She studied Electrical Engineering and Business Devel-opment at Chalmers University in Göteborg, Sweden.

Roshi Motman


ASUS TRANSFORMER T100

The Excellence is never out of reach with the ASUS Transformer Book T100. Entertainment is never out of focus. The affordable ASUS Transformer Book T100 gives you the chance to create your own mobile laptop dynamic, so you never have to compromise again. Go where you want to go to with the new ASUS Transformer Book T100 as it is modern, portable and advanced with the new technology

Just like any other device in the Transformer range, the ASUS T100 can serve as both a 10-inch tablet or as a notebook though it’s slightly smaller than a notebook. It is detached by pressing a dock on the key board, with one hand and simply pulling the screen from its bed with the other and it automatically becomes a tablet. The screen has the touch effect and an option for a virtual keyboard. The display and keyboard are covered with grey plastic and seem convincing when held.

However, working with the virtual keyboard may become a little bit hectic since it occupies half the screen, making it a little bit harder to log into some sites. The screen however has the rotation effect, meaning one can use the tablet in both landscape and portrait form.

The T100′s edges curve towards the front, which is the best solution for devices that are more often used in hand than set up at a desk or on your lap. Because this and the other device dimensions, the consumer may be motivated to use the Transformer Book T100 more frequently as a tablet and seldom as a notebook, connected to a physical keyboard. When using it as a tablet however, the keyboard has four rubber pads that enable it to stand on any surface in a stable form.

Apart from the USB 3.0 port which is on the keyboard dock, all other connectors are lined up along the edges of the screen, that is the tablet. These include the combined sound jacks, a micro-HDMI connector for external displays, and a micro-USB port for charging. The Asus T100 has no back-facing camera, which is not a slight shortcoming.

Weighing 544 grams, the Transformer Book T100 is one of the lighter 10-inch tablets with Windows 8.1. however, its dimensions of 264 x 170 x 10.4 mm make it not one of the slimmer ones. Still, despite its dimensions, the device leaves a convincing impression and is not as difficult to hold as it might seem at first. In short, it’s heavy enough to “eventually” feel uncomfortable when you’re holding it.

The entire device’s body has been crafted out of plastic with a slightly rough texture which makes the tablet cling to the palm easily (or any other surface). And thanks to the textured cover, it is easy to determine if you’re holding the tablet the wrong way up just by feeling it.

Screen: 10 inches Weight: 1.2lbsProcessor: Intel atomMemory: Internal: 32GB or 64GB of internal storage that can be expand-able with a microSDOperating System: Windows 8

SPECIFICATIONS

Body and design

ProductREVIEW Lilian Mutegi


The Asus Transformer Book T100 comes with a 1366 x 768-pixel IPS display, which provides a humble pixel density of 148 ppi on a 10.1-inch diagonal. Still, the user interface of Windows 8.1, Microsoft Design Style looks remarkably sharp with good contrast and vivid color on this display. The low pixel density favors the functionality of Windows desktop mode, given that the window edges, as well as the control key which manages the windows, are not too tiny to be “aimed at” with the tip of the finger.

Still, when text in a smaller or slimmer font is displayed, the detail ceases to be sharp. The difference in relation to tablets with an evidently greater pixel density than the Transformer Book T100 is visible with the naked eye.

DISPLAY

The keyboard which is detachable from the main screen is a great idea as it helps in making work easier. However, even with the keyboard, there are activities that require the owner to use the screen. The keyboard keys are densely distributed on the key board and a little bit tiny thereby making it hectic for the user when typing loads of work.

On the other hand, something interesting about the virtual keyboard is that it gives the user an option of about three forms of the keyboard.

The keyboard dock has a very useful full-sized USB 3.0 hub. An incredible array of peripheral devices can be connected via USB to this 2-in-1 - like any printer, an additional USB hub, a mouse or even a larger keyboard. It’s also interesting to note that for one to use the USB hub, one has to connect the tablet with the keyboard.

KEYBOARD

The new generation of the Atom processor (Bay Trail architecture) in this device shows that combined with 2GB of RAM, it can offer great performance in all aspects of everyday usage (Internet, multimedia, documents). All this with almost no heating up, which is why the Transformer Book T100 is as “quiet”. The Transformer Book T100 comes with 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, which can be expanded with microSD cards. If you mainly use this 2-in-1 as a tablet, then you will surely find this capacity limiting with time.

Low power consumption is praiseworthy, as the device provides over 8 hours of battery life (the battery is in-built inside the screen). On the other hand, the recharging takes quite a long time and despite the fact that batteries of competitive models are recharged much faster, this great battery life is perhaps the tablet’s biggest selling point. The battery life however depends on what you are doing with the machine - if one is watching movies or videos or playing games, or even surfing on the internet, the period it stays on will take more time unlike the user who just uses it for typing. On that note, the device comes with the full suite of Microsoft Office 2013. The touchpad effect is however not very comfortable as well as the fact that you also have to add a little effort when clicking on the touch pad buttons.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

ProductREVIEW

Though a little bit heavy, it is a device that one can move around with as it can fit in the handbag or even a small bag. Asus has an upper hand in that it was among the first companies to have offered such devices with above-average performance at a reasonable price. The Transformer Book T100 is also a device which has more pros than cons. Asus Transformer T100 also comes with a cover/case if one needs it. The product is found in various ASUS outlets at a cost of Kshs 47,000 (USD 547), an amount which could be affordable to most students and most people who need to work and stay connected throughout the day.

Conclusion


CIOPROFILE

Mr Hu Xin, CTO,ZTE Corporation


CIOPROFILEMichael Ouma

What does your job involve? ZTE has offered me valuable time. Before I was sent abroad, I was just an engineer but after these 5 years, together – me and my company ZTE - has grown a lot and opened my view for the international market. This year, our focus is on three directions – CT which involves partnering with regional telecoms operators; ICT which focuses on partnerships with government solutions, industries (like energy), education, public utilities, transportation while terminals (or devices) is the third area. Our terminals business used not to be an independent unit but is now an independent division. We have now developed a clear strategy looking at either low-end, middle-end or high-end consumer segment of the population. This is meant to ensure that the devices we bring to the market are high quality and meet consumer expectations.

As the CTO, what kind of issues and challenges are most commonly reported by clients about ZTE devices? How are you working to address those challenges? The target for ZTE’s technical team is always to satisfy our customers by not only offering the best solutions and devices but also creating sustainability and values for them. So our challenges mainly come from the process of mutual communication and understanding of creating or customizing the solutions for them. The ZTE team always welcomes these challenges and works harder with more creativity because we understand this is best chance to improve the solution for the customer.

In order to increase your market-share in the region, what kind of investments is ZTE putting up in Africa to ensure that as many people as possible get access to your devices and solutions?Africa is one of the most important markets with high potential to ZTE. As of now, ZTE has established more than 60 branches in Africa. In fact, you can always find ZTE people’s friendly smile in each country of Africa, which also ensure that our customers can get to know the latest ZTE solution and product promptly. Having and keeping all the branches running smoothly is in itself a very big investment. For the bigger picture, ZTE is devoting 10% of annual revenue (more than

USD 14 billion each year) into R&D so that our customers and Africa can benefit from the tailored solutions we develop for them. Moreover, ZTE has also established regional call center, logistic center, training center and joint venture of PV module manufacturing in Africa. ZTE will keep on increasing the investment in Africa so that all the customers as well as African people can benefit from the efficiency and openness brought by ZTE’s ICT solutions.

In other markets ZTE is known for pushing high-end mobile handsets. In view of this, what type of technology are you planning to push in this region for users to access best quality mobile communication services? Which models of smartphones are you pushing in this region or do you believe are most ideal and have greatest market-share in this region?ZTE’s high end terminal brand “Nubia” is Chinese First Lady’s Choice due to its brilliant design and quality. The handset, especially smartphone, market in this area is very important to ZTE. For this reason, ZTE will introduce a complete product line covering high end, middle end and low end to give our customers in this area more better options.

In other markets, ZTE has launched LTE / 4G enabled devices. Kenya is yet to have an LTE network. What model would you like to see adopted for Kenya’s LTE / 4G network once deployed? What are its advantages and benefits to users? Traditionally, a nation-wide LTE network is established by mobile operators. Yet now, Kenya government is also considering the public-private or PPP mode of introducing LTE network. As ZTE, we believe both business models will benefit Kenya’s people in the aspect of enabling high-speed mobile broadband internet. The operator-to-build model can greatly ensure competition, leading to affordable tariffs for Kenya’s people. On the other hand, since an LTE network needs huge investment, this model might cause overlay investment. The PPP model tends to increase the efficiency of the investment and ZTE also believes the government will work out a way to control the tariffs.

Public private model will enhance efficiency of Kenya’s LTE networkMr Hu Xin is ZTE Corporations’s Chief Technology Officer or CTO for Southern African region, which covers over 10 countries. In this role – which puts him in charge of sales and marketing activities in locations as diverse as Angola to Somalia to Burindi – Mr Xin is definitely a busy man. CIO East Africa recently caught up with him in the office, just before he left for tour of duty to another country. Below are excerpts of our conversation:


Cloud is the future of ERPs

Cover

According to a recent study by research firm Gartner the adoption of cloud ERP 2013 through to 2023 has the potential to replace the aging core ERP system with almost half of organizations interviewed saying they planned to move within the next 5 years.


Whether customers need a fully integrated suite or best-in-class modules, the companies deliver cloud and on-premise ERP solutions designed for the largest organizations as well as growing midsize enterprises.

With cloud solutions, the payment model is subscription based, enabling the customers to turn this into an Operational Expenditure (Opex) rather than a Capital expenditure (Capex) cost allowing for financial flexibility and predictable cost that go along with a modular, pay-as-you-go approach.

However, ERP User Interface has rapidly evolved to improve the way users input, access and retrieve data.

In an interview with CIO East Africa, Vivian Ashioya, application sales manager, Oracle said: “Oracle has totally redesigned its application usability interface through focused customer workshops which has

resulted in significant productivity and usability improvement and enhancements to native user interface into HTML web-based User Interfaces focusing on, Enhanced Mobility – Gesture Support, Intuitive look and feel with richer component interactions such as tables with Column Reorder, Resize, Detach, Scroll and new components; Time Picker, Menu, Accordion etc.”

Ms Ashioya explained that Oracle offers complete role-based user experience tailored for unique needs - from the boardroom to the front lines – connecting users with a proactive list of what they need to get done, the information they need to make effective decisions, guidance on how to execute tasks, and quick access to the people who can help them get the job done.

Companies offering ERP solutions employ the use of sensors placed throughout the enterprise that

Vivian Ashioya, Application Sales Manager, Oracle

New trends in successful ERP implementation

ERP User Interface has rapidly evolved to improve the way users input, access and retrieve data

With East African market becoming less tolerant of big expensive monolithic implementations of traditional ERPs, providers of these solutions are changing by offering customers choice and flexibility with the most comprehensive, modern, flexible and secure portfolio of solutions.

By Lilian Mutegi

Cloud is the future of ERPsCover


SME’s wanting to implement ERP systems are considering Cloud ERP as it offers a better ROI,

James Gicheru, Line of Business Manager – DCS, Dimension Data East Africa

automatically collect different kinds of data. Such integrations include integration with biometric devices with HR to capture employees’ attendance data, integration with RFID devices

with the inventory and supply chain modules, integration with the weigh-bridge devices to collect details of tonnage in the logistics and value chain modules among others.

ERPs are evolving to a point where customers can nowadays even access these solutions via their cellphones. To give the mobile workforce easy access to mission-critical information, organisations like Oracle offer a wide range of out-of-the-box mobile applications, as well as the option of leveraging the Oracle Mobile Platform to develop their own mobile applications.

However, data on any device is of no use unless it can be turned into insight. To ensure this is possible, Oracle’s Business Intelligence (BI) Mobile gives a full range of BI functionally, from interactive dashboards to location intelligence, and lets the client initiate business processes right from their mobile device.

There still exist advantages of traditional ERP implementation which involves hosting the system internally. These include the fact that the company

purchases the license to the software and has the option of customizing it according to its needs. Also, with traditional ERP implementation, large- and mid-sized companies are able to gain control over the software and not have to change their internal processes to fit the ERP system. Also, traditional ERP offers more stability because it’s not dependent on the reliability of the Internet to function.

However, traditional ERP methods generally require a large up-front investment, which can be difficult for many smaller businesses. With SaaS deployments, the up-front costs are smaller although there are ongoing annual payments. Also, the traditional ERP installation can be highly complex, especially the integration of many different internal applications under a single system.

According to James Gicheru, Line of Business Manager – DCS at Dimension Data East Africa, adoption of Cloud ERP in the region is limited due to customer education and cloud Software as a Service challenges.

“Typically SME’s wanting to implement ERP systems are considering Cloud ERP as it offers a better ROI,” noted Gicheru.



What is cloud ERP?Cloud ERP is the advancement of enterprise resource

planning (ERP) to utilize cloud computing platforms and services thereby enabling businesses to achieve the various activities such as purchasing and inventory management, finance and human capital management without necessarily purchasing any hardware or software.

Why migrate to cloud ERPThe reasons as to why a company would prefer

to move to the Cloud ERP are both motivated by efficiency as well as reducing budgets.

Players in the defense and aerospace sectors where there are tighter project schedules and aggressive launch dates and decreasing budgets are for example likely to look for a solution that is both scalable and complies with laid down thresholds.

This brings us to the advantages of the cloud ERP over the aging core systems that continue to be used in a majority of companies.

One clear merit for going the Cloud ERP route is usually the ease and quick deployment which according to the nature of the company could range from just a few days to a maximum of 90 days. Even more fulfilling is that there is no time spent debating on what hardware and software to purchase.

Going by the previous statement, there is no hardware purchase or servers to install or any new employees to hire just to keep the ERP systems in check thus saving the company money.

After establishing the right Cloud ERP provider and setting the systems up, it is also very easy to upgrade new versions of software most of which will just happen instantaneously resulting in enhancement of the product.

Configuring or reconfiguring of hosted ERPs can also be done quickly.

Finally the business can also be able to achieve security safeguards and thus ensure that the organization’s data remains safe without investing in data center security.

there is no hardware purchase or servers to install or any new employees to hire just to keep the ERP systems in check



flexibility, user experience and rapid pace of innovation” through more choice and simplicity in deployment


Who are industry leaders?A number of companies have already taken a leap in

this segment including Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, NetSuite and Infor.

Microsoft for example is also planning the hosting of its ERP suite - the Microsoft’s Dynamics AX 2012 R3 - due in May 2014 on the Windows Azure months after it hosted the Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV ERP products in June last year.

This would mean that only one of Microsoft’s Dynamics ERP offerings - the Dynamics SL - is not on the Windows Azure.

Oracle on the other hand has a suite that has in it the latest in social, mobile and analytic technologies. The Oracle ERP cloud, Fusion, runs on the pluggable, independent container functionality that allows a scalable and secure multitenant model.

It has various offerings including software as a service (SaaS) with complete ERP Services including financials, planning and budgeting, risk and controls management, procurement and sourcing, inventory and cost management, product master data management, and project portfolio management.

SAP which is already known for developing ERPs that control complex manufacturing functions has its cloud ERP dubbed HANA which combines fast computing and data retrieval.

Recently, SAP added its Business suite on the HANA in what SAP said will provide its customers with improved

“flexibility, user experience and rapid pace of innovation” through more choice and simplicity in deployment.

What to look out while choosing a

cloud ERPWith so many companies launching products in this

front, the secret lies in knowing what factors to examine in a particular ERP Cloud offering. Some of the factors to consider are whether the SaaS ERP option as a managed service will be maintained by the vendor or have to be administered by the business, thereby losing the various advantages that come with cloud ERP.

Another relevant question is whether your business needs a multi-tenant SaaS and which providers have such solutions.

Whichever option one decides to take in the selection of an ERP, it’s crucial to remember that it will affect the organisation’s flexibility, agility, control and come with cost implications. It is thus important that buyers analyze business needs and understand whether a cloud solution can support the entire organization, or if it’s better to go with a departmental rollout. Companies should also ensure that their chosen cloud solution offers seamless data sharing and integration with other complementary applications on the platform.

Another important consideration while chosing the various options is understanding software pricing and delivery so as to enter into contracts that favor the business. The general assumption that cloud contracts are easy to navigate coupled by shrewd pricing can reverse the benefits over traditional software.



Two subjects have rocked the IT news in the last couple of weeks; end of life for Microsoft’s Windows XP and OpenSSL’s ‘heartbleed’ 0-day vulnerability. Now, a lot has been written about the above with professionals providing in-depth analysis and possible solutions.

Regarding Windows XP, the curtain fell on its support and what became painfully obvious was the fact that over 80% of ATM machines run on this particular operat-ing system (OS). This meant that Microsoft would not be providing security updates and as such, users of this OS would either have to upgrade to a supported version or opt for another system all together. There are inherent risks of running an unsupported system which could lead to data theft and system compromise among other problems. Banks have found themselves in an inter-esting position, pleading with Microsoft to extend the lifetime for the support but the tech giant doesn’t seem to warm up to this idea.

OpenSSL is a software used by a large percentage of webservers and other applications to generate what are known as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates and keys. A certificate is basically a form of identifier for websites to prove their legitimacy. This is normally characterized by the “HTTPS” on your browser’s URL bar. It could also be preceded by a green bar indicating what is known as “Extended Validation” for really secure websites, mostly banking and e-commerce. Now what was discovered was a software bug which could lead to several things among them leakage of sensitive data regarding the web server. The severity of this bug is such that it leaves no trace once an attack has been propa-gated.

Now let’s tie it together. Locally, we are definitely largely affected by the two scenarios and what is even more worrying is our response. For the Windows XP part, there’s really not much to be done. However, CBK and the Kenya Banker’s Association (KBA) have remained

silent as always. In the past, their approach has been rather reactionary, case in point being the ATM skimming charade from 2012.

What clearly lacks is an active banking Computer Incidence & Response Team (CIRT) to take a proactive role in advising the sector in these matters. In equal measure, several banks which run the OpenSSL applica-tion together with a handful of other service providers are clearly vulnerable to the exploit. Closed disclosures (where you inform the client of the vulnerability) don’t seem to bear any fruits in this market, either due to lim-ited knowledge by the stakeholders or sheer ignorance of the imminent threats.

The National Cyber Security Master plan which was released to the public about three weeks ago for com-ments addresses this concern in depth. The strategy decentralizes the roles of the National CIRT by incor-porating various sector CIRTS e.g Telecommunications, Health, Academic, Banking and so on.

Despite its pending implementation, stakeholders need to regroup and strategize on how best to imple-ment these initiatives way before the master plan comes to life. As a country which boasts of having a firm grasp as a technology-driven economy, we cannot take a per-functory approach in dealing with cyber security threats. Academic institutions also now need to build research capabilities to best feed the industry which has a unique positioning in the technology ecosystem.

Finally, I believe the CAK (Communications Authority of Kenya) has a huge role to play in addressing the CIRT initiative seeing that TESPOK has already gone ahead of the pack. With reports such as “Cyber Usalama”, it’s a good starting point. The aim should now be real-time detection and faster turnaround times in providing patches and solutions. What I’m proposing here is any-thing but notional given the fact that as a country, we seek to be the model for the rest of Africa in matters ICT.

Cyber Security

OpenSSL is a software used by a large percentage of webservers and

other applications to generate what are known as Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

certificates and keys

Threat Preparedness: Are we?

OPINION Tyrus KAMAU


After sixth edition,Threat Preparedness: Are we? Connected Kenya goes regional next year

A brief background on the annual event: Con-nected Kenya Summit is a brainchild of the ICT Authority and was first held in 2009. Since then, it has been held at the Coast. The event aims at establishing a platform for collaboration, capacity building and knowledge sharing between govern-ment and the ICT industry with a view to linking and hastening implementation of government IT projects to world class standards

Among key projects that have been initiated from previous summits include Kenya’s Open Data Initiative, the Huduma Centres and the develop-ment of a National Information Security Policy.

This year’s event attracted delegates from the East African Community, with regional delegates being Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister of Youth and ICT, Rwanda; John Nasasira, Minister of Com-munications, Science and Technology, Uganda as well as Eng Juma Stephen Lugga, Permanent Sec-retary, Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Republic of South Sudan.

Hon John Nasasira, congratulated Kenya for the launch of the Smart Kenya Masterplan while Eng Juma Stephen Lugga commended Kenya on the positive steps the country has made in ICT, adding that plans are underway to work with Kenya to help his country to create a regulatory body.

Held under the theme “Breaking the Barriers”, the summit delivered valuable insights from the industry’s top leaders and facilitated best practice sharing between executives crucial to drive innova-tion and growth.

Among the key sessions was the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee discussing how to make the idea of Integrated Shared Services a reality in East Africa. There were also dis-cussions on other matters including Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), Cybersecurity and Big Data Analytics, Social Mobile Analytics

and Cloud (SMAC), Imagineering education and healthcare among others.

In an interview with CIO East Africa, Dr Gilbert Saggia, country lead, Oracle, said the summit gives a great platform to share ideas that are public sector-related and also offers a chance for the vari-ous players in the industry to exchange ideas.

“The summit helps in capacity building, advising the government on how IT is used in policy making. Participation is about the bigger framework of ICT policy, value in having dialog as well as what is the general direction in which the government is headed and build capacity around that,” said Saggia.

The government on the other hand laid down the various projects it has outlined to help the growth of industry, with a focus on working with the East African Community to lower the roaming charges across the region.

Among the key commitments given by the Government - through Principal Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Joseph Tiampati during his closing remarks - included developing a digital policy to guide proper data utilization in government for informed decision making. The document will help those trying to understand implications of emerg-ing technologies such as Social media, mobile and cloud.

Tiampati added that the government is commit-ted to fast-tracking draft bills and other pending regulations to enhance ICT development, with a key commitment being to engage in dialogue that will to guide PPPs involving ICT projects.

The last Connected Kenya summit, the sixth edition of the Summit and the last before the event is transformed to cover the whole East African region in future, saw key players in the ICT sector come together to propose ways to mitigate and break barriers that to various challenges facing the sector.

The summit helps in capacity building, advising the government on how IT is

used in policy making

ConnectedKENYA Lillian MUTEGI


But behind all the advantages that come with a net-worked system lies the biggest threat commonly known as cybercrime. This worldwide threat is most prevalent in developing countries like Kenya. According to a report from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) for the first quarter of 2013, Kenya ranked 115 on a list of countries prone to web-based threats. The report also indicates that Kenya is ranked at position 80 in terms of countries where hosting services are used by cybercriminals.

In 2012, research by Deloitte noted that banks in East Africa alone lost about Kshs 14 billion to fraudsters who capitalized on the existing weak security systems. What is more worrying is that in April 2013, Kenyan domains belonging to key services providers such as Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Kaspersky among others were compromised by a Bangladesh hacker. A lot of users on the networks were redirected to the hacker’s site which indicated that the sites had been hacked. Although there hasn’t been any comprehensive study to establish how Kenyan public and private institutions have secured their information and businesses’ security systems, majority do not see their organizational data as a valuable asset which can be prone to serious cyber threats.

Efficient framework:A considerable number of busi-nesses don’t have a Policy and Data protection frame-work and this is what leads them to be prone because a business that doesn’t have a watertight protection policy is bound to be a target for cyber criminals. Organizations’ IT specialists with direction from CIOs need to come up with an efficient, effective and innovative framework that consists of 5 core functions. These include aspects such as identifying, protecting, detecting, responding and recovering. All of these can offer a high-level stra-tegic view of an organization’s management of a cyber security threat. These four principles form the framework profile which will signify the outcomes that a particular system of the organization has achieved or is expected,

as identified in the said categories. The policy here acts as a form of risk assessment platform at the same time helping the organizations manage the risk.

Training:Most times computers are not to blame for cyber flaws, meaning that people are becoming the weakest link. In this case and for many organizations, it would be safe to say that employees are a major threat to cyber security. In most cases, you’ll find employees transferring work files to and from home in as much as it is against the HR policies. This situation breeds a threat since their computers may have a virus at some point. When this virus spreads as a result of bringing their machines to work, the organizations information and data will in most cases be eventually affected. Situations like this can only be alleviated if employees are trained on the risks and security principles. The rationale is that if employees don’t understand how criminals are work-ing and how they can be targeted, they can’t be on the lookout for them.

Tight network through Cloud Computing: Ques-tions abound about whether cloud storage can be a solution to cybercrime. Indeed, by limiting solid state access points, there is a mathematical probability that the security web is stronger. With larger professionals, web-networks services such as Asus’s cloud web storage organizations are assured of a strong architecture that reduces the threat posed by hackers. Despite the fact that lots of people and organizations are still reluctant to trust these third-party storage services, evidence does seem to support the idea that dedicated cloud-based security is a step in the right direction. Cyber crimes are real and the idea that “it can never happen to me” is misleading. It’s therefore crucial that cyber threats be taken seriously and not seen as random events because they can affect any organization, pulling all of its assets down. Granted we are advancing technologically but government plus corporates need to work together to ensure that the fight against cybercrime doesn’t hurt businesses.

(The author is the ASUS Country product manager for Kenya)

Picture a world where 300million computers and mobile devices are connected to the internet. Next, visualize yourself having a business - among many - that’s digitally connected. Now clearly the opportunities of gaining from this sort of hyper connectivity are immense.

Cybercrime:A Threat For Modern Day Businesses

OPINION Chris WEN

A considerable number of businesses don’t have a Policy and Data protection

framework


If you took a hiatus from the tech industry for a few days or weeks, you will definitely wake up to a totally new world as far as technology is concerned. Or perhaps you will simply go about your business every day, none the wiser.

The rate at which this area is evolving constantly leaves minds spinning, trying to keep up with the pace. A case in point: just the other day, a hypertension-inducing vulnerability fondly named ‘Heartbleed’ was discovered in a message transmission protocol that is frequently used in cryptography. It was revealed that the protocol can apparently be waylaid and tricked into giving up its secrets without the hacker leaving a trace of ever having been in the henhouse. Wait, it gets worse. Any encrypted information that may have been collected beforehand can be decrypted with the keys stolen via Heartbleed. Basically, it is a case of the horse having already left the barn. The only guarantee of secu-rity going forward is to patch the breach and change all passwords.

So why should Heartbleed make your heart skip a beat? Well, much as it was revealed that Android smart-phones and tablets are equally vulnerable, it should not turn into a crisis at an individual level; at least not un-less you’re in the business of trading corporate secrets or planning on partaking in criminal activities.

On a sober note though, the thought that an individ-ual can access encryption keys and other data from any organisation’s server without a trace is not something one would want to mull over. There’s all sorts of infor-mation that once accessed can be dangerously placed in the wrong hands. We’re talking about passwords to various bank transactions, government agency records, even something as seemingly innocent as telephone call logs.

Much as the tech world feigned surprise that an American security agency had sat on the knowledge about the vulnerability for close to two years, it does make one wonder how seriously organisations take best practices. How many actually implement these ‘best practice theories’ such as regularly testing systems for security breaches or backing up information that no longer requires to be accessed frequently? Better yet, how did the security agency supposedly discover the bug so long ago while the rest of the world went on with

their business, believing that their information transmis-sion was secure?

It is ironic that as much as the tech world claims not to have been in the know about Heartbleed, an article on the top threats to cloud computing, featured on InfoWorld and following the RSA Conference in San Francisco in 2013, mentioned a research paper by the Cloud Security Alliance presented in November 2011. The research paper described the concept of a virtual machine using a side channel, timing information to extract private cryptographic keys. This sounds very much like the sneaky 64 kilobytes-data leaking style that Heartbleed employs. It seems that the vulnerability and its possible existence was not a secret after all.

I have to wonder what this means for cloud comput-ing, it’s continued adoption and whether companies have policies in place that define the kind of informa-tion that is made accessible online. This is coming up at a time when even telecommunications companies are getting into the business of offering cloud hosting ser-vices and we all know how much information is already available through their servers.

All in all, these developments present a push-pull, one-step-forward-three-steps-back process for a company trying to keep up with and incorporate new technologies while trying to protect their systems from breaches. The result is a very delicate balance between adopting relevant innovative technologies while main-taining best practices.

These recent revelations have emphasised the gap that lies between taking on emerging technologies and ensuring information security. A deadlock of sorts.

The Paradox:Innovation vs Best Practices

OPINION Nyawira MURIUKI

So why should Heartbleed make your heart skip a beat?


How to make Enterprise Architecture projects a success

However, in spite of the huge interest in EA it turns out that 66% of EA projects did not fulfil expectations. Why would the very initiative that is supposed to safeguard the connection between business and technology be the catalyst to an abysmal business / technology outcome?

EA project - unlike a system implementation project - has really no tangible outcome. While a system can be used by the business to post a journal, recruit an em-ployee, disburse funds or enrol a student, EA outputs are a bunch of documents and models that only make sense to the core EA team. Therefore, architects have a much more difficult situation to justify an EA project in the first place or to make a case for resuscitating one that is in the ICU. How then can these mistakes be avoided in the first place in order for an organization to have a higher success rate of EA project? Below are various ways:

Appropriate of Sponsorship: Architects need three tools to do a good job - access, leverage and funds. Lack of access to appropriate stakeholders, wrong placement in the value chain, lack of access to the right information and lack of funding are all ingredients of an initiative doomed to fail. The initiative must identify who is re-quired, what level of engagement, what is their expected contribution, how much is to be spent on the initiative and where the right information for the initiative will be found.

Appropriate Hire: Incumbent’s inability to translate technology into simple business outcomes, and the inability to listen, communicate, present and market infectious enthusiasm for new technologies. EA initiative must be led by skills that are purely non-technical. You need a generalist (one who knows a little about a lot) rather than a specialist (one who knows a lot about a little) to lead successful EA projects.

Measure EA: Too much focus on producing diagrams and matrices without focus on producing frequent,

meaningful and measureable business outcomes can lead to fatigue and shift of focus from value to process. A prospective homeowner’s core utility is not diagrams but a dwelling. As long as the architect cannot show a dwelling, then the homeowner’s need is not met. Focus on measurable utilities in the eyes of the business.

EA is not about tools and frameworks: There are over 80 frameworks available and an equivalent number of tools to be used in an EA project. Spending too much time on selecting the right ones ignores the important business which is to use them. A blended use and simplified methodology that is easily understood by the stakeholders will drive the initiative faster.

EA is not IT: Most EA programs are initiated by IT and never progress beyond the technology domain. They are limited to standardization, roadmap solid engineering practice but won’t align such with business goals to de-liver business led technology innovation. When that hap-pens, the fire that was ignited in onboarding the C-level in the project is quickly extinguished. EA, though uses IT, is not about IT and should not be led by an IT agenda.

Think out of the box about “Enterprise”: “Enter-prise” does not necessarily mean the entire enterprise. It means stepping back and taking a look at the higher-level context before making a decision. Moving architec-ture to the real enterprise level requires a mature and committed organization. In conclusion, consider these two motivations, which are outcomes of an EA project, being presented to board of directors:

a. “We plan to spend USD 2Mto implement a CRM system”

b. “We plan to invest USD 2M to deliver superior customer service and products through a single view of the customer”

Which of these two statements demonstrate the foot-print of an architect who has walked the 8 steps listed above?

Peter Muya, IT consultant(www.pticonsulting.co.ke)

The alignment of business and IT is top of the list of motivation for an organizations’ desire to embark on Enterprise Architecture (EA) journey. Other reasons for having an EA agenda are to support change and strengthen organizational adaptability to change.

OPINION Peter MUYA

66% of EA projects did not fulfil expectations


Essentially, any ATM debit or credit card you obtain from your bank is substantially more sophisticated and secure than the government-issued national identity cards. The card would either have a chip or a magnetic stripe.

Second OPINION Sam M MWANGI

Making a casefor Kenya’s new National Digital IDs

A Chip Card contains an embedded microchip that encrypts card holder information into a unique code that significantly increases transaction and account data security when used at a chip-enabled terminal, and makes card cloning and fraud more difficult.

A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card. The magnetic stripe, sometimes called swipe card or magstripe, is read by swiping past a magnetic reading head. Though not as secure as the chip, the magnetic stripe is cost effective and easier to roll out.

The Kenyan Government will soon be issuing citizens with new identity cards in fresh registration initiative that will cost the exchequer approximately Kshs 8 billion. The super ID card will contain biometric information — each person’s unique biological mark-ers — as well as social security and national insurance details. This cannot be over emphasized considering the current security situation and in some ways, has been long overdue.

With modern technology, forging a national ID has never been easier. All a forger needs to do is scan a genuine ID, import it into Photoshop, change the name, birth date, and picture, and print to photo paper on a color printer, then laminate it all together. One has to be very keen to tell the difference. Apart from identity theft, the other disadvantage of the cur-rent IDs is the fact that they cannot be used to store any other data other than a person’s identity details. Imagine a scenario where an electronic ID card has information such as your blood group, allergies, pro-fession and so on. Such information could really help in case of an emergency situation. The card would easily double up as a driver’s license, voting card, public library card or passport.

As we look at East Africa regional integration, an electronic or digital identification card model would form an essential foundation to seamless movement of citizens of the member states.

Digital ID cards work on the concept of radio

frequency identification (RFID) technology. RFID, as the name implies, uses radio waves as a medium to transmit information. An RFID tag stores data and, us-ing electromagnetic forces for power, communicates that data to a device that interprets it. The ID card has passive RFID chip, has no battery and no internal power source. Rather it sits completely inert in the card, waiting to be read. Data stored within an RFID microchip waits to be read.

Once a digital ID card is in proximity to a card read-er, the microchip’s antenna receives electromagnetic energy from an RFID reader’s antenna. Using power harvested from the reader’s electromagnetic field, the RFID microchip sends radio waves back to the reader. The reader picks up the microchip’s radio waves and interprets the frequencies as meaningful data. The reader can pick information from a microchip from a distance of upto 20 feet.

Looking at the examples globally, mandatory nationwide identification systems have been imple-mented in a number of countries including Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Peru, Estonia and Spain. While these schemes vary by country, individu-als are typically assigned an ID number, which is used for a broad range of identification purposes. Large amounts of personal data such as name, birth date, place of birth, gender, eye color, height, current ad-dress, photograph, and other information is linked to this ID number and stored in a centralized database.

Estonia has one the most highly-developed national ID card system. Much more than simply a legal picture ID, the mandatory national card serves as the digital access card for all of Estonia’s secure e-services. The chip on the card carries embedded files which, using 2048-bit public key encryption, enable it to be used as definitive proof of ID in an electronic environment.

A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by

modifying the magnetism


The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has presented two tales of modern technology. The limitations of tracking and communications devices have allowed the plane to mysteriously disappear along with its 227 passengers and 12 crew members for over 40 days now.

In an era of gadgets, internet, robots, self driven cars and instant communication, the public has been sur-prised to learn that radar and satellites are not all seeing, cell phone locations aren’t always traceable and key data about the plane is only recorded, not transmitted in real time to the ground. It is still possible – although rare – for an airliner to seemingly vanish.

In the absence of any definitive answer, conspiracy theorists have emerged with explanations of their own, however implausible, from supernatural intervention to the influence of the Illuminati. The search continues for the missing Malaysian passenger plane, using just about every tool available to narrow down the possible locations where the Boeing 777-200ER could have went down. The causes of the plane’s disappearance are still as mysterious as when the plane first lost radar contact.

The most chilling thing about this is the fact the plane seemingly vanished without a trace. The captain, who had more than 18,000 hours of flight time, gave no warn-ing, issued no mayday. There was no indication anything was amiss. This is not terribly unusual, because a flight crew’s first priority in an emergency is dealing with the situation at hand.

It is a misconception that airline pilots are in constant communication with air traffic control, or that planes are constantly watched on radar. Once a plane is more than 100 or 150 miles from shore, radar no longer works. It simply doesn’t have the range. At that point, civilian aircraft communicate largely by high-frequency radio. The flight crew checks in at fixed “reporting points” along the way, providing the plane’s position, air speed, and altitude. Many commercial aircraft have an emergency locator beacon that the flight crew can trigger in an instant. It also activates under certain circumstances, such as impact with water – though it isn’t effective at great depths. In the event of a crash, there is an Emer-

gency Location Transmitter that sends a distress signal automatically upon immersion. Then, the “Black Box” which is located at the tail of the aircraft and designed to survive a crash and immersion, sends its own emergency locator signal.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the aircraft continued to send “pings” to the Inmarsat satellites for upto 4 after its last transponder position. The paper said that these confirmed that the plane was moving and the final ping was sent from over water at what was described as a normal cruising altitude. It added that it was unclear why the pings stopped.

While some debris has been found in recent days, the airplanes flying overhead had to rely on other methods to retrieve anything spotted in the water. This was achieved by dropping GPS locator buoys or other signaling devices, so ships below can later retrieve the pieces of debris and determine if they were related to Flight MH370.

In the sea, ships relied on various methods to aid in the search for MH370. While some ships have been used to retrieve pieces of debris spotted by planes, others have been tasked with the role of searching below sea level, in hopes of locating the flight data recorder, also known as the “Black Box.” While satellites have been able to capture imagery of the designated search area in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have gone down, the truth is, the reach of our contem-porary technology has its limitations.

The sophisticated technology is now the focus of attention due to the incident. It’s extraordinary that in this age of Internet Things, modern technology has so far failed to locate the Malaysian airliner. Weeks after losing contact, nobody knows for sure the details of its disappearance.

Whatever the conclusion to the mystery of MH370, let’s hope that the incident will spur the aviation industry to accelerate the development of new systems that will in future provide more integrated, robust and secure ap-proach to monitor commercial flights.

Of missing Flight

OPINION Ellen MARCIA

It is a misconception that airline pilots are in constant communication with air traffic control, or that planes are

constantly watched on radar.

MH370 and technology’s limitations


So the rain that poured in Nairobi over the Easter Weekend was a blessing, it also brought back the memory of a statement by President Kibaki (I re-fuse to use the term former or past) that we should never curse the rain even if it carries off a bridge as it can be rebuilt.

If there are no clouds, short of a miracle, there cannot be rain. If there is no rain, the crops and animals will die and therefore we shall have no food, whose final result needs not be elaborated.

The technology world has gone fully cloud as we go full circle, back to centralised processing and storage just like the good old days of the awesome mainframe, IBM is re-establishing its central posi-tion so confidently that they are planning to sell off their PC server division.

Bear with me an old man reminiscing of the good old days where the centre of power was clearly known by all- be it governance, responsi-bility or blame - a comfort zone that many of the younger generation have little appreciation, but not for long.

Social media, hosted email, virtual desktops and virtual cash are all recipients of the Cloud, not an acronym but literally the white fluffy stuff in the sky that occasionally goes devilishly dark.

We throw our most inner secrets up into it, we entrust it with our most critical business contacts and we base entire business models around it, but like in the ones that come and go we never sit to think what would happen if it blew away.

What is this Cloud, where does it reside, who owns it, who is responsible for it and how does it work? These are questions that we asked a few years ago but today we take it for granted like we do the packet of milk on the supermarket shelf.

In 1998, it became clear to the Western world that life as they knew it was about to come to a crushing halt all because someone forgot - or did they? - that the century would turn and the two digits allocated for the year in VCRs, microwave cookers, 1G mobile devices, telephone switches, aircrafts and satellites in space would be insuf-ficient.

Fortunately for the world, the Asian continent still had the skills and manpower that still under-stood the so-called old programming languages which the west had stopped teaching as archaic subjects.

Today, in the west, children under 10 are learn-ing programming skills while here we want to issue them with game stations.

We as a nation and region are hurtling in the same direction, but unfortunately, we neither have the resources of the west nor the leisure of lowly paid and highly skilled Asians (they have become middle class nations).

Instead of us building skills, knowledge and expertise in the development of Cloud systems, so that it can rain locally, we have found it expedi-ent to build a pipeline to a dam fed from rains in a distant location as building dams is seen as an unnecessary inconvenience.

As one wise man once said “the hens will come home to roost” and we shall have no one else to blame but ourselves. That is why as we write policy papers, let us take into consideration the need for local Cloud systems and knowledge dams instead of plagiarising content off foreign Clouds.

The inspiration for this issue’s article is the failed rain in Texas that has led to the collapse of the beef industry and also the extended drought in Australia that has decimated hundreds of thousands of livestock, now deadstock.

What is this Cloud, where does it reside, who owns it, who is responsible

for it and how does it work?

No Clouds, No Rain,

HardTALK

No FoodMH370 and technology’s limitations

Robert YAWE


Dictionary.com defines an unsung hero as “a person who makes a substantive yet unrecognized contribution; a person whose bravery is unknown or unacknowledged.”Sounds like IT to me.

Why IT is any firm’s unsung hero

Unfortunately for the IT team, when things are going well, they are not always recognized. IT can sometimes be a forgotten function within the firm.

When does IT receive attention? It is the small minority of time that something is broken or not working properly. It’s not intentional - but it’s the nature of the behind-the-scenes services that IT provides.

The reality is that the IT team spends most of its time keeping the firm’s infrastructure running smoothly, so that CEOs and other staff can do their jobs anytime and anywhere. There are several factors involved in keeping all of these moving and accessible at all times. And, it is truly a 24/7 role. As CEOs increase use of their mobile devices to conduct businesses from the boardrooms and client meetings around the world, IT is keeping busy making sure that those functions can be carried out seamlessly.

The biggest takeaway is this: a massive evolution is happening in technology and the role of IT is being trans-

formed

along with it. IT is no longer the service provider, but a strategic enabler and trusted adviser responsible for empowering law firms to innovate and remain competi-tive. That is a lot pressure! There is also a limited bank of time and resources that can be directed toward keeping up with the technological changes. Perhaps most impor-tantly, IT has to figure out how to keep all these moving parts in balance.

By now you have already figured out the “what” involved in this change – mobile devices and mobile apps, BYOD, cloud services, big data analytics, and social technologies. But the “how” aspect of this change proves to be a bit more challenging, which includes actually creating this technical foundation for the mobile, digital, and cloud applications that your business now requires to stay competitive.

Long gone are the days when IT was seen as an “ad-ministrative expense.” Business firms that fail to leverage new technologies and empower their IT professionals are likely to be left behind by customers and competitors.

Like many roles within the service firm, the role of the IT team has changed dramatically over the past few years.

View POINT SosPeter OPONDO

Long gone are the days when IT was seen as an “administrative expense.


From the inception of the East African Community’s newly enhanced structure, many citizens have yearned for the promise of a “new” tomorrow full of exciting ways of accessing new business opportunities and markets.

Cheap Dreams

One of the key drivers to the realization of this vision has been the burgeoning appetite for new and unique IT services across the region with an ever growing number of “aha” moments coming to even the most conservative of East African organizations. The upside of this is that the economic effects hit the bottom line in an increasingly predictable manner regardless of the types of technology deployed as long as there is to some extent a level of proficiency at the project level.

This brings us to our next question. Are we going to substitute quality for quantity in the seeming morass of potential solutions going forward, will we settle for the status quo of the traditional number one position, bragging rights and price wars which whittle out even the most ardent of market solution providers in a nev-er ending war of attrition where the net effect leaves only one winner, or will we join forces to cooperate on common standards, practices and platforms that lead to an inherently more peaceful ,communicative and profitable society?

The story is told of a gold prospector in the US’ Wild West who dug around his farm with basic tools for many years with no yield and diminishing savings. He eventually gave up and sold his farm. The new buyer willing to invest more in better equipment struck gold in the first week of mining. Apparently the farmer was a mere 1 foot away from the largest vein of gold ore in the region.

Could it be that we are short-changing ourselves and future generations by adopting the cheap dreams strategy of trying to do as much as possible with as little as possible? The challenge for today’s CIO is to dream big in Technicolor and project his or her visions at 8k, while utilizing the correct predictive analytics models to define where the ‘gold ore’ lies in his organization.

This is where we come to the concept of Data Min-ing and Data Warehousing. Our modern organizations swim in vast seas of underutilized and even some-times unrecognized data. We call this ‘Dark Data’. Its information which if properly captured and processed

could hold the secrets to your organization’s next big thing.

The latest trend in Enterprise computing is the sudden rise of the content repository as organizations tap into the ability to leverage metadata and vast seas of information to come up with relevant, actionable business information. A good example of this is where in some countries because of the clinical repositories, patient records are able to follow the patients around to various health organizations and institutions.

Imagine a day where when Grandma comes to town, she doesn’t have to do further tests or carry big sets of results around the place. The world would certainly have become a happier place.

We then stare through the looking glass in an en-tirely different way as it’s no longer about how cheap can we get the solution for but more about what awe-some intrinsic value and yield we can bring to society as a whole by implementing big dream solutions.

The common trend though is that every so often, a CIO will have that one very vivid dream and try to capture it in a project plan or strategic direction that gets shot down by the day-to-day business of baby-sitting systems and keeping the lights on. Let’s dream big again.

The Writer is Territory Sales Account Manager, Hitachi Data Systems

The latest trend in Enterprise computing is the sudden rise of the

content repository as organizations tap into the ability to leverage metadata and vast seas of information to come up with relevant, actionable business information

OPINION Delano LONGWE


Last WORD Dennis MBUVI

Transaction Failed

The cause of all my troubles can be traced to a single failure. Being a typical last-minute Kenyan, I had waited long enough before topping up my power units. This proves that the ‘B’ I scored in Engineering Economics back in campus was just that, a letter. Reorder and order levels are not things I have made a habit to implement in my day to day life. I reorder anything when it gets to zero, or even past zero and someone is on phone with a number of threats if payment is not made.

So here I was, with zero units of electricity hoping that I could easily replenish these units. I did what a normal Kenyan would do: I took out my Safaricom line, and went straight to the M-Pesa menu. I then sent Ksh 4,500 to an application that enables me make a variety of transac-tions on my smartphone. Safaricom responded that the transaction had failed. I repeated the transaction, which this time went through, and I awaited a response.

I waited, took a break from waiting, resumed wait-ing, took another break, and nothing. I logged on to Twitter, and searched for M-Pesa. Elsewhere in town, a friend tweeted that he was stuck at an M-Pesa kiosk exchanging stares with the attendant in the dark. He had attempted to withdraw money and the transaction had virtually left his phone, but never arrived at the agent’s phone. There were lots of other complaints of similar nature.

About this time, Safaricom, which had been saying there was no problem with M-Pesa, came to the realisa-tion that something was sinister. A few minutes later, the firm realized that it was having some sort of network failure which was affecting M-Pesa, calls and data for a

sizeable number of its clients.

At this point, I was already seeing reports of other failures beyond Safaricom’s network. Someone at Naku-matt was claiming that they were stuck in a long queue at one of the branches while the staff manning the till were having some sort of problem with the tills, hence were not processing transactions.

Another acquaintance was stuck somewhere outside a KCB ATM, which seemed to be offline and could not dispense the cash they needed to head to their next destination.

From where I was seated, in pitch darkness, it looked like a number of e-commerce systems were failing, fall-ing like dominoes. It looks like our budding e-commerce system is highly dependent on a single provider. And a slight stumble by this provider meant that everyone was now stumbling.

For those of you who have watched Mr. Bean, you remember the skit where he flicks a light switch and plunges the whole city in darkness. Seems our IT sys-tems are highly dependent on the resilience of a single provider. While the said provider has invested quite a lot and actually has a highly resilient network, things might take a stumble once in a while, necessitating the need for a hot failover, alongside abilities of systems to quickly recover from errors.

It took the provider I was paying 2 days to reconcile the transactions from the fateful evening.

At the same time, the experience also showed how far commerce has come to rely on IT systems in the country, which I am sure is a good thing. My friends who love spending time in ATM queues should embrace these more convenient and safer payment systems.

April 2, 2014, is a day I remember well, or rather, an evening that I remember quite well, having retired to bed early for the sole reason that I did not have power at my place. It did not help that I went to bed hungry. I did not want to put my well-manicured fingers at risk, in the name of finding a well sharpened knife in my pitch-dark kitchen. I doubt that the scar from such an endeavour would make for good talk at a fireside chat story at the annual Connected Kenya event.

it looked like a number of e-commerce systems were failing,

falling like dominoes.

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CIO EA May 2014