George Wamonje, a Kenyan, became the General Manager of iWay Africa Nigeria Ltd., an Information Communication Technology company, two months ago. He shares his experience of a decade in ICT with BOSEDE OLUSOLA-OBASAGovernment is rated as the highest spender in most aspects of the economy, how true is this in ICT'Yes, it is gradually becoming so because the government does not want to be left behind in the wave of information technology. In Lagos for instance, there is greater use of information technology. Many of their ministries now operate on full digital, for example, the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue. But the gap between the exposure to IT in the private and public institutions is still very wide. If I were to put it in percentage terms I would say 70:30. The private sector is ahead currently. You still get into the offices of some top-cadre managers in public institutions and theres no laptop or desktop on their tables. Worse still, many of them still do not know how to use simple applications.Do you agree with the school of thought that using an analogue system provides greater security for confidential documents than digital means'No, I think it is rather the other way. With digital you can get more security for your most sensitive and confidential documents. It is what you tell a computer that it does. If you tell a computer that you do not want anyone to see a file, folder or any other item on the system, it ensures that is done. I can use a password for a file, a folder or document. I can also say that I want people to be able to see a particular document but not be able to open it; again I can say that I want people to see and open this document but I dont want them to be able to alter any part of it. Everything is possible using a password. So just the same way organisations prepare confidential documents, sign and keep it in places believed to be safe, you can achieve the same or even better using a computer. The physical safe can be broken into but I can, through a computer, keep my document in a place that no one else but me knows.What if someone who understands the operations of computers attempt to gain access to such a document'It is the same way I can have a key to a physical safe and someone finds out where I kept the key. But the difference is that I can tell the computer that no one else but me should ever gain access to the documents.The regular PC user is vulnerable to the growing security challenges of the digital world. How can users protect themselves against the risks'Interestingly, these facilities come with the computers that we use. Of course, dimensions to innovation are endless. But for some of the issues I have raised, you do not even need any other software. For the one I have on my table, there is a place that if I need to deny any other person access to a document, I just lock it with my fingerprint without pressing any key on my keyboard. For instance, we do payroll in this office. Once it is done, the officer in charge sends it to be on Microsoft Excel as an attachment for approval but with a password. So, any brilliant IT person in this organisation, who is waiting to have an unauthorised interference with the process from another computer may succeed in seeing the email, but will not be able to open it. Vulnerability to hacking is subject to the level of security put on a particular document. It is absolutely possible to prevent your documents from being hacked. Any smart IT person can read all the emails sent by other persons, but if anyone has a password, they wont be able to open it. It is so bad that some of these naughty IT boys can ask your emails to copy them without the authorisation or knowledge of the sender or receiver and they will see all the correspondence. There are different levels of security that you can build around a document.What happens when one gets an email supposedly coming from his bank but its from other persons'The first thing is that the banks determine which information should be sent across to a customer via email. Today, a lot of banks have stopped using emails as a medium of transaction with customers. Even your statements of account are no longer being sent via emails. If you need to see your email online, what you now do is to log into their server and see; you can also print it out if you want. But where they must use emails, it must be properly encrypted so that no one else can open it until it gets to the intended receiver. Most of these packages are there in the computer to provide security for your documents. There is software that can counter the activities of Yahoo Yahoo boys. Our company came up with an innovation that can identify who sent a spam mail and such people can be blocked. Another security measure for us is that we do not allow persons who are not on our network to send emails using our domain name server.Talking about going digital, what is your take on the new number plate and driving licence'It is a good idea, especially because it is expected to provide the government with enough details about every driver that can enable them trace them when the need arises. It has worked in other countries and I believe that it can work here. The government needs to have detailed information about every citizen. My advice is that private organisations should be involved in the execution of these projects to avoid lapses. In Kenya for example, if I commit a crime, all they require is to take my fingerprint and the database will show if I am a first- time offender; where I live, even to my village can be traced. That system has been in operation since the colonial days to date. It is all about the political will. Again, if you commit a traffic offence, your licence is collected and slotted into a system that gives your complete details, depending on the magnitude of your offence the card may be confiscated and you are barred from driving ever in the country. But what do you see here, a driver commits a traffic offence, his licence is seized and he speeds off because he can possibly be issued another. Going digital will curb such excesses.What about downsizing and digital technology'New equipment or digitalisation of a workplace is a step taken usually to increase productivity. And you still need people to man some of the machines. If you run a bottling line and require people to arrange the bottles before but now theres a machine that gets that done with little supervision, the people who work there will no longer be relevant to that department. The option they have is to be deployed in other units, if they have the capacity to work elsewhere. That is why our people must place premium on continuous education.Why is iWay referred to as a pan-Africa ICT value chain solution provider' iWay Africa is a subsidiary of Telkoms. It is one of the companies started and managed by Africans. The service is designed for Africans with considerations for the problems of infrastructure among others associated with the issue of affordability. We offer a 1.2 metre antenna suited for the African market. It is able to be deployed anywhere, one only needs electricity or generator. It is designed as a simple product and easy to install and use. You dont have to bother about being closer to a base station. iWay started in Kenya and currently, we are in 42 African countries. We set out to capture the market that other big players could not reach with the principal objective of solving communications problems both for individuals and corporate organisations. We are more skilled to offer V-sat services than the telecommunication firms; its our core competence, we also offer an all in one ICT solution package. We also offer you packages that help you know where your workers visit more on the Internet, especially if they will be counterproductive. So whatever you want, we offer a full package; thats why we are a panAfrican ICT value chain solution provider.What do you consider as your greatest challenge since you were appointed to head the Nigerian office recently' Integrity of industry players is a main challenge that I have noticed when compared to other countries I had served. It is common for players to refuse to state the exact terms of service that they offer to the customer all in a bid to win the customer. A lot of times, service providers fail to state the actual package they are offering only for the subscriber to realise it later. The result has always been worrisome. That is why when you walk round and look at companies, you will find two to three dishes of different ICT providers, which had been used and dumped as a result of this problem of insincerity. They would have promised a particular package at a ridiculous price but fail to deliver on the promise months after they are signed up. And the cycle continues like that. I believe this is happening because there is a lot of capacity, especially with the coming of fibre optics.What is the worth of the Nigerian ICT market compared with the other 41 countries where your network is used'In terms of volume of patronage, Nigeria remains on the top and the numbers are there. Nigeria is one country that will sell your product without much ado but provided it is a good quality, especially ICT products. Nigeria is our biggest market and so far that makes it our biggest challenge to ensure that we retain the market share through quality products and services. One of our unique points is that we offer true warranty on our products, unlike what obtains with many other companies, who fail to fulfil their warranty promise. We have enjoyed a steady market growth based on our target. But things have been a little bit slow over the last two years because of the introduction of the fibre optic.
Click here to read full news..
