A selection of tech news from Nigeria and Africa at large.
Massmart E-Commerce | Adapt IT Digital Transformation | Digital Public Sector | Nutanix Enterprise | Human Firewalls
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How Walmart has helped Massmart ramp up e-commerce – BIZ COMMUNITY
Through the backing of parent company Walmart, South African retail group Massmart has made significant investments in its technological capabilities over the last two years with the goal of growing its e-commerce offering.
We have been able to leverage the strengths and capabilities that Walmart has already developed in other more mature e-commerce markets around the world,” explains Shilpan Bhagat, Walmart’s head of e-commerce product and technology for Africa, based in Silicon Valley, California.
“With the support of hundreds of dedicated e-commerce software engineers at Walmart’s Global Tech hub in Bangalore, India, we have adopted some of these capabilities into the South African market over the past year.” Read more here.
Adapt IT Education to engage Kenyan higher institutions on benefits of digital transformation – IT News Africa
On 3 November 2022, Adapt IT Education Division (“Adapt IT Education” or “the organisation”) and IT News Africa will host an industry thought leadership breakfast event at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss the challenges and benefits of adopting digital transformation in the higher education sector.
“The higher education sector as we know it is changing due to digital transformation. Today’s technology allows institutions to manage processes and operations more efficiently and effectively to improve the student experience. This increased functionality benefits not only students but also the institutions and its faculties,” says Thato Mthembu, Executive Manager of Business Development and Marketing at Adapt IT Education.
“Higher education enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solutions are one such technological solution that makes institutions manage processes and operations more efficiently and effectively to improve the overall student experience. Adapt IT Education’s flagship ITS (Integrated Tertiary Software) ERP provides universities and TVET colleges in South Africa and further afield with a complete 360-degree view of the student life cycle and the education administration process to streamline all operational processes,” adds Mthembu Read more here.
NITA hosts heads of public institutions to discuss achieving a transformed digital public sector – Biz Tech Africa
The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) has held a technology breakfast meeting with Chief Executive Officers and Chief Directors of the country’s public sector to discuss ongoing activities to digitize the public sector and the heads’ role in achieving a digitally transformed public sector.
In partnership with State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), NITA’s tech meeting is also aimed at assisting these heads of institutions to drive government policies to achieve the country’s digitalization agenda.
In his welcome address, the Director General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Richard Okyere-Fosu, disclosed that the government has invested over $ 500 million and continues to invest in the effort to digitalize the economy, adding that most of these investments by the government are to provide the needed infrastructure and enabling environment to allow all other sectors within the public sector also to digitalize or automate the delivery of their mandate.
According to him, to avoid duplication of resources and efforts, consolidate and optimize initiatives within the technology space, and deploy interoperable technologies that can communicate with existing and future systems, there is the need for heads of public institutions to know and align themselves with what the government has already done, what it’s doing and what it plans to do in the area of digitalization. Read more here.
Nutanix Accelerates Kubernetes Adoption in the Enterprise – lT News Africa
Nutanix, a leader in hybrid multi-cloud computing, today announced new features in its Cloud Platform to accelerate the adoption of Kubernetes running both at scale and cost-effectively. The company announced broad support for leading Kubernetes container platforms, built-in infrastructure as code capabilities, and enhanced data services for modern applications. These new features allow DevOps teams to accelerate application delivery with the performance, governance, and flexibility of the Nutanix Cloud Platform while allowing customers to maintain control of their IT operating costs.
“Kubernetes deployments are inherently dynamic and challenging to manage at scale,” said Thomas Cornely, SVP, Product Management, Nutanix. “Running Kubernetes container platforms cost-effectively at large scale requires developer-ready infrastructure that seamlessly adapts to changing requirements. Our expertise in simplifying infrastructure management while optimising resourcesー both on-premises and in the public cloudーis now being applied to help enterprises adopt Kubernetes more quickly. The Nutanix Cloud Platform now supports a broad choice of Kubernetes container platforms, provides integrated data services for modern applications, and enables developers to provide Infrastructure as Code.” Read more here.
It’s time to turn your employees into ‘human firewalls’ – IT News Africa
Cyber-security education, through the use of anti-phishing training programs, is vital in a world where humans remain the weakest link in the cyber-security chain.
Cyber-security is a term on every businessperson’s mind, as the legal, financial and reputational implications of a breach are massive. The challenge is that, while a company can implement the best cyber-security technologies, the biggest threat to a firm remains its people, who are susceptible to social engineering, phishing and many other cyber threats. This means that the best approach to security lies in delivering relevant training that can turn your people into ‘human firewalls’.
According to David Shipley CEO of Beauceron Security, one of Digital Resilience’s key security partners, organisations should adopt a positive approach to cyber-security awareness and training, focusing on education and behavioural change, and ultimately empowering people to recognise risk and take action.
“We named our company Beauceron, after a type of sheepdog, and we feel it is appropriate because our solutions help to turn employees from passive victims of cyber-crime into active defenders against it – or from sheep to sheepdogs, in other words,” he says. Read more here.
