Kenya is set to migrate its broadcast services from analogue to digital platform by September 30 th , 2014. As this deadline draws closer, let’s look at what the transition means for broadcasters and viewers 34 Kshs. 300 Ushs. 9,000 Tshs. 6,000 RWF. 2,200 Rest of the World US $ 9 6 1 6 6 0 0 0 0 4 3 8 0 6 0 3 An publication + + India’s Universal ID program – Lessons for Kenya | P18 New APPOINTMENTS | P29 Lip Service | P41 Vicissitudes of Velocity | P46 BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP CIO PROFILE: Arif Chowdhury, VP, Transsion Holding P32 Technology alone won’t solve our security problem P4 FEATURE: How safe are you from cyber crime? P26 JULY 2014 E A S T A F R I C A VOL6 | ISSUE 06 | WWW.CIO.CO.KE
Transcript
Kenya is set to migrate its broadcast services from analogue to digital platform by September 30th, 2014. As this deadline draws closer, let’s look at what the
transition means for broadcasters and viewers 34
Kshs. 300
Ushs. 9,000
Tshs. 6,000
RWF. 2,200
Rest of the
World US
$ 9 6 166000 043806
0 3
An publication
++
+India’s Universal ID program – Lessons for Kenya | P18New APPOINTMENTS | P29Lip Service | P41Vicissitudes of Velocity | P46
E A S T A F R I C A
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP
CIO PROFILE: Arif Chowdhury,VP, Transsion Holding P32
Technology alone won’tsolve our security problem P4
FEATURE: How safe are you from cyber crime? P26
JULY 2014
E A S T A F R I C A
VO
L6
|
IS
SU
E 0
6
|
W
WW
.CIO
.CO
.KE
B CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Software Quality
Business Service
Management
Project & Portfolio
ManagementOperations & Automation
IT Performance
IT Service Management
PORTUGAL OFFICE:Av. 5 de Outubro, 293 4º1600-035 Lisboa –PortugalTel: (+351) 21 7983106
But many are those who have since devised new methods of watching their favourite TV programmes from the three truant broadcasters, albeit not through TV sets. And I happen to fall into this category. One Friday after pulling out of GOtv, I realized I’d not be able to watch an installment of a popular programme on KTN. That is when it hit me that I could as well live stream and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since as the 3 broadcasters and payTV channels tussle in court.
And so, I’ve been watching TV (content), yes, but not via the TV (set). And I’m not alone, for this is a growing trend not just locally but globally. So now that you know what I mean, we can go back to the title and ask again: “Are we really watching TV on TV?”
The situation I – and others – find our-selves in qualifies what David J. Hill stated in a 2012 article published in Singularity Hub: “The computer screen has become the go-to place for breaking news, when only a decade ago TV was king.” And now, to this we can add smartphone screens as well.
Here are some research stats that show us where TV viewership trends are headed. Ericsson’s 2014 Mobility Report, released in June, states thus: “In Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria, TV and media services are increasingly being accessed using smartphones. These channels can be accessed by consumers via an app on their devices. This is influencing the development of local and regional con-tent. Innovations such as this give rise to further market trends such as multi-screen consumer behavior.”
The Mobility Report further adds: “The smartphone revolution has also impacted media industries such as film in Nigeria and in other Sub-Saharan countries. Nige-
ria is one of the top producers of movies in the world. Some of the movies made have played a role in promoting smartphone uptake in the country. All sectors in the region will continue to be influenced by ICT development, and there will be further investment from key stakeholders as well as the wider economy. The demand for more localized solutions and develop-ments will become the norm.”
Staying with Ericsson, the previous year’s Consumer Lab report had even more relevant and insightful findings for our broadcast industry players, more so as we approach the September 30 deadline for migration from analogue to digital platform.
The 2013 Consumer Lab report found that 37 per cent of Kenya’s mobile users stream video, TV or movie content from the internet on their smartphones. This figure has definitely risen since then as Kenya currently has 13.0 million mobile internet subscribers, according to the latest industry stats from Communica-tions Authority of Kenya (CAK). The CAK acknowledged the shift in TV viewership trends in the last quarter’s industry report, stating that “there have been a lot of changes in television broadcast over the past years following the introduction of pay TV services and online broadcast.”
“With regard to listenership and viewership, the radio has continued to be more popular compared to TV. During the quarter under review, TV broadcast experienced a significant decline of 30.2 per cent in the average weekly viewership to stand at 360,000 down from 516,111 recorded in the previous quarter,” stated CAK in the report which covered October to December 2013.
Are we really watching TV on TV?
In mid April this year, Kenya’s 3 TV stations – KTN, Citizen and NTV – pulled out of GOtv and StarTimes,
KBC has contravened the industry regulator in a move that is costing hundreds of thousands of Kenyans the right to watch the World Cup games through
their national broadcaster. We are mandated by the regulator to carry KBC’s content, with no exception
to any programing. The recent action by the national broadcaster is unfair to the very taxpayers who sustain it and a bizarre setback for the digital migration in Kenya.”
Richard Alden, CEO, Wananchi Group in a recent complaint against Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) after being denied rights to broadcast 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament.
Always get genuine software from genuine software vendors. Also have protection for your data, that’s simply, antivirus. If your data is on
the move, always use encrypted data which could be in two types - file encryption or disc
encryption. If you have big systems, you need to have system application protection
Bethwell Opil, East Africa channel sales manager, Kaspersky during interview with CIO East Africa
In simple terms, in analogue broadcasting, the signal is in the form of a continuous wave, whereas in digital, it’s in the form of discrete bits of information. In digital,
the signal is encoded and can be compressed to allow for more channels to be broadcast. For instance, eight new
standard definition TV (SDTV) programs can be provided in the same frequency channel as one analogue TV
channel.
Edwin Rasto, a TV station transmission controller and a lecturer at a local university in an interview with CIO East Africa.
4 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
We recently had a security situation at the office that compelled our night guard to call the police for tactical support. From what we experienced, technol-ogy alone will not provide the desired outcomes. The force needs a complete revamp starting with how the recruitment process is done to how teams are man-aged.
Here are my observations. Sadly these seem to mir-ror every incident that has happened in the country in the past year including the latest attack at Mpeketoni:1. The force seemed to be very disorganized. Dealing
with these issues everyday, I expected that there would be laid down procedure that is standard and everyone is on board. There seemed to be a lot of buck passing where no one wanted to take responsibility and they kept on tossing the issue from one officer to the next, from one police sta-tion to the next.
2. It appears the force has no mechanism to deal with tip-offs due to its structure - command and control issues. When a tip-off is received, it’s obvious what kind of threat has been reported. One would as-sume that the right team is sent the first time to deal with it effectively and efficiently. Two teams were dispatched, both ill-equipped in skills and tools, wasting valuable time and resources.
3. There was absolutely no urgency in dealing with the issue. How can a situation be allowed to roll more than 5 hours without serious attention and mobilisation of the right people to the scene? At some point, the teams were just as hopeless as we were, waiting for something to happen.
Recommendations1. The force needs some serious re-structuring if it
is to effectively fight crime, not just terrorism. The restructuring should include the introduction of a highly skilled, highly motivated, highly mobile elite force that will be able to respond to tip-offs within
minutes, not hours.2. The force’s operations need to be re-examined and
perhaps re-organised to be able to deal with mod-ern crimes and terrorism. Currently, police stations are assigned specific areas as their operational area and anything outside that area falls under a different station. As a citizen, I should not have to be told to leave one police station to go and report a threat to another police station because “we do not cover that area”. One should be able to report an incident to any officer anywhere and this infor-mation relayed to the relevant officer(s) for action.
3. The force needs to be re-equipped both in skills and equipment. It appears that the force does not have enough equipment to be able to respond to the type of threat we were faced with and therefore could not be of any assistance in the situation. But equipment aside, the force needs serious re-train-ing to be able to respond to modern crime. The force needs an injection of skilled and motivated patriotic officers whose dream is to “serve and protect”.
4. In my humble opinion, I think it’s time to change the recruitment of officers into the force. The force needs to attract the best brains in this country, people who can think processes and who can inject strategic thinking at that level. Crime has become very sophisticated and needs serious strategists to curb. Perhaps even bring in civilians from different professions to assist in the fight against crime and terrorism.
As you can see, the issue is multifaceted and requires a multifaceted approach to fix. To truly trans-form the force into an efficient and effective crime fighting unit, we need to address the three elements of organisational transformation: people, processes and technology. Betting on any one of them without the others won’t deliver the desired outcome.
There has been a lot of talk about the security situation in Kenya in the past few months. Unfortunately, this discussion is now taking a political angle, not getting the seriousness that it deserves and the country missing a good opportunity to transform a sector that badly needs modernization. Harry Hare, Editorial Director
5CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
CONTENTS
JULY 2014
29 NewAPPOINTMENTS44 LastWORD
CCTV: See no Evil
28 Pictorial
6 In BriefCOVER STORY
Kenya is set to migrate its broadcast services from analogue to digital platform by September 30th, 2014. As this dead-line draws closer, let’s look at what the transition means for broadcasters and viewers
34
CIOPROFILE
Arif Chowdhury,VP, Transsion Holding
Tecno Mobile is where afford-ability meets quality
32
The digital switch over conversation | 37Content-specific broadcast channels and Digital migration | 39
Retracing the journey of education TV broadcasts in Kenya | 35
17 twitterINTERVIEWCaine Wanjau, VP, BusinessDevelopment, FlashCastFlashCast takes brands to the client, whilethey’re on transit
FEATURE
How safe are you from cyber crime?
24
Product Review
Lenovo Yoga 2 11
30
OPINIONLip Service
The value of enterprise architecture in oil and gas sector
Using Technology for Health in Africa
41
Technology Tells
Vicissitudes of Velocity
18 TrendANALYSISIndia’s Universal ID program – Lessons for Kenya
Computer Learning Centre launches Datacomms (DCT) Multi-vendor Training
Delivering large ICT projects
EAC Budgets for 2014/15: Governmentinitiatives as catalyst to ICT sector?
8 TrendLinesZTE Wins Best LTE Core Network Product award at LTE World Summit 2014
Vodafone and DHL partner to deliver forcustomers across Africa
Bardo Group enters Kenya’s online pay-ment solutions market
InSite Ltd brings down cost of cloudservices to level of SMEs
Hitachi Data Systems’ new cloud solutions now available in Kenya market
Samsung makes forays into East Africa’sA3 printer market
6 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
AROUND
AROUND the
Orange, BNP Paribas to open retail mobile banking services in Africa with Orange Money
Orange and the BNP Paribas Group have partnered to offer retail banking customers in Africa direct access between their BNP Paribas account and their Orange Money account through their mobile phones. The new service is currently available in Côte d’Ivoire and will be extended to other countries in which BNP Paribas and Orange Money are present, particularly Senegal.
The service allows customers of the BNP Paribas Group (BICICI in Côte d’Ivoire) to carry out real-time banking operations without going to their banks, simply by using their Orange Money account. Customers
can transfer money to their Orange Money account directly from their BNP Paribas bank account, or vice versa, simply, quickly and securely. This flexibility in transferring money between bank accounts and mobile accounts will make it easier to use the services already offered by Orange Money, such as payment for goods and services (water, electricity and television bills, etc.) and purchases of airtime credit. The large network of licensed Orange Money distributors will supplement the network of BNP Paribas bank branches, offering a maximum number of cash withdrawal points to all customers, particularly in more remote areas
W RLDBritish Airways begins in-flight trials for hi-tech
blankets
British Airways (BA) has begun testing a hi-tech blanket which changes colour using brainwaves, to ensure it offers customers the best flight sleep in the sky. The Happiness Blanket, which is woven with fibre optics, uses neuro-sensors to measure a person’s brainwaves and changes colour, from red to blue, to show when they¹re at their most relaxed and meditative.
BA airline hopes monitoring a person’s sleep and relaxation patterns during a flight will inform decisions made to improve aspects of the in-flight service; from changing the timing of meals, what food is served and even the types of films shown to make flying and sleeping on its flights even more relaxing.
Ovum: Confusion around convergence causing leaders to
launch ill-judged initiatives
A lack of understanding around the pervasive spread and convergence of IT, communications and other digital technologies is causing business leaders to launch ill-judged initiatives and miss crucial opportunities. This is according to Tim Jennings, chief research officer, Ovum IT, who in his keynote at the recent Ovum Industry Congress (OIC) urged enterprises to change their mind-set and adopt a more flexible approach to business technology innovation, in order to adapt to the profound change occurring in both business and society.
www.cio.co.ke
The full articlesare available on
the CIO East Africa Website
inBRIEF Huawei unveils new server and storage solutions in Nigeria
Huawei has launched new series of Server and Storage products in Nigeria. The solutions cover storage area network (SAN), solid state storage system, network attached storage (NAS), virtual intelligent storage (VIS), and cloud storage. The products and solutions are ideal for various sectors including governments, public utility, transportation, finance, ISP and media assets as well as energy.
According to the latest statistics from Gartner Research report, Huawei’s storage solutions are ranked number one in China in terms of shipments and number one in terms of Global Market Growth Rate for six quarters. The firm’s storage products serve more than 2000 customers globally.
Gartner further reports that Huawei server business ranked number four in the global shipments and number one in China in 2013, with the company being the only vendor to achieve server market share growth in seven consecutive quarters. The newly launched All-SSD storage system OceanStor Dorado series consists of two models of product Dorado 2100 and Dorado 5100. It offers an ideal choice for various storage scenarios that are performance-demanding such as database, VDI, and high-performance computing.
7CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
8 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
The LTE World Summit brings together industry leaders from across the world to share progress and innovations in LTE. The LTE Awards celebrate and reward those com-panies that have made significant contributions to the LTE industry.
The ZXUN xGW gateway is designed and developed based on the advanced ZTE T8000 router platform and integrates the functions of multiple items of network equipment. One single cabinet can support network traffic of up to 600 gigabits per second (Gbps) and 57.6 million evolved packet core (EPC) user-plane bearers.
Furthermore, the ZXUNxGW product supports the LTE-A
access mode, a feature that enabled Hong Kong-based operator, CSL, to launch the world’s first LTE commercial network. The ZXUN xGW has been deployed in 3G and LTE networks including those of China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and KPN.
ZTE has to date signed 140 LTE/EPC contracts around the world. With leading end-to-end LTE solutions and global partnerships, ZTE has broken into 70 percent of the countries that have invested in LTE. ZTE has successfully launched commercial LTE services for Bharti, China Mo-bile, China Telecom, Hutchison, KPN, Telenor, TeliaSonera, VimpelCom and Vodafone
ZTE Corporation, a global provider of telecoms equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, was recently awarded “Best LTE Core Network Product” for its ZXUN xGW converged multi-access packet gateway.
ZTE Wins Best LTE Core Network Product award at LTE World Summit 2014
ZTE has broken into 70 percent of the countries that have invested in LTE
Staff WriterTrendLINES
9CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
ELIMINATE ERP COMPLEXITY
INTRODUCING EPICOR ERP VERSION 10
With Epicor ERP version 10, we’ve taken our
visionary blend of rich global functionality built
on agile technology, and eliminated complexity
to make ERP easier to use, more collaborative
and more responsive. It’s a great experience
across multiple devices and deployment choice.
Change your relationship with ERP. It’s time to
drive growth and collaboration throughout your
business. Intelligence has been defined in so
many ways that we can only give synonyms for
you to have a better understanding of what we
are talking about.
These words include logic, self-
awareness, communication,
learning, having emotional
knowledge and problem
solving.
CONTACT US
Loresho, Loresho Ridge
Next to Nigerian High Commission Residence Nairobi, Kenya
This is the position taken by Bardo Group, a new entrant in the online payment arena. Operating in the country since January 2014, the company, whose head office is in Mauritius, also has a presence in Hong Kong, Panama and UK.
“We chose Kenya as our first location within the region due to the fact that it was the first country in East Africa to have an ecommerce acquiring bank and the best offering in terms of e-commerce transaction processing,” said Laurent Alonzo, CEO, Bardo. “Internet penetration in the country is impressive with over 19 million local users as well as a growing middle class who have greater access to debit and credit cards as well as higher purchasing power and are looking for convenience in their day to day operations. Further, the government, banks and local companies are also encouraging people to embrace cash-less transactions through use of cards as well as online payment services. We therefore see great potential for Bardo in Kenya and indeed the region”
With an increasing number of transactions over the internet in Africa, Bardo Group has specifically developed
a Risk Control Software for the African market which promises the highest level of security for internet pay-ment users due to its back-office support which provides reporting and online tracking of any payments thereby eliminating the possibility of fraudulent or unsafe transac-tions. To further enhance security, all accounts have their own unique description to easily recognize the merchant which eliminates the need for verification procedures making transactions faster and safer.
Lorenzo noted that a major challenge and which has led to low uptake of online payment is that many people still regard the platforms with a lot of suspicion as they do not understand the process. “Customers need to be protected from unsafe transactions which could lead to a loss of their money. We would therefore call for tighter regulatory controls to ensure that companies offering the service acquire PCIDSS (Payment Card Industry Data Se-curity Standard), the recommended and highest security standard in the world in online payment which was devel-oped by the world’s largest credit and debit card providers including VISA and MasterCard,” he said,
Cost, technological complexity, control and lack of education are the major issues facing the growth of internet payment services in Kenya.
Bardo Group enters Kenya’s online payment solutions market
the government, banks and local companies are also encouraging people to embrace cashless transactions
Lauret Alonzo, CEO & Chairman, Bardo Kenya Ltd
Staff WriterTrendLINES
11CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Building Africa’s digital futurewww.liquidtelecom.com
Liquid Telecom run Africa’s most advanced fibre optic network spanning borders throughout eastern, central and southern Africa. We’ve built where no fixed network existed and now connect people and businesses with super-fast fibre, into Africa and across the world.
Connectivity without bordersAfrica’s super-fast fibre network
Liquid Across Borders CIO July.indd 1 23/06/2014 09:26
12 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
This rapid economic development, combined with a growing, more affluent and aspirational middle class, is attracting many of the world’s largest multinationals which are fast realising the revenue-boosting opportuni-ties the continent has to offer.
But business moves fast. Global organisations setting up operations in any emerging market need to quickly establish the technical infrastructure and operating models required to harness the market’s potential. While infrastructure investment is rising more rapidly in Africa than anywhere else, the sheer scale of the continent - which is bigger than the USA, China, India, Europe and Japan combined - poses its own distinct set of challenges. Spanning more than 50 countries, each with its own regulatory environments, historical backgrounds, legacy languages and political and cultural differences, Africa can
be a complex continent to do business in.
For DHL Supply Chain, the biggest supply chain and logistics provider in the world, this complexity presented unique challenges. Establishing a consistent communica-tions network and IT infrastructure in each country was an intimidating objective. With different data centres, sup-pliers, contracts and billing in each country, even the sim-plest task, such as tracking anything from a parcel journey across Africa to a Line haul vehicle road trip, became difficult to manage. This not only slowed down business, but generated higher set-up costs for customers.
One of its key imperatives was to connect its data centres through a single communications network, and so DHL Supply Chain went out to tender to 16 possible partners. Only one rose to the challenge.
The business community is feeling optimistic about prospects in Africa. In 2013, it was the continent which experienced the largest economic growth and by 2014 it contained six of the world’s top 12-fastest growing economies.
Vodafone and DHL partner to deliver for customers across Africa
infrastructure investment is rising more rapidly in Africa than anywhere else
Staff WriterTrendLINES
Deon Liebenberg, Executive Vice President, Vodafone Africa
13CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Establishing consistency“We were told by several of the partners that what
we wanted to achieve just wouldn’t be possible in Africa for three or four more years, but Vodafone had the vision and the willingness to invest,” says Ewan Shannon, IT Lead for Infrastructure and Service Man-agement, DHL in Africa. “We now deal with just one supplier under one contract and one master service agreement, without having to worry about the com-plex country-by-country negotiations needed to find the right communications and IT suppliers. Vodafone fully manages this for us.”
Together the companies built a single high perfor-mance network, connecting all of DHL Supply Chain’s data centres, from Prague, to Johannesburg and Singapore through one converged, shared Wide Area Network. The data centres are now able to interact directly in a way that is both cost effective and band-width efficient.
“This was a real breakthrough for our business,” continues Shannon. “We can now offer the same global applications and services in Africa as we can anywhere else in the world. A customer using our re-tail distribution service, for instance, can now turn on the same systems anywhere on the continent, without needing to think about building a new independent system.
“Customers no longer need to accept the expensive set-up costs caused by developing bespoke systems,
nor do they incur the expense of stockpiling goods in countries to cover the gaps in logistics. Instead they get the simple, consistent and unified service they would expect anywhere else in the world as well as the operational agility to quickly capitalise on the op-portunities in the African business market.”
“We provided DHL with the connectivity to trans-form its business in Africa,” says Deon Liebenberg, Executive Vice President for Africa at Vodafone Global Enterprise. “Knowing that all day, every day our virtual team of project managers and solution architects are ready to deal with complex regional issues, rein in costs and manage the challenges of local currency billing, local politics and local regulators, freed up DHL to focus on core business competencies. As a result DHL is able to focus on delivering flexible services that fit around the needs of its customers. It keeps employees connected at all times with critical busi-ness applications. And it helps its customers expand into Africa and other emerging markets without the headache and cost of negotiating new logistics infra-structure every time.”
Ready for anythingTogether Vodafone and DHL have built an efficient,
cost-effective communications backbone for global businesses to depend on. They have brought highly reliable tracking and industry leading logistics to Africa. This is not only benefitting local economies, but helping Africa to realise its global trade ambitions.
Customers no longer need to accept the expensive set-up costs caused by developing bespoke systems, nor do they incur the expense of
stockpiling goods in countries to cover the gaps in logistics
TrendLINESStaff Writer
14 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Ms Rionge, founder and CEO of Wananchi Online till 2006, has now moved on to set Insite Ltd, a firm which offers SMEs cloud-based applications for prices which are as low as Kshs 1,000 ( USD 11.5) per month.
During an interview with CIO East Africa, Ms Rionge revealed that after leaving Wananchi Online, she did a lot of training, mentoring business leaders and entrepreneurs through her company Ignite Consulting, and she could see that there were common problems facing businesses across sectors.
“I saw too that many of these issues could be resolved with targeted IT support, and that none of the solutions then available on the market addressed the issues that start-ups and growing businesses actually faced in the Kenyan market. So I decided to start Insite Limited, to cre-ate those IT solutions, making sure they were affordable to SMEs and really worked for them,” said Rionge. Insite Ltd is a software development company whose software solutions are hosted on the internet cloud. The company holds a flagship CRM product called Peach, which is de-
signed specifically with SMEs in mind, offering a complete package of features that any business, in any sector, will need and can easily access and use to improve organiza-tional effectiveness.
Rionge believes that cloud computing is the technology that will change the way we do businesses across East Africa, because by using the cloud, one has access to data 24 hours a day and from wherever they are. She adds that as a business man or woman, you can keep tabs on what’s happening in your business, thereby enhancing efficiency. “Being able to see what’s happening across your business at the click of a button has to be a positive thing for any-one trying to run a business while they are on the move, with teams that are not necessarily all in one place at the same time. A good example of the benefits is for your sales teams as they can all access centrally-held docu-ments, so that you don’t end up with different versions, or lose contacts held by different individuals. And remember that with cloud solutions, your client history is all in one place, kept up to date,” she noted.
Njeri Rionge, one of Kenya’s pioneer internet entrepreneurs, has turned to developing software targeted at digitising the running of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) through cloud computing.
InSite Ltd brings down cost of cloud services to level of SMEs
cloud computing is the technology that will change the way we do businesses across East Africa
(R-L) Njeri Rionge, Founder, InsSite Ltd, with Dr. John Klensin, a political scientist and computer science professional
Lilian Mutegi TrendLINES
15CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
HDS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, has announced the availability of its new cloud technol-ogy designed to accelerate customer success with its new concept dubbed “Business Defined IT” which emphasizes a closer linking of companies business and technology objectives that demand more re-sponsive IT foundation. The launch of the solutions in Kenya was held as part of HDS Africa road show which covered Nigeria and Kenya. The event also came just a few months after HDS set up its office in Nairobi in October 2013.
Bob Plumbridge, CTO, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) EMEA region said that the Nairobi event was meant to introduce into the local market HDS’ Continuous Cloud Infrastructure solutions since there global launch in April. “We wanted to bring details about the new cloud solutions into this market as well as our other services and technologies. We also wanted to give as many people as possible a chance to interact with HDS staff,” said Plumbridge.
Dubbed “Continuous Cloud Infrastructure” or CCI, the new range of solutions can drive IT efficiency through a responsive, software-rich architecture that can quickly react to changing needs without continual redesign and disruption. The solutions unveiled as part of HDS’ Continuous Cloud Infrastructure are the Hitachi Storage Virtualisation Operating System (SVOS), Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G1000, a new version of the Hitachi Command Suite management
platform and significant enhancements to its Hitachi Unified Compute Platform converged computing offerings. “Together, these technologies provide the foundation of an IT infrastructure that can adapt to continuously changing business needs, without dis-ruption,” said Plumbridge. “For existing users as you will find with new technology that comes to market, prices continue to decrease. Typically for storage, we’ve seen prices come down by about 10 - 15 percent year-on-year probably for the past 10 years. What this means for customers is that for the same amount or less, they get more in terms of technology,” said Plumbridge.
HDS’ new technologies come with integration across virtualisation platforms, databases and a vari-ety of clustering and operating systems platforms, and can be quickly adopted to support a variety of work-loads. In particular, deep work with strategic partners such as Microsoft, SAP and VMware ensures that SVOS and the VSP G1000 are certified in key initiatives like Microsoft Private Cloud deployments, SAP HANA’s Tai-lored Data Center Initiative and extended integration within VMware ecosystems. Hitachi Storage Virtualisa-tion Operating System (SVOS) is the first stand-alone software implementation of best-in-class Hitachi stor-age virtualisation. This new storage operating system provides a common software architecture that will double the useful life of hardware architectures, span the breadth of the HDS infrastructure portfolio and en-hance and amplify the benefits of server virtualization.
Hitachi Data Systems’ new cloud solutions now available in Kenya market
Businesses need solutions that don’t require constant and disruptive changes to the technology they support
Bob Plumridge, CTO, Hitachi Data Systems, EMEA
TrendLINESStaff Writer
16 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Designed specifically to meet the needs of enterprise and SMBs, the MultiXpress series comes fully loaded with features such as ergonomic design, compact size, advanced controls, high reliability, duplex printing and ease of operation. With this new series, the company is confident about strengthening its position in these sectors and has developed an aggressive go-to-market strategy for tapping the market across top cities in the country. With the entry into the A3 printer segment, Samsung enterprise business aims to contribute to 10% of Samsung East Africa total turnover over the next few years, “As organizations rapidly expand their businesses, we want to empower them with innovative technology that helps them to evolve and grow their business with a competitive edge. We today offer a suite of innovative, high-quality and reliable smart enterprise devices and solutions that address all business needs across education, healthcare, hospitality, retail and financial sectors. Our entry into the A3 printer category is a confirmation of our commitment to offering new dimen-sions in printing solutions to both enterprise and SMBs,” said Robert Ngeru, VP, Samsung Electronics East Africa.
Ngeru added: “We will continue to introduce printing solutions that are customized for regional and user envi-ronments, thereby providing perfect products that satisfy local customer needs. Over the next fiscal year, we plan to become a leading player in the A3 MFP market. Keeping in line with this aim, we will be focusing on establishing
and consolidating our regional distribution channel by partnering with Copy Cat Ltd as our direct distributors for A3 printers and Solutions.”
The laser printer models launched in the market, which include the CLX-6260FR, CLP-680ND, SCX-8230 NA, SCX-8240 NA and CLX-9352NA, come with unique selling points that will ensure customers get value for money from their purchase. The polymerized toners also improve the overall quality of the print output, making it the ideal solution for quality driven and environmentally conscious businesses. The printers also come with an anti-paper jam technology and dual core processors for faster through-put of image driven documents. For large enterprises, Samsung offers the CLX-9201NA. “These multi-functional printers also come with Free Fleet Management Software, server-less tools that provides increased efficiency and productivity by allowing users to manage, monitor and diagonize multiple printing devices remotely, and seam-lessly integrate the document solution with their backend systems,” said Albert Kigada, printing solutions manager, key accounts, Samsung East and Central Africa. Operating expenses will be lowered with greater ease using the Eco Mode, a cost-saving feature that helps companies reduce paper and power costs. By simply pressing the Eco button on the multi-function printers, users can print more onto every page, with options for 2-up, 4-up and duplex print-ing.
Samsung makes forays into East Africa’s A3 printer market
As organizations rapidly expand their businesses, we want to empower them with innovative technology
Staff Writer TrendLINES
(R-L) Robert Ngeru, VP & COO, Samsung East and Central Africa is joined by Vishal Patel (centre), Executive Director, Copy Cat Ltd and Nandan Nair, Business Lead for Printers and Tablets Division, Samsung
17CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
TWITTER INTREVIEW Lilian Mutegi
@murugimutegi tweeted @CWanjau
FlashCast takes brands to the client, while they’re on transit
What is FlashCast Tv all about? FlashCast is a digital transit communication platform that enables bus passengers to receive relevant information based on their location.
How did the idea of FlashCast come to be? It came from the realization that in a bus, the passengers’ time is under-used especially when there is traffic, and so, we decided it would be a good opportunity to reach out to them.
How does FlashCast operate? We’ve installed location-aware scrolling text displays that will show messages based on location and time of day. The screens are able to show relevant content to the passengers, for example we can show them local offers based on the area the bus is in. Or we can show news headlines updated hourly as the screens have an internet connection, enabling us to update messages in real time. We also have a short code (free for passengers) that enables them to send messages and they’ll appear on the screen as they’re in the bus.
Kindly touch a bit on the Sonar app that is also part of FlashCast. The Sonar app is meant to help passengers discover routes and find stages in Nairobi. One can search nearby stages, find bus
routes, and if our screens are on a particular route, we can give the current trip time for that route
How many routes do you currently cover in Kenya? We are currently on 4 routes, each covering a different area of Nairobi. Route 22 (Uthiru), 33 (Emabakasi), 35/60 (Umoja) and 111 (Ngong Town). We have installed 20 screens to date.
Kindly, touch on your partnership with Safaricom. What role does Safaricom play? Safaricom is both a client and a service provider. They advertise on our platform and we also use their network to run our fleet.
And how do you keep up with the data collection, in terms of number of passengers reached at a given time? We’ve developed a platform to manage and analyze the data we collect, and are able to know passenger interaction at any given time.
Apart from Kenya, where else does FlashCast operate? We recently launched in Nigeria in partnership with EVS and have plans to launch in other markets soon.
Digital Transit Advertising or Communication is slowly becoming a key trend that many people and companies are taking advantage of to position their products and services.
You might have noticed a dynamically refreshing text display installed in public transit vehicles, where advertisements and breaking news tend to run in a continous manner, with the text display mainly in red, yellow or green.
FlashCast is among Digital Transit Advertising platforms that operates a network of location-aware services in Nairobi. The firm offers businesses
of all sizes an affordable, powerful, geo-targeted channel to reach their target clients. They also enable NGOs, government agencies, and social enterprises to broadcast vital information to a notoriously difficult to reach demographic due to the crazy traffics experienced on our roads. This month @CIOEastAfrica caught up with Caine Wanjau (@CWanjau), VP, Business Development, FlashCast
This interactive
aspect enables them to
communicate with fellow
passengers and discuss topical issues as well as play games and quizzes
18 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
It appears that this investment is targeted at realizing the long-touted persons’ unique identifier. Different quarters have adopted different terminology to refer to this project including smart ID card, Third Generation ID card and persons’ data hub. The project is identified as a priority project in Kenya’s ICT Master Plan and the Jubilee Manifesto.
The project is expected to deliver a myriad of benefits including a secure counterfeit proof citizen identification document; streamline and consolidate existing birth, na-tional ID, driver, voter, NHIF, NSSF and tax PIN registration processes; and provide the foundation for other initiatives such as citizen digital signatures and national electronic payments projects. The country’s rapidly deteriorating
security situation has increased the project’s urgency.
Considering the projects wide scope and complexity, its implementation is likely to be extremely challeng-ing. Given the high prevalence of counterfeit registration documents in the country, defining a mechanism that will ensure non-citizens are not erroneously registered will prove to be a challenge. Further, the effort involved in getting multiple stakeholders to collaborate and deliver a project that will render some of them redundant cannot be underestimated. Procurement of a viable solution will also be a challenge especially since three previous attempts to acquire the system - the first dating back to 2005 – have all failed.
In his, budget speech, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich allocated Kshs 3.1 billion to four ICT projects with Kshs 0.6 billion going to National Digital Services.
India’s Universal ID program – Lessons for Kenya
India embarked on an ambitious project to implement a system of unique identification of its residents in 2006
A U.S. Marine uses an iris scanner to positively identify a member of the Baghdadi city council
Continued on page 21
TrendANALYSIS PwC 2014/15 Budget Analyses Michael Mwangi
19CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
TrendANALYSISStaff Writer
Cisco Security
Cisco Identity Services Engine (SISE)) 7th July & 13th October
Cisco Edge Network Security Solutions (SENSS)
Cisco Secure Mobility (SIMOS)
Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution (SIASM)
Cisco Threat Control Systems (SITCS)
14th July & 20th October
21st July & 20th October
3rd August & 2nd Nov.
11th August & 10th Nov.
COURSE START DATE
Cisco Voice
Cisco Voice Communications and QoS v8.0 (CVOICE)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Part 1 v8.0 (CIPT1)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Part 1 v8.0 (CIPT2)
Cisco BE6000
25th August
1st September
18th August
11th August
Cisco Data Center Networking (DCICN) 15th September
Cisco Data Center Technologies (DCICT) 22nd September
Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric (DCUFI) 27th October
Cisco Data Center Unified Computing (DCUCI) 29th September
Configuring Cisco Nexus 7000 Switchesing (DCNX7K) 10th November
3rd NovemberAdministering Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (AUCCE)
Computer Learning Centre Kenya is offering a series of vendor-neutral training courses under the DATACOMM’s (DCT) brand leading to multiple vendor certifications from attending one course. The courses are designed and developed using industry standards protocols with emphasis on common terminology and hands-on labs exercises.
The suite of courses includes Fiber optic Structured cabling training leading to certification from DCT, SIEMON, GIGANET and BICSI. The Data Centre Design course is an in-depth course on Cabling, cooling and power leading to the world renowned certification from BICSI of Data Centre Design consultant. The DCT Unified communications course covers IP PBX and
VOIP integration from leading vendors such as Cisco, Avaya, Huawei, D-link and Asterisk.
The DCT Unified wireless course is designed for or-ganizations deploying a Wireless LAN controller/switch to manage all their wireless access points from one single GUI-based system. The IP Surveillance/CCTV course is designed to cover intelligent monitoring and recording of IP based CCTV cameras, both indoor and outdoor cameras.
Studying any of this courses is less expensive compared to studying each vendor course separately, which can be time consuming and expensive at the same time.
Imagine having everything you need in one basket. Then imagine a multi-vendor course that introduces you to all recognized ICT certifications.
Computer Learning Centre launches Datacomms (DCT) Multi-vendor Training
20 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
In the 2014/2015 budget estimates, the government has specifically allocated Kshs 2.5 billion to key ICT projects that include the Kenya National Electronic Single Window System, roll out of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and national digital services. It is also expected that County governments will utilise part of the funds allocated to them on acquisition and implementation of ICT solutions that will enable them to improve citizen service delivery.
In providing the budget estimates, the government also expressed concern on the low level of absorption of funds budgeted for development programmes. Therefore while the plans around ICT projects to be implemented are clear and budget allocations made for some of the key projects, significant effort will also be required to ensure that these projects are successfully implemented and deliver the expected outcomes.
Large ICT projects are notoriously risky and have a high rate of failure due to a number of factors including lengthy and problematic procurement processes, weak contracts, poor project management, inadequate change manage-ment and lack of clear definition of expected outcomes.
In Kenya, the first hurdle in delivery of large scale ICT projects is successfully completing the procurement process by acquiring the right solutions and the right implementing partners. There are numerous examples of projects that stall at the procurement process or end up with solution providers that cannot deliver the project.
The public procurement regulations are designed to safeguard the integrity of the process but can also mean that public entities do not have the flexibility that private entities have in designing a process that is suitable for the complex systems being procured. The procuring entity therefore needs to be innovative to design a process that
The Government through Vision 2030 recognises ICT as a foundation for economic development in the country. The government is particularly keen to leverage on ICT to improve public service delivery. This is reflected through key projects identified in Vision 2030, the National ICT Master Plan and the national budget.
Delivering large ICT projects
the government also expressed concern on the low level of absorption of funds budgeted for development programmes.
Paul Kukubo, CEO, East Africa Exchange (EAX), Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Former Permanent Secretary, Min-istry of Information and Communication and Micah Cheserem, Chair, Commision on Revenue Allocation during the launch of the National ICT Masterplan
TrendANALYSIS PwC 2014/15 Budget Analyses Alex Muriuki
21CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
meets the requirements of public procurement regula-tions but also enables selection of the best possible solutions. This requires clear definition of expected out-comes and requirements for the solutions, well designed evaluation criteria, a process that enables verification of written proposals through solution demonstrations and site visits, selection of an evaluation committee with the appropriate skills and co-option of third party technical support where necessary.
The contracting process is also important in ensuring success of projects. Contracts need to be performance based with payments linked to clearly defined perfor-mance levels both during and after execution of the projects. We have seen contracts where upto 70% of the value of the project is paid to the service provider at the design stage leaving little performance motivation.
The delivery process should be well managed through a well-defined and resourced Project Management Of-fice (PMO). A PMO helps to ensure a disciplined project management approach is followed in the implementa-tion, the project is insulated from business-as-usual interruptions, the right decisions are made on a timely basis, risks are identified and mitigated early enough and stakeholders are sufficiently engaged. Training and change management is critical in ensuring the new solu-tions are adopted and achieve their objectives. Expected outcomes or benefits should be explicitly defined at the beginning of the project and proactively measured and tracked to enable their realisation. Key stakehold-ers need to understand the benefits of the project and “what’s in it for them” in order to fully support it. Visible sponsorship at the right level of leadership is also a criti-cal success factor.
ICT clearly presents numerous opportunities in increasing efficiency in the public sector and enhancing citizen service delivery. These benefits can however only be realised if ICT projects are systematically planned and delivered with the right skills and methodologies right from conception and procurement and through to their implementation and operation.
The Writer is a Senior Manager with PwC Kenya’s Advi-sory practice in Technology Services
As we embark on this critical project, it’s prudent for us to examine how other countries have gone through similar projects. India provides an interesting case study because it’s a third world country with a population of 1.2 billion which calls for adoption of innovative and pragmatic solutions when delivering such a project.
India embarked on an ambitious project to implement a system of unique identification of its residents in 2006. The UID (Universal ID) program aims to improve the delivery of govern-ment services, reduce fraud and corruption, facilitate robust voting processes, and improve security. UID has leveraged technology to create an online unique identity for an individual using biometric attributes (fingerprint and iris) which can be au-thenticated online. Inclusion of the iris enhanced system security since unlike facial features it cannot be altered or masked like fingerprints (through cuts or bruises).
Since 2009, the authority created to oversee the system the, Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI), has enrolled more than 600 million residents. In addition to registering persons, the UIDAI provides an online authentication service to authorized third parties such as government institutions and banks. Through this service, an individual’s UID number, along with other attributes (demographic, biometrics) are submitted to UIDAI’s system for verification. The UID system verifies whether the data submitted by the service provider matches its database and responds with a ‘yes/no’. In this process, no personal identity information is re-turned as part of the response from the UID system. Additionally, the system provides an e-KYC service, through which a resident can authorize the UIDAI to provide their demographic data and photograph to a service provider e.g. bank as part of the account opening process.
India’s UID program has been a resounding success and has been used as a template by other countries looking to imple-ment UID systems. The use of industry standards is one of the key sources of success of India’s UID. Use of open standards has allowed third parties to integrate their systems with the UID and authenticate citizens online. Another significant enabler for the system was the creation of a special purpose authority, the UIDAI to oversee the system and formation of an inter-ministerial committee to oversee its implementation. This ensured account-ability and a framework to marshal and co-ordinate the efforts of different stakeholders within government.
India’s UID program has been a resounding success. Over half of India’s population has been assigned a UID and the system has provided a foundation for several other projects including a social security scheme to provide cash grants to the poor. Kenya can learn several lessons from India’s UID project includ-ing relying on partnerships with private sector organisations to implement and operate the required infrastructure; relying on biometrics such as iris to ensure security; and constituting an inter-ministerial team to provide leadership and ensure collabo-ration between government agencies.
India has proven that UID is achievable and can deliver value. We only have ourselves to blame if we cannot deliver a similar project in Kenya.
TrendANALYSISStaff Writer
These benefits can however only be realised if ICT projects are sys-
tematically planned and delivered with the right skills and method-ologies right from conception and procurement and through to their implementation and operation.
Continued from page 18
22 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Did you know that preceding the budgets of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, the East Africa Community (EAC) Budget is also presented to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) ?
By Francis Thairo
The 2014/15 EAC Budget was read by Phyllis Kandie, chairperson, Council of Ministers, EAC and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary, Ministry for East African Community Affairs, Commerce and Tourism. The EAC Budget was themed “Consolidating the EAC Common Market and commencing the implementation of the Monetary Union Protocol”.
The respective country budgets for Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania also laid a lot of emphasis on the ICT sector and went further to acknowledge the huge impact which it has across other economic sectors such as healthcare, security, education and financial services. As Technology professionals, we ought to recognise the importance of not just our own country
budgets but realise the significance of what is happening in the EAC. On close scrutiny, one would argue that a copy paste strategy was used by the Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Interestingly enough, the answer is “no” because the EAC comprises of States with similar politico-socio-economic context, thereby leading to a selection of focus areas and formulation of similar quick wins among the member states. The table on the next page highlights key budget areas and potential catalysts to look out for in the EAC States.
Note: Though Burundi did not read it’s 2014/15 Budget in June, the EAC ICT catalyst analysis has been based on strategic ICT Government projects.
EAC Budgets for 2014/15: Government initiatives as catalyst to ICT sector?
PWC 2014/15 BUDGET ANALYSES:
Francis Thairo, Manager, PwC Kenya Advisory practice in Technology Services
23CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Coun
try
2014
-15
Coun
try
Budg
et T
hem
e fo
r ICT
Pote
ntia
l Cat
alys
tBu
rund
i »
One
Sto
p Bo
rder
Pos
t (O
SBP)
con
cept
pilo
t »
Nat
iona
l Pay
men
t Sys
tem
»M
ore
trans
pare
nt c
olle
ctio
n of
taxe
s by
gove
rnm
ent.
»Eff
icie
nt m
ovem
ent o
f goo
ds b
etw
een
Tanz
ania
and
Bur
undi
. »
Nea
r sam
e da
y se
ttle
men
t of p
aym
ents
.
Keny
a »
Reve
nue
Colle
ctio
n Sy
stem
s »
The
use
of IC
T Pr
ivat
e Pu
blic
Par
tner
ship
s (PP
PS) b
y go
vern
men
t »
Hig
h te
ch c
itize
n se
rvic
es
»In
nova
tive
reve
nue
colle
ctio
n sy
stem
s bei
ng d
evel
oped
»
Onl
ine
tax s
yste
ms a
nd a
lmos
t tot
al re
duct
ion
of m
anua
l tax
retu
rns.
»Ea
sy a
nd si
mpl
er c
ross
bor
der t
ax c
ompl
ianc
e. »
ICT
Com
pani
es in
crea
sing
inve
stm
ent t
o off
er c
heap
er IT
serv
ices
»Cl
oud
com
putin
g se
rvic
es fo
r gov
ernm
ent a
nd p
rivat
e co
mpa
nies
at r
educ
ed
cost
s.
»In
crea
se in
inve
stm
ents
in th
e H
ealth
, Edu
catio
n, A
gric
ultu
re, T
ouris
m a
nd
Tran
spor
t sec
tors
.
Uga
nda
»N
atio
nal T
rans
mis
sion
Bac
kbon
e In
frast
ruct
ure.
»Go
vern
men
t fun
ded
Busi
ness
Pro
cess
Out
sour
cing
(BPO
) pilo
t and
N
atio
nal I
CT P
ark
and
Inno
vatio
n Ce
nter
. »
Inte
grat
ed P
erso
nnel
and
Pay
roll
Syst
em (I
PPS)
»N
atio
nal S
ecur
ity »
Info
rmat
ion
Syst
ems P
roje
ct, c
omm
only
kno
wn
as th
e N
atio
nal I
D Pr
ojec
t.
»Dr
astic
redu
ctio
n in
inte
rnet
and
tele
com
mun
icat
ion
conn
ectiv
ity c
osts
. »
Crea
tion
of jo
bs a
nd h
ighe
r dem
and
for I
CT p
rofe
ssio
nals
. »
Use
of l
ocal
con
sulta
nts t
o st
ream
line,
inte
grat
e an
d tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
Gove
rnm
ent
»Go
vern
ance
and
eas
e of
doi
ng b
usin
ess s
uch
as K
now
You
r Cus
tom
er (K
YC)/
Kn
ow Y
our S
uppl
ier (
KYS)
.
Rwan
da »
Auto
mat
ed re
venu
e co
mpl
ianc
e an
d co
llect
ion.
Rol
lout
of
Elec
troni
c Bi
lling
Mac
hine
s (EB
M).
»In
crea
se ro
ll ou
t and
use
of v
ideo
con
fere
ncin
g by
Gov
ernm
ent.
»Gr
owth
in u
se o
f mob
ile p
aym
ents
to o
ther
gov
ernm
ent r
even
ue c
olle
ctio
n se
rvic
es.
»In
crea
se in
tax c
ompl
ianc
e »
Job
crea
tion
and
capi
tal i
nflo
w in
the
ICT
sect
or.
»Th
e en
hanc
ed ro
ll ou
t of t
he 4
G ne
twor
k.
Tanz
ania
»In
trodu
ctio
n of
10%
exc
ise
»du
ty o
n fe
es a
nd le
vies
col
lect
ed b
y ba
nks,
tele
com
mun
icat
ion
»Co
mpa
nies
and
vario
us a
genc
ies f
rom
mon
ey tr
ansf
er se
rvic
es.
»Th
e re
mov
al o
f all
tax e
xem
ptio
ns o
n in
vest
men
ts g
rant
ed
to te
leco
m o
pera
tors
und
er th
e Ta
nzan
ia In
vest
men
t Cen
tre
for d
eem
ed c
apita
l goo
ds su
ch a
s tel
ecom
tow
ers a
nd th
eir
acce
ssor
ies,
gen
erat
ors,
tow
er fe
nces
, veh
icle
s, b
ase-
stat
ion
acce
ssor
ies,
ear
thlin
g, su
rge,
and
ligh
teni
ng p
rote
ctio
n sy
stem
s etc
. »
Gove
rnm
ent I
nstit
utio
ns a
nd A
genc
ies m
ust u
se th
e e-
Gove
rnm
ent
Agen
cy in
stea
d of
con
sulta
nts i
n in
stal
ling
thei
r ICT
syst
ems i
n or
der
to m
inim
ize
»In
crea
se in
ele
ctro
nic
and
mob
ile tr
ansa
ctio
ns.
» »IC
T se
ctor
gro
wth
in in
vest
men
ts, j
ob c
reat
ion
and
ICT
tale
nt p
ool f
or te
lco
and
finan
cial
sect
ors.
»In
nova
tion
and
inve
stm
ent o
n gr
eene
r and
mor
e eff
icie
nt te
leco
mm
unic
atio
n an
d po
wer
syst
ems.
»
Grow
th in
ICT
job
oppo
rtuni
ties.
»
Prom
ote
gove
rnan
ce in
gov
ernm
ent p
roje
cts t
hrou
gh u
se c
entra
lized
syst
em fo
r te
nder
s.
24 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT GOES ONLINE WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A SUPPLIER
www.ifmis.go.ke www.ifmis.go.ke
EVOLUTION OF KENYA’S PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Public procurement in Kenya has evolved over time. In the 1970s and 80s the Government used supplies manuals supplemented by Treasury circulars. The Government in 2001 introduced Public Procurement Regulations to address challenges experienced under earlier procurement approaches. The enactment of Public Procurement regulations led to the establishment of Public Procurement Directorate (PPD) and Public Procurement Complaints, Review and Appeals Board (PPCRAB).
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND DISPOSAL ACT, 2005
In order to strengthen PPD and PPCRAB operations, the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005 was created. The Act came into effect in 2007. Subsequently, under the same Act, the Government established the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA). The Act provides for separation of powers, roles and duties among the different players
various committees and procurement unit staff. All these approaches have
come a long way to enhance controls and provide a level playing ground for government suppliers. However, despite the gains, public procurement has predominantly remained a manual process prone to
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REFORM
INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (IFMIS) PROCURE TO PAY (P2P)
The Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is an
IFMIS — HELA ZETU, HUDUMA BORAProtecting and utilizing public funds for optimal performance and service delivery to Kenyans
IFMIS — HELA ZETU, HUDUMA BORAProtecting and utilizing public funds for optimal performance and service delivery to Kenyans
management system that interlinks planning, budgeting, expenditure management and control, accounting, auditing and reporting. The National Treasury in 2003 introduced IFMIS as a Public Finance Management (PFM) reform initiative to automate and streamline Government’s
processes and procedures.
The IFMIS system plays a key role in the public procurement reform agenda. IFMIS P2P component aims to fully automate the procurement and payment process. This will increase control and visibility over the entire life-cycle of a procurement transaction, from procurement planning to payment. The National Treasury’s IFMIS Department and PPOA are at the forefront working towards full automation.
WHAT FUNCTIONALITIES ARE CONFIGURED IN THE IFMIS PROCURE TO PAY COMPONENT?
1. Procurement Planning
The automated Procurement plan ensures that all procurement requirements are linked to the approved budget estimates and charge accounts within the respective MDAs/Counties. It also helps MDAs/Counties to forecast their needs for goods and services for the year and determine the appropriate procurement method. Procurement Planning ensures that all procuring entities within government purchase the right products and/or services at competitive prices.
2. Supplier Management
Supplier management entails the process of registering suppliers, supplier’s business
this information throughout the procurement cycle.
3. Item Master
The Government of Kenya has adopted the United Nations Standard Product and Services Code (UNSPSC) which standardises the utilisation of items within all MDAs/Counties. This means an item is created and given a code which is mapped to UNSPC for indicative pricing. PPOA continuously conducts market survey for common user items and pricing them for use in procurement planning and requisition.
5.
6. Purchase Order (PO) Management
TPO management involves automation of the process of raising Purchase Orders. After the LPOs have been approved,
automatically through the iSupplier portal.
7. Receipt Management
This process automates all activities involved in receiving goods provided by the supplier, from the delivery and receipt of goods, inspection and acceptance process to recording the goods receipt in the system. It also supports the return of delivered goods to the supplier if they fail to meet the inspection criteria
WHAT ARE THE SUPPLIER REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
THE E-PROCUREMENT CONFIGURED FUNCTIONALITIES ARE:
8. Invoicing and Payments Management
This process focuses on capturing of invoices, matching them against purchase/service orders and processing of payments. This will be done through the accounts payable approval hierarchy.
9. Inventory Management
This involves the management of stocks through stock taking and cycle counts to ensure optimal balances with an aim of improving inventory visibility and controlling inventory operations.
10. Contract Management
The contract management module facilitates the creation and negotiation of supplier contracts and formulation of service level agreements (SLAs). The module aims to simplify and streamline the management of vendor contracts and contract deliverables.
11. Reconciliations and Period End Close
This process includes all facets of reporting, classifying and managing
IFMIS for month and year end close processes. This provides increased visibility into the complete procure to pay process
12. iSupplier portal
This is a self service portal that allows the suppliers to check on the status of their purchase/service orders issued and payments
Public procurement reform is part of the overall public sector reforms and transformation agenda as highlighted in Vision 2030. Section 227 of the Constitution of Kenya provides for the establishment of a system for procurement of goods and services that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. It also envisages an Act of Parliament that will prescribe a framework within which policies relating to procurement and asset disposal will be implemented.
Key functionalities have been configured in the IFMIS system, in readiness for implementation in Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and Counties. Users have also been trained on these functionalities ready for Go-Live in July 2014.
Requisition Management
This process entails creation of purchase requisitions, referenced from the approved Procurement Plan. This is achieved through a web-based shopping cart that allows end users to create, manage and track their own orders while the procurement department retains central control.
Quotation ManagementThe Quotation management module enables efficient management of supplier responses to Request for Quotations (RFQs). This includes submission,uploading and management of quotations, bids and tender documents. The evaluation process is automated.
4.A business entity must be duly registered with the Registrar of Companies.
The business entity must have a tax compliance Revenue Authority (KRA).
The business location, address, phone numbers and e-mail address must be provided.
The category of goods/services that the business entity supplies must be indicated.
The business entity must have a system generated IFMIS number.
The supplier will be provided with access credentials for the iSupplier portal.
The user of the e-procurement (electronic procurement) service must have access to the internet
The National Treasury recently trained and sensitized 2000 current and potential government suppliers on e-procurement. The suppliers participated in the nationwide training and sensitization programme officially opened by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Henry Rotich in May 2014, in Nairobi. Training was conducted in: Nairobi, Machakos, Mombasa, Malindi, Garissa, Embu, Nyeri, Isiolo, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kakamega, Kisumu and Kisii.
GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT GOES ONLINE WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A SUPPLIER
www.ifmis.go.ke www.ifmis.go.ke
EVOLUTION OF KENYA’S PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Public procurement in Kenya has evolved over time. In the 1970s and 80s the Government used supplies manuals supplemented by Treasury circulars. The Government in 2001 introduced Public Procurement Regulations to address challenges experienced under earlier procurement approaches. The enactment of Public Procurement regulations led to the establishment of Public Procurement Directorate (PPD) and Public Procurement Complaints, Review and Appeals Board (PPCRAB).
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND DISPOSAL ACT, 2005
In order to strengthen PPD and PPCRAB operations, the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005 was created. The Act came into effect in 2007. Subsequently, under the same Act, the Government established the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA). The Act provides for separation of powers, roles and duties among the different players
various committees and procurement unit staff. All these approaches have
come a long way to enhance controls and provide a level playing ground for government suppliers. However, despite the gains, public procurement has predominantly remained a manual process prone to
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REFORM
INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (IFMIS) PROCURE TO PAY (P2P)
The Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is an
IFMIS — HELA ZETU, HUDUMA BORAProtecting and utilizing public funds for optimal performance and service delivery to Kenyans
IFMIS — HELA ZETU, HUDUMA BORAProtecting and utilizing public funds for optimal performance and service delivery to Kenyans
management system that interlinks planning, budgeting, expenditure management and control, accounting, auditing and reporting. The National Treasury in 2003 introduced IFMIS as a Public Finance Management (PFM) reform initiative to automate and streamline Government’s
processes and procedures.
The IFMIS system plays a key role in the public procurement reform agenda. IFMIS P2P component aims to fully automate the procurement and payment process. This will increase control and visibility over the entire life-cycle of a procurement transaction, from procurement planning to payment. The National Treasury’s IFMIS Department and PPOA are at the forefront working towards full automation.
WHAT FUNCTIONALITIES ARE CONFIGURED IN THE IFMIS PROCURE TO PAY COMPONENT?
1. Procurement Planning
The automated Procurement plan ensures that all procurement requirements are linked to the approved budget estimates and charge accounts within the respective MDAs/Counties. It also helps MDAs/Counties to forecast their needs for goods and services for the year and determine the appropriate procurement method. Procurement Planning ensures that all procuring entities within government purchase the right products and/or services at competitive prices.
2. Supplier Management
Supplier management entails the process of registering suppliers, supplier’s business
this information throughout the procurement cycle.
3. Item Master
The Government of Kenya has adopted the United Nations Standard Product and Services Code (UNSPSC) which standardises the utilisation of items within all MDAs/Counties. This means an item is created and given a code which is mapped to UNSPC for indicative pricing. PPOA continuously conducts market survey for common user items and pricing them for use in procurement planning and requisition.
5.
6. Purchase Order (PO) Management
TPO management involves automation of the process of raising Purchase Orders. After the LPOs have been approved,
automatically through the iSupplier portal.
7. Receipt Management
This process automates all activities involved in receiving goods provided by the supplier, from the delivery and receipt of goods, inspection and acceptance process to recording the goods receipt in the system. It also supports the return of delivered goods to the supplier if they fail to meet the inspection criteria
WHAT ARE THE SUPPLIER REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
THE E-PROCUREMENT CONFIGURED FUNCTIONALITIES ARE:
8. Invoicing and Payments Management
This process focuses on capturing of invoices, matching them against purchase/service orders and processing of payments. This will be done through the accounts payable approval hierarchy.
9. Inventory Management
This involves the management of stocks through stock taking and cycle counts to ensure optimal balances with an aim of improving inventory visibility and controlling inventory operations.
10. Contract Management
The contract management module facilitates the creation and negotiation of supplier contracts and formulation of service level agreements (SLAs). The module aims to simplify and streamline the management of vendor contracts and contract deliverables.
11. Reconciliations and Period End Close
This process includes all facets of reporting, classifying and managing
IFMIS for month and year end close processes. This provides increased visibility into the complete procure to pay process
12. iSupplier portal
This is a self service portal that allows the suppliers to check on the status of their purchase/service orders issued and payments
Public procurement reform is part of the overall public sector reforms and transformation agenda as highlighted in Vision 2030. Section 227 of the Constitution of Kenya provides for the establishment of a system for procurement of goods and services that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. It also envisages an Act of Parliament that will prescribe a framework within which policies relating to procurement and asset disposal will be implemented.
Key functionalities have been configured in the IFMIS system, in readiness for implementation in Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and Counties. Users have also been trained on these functionalities ready for Go-Live in July 2014.
Requisition Management
This process entails creation of purchase requisitions, referenced from the approved Procurement Plan. This is achieved through a web-based shopping cart that allows end users to create, manage and track their own orders while the procurement department retains central control.
Quotation ManagementThe Quotation management module enables efficient management of supplier responses to Request for Quotations (RFQs). This includes submission,uploading and management of quotations, bids and tender documents. The evaluation process is automated.
4.A business entity must be duly registered with the Registrar of Companies.
The business entity must have a tax compliance Revenue Authority (KRA).
The business location, address, phone numbers and e-mail address must be provided.
The category of goods/services that the business entity supplies must be indicated.
The business entity must have a system generated IFMIS number.
The supplier will be provided with access credentials for the iSupplier portal.
The user of the e-procurement (electronic procurement) service must have access to the internet
The National Treasury recently trained and sensitized 2000 current and potential government suppliers on e-procurement. The suppliers participated in the nationwide training and sensitization programme officially opened by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Henry Rotich in May 2014, in Nairobi. Training was conducted in: Nairobi, Machakos, Mombasa, Malindi, Garissa, Embu, Nyeri, Isiolo, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kakamega, Kisumu and Kisii.
How safe are you from cyber crime?FeatureBy Lilian Mutegi
According to the ministry of ICT, Kenya is experiencing a growing number of cyber crimes that threaten national security, IT infrastructure as well as citizen’s privacy. The country is losing an estimated Kshs 2 billion ($ 23.3 million) annually through cyber crime.
Bethwel Opil, Sales Manager, Kaspersky, East Africa channel
When computers and networks came into being in the 1990s, hacking was done basically to get more information about the systems. Hackers even battled against one another to win the tag of the best hacker. As a result, many networks were affected, right from the military to commercial organiza-tions. Initially, these hacking attempts were brushed off as mere nuisance as they did not pose a long-term threat.
However, with malicious software being used a lot during the same period, hack-ing started making networks and systems slow. As hackers became more skillful, they started using their knowledge and expertise to gain benefits by exploiting and victimizing others.
Today, cyber criminals that indulge in hacking incidences are not driven by ego or
27CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
How safe are you from cyber crime?
Feature
expertise. Instead, they want to use their knowledge to gain benefits quickly. Cyber crimes have become a real threat and are quite different from old-school crimes, such as robbing, mugging or stealing.
Unlike traditional felonies, cyber crimes can be committed single handedly and does not require the physical presence of the criminals. The same systems that have made it easier for people to conduct e-commerce and online transactions and making the world a global village are the same ones now being exploited by these criminals. It is projected that the trend is set to rise with the increase in the uptake of smartphones.
It is in this relation that we sort insights from Bethwel Opil, East Africa channel sales manager for Kaspersky, the global IT security company. “Kasper-sky started off the East Africa office due to what we felt as the responsibility of the company to educate the East Africa communities on cyber crime. Since 2009 to 2010 when we got fibre optic cables, leading to an increase in bandwidth and the resultant high internet speeds, the increased capacity brought with it more threats of related to cybercrime,” said Opil.
Statistics from Safaricom, state that there is over 67 percent smart phone penetration in the market. Another interesting scenario is the country’s money transfer market as well as the increase in social media use. All these are key areas of interest for cyber criminals, especially the various money transfer options, which criminals can exploit through card skimming.
Another area of interest for cyber criminsls, accord-ing to Opil, could be the fact that most organisations want to move their data centres from other countries to Kenya, with industry regulator Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) also pushing for this.
“This will come with an increase in cybercrime because when it comes to cloud computing, the big-gest link will be people working with companies that deal with data storage. If for instance cybercriminals are able to crack their passwords and get into their systems, that gives you a chance to get into the sys-tems of the corporates. As much as we push for this, we should as well follow up on protecting the cloud
environment,” warned Opil.
However, Mr. Opil believes that, the Security Masterplan the government launched is one com-mendable effort to try fight cybercrime. A lot of concentration should be on protecting business data, especially money transfer platform, banking systems and in terms of National security this could come in handy to provide a lot of intelligence on what is hap-pening on social media and monitor closely, a lot of communication.
He added that for organisations, the issue of mobility should be of concern as well in terms of how people deal with the issue of BYOD at the workplace. “Initially, employees wanted to only bring their own devices but now, they want to bring their own devices and install applications whose security they are not sure about, posing serious security challenges to the corporate network,” he said
However, he believes that steps necessary for pro-tecting ourselves from being victims of cyber crimes are quite easy. “First, always get genuine software from genuine software vendors. Also have protection for your data, that’s simply, antivirus. If your data is on the move, always use encrypted data which could be in two types - file encryption or disc encryption. If you have big systems, you need to have system application protection,” he explained, adding that people also need to ensure that they have secure strong passwords.
For government and public sector organizations, they need to take an extra step to protect their gateway.
All these precautions need to be taken to guard against cyber threats, which are growing by the day, an indication of which is given by the fact that Kaspersky Lab gets over 200,000 malware in a day, most of which are created by cyber criminals and others accidently by students.
“This trend is set to go a notch higher with time if right measures are not taken. Cyber crime is on the rise and cyber security should be a global concern,” he warned.
always get genuine software from genuine software vendors. Also have protection for
your data, that’s simply, antivirus
28 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Pictorial
Robert Liang, Managing Director, X Touch and Caroline Muvondi display Xtouch smartphone and tablet during the product launch at Stanley Hotel.
(L-R) Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom, Dr Fred Matiangi CS, Ministry of ICT, Tony Kuchio of Stathmore University at the launch of @ilabAfrica at Strathmore University
(L-R) Arthur Wang, Finbarr Moynihan, George Zhu, William Hu during the launch of Tecno Phantom Z smartphone in Nairobi
Adil EL Youssefi, CEO, Airtel interacts with a child at I-Afrika Centre during the launch of the biogas project at the centre recently.
29CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Has been appointed East Africa Policy & Government Relations Manager, Google. Murungi - a law reporter and ICT legal ex-pert from Kenya – is the immediate former CEO of National Council for Law Report-ing (Kenya Law), a state corporation in the Judiciary that is the official publisher of the laws and law reports of Kenya. During his twelve years at Kenya Law, his contri-bution transformed access to public legal information in Kenya by establishing www.kenyalaw.org, one of the world’s leading gov-ernment sources of authoritative and quality legal information.
He’s participated in UNESCO’s Economic Commission for Africa’s Sessions of the Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology (CODIST) where he makes key contributions on the formula-tion of an appropriate legal regime for the knowledge society. He has a Master of Laws in Law, Science and Technology (Telecom-munications Law, Broadcasting Law, ICT Law and Intellectual Property Law).
Michael Murungi
NewAPPOINTMENTS
Has been appointed head of Ericsson’s Middle East region from her previous position as head of marketing, Broadcast Services. Ibrahim has more than 30 years’ experience from the telecommunications industry of which 18 in Ericsson. Past posi-tions include Country Manager of Bang-ladesh, head of global customer units as well as head of former market unit North Africa with responsibility for business in 11 countries.
Commenting on the appointment, Ibrahim said: “I am excited to take on this challenge and return to a region that is close to my heart. Region Middle East is a key market for Ericsson, and I believe there are many opportunities for further growth and development. We are absolutely committed to help our customers realize their visions and continue to build the Networked Society in the Middle East.” The appointment takes effect from July 2014.
Rafiah Ibrahim
Has been appointed Member of Global Digital Literacy Committee, a council com-mitted to years of hard work and dedica-tion to the creation of standards for digital literacy. The Council has been in place since 2003.
Kimotho is currently the Senior Deputy Director, Media and Extension Services Department at the Kenya Institute of Cur-
riculum Development (KICD), formerly Kenya Institute of Education (KIE). He has a background in media engineering from Technical University of Kenya and a Masters from Daystar. He trained in Canada for edu-cation Television Certificate at the Univer-sity of Alberta. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Daystar University.
John Kimotho
30 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Lenovo Yoga 2 11A small laptop with tablet potentialThis touchscreen notebook can play tablet dress-up, but Lenovo made a number of compromises to reach its budget price tag.
Look and Feel: Performance and Features:
ProductREVIEW Michelle Mastin
The Yoga 2 11 is a thin-and-light laptop first and foremost. But as you bend its 11.6-inch display back, you can turn it around and stand it up like a tent, puts its keyboard upside down on your desk and use it in stand mode, or fold the display all the way against the back of its keyboard and use it like tablet.
When I reviewed the Dell Venue 11 Pro, I felt as though I’d finally found a tablet that could replace my daily-driver laptop (an 11-inch Asus VivoBook X202). When I used the Dell, I found I almost always left it plugged into its optional keyboard dock.
As I set out to test the Yoga 2 11, I wondered if it would work the other way: As a laptop that could replace my iPad. I thought a machine designed primarily as a laptop would be even more practical. The price is certainly right: You’ll find the Yoga 2 11 selling at Best Buy for the attractively low price of $ 499.
As a laptop, the Yoga 2 11 is thinner and lighter than my Asus laptop, weighing just 2.82 pounds and measuring 0.67 inches thick. The downside to its svelte profile is that its chassis can’t accommodate very
many ports: It has two USB ports, and only one of them is USB 3.0.
It has a Micro HDMI port, which will require an adapter or a special cable to plug into a display or HDTV. The side-mounted power button, meanwhile, is easy to access in all four operational modes, but I also found it too easy to press accidentally when I picked it up.
I realize this isn’t one of Lenovo’s pricey ThinkPad products, but Lenovo could have done better by the input
31CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
ProductREVIEW
In the final analysis, the Yoga 2 11 is just a good laptop that’s capable of some cool party tricks. If your primary tablet use-case is movies, business presentations, or other applications that will benefit from its tent and stand modes, it’s a superior alternative to just buying another clamshell laptop. I don’t see it replacing the reading experience a dedicated tablet delivers, though. I’d also recommend you audition the trackpad and keyboard before laying down your cash--they didn’t seem up to snuff.
Verdict:
devices. The trackpad seemed finicky and overly sensitive out of the box, and the control screen needed to change its settings is buried several levels deep. The keyboard experience is similarly awkward. There is so much flex to the Yoga 2 11’s keyboard deck that I felt all the Chiclet keys moving around when I’d press just one.
As a tablet, the Yoga 2 11 is cumbersome. It’s thicker and at least a pound heavier than a true tablet, let alone the 2-in-1 hybrids that let you detach the keyboard. It worked well as a tablet when it was in my lap, but it’s too heavy and awkward to hold in one hand while you use the other to navigate the touchscreen.
The Yoga’s primary identity is firmly rooted in being a laptop--but it’s not a great one. The 11.6-inch IPS delivers resolution of only 1366x768 pixels, which is disappointing when you can find similarly priced tablets boasting 1080p displays. Having 500GB of storage is great, but it comes in the form of a mechanical hard drive. After testing so many tablets that use solid-state storage, I definitely felt slowdowns during storage-intensive tasks. Mechanical drives also lack the durability that flash memory delivers--that’s especially important for a device that’s meant to be used on the go.
The Yoga 2 11 is powered by an Intel Pentium N3520 processor, which is slightly more powerful than the Atom Z3770D in the Dell Venue Pro 11 and the Atom Z3740 Asus uses in its older Transformer Book T100. All three CPUs come from Intel’s Bay Trail family, but the Pentium is capable of addressing up to 8GB of memory, where the two Atoms are limited to just 2GB. Lenovo outfits the Yoga 2 11 with 4GB of DDR3L/1333 memory. (Note that Dell has since moved the Venue Pro 11 up to Intel’s Atom Z3775, which can address up to 4GB of memory.) You can see a comparison of the four parts on Intel’s website.
Lenovo sells slightly different SKUs on its own website. I found a model selling for $499 there, too, but it came with a lesser Intel Celeron N2920 processor. Models with the Pentium N3520 were priced at $599, but their hard drives were supplemented by 16GB SSDs. Lenovo’s small hybrid produced a Notebook WorldBench 9 score of 28, one point shy of the Dell and three points better than the Asus. Laptops based on Intel’s Core processor family--such as HP’s Spectre x2, which is powered by a Core i5-4202Y--typically perform twice as fast. Then again, HP’s machine costs almost twice as much as the Yoga 2 11 ($900 as of this writing).
Price
32 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
CIOPROFILE
Arif Chowdhury, VP, Transsion Holding
33CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
CIOPROFILEBy Michael Ouma
This is clear from the brand’s foray into markets that were previously dominated by its competitors. After initially focusing on the low-end feature-phone segment, Tecno is currently aiming higher by moving into the smartphone segment.
CIO East Africa recently caught up with Arif Chowdhury, VP, Transsion Holdings (which manufactures Tecno handsets as well as 2 other device brands) during the launch of Tecno’s new flagship smartphone, Phantom Z, in Kenya. Here are Chowdhury’s thoughts on what informs the company’s strategy:
Give us a brief background about yourself. Originally I’m from Bangladesh and now converted to Chinese after studying computer engineering in Shanghai. I graduated over 10 years ago and was then employed by a Chinese mobile vendor before later moving to Sagem.
Your business card doesn’t read “VP, Tecno Mobile” but instead has “VP, Transsion Holdings.” What’s the relationship between Tecno Mobile and Transsion? Transsion Group is the umbrella company that manufactures Tecno Mobile as well as two other device brands – InFinix and itel. We also manage the after-sales service through another independent firm called Carlcare but which is also owned by Transsion Holdings. Briefly that’s the background. Currently, Tecno and itel are shipped to the African market while InFinix is targeted at niche markets like France and Egypt.
When did you assume your current position at the com-pany? I joined Tecno two years ago in this position.
Please highlight the key responsibilities that come with the role of VP at Tecno Mobile. First is that I sometimes feel I’m like the company’s spokesperson. What I handle most is relationships the company’s key strategic partners drawn from governments to mobile network operators to other IT vendors like Safaricom, Google and even Facebook among others.
Tecno got into local market with low-cost feature phones but is currently making a serious foray into the smartphone segment with the Phantom range. What
has informed this change in strategy? Let me begin by saying that Tecno has always been an African brand. For us, we’ll never try to bring products into this market which are ideal for other markets. Africa has been our key focus from the beginning and when we started getting our products into this market, we shipped in feature phones after studying the income and expenditure levels of our target market as well as their communication needs. By then, the cost of smartphones was still very high. Now the market has changed and one can now expect to get a smartphone at $ 50 which was not pos-sible 2 – 3 years back. We started focusing on smartphones in second half of 2012 and last year.
Tecno seems to be quietly but consistently taking the competition to more established mobile device brands in the market. What can you highlight as Tecno’s key advan-tages over its rivals? Our guiding principle has always been ‘think globally, act locally.’ For us, we want to go deep into the African market and our aim is to bring in quality but afford-able devices like the Phantom Z which someone told me can be confused with a Kshs 80,000 device but which we’re selling at less than half of that price. Since the beginning, Tecno has been focusing on quality and price, basically affordability. And I can say here that Tecno Mobile is where affordability meets quality. That’s our unique selling point and we also believe in localization as we’ve realized that this market has demand for customized features.
Talking of localization, how are you engaging with the local tech community and app developers to enhance innovation and creation of locally relevant mobile apps? We do this through app developer competitions which have already been organized in Ethiopia and Kenya. And we aim to engage more with the developers as well as learning institu-tions and eventually establish an innovation lab in one of the local institutions. In this way, we will also nurture talent and human resource that can later be absorbed by Tecno.
In terms of local distribution, which partners are you working with to ensure that the Tecno brand and its products is found in almost all parts of Kenya and Africa? For distribution, we work with most of the mobile network operators – mainly Safaricom, Airtel and Orange. We also have other distribution partners like Reddington.
Arif Chowdhury: Tecno Mobile is where affordability meets quality
Tecno Mobile is on a mission, and it’s a simple one: take the competition to the more established mobile handset brands in Africa and take away their market by delivering high quality but low priced devices.
34 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
DIGITAL BROADCASTINGCover Story
Kenya is set to migrate its broadcast services from analogue to digital platform by September 30th, 2014. As this deadline draws closer, let’s look at what the transition means for broadcasters and
viewers
35CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Education through electronic media or through broadcasting started way back in Africa even as we struggled to develop. As Africans began to develop, they realized the need for education leading them to borrow from past generations how knowledge used to be pre-served and passed on to future generations.
Africans are oral people, they are good at discussing things than in writing them down. That is why as society continued to develop, radio soon became a key medium for information and communication.
In the late 60s, some countries found it easy to edu-cate children in primary schools and secondary schools through radio. And it is around the same period that Kenyan government started education through broad-cast services at the then Voice of Kenya (VOK) only to later find out that educational content is so specialized that it needs to be separated from the other content
meant mainly to inform and entertain people.
In order to have content that is relevant to the cur-riculum, education broadcast services were moved to the then Kenya Institute of Education (KIE), giving birth to school broadcasts in Kenya.
“In 2008, we realized we needed to re-launch educa-tion broadcasting through radio and put it in a domain that would allow even people with mobile phones to receive such content. As this happened, we saw that there were processes and procedures that were not easy to explain through radio as people need to experience them visually to understand them. This is how in 2009, we started writing a concept paper on how this nation can have a TV channel that churns out education con-tent alone and that’s how EDU Channel was born ,” said John Kimotho, senior deputy director, media and exten-sion services department (SDDMES), Kenya Institute of
Africans are oral people, they are good at discussing things than in writing them down.
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
John Kimotho, Senior Deputy Director, Media and Extension Services Department (SDDMES), Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD)
Retracing the journey of education TV broadcasts in Kenya
By Lilian Mutegi
36 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
Educational content is a challenging field because it’s a field where you can’t afford to have an error.
Curriculum Development (KICD) in an interview with CIO East Africa.
The station offers curriculum content only in relation to how the curriculum is implemented. It also offers edutainment, which includes education on agribusi-ness, road safety and health among other issues.
“At the same point, we realized it was not prudent to start EDU Channel on an analogue platform, so we launched it as a digital channel since we knew that the analogue TV platform was closing globally. It was launched on March 30, 2010 by the then President Mwai Kibaki,” said Kimotho.
He also added that after the launch, KICD ensured that all their production process through the studios was done on digital equipment. They then converted their Outside Broadcasting (OB) Van to be a digital broadcasting van and went further ahead to put video play out servers so that in the Digital world, the channel doesn’t have to struggle with programming.
Today, KICD’s EDU Channel educates students various subjects including Kiswahili Fasihi; English Grammar and Literature, Physics as well as Chemistry.
After getting concepts of which subject areas students have challenges with in school, the KICD team then simplifies this through the EDU channel.
To develop its content, the EDU channel identifies a qualified teacher and invites him/her to a teaching environment where s/he can run a lesson at its best and broadcast the same.
“EDU channel develops content by bringing in teach-ers with mastery in a subject who then undergo a panel handling scripting. Once chosen, the teacher writes scripts for various subjects then the technical team develops the programmes,” explained Kimotho.
So far EDU Channel has developed content for Early Childhood Education using singing games and covered a whole curriculumas well as Physics, Geography, Chemistry, History, English and Kiswahili with others on the way. Through the scripting, programmes are churned out in terms of subject and level, for example content for Physics form 2.
EDU Channel’s reach is within the entire digital broad-cast signal’s reach which is currently in Nyeri, Nairobi, Meru, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa. EDU Channel is also available through all the payTV chan-nels in the country with coverage of curriculum content being done during the day and learning hours while repeats are broadcast in the evening and on weekends.
Education TV broadcast also leads to equity in deliv-ery of quality education because through the platform, the teacher’s knowledge is shared widely, unlike in the traditional classroom environment where the knowl-edge could be retained within just a single school.
The last survey done only in Nairobi showed that the channel reaches up to 30% of its target audience who are the learners and trainers.
In terms of content distribution, EDU Channel relies on the SIGNET. “We distribute our content through SIG-NET platform. We use an optic fibre linking us with the Digital broadcasting centre and also use line of sight. We have a Microwave dish that links us with the Digital Broadcasting centre so that our signal is always able to flow through the optic fibre and when the optic fibre has a challenge, it switches automatically to the line of sight so at no point can we be off air,” explained Kimotho.
KICD develops its content internally but also partner with other organizations to come with relevant material – an example being the National Museums of Kenya for cultural content that can be used to enhance national cohesion.
With the September 30 digital switchover deadline quickly approaching, KICD believes that the EDU Chan-nel is set to be positively affected as it already as it is already established a foundation on the digital platform.
“Educational content is a challenging field because it’s a field where you can’t afford to have an error. You need to have quality controls in place and that becomes a little bit expensive to develop. Our competitors may develop edutainment content but to deliver curriculum-based content, EDU Channel is high above. I believe that the future of TV broadcasting, especially now is far much brighter than we could ever imagine before,” concluded Kimotho.
37CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
And is our education system well-equipped to accom-modate the ever dynamic world of new broadcast tech-nologies? CIO East Africa’s Kaome Kaibung’a had chat with Edwin Rasto, a TV station transmission controller and a lecturer at a local university. Below are excerpts:
What does it mean to broadcast in the analogue signal and what is the technology being used?
Analogue is the older version of production and technical in terms of broadcast. In production, this refers to the use of film or tape recording on camera and studio, the graphics that were generated by CGs (Character Generators) the studio backgrounds etc. and
in the technical editing of tape to tape, transmission of compromised video and audio quality. But advances in digital equipment and technologies have made the visible difference in productions, creative options, and greater choices in distribution methods make digital techniques in feature film and commercial productions much more attractive to producers. Newer technolo-gies rarely eliminate older technologies although they often make the older use more specialized. An American cinematographer once said ‘The subtlety and nuance of film is so far out of reach now. Film is still by far the high-est, best resolution medium we have.
‘The subtlety and nuance of film is so far out of reach now. Film is still by far the highest, best resolution medium we have.
Edwin Rasto, TV Station Transmission Controller at a broadcasting House in Kenya
The digital switch over conversation
By Kaome Kaibung’a
2015 is the migration deadline. Are we ready to conclude on the semantics and embrace the inevitable change?
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
38 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
‘For many years, equipment that were used in broad-casting houses were analogue and many analogue including film picture motions are still being used widely today. In fact, the size and quality images that are recorded with film technology have never been sur-passed. The potential screen size and image details or resolution of projected large format film images are still superior to video projection systems and this is likely to remain so for some time. The look of film, the softness of its image, the intense saturation of colours and film’s superior reflectance contrast range-white to black- over electronic media is 300:1 verses 100:1
What is the process involved in the shift?Migration from analogue to digital broadcasting refers
to the process in which the analogue TV broadcast-ing services are converted to and replaced by digital television broadcasting. At the end of migration, usually carried over a specified period, the analogue broad-casting services are eventually broadcast in digital format while the analogue transmitters are switched off. Analogue and digital transmission differ in the way the information is carried from the source to the receiver. In simple terms, in analogue broadcasting, the signal is in the form of a continuous wave, whereas in digital, it’s in the form of discrete bits of information. In digital, the signal is encoded and can be compressed to allow for more channels to be broadcast. For instance, eight new standard definition TV (SDTV) programs can be provided in the same frequency channel as one analogue TV channel.
What does broadcasting in the digital platform mean? Why is it important to migrate?
Digital systems encode audio and video information as a series of “ones” and “zeroes,” or “ON” and “OFF” signal. Digital recordings are more permanent and much less likely to experience a loss in quality when copied from one generation to next than the analogue recordings, because of the values of one and zero used in encoding. Digital offers increased flexibility and ef-ficiency in terms of manipulating and shaping the audio and video in all stages of transmission.
Digital technology has increased the speed, efficiency and “duplicability,” if there’s that word from duplicat-ing and flexibility in television. New digital devices for cameras offer a number of advantages - for example, computer hard disc, digital disc or digital video tape can be built into portable video camera recorder. Digital images are edited immediately on non-linear editing machines. On the digital platform, there’s room for multiple channels and this increases the spreading of
information faster as many people will be able to access the system.
What are some of the advantages we can expect from the migration?
For instance, viewers of digital television will have a wide choice of enhancements to regular programming. Enhancements are separate channels of video, data or audio, which are related to the program on the primary channel. Sporting events will offer the choice of different camera angles, action replays, player profiles or other information. Across a range of programming, digital viewers will have a choice to select more information related to the regular program - product information, recipes, news background and much more. In addition, if a sports event overlaps with news, digital viewers may be offered the opportunity to watch the regularly scheduled news bulletin or the completion of the event on a separate channel.
For the content providers, how are they bound to gain?
As Kenyans are known to have a very rich appetite for what is Kenyan, we as an industry have no choice but to work towards taking advantage of this predisposi-tion to capture the local market as well as the export one. Kenya’s overall approach is to ensure that there is adequate sensitization in order to keep an open and all inclusive path as we traverse the intricate space be-tween public interest and investments in the sector. The trick is to ensure complementary efforts of training, low cost of terminal equipment (particularly set top boxes), and continuous public awareness campaigns so that all can benefit from the new era of broadcasting.
What are some other future trends we can predict? And will there be any kind of oversight in terms of the content being broadcast?
The technology being introduced has the capability for one to maneuver around the programs you want to watch by using an interface called conditional access. However, conditional access will not apply on free-to-air channels. Some of the features of set top boxes include parental control in which case certain channels can be programmed to be accessible only by inputting a password using the remote control. Regarding the issue of inappropriate content, the industry regulator Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) will issue a programming code for broadcasters which upon publi-cation shall be the basis of content regulation. Once in force, free to air broadcasters will have to adhere to its provisions and action will be taken against those flout-ing the code.
Migration from analogue to digital broadcasting refers to the process in which the analogue TV broadcasting services are converted to and replaced
by digital television broadcasting
Continued on page 42
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
39CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Migration to digital broadcasting in Kenya has been a long way coming but the transition is yet to fully take place. Taking advantage of the impending change are Content Specific Channels, with CIO TV leading the pack.
CIO East Africa’s Kaome Kaibung’a sat down with Da-vid Kiprono, executive producer, CIO Television to shed some light on this emerging trend and how it is likely to be impacted by the imminent transition to digital TV broadcasting. Here are excerpts:
You’re a new player in the Kenyan broadcasting
arena yet so far you’ve managed to arouse great amount of interest in the Kenyan tech scene. Is CIO Television’s entrance at this particular time calcu-lated or is it just an idea whose time has come?
It is both calculated and opportune. ICTs represent a way for developing nations to surrogate economic development and to improve levels of education as well as address issues within society. That’s the ultimate end result. The development of high technology including Computer Technology’s Internet and the telephone has helped conquer communication barriers and bridge the gap between people all over the world. This is where
ICTs represent a way for developing nations to surrogate economic development and to improve levels of education
David Kiprono, Executive Producer, CIO Television
Content-specific broadcast channels and Digital migration
By Kaome Kaibung’a
Will content-specific broadcast channels have space after digital migration? Will they be taking over the digital broadcast scene, and is Web broadcasting the future?
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
40 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
CIO TV thrives and lives within the walls of technology.
CIOs, engineers and Tech enthusiasts come in and play their respective roles in affecting our civilization through innovations and advancements. CIO TV therefore is a platform whose time has come, as we need to high-light and emphasize the advancements, impact and exchange of ideas as well as effects of technology in our present world. We have also created a platform which the individual drivers of the tech industry can use to inspire, affect and communicate their agenda as well as nurture young techies and start-ups to continue advancing the global ICT agenda. It is calculated move, because we understand that tech is a very intricate sub-ject matter which can only be well represented by those who play in the tech scene. CIO TV is one such platform.
Is Content Specific broadcasting the future? Content Specific Broadcasting IS the future. At CIO
TV, we already know who our target audience is, and we understand their needs and their expectations. Just like strolling the aisles in a shopping mall, one gets to pick what they want. In the age of competing digital broadcasters, we offer content specifically designed to inform and engage our audience. The tech industry is quite vibrant and essential in both the developed and developing worlds and we understand that we must cater for the hunger for tech-related content both locally and within the region.
Currently, you are running on the Web platform. How powerful and effective is that particular tech-nological space for new entrants in broadcasting?
If it were possible, we wouldn’t even need standard broadcasting frequencies. Again, technology is fast and dynamic. Today’s TV sets come with in-built internet capabilities. This is because billions of people watch billions of online videos every day. The internet age is here. We live in the Information Age and online content delivery has become the norm. Traditional media is also syndicated online by almost every broadcaster, just to attract the wider global audience. Moreover, unlike traditional airwave broadcasting, online broadcasting allows you to have seamless real-time tracking of your content, its popularity, its impact and so on. Online con-tent is also sharable and delivered directly to intended audiences through tools created for such purpose. If I may quote Bill Gates, ‘The internet is the town square of the global village of tomorrow.’
Would you say that the first step in digital broad-cast is in developing new and effective technical standards? And if yes, what would these standards be?
Today’s audience is more aware, has more choices
and is more picky. New technical standards aimed at ensuring faster delivery, high quality and comprehen-sive end user engagement is the only way to stay afloat and thrive in the industry. Legendary broadcasters - like CNN, Bloomberg, BBC and Sky news - continue to domi-nate the broadcast arena because they have accepted that the only constant in life is change. They have under-stood , and understood it well, that the only way to stay on top is to adapt well to technological advancements and to keep up with the changing trends of broadcast technology presentation, while putting more emphasis on ‘people first’ solutions.
Will increased efficiency in the DTV system, through the use of highly efficient video compres-sion and decompression (codecs), affect your type of broadcast?
As a new player, we are adopting state-of-the-art broadcasting standards and DTV is a blessing for us. Not only does it even the playing field for new broadcasters, DTV will ensure that only those with convincingly good concepts, great broadcast standards, high quality and ethos would thrive in the industry and this is something that we at CIO TV take seriously. As a platform for the tech industry in the region, and as tech players, we would want to be among the first broadcasters to em-brace technology and futurism as a tenet and standard practice. We are indeed ready to roll out our services through the DTV system and we do not foresee nor expect any shortcoming in that regard.
Technology is rapidly changing and many con-sumer electronics are now internet-enabled, where consumer interactivity is of paramount impor-tance. This of course enhances and changes the distribution and type of content. How do you hope to leverage CIO TV content on these capabilities?
As earlier indicated, CIO TV thrives and lives within the walls of technology. Tech is our home-stay. Our audience is largely sourced from tech-industry mov-ers, innovators, the national ICT sector, tech start-ups and innovators. Hand-held devices developed by these individuals, software developed by these individuals, data systems developed by these individuals, regula-tions and policies laid down by these individuals, have the CIO TV platform as the platform of choice. We look forward to embracing every facet of technology from our own various players of the field and expect to deliver our content through the many channels they create and develop every day.
How do you hope to use enhanced features such as Non-Real Time (NRT) services to broadcast
Continued on page 42
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
41CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
We have become too much of a talking nation with no one, except maybe myself sometimes, willing to fold their sleeves and get down to doing what needs to be done. This problem has become a cancer growing its roots to the most vital of organs and rotting all in its wake.
Over the past, I have raised the issue of technology experts who are at heart technophobes, which might not be an industry specific problem as accounts bounce more personal cheques than non-accountants. It reminds me of the state-ments by men long ago who married educated women and would tell them to leave their degrees at the door when they come home, the relationship should be self-explanatory.
How else do you explain the case of the CIO losing his smart phone and having the audacity to publicly say that he also lost all his contacts as well, sync! Exactly how is this per-son expected to provide the best solutions for his employer or client if they do not use the technology that they are expected to recommend? That is the tip of the iceberg as on the other end is our regulator who has been unable to explain to the courts how digital migration would actually benefit more the ones resisting its implementation, KISS.
Our parliamentarians are no different. On one end they want better security across the country but on the other end, they resist the use of the most potent infrastructure to meet the said objective.
Big data is here with us and by harnessing it, we could stop much of the mayhem that is going on around the country ranging from poaching to traffic jams but instead, we revert to the constantly failing solutions of yesteryear.
During the first (1914 – 1918) and second (1939 – 1945) World Wars, the generals used radio activity to map the enemies actions or what is better known as “radio chatter” by those in the know. What had been shown over years was that before any major activity - whether a riot or rave - there will be a lot of communication, the same most likely happened before the Mpeketoni raids. A large part of that chatter was over the GSM networks, either as voice or SMS.
With over 17 million active beacons in the field, it is clear where the best place would be to monitor and detect the initial activities of a problem. It is clear that trying to achieve the same level of penetration afresh would take years. But we prefer instead to play politics with the lives of our citizens while on the other end preaching technology.
Enough of the politics issues and back to areas for which we have greater control, such as so-called “tech savvy” uni-versity students who still carry out elections in the same way that my grandfather did. How else do we expect the uptake of technology if the generation that is rumoured to have totally embraced it fears it more than their ancestors? The adminis-tration of the universities are no better with students walking around with analogue identification cards, registering manu-ally for class attendance, clearance before graduation done by walking around campus from department to department and constantly flashing the cards at clueless “askaris”. Even a basic integration of the student ID card with the library card continues to prove impossible for many universities.
It has been disappointing to keep hearing the Dr Fred Matiang’i, the ICT CS making statements and declarations that seem more like the regurgitation from a previous office, now renamed, when discussing issues of technology. The Huduma Centres are a mediocre implementation of technol-ogy as they do not provide a single opportunity window but instead just bring disparate agencies together in a single room instead of consolidation as happens in the bank where any teller can provide any service.
On the contentious issue of 1 million laptops, it continues to haunt me to hear discussion about providing grid power to the schools yet Kenya, being in the tropics, is best placed to harness solar and wind for power generation. Such an activity will make the technology acceptable in those areas as it will be deemed as a leading edge solution but no we would rather burden the project with archaic solutions.
The current digital government seems to have no new ideas on how to leverage technology to meet service delivery objectives. I expected that the first thing that would have been done was to provide us with a single contact number for the government or a harmonised online presence but instead it is still business as usually and the continuing activity of musical chairs.
If you remove the label from a bottle of methanol and
replace it with one written “spring water”, it will have no marked effect on the contents. So why do we keep spending resources renaming and rearranging agencies that would be at best put down? Let us get away from giving lip service to the issue of applying technology and get down to actually using technology to solve our myriad of social and economic problems.
It is with a heavy heart that I pen this article as it pierces my heart every day I see it propagated by my peers and industry seniors.
Lip Service
HardTALK Robert YAWE
42 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
content that targets specific consumers with content that they desire into the various storage platforms such as TV, mobile phones and laptops?
Can’t answer cos it’s akin to snitching on technical strategy.
The television model has a long history of being the most efficient method of reaching large numbers especially with general content. Will you also explore the prospects of running content on a traditional television channel in future?
Television is a product of technology. CIO TELEVISION will always model itself for both new-age and traditional television delivery of content. We are set to launch our subscription-based and free-to-air channel on the na-tional and satellite grid in the very near future.
What is your game plan in terms of attracting an audience and do you suppose that the web platform makes it easier or harder to penetrate?
Our game plan is quite simple – high-quality delivery, prompt delivery, consistency and understanding the needs of our viewers. We look forward to consulting far and wide within and without the tech and broadcast space to ensure that our content is relevant and in de-mand from our targeted audience for sustainability and growth. Ours is a simple task - to deliver tech and business content while treating each item as a prime item. Technol-ogy drives the globe today, ours is to showcase how.
We can already see the mainstream channels playing catch up on the web in terms of sharing their content. How powerful is the web in this context?
The web is the most powerful tool today in terms of viral marketing of any material. Traditional TV stations are fast joining the tech space in trying to play catch up. The audi-ence has evolved and those who have not embraced the social media platforms and general web space will find it hard to catch up. Even advertisers have today moved to online platforms as they are able to spend on targeted audiences and achieve a greater impact with their promo-tional material. In the West, we have more straight-to-web video material produced daily since the generation of portable devices capable of online streaming has made it easy for those on the go to catch up with news and enter-tainment. Long gone are the days when one had to wait for lunchtime news to hear a presidential decree or when one had to drive menacingly through traffic to watch the 7pm news bulletin. Twitter and Youtube, plus the emerg-ing “social-journalism” through blogs and Facebook have made content easily accessible and sharable.
Are we going to borrow experiences from other countries that have already transitioned from analogue to digital TV broadcast-ing? How will the signal distribution market segment help bring down barriers into the local industry?
The Digital Migration workshop by the African Media Initiative in collaboration with the United States Telecommunications Training Institute comes at an opportune moment as we wait to learn from the successes and challenges of other regions. The introduction of the signal distribution market segment is a milestone for the broadcasting industry in Kenya as it has reduced barriers to entry. With the burden of infrastructure roll out now being shouldered by signal distributors, broadcasters can focus their investment and energy on the less strenu-ous endeavours of studio set-up and content creation.
In your opinion, how can the local broadcasters remain relevant / keep up with the times?
In 2010, the Government resolved to upgrade to the DVB T2 standard, which has better spectral efficiency. The state broadcaster Kenya Broad-casting Corporation (KBC), for instance, subsequently upgraded its digi-tal platform to the DVB T2 standard, which is now available in Nairobi and its environs. Most regions of the country are expected to be covered before the end of this year. As alluded to above, digital TV broadcasting is poised to offer higher spectrum efficiency, better picture quality and clearer sound. As a result, more broadcasting channels will be available, offering more choice to consumers, interactivity and access to electron-ic programming guides (EPG) and games among other benefits.
Is our education system ready and equipped to handle the migration in line with the emerging technological needs? How is it affecting the curriculum/ training and will there be need for any ‘re-training’ of the technical staff currently in the job market?
At the moment, our education system is not sufficiently set or ready and equipped to handle the migration in line with the emerging technology. Technology is dynamic and it’s changing every day. To be able to keep with the pace, there’s need to invest heavily in training, in-frastructure and modern equipment. The migration to digital is not easy especially in third world countries. The public is normally not ready, as this comes with a cost and ignorance by the masses on the issue. At least 20% of the people in Kenya have bought digital set boxes but this leaves out the 80% who have not. Most of the countries in Europe are just above 70% digitally migrated. This just tells you how difficult this issue is. Currently in Africa, it’s only Egypt, South Africa and Kenya that are leaping towards the migration. To emphasize further on the issue of our education system, there are very few institutions that are training on digital broadcast technology. Meaning we are having very few people that are trained. Many of the institutions are focusing on production and News reporting areas, so re-training is a must for the people who are currently working as they will be trainers of others. It’s actually easier to train a person who is already familiar with broadcast industry and its technology.
Long gone are the days when one had to wait for lunchtime news to hear a presidential decree or
when one had to drive menacingly through traffic to watch the 7pm
news bulletin.
TV broadcasting is poised to offer higher spectrum efficiency, better picture
quality and clearer sound.
Continued from page 38
Continued from page 40
Digital BroadcastingCover Story
43CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
Hitherto, Africa has been plagued with the threat of disease and other health related issues amongst its population. There rarely has been real-time disease surveillance and monitoring of data on Africa, and as such, we have had to rely on a few sentinel sites and modeling estimates to track the spread and prevalence of disease.
Second OPINION Sam M MWANGI
Using Technology for Health in Africa
But now, use of mobile technology is drastically begin-ning to change this. A recent TA Telecom report on the African telecoms market indicates that mobile penetra-tion in Africa hit 80 percent in the first quarter of this year and is still growing at 4.2 percent annually. That’s faster than anywhere else in the world, the report says, and Africa is, after Asia, the world’s second-largest market. Which means that today, more than eight in 10 Africans have a mobile phone.
Using systems integrated to mobile telephony, quality data has been gathered such that one can tell who is dying and from what, who is sick, and where clusters of disease are occurring. Mobile phones are also helping by improving vaccine supply chains. By allowing real-time data of stock levels in remote facilities to filter back up the chain, it is possible to prevent unnecessary stock-outs and ensure that vaccines are available when infants and children are brought in to be immunized. Meanwhile, health-care workers in the field are now able to access health records and can schedule appointments using their phones. They can even issue automated text re-minders to parents about when vaccine clinics are being held. These are simple measures, yet highly effective.
Things have also improved for pregnant women by use of technology. An example here is KimMNCHip, a national-scale mHealth initiative which offers pregnant women in Kenya more choice, control and care during their pregnancy. It also provides improved medical care for them and their babies during and after delivery. Once pregnant women register with their due dates, informa-tion via a Maternal, Newborn, and Child (MNC) mHealth advisory service is shared. The women receive a mix of “push” SMS and voice messages, and access to call-in advisory hotlines and information databases for Maternal Newborn and Child Health issues.
This information is disseminated at no cost to the women since SMS and voice charges to be covered by do-nors. In additional to the information dissemination, the women also get mFinancial services. They are provided with electronic vouchers to redeem in a collaborating clinic of their choice. The vouchers act as an incentive for clinics to enhance the quality of their services and attract
more pregnant women, through a results-based payment system.
Further afield, a team of ophthalmologists compris-ing of Dr Andrew Bastawrous and Stewart Jordan at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Dr Mario Giardini at the University of Strathclyde, and Dr Iain Livingstone, at the Glasgow Centre for Ophthalmic Research had a vision to extend eye care in Africa. Work-ing with developers, they created an Android application, known as Peek, which is integrated to a clip to run a range of tests, including visualization of the back of the eye. Peek, the portable eye examination kit, is currently under testing with approximately 5,000 patients in Kenya. It can diagnose blindness, visual impairment, cataracts, glau-coma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and other retinal and optic nerve diseases and crucial indica-tors of brain tumour and haemorrhage. The application is expected the help health workers in the remote areas without skills in eye care to share images of the patients’ eye with their skilled counterparts.
Smart tablets are also playing an important role in improving health. In Cameroon, a 26 year old engineer developed a touch screen tablet that would be used to examine a patient’s heart. Arthur Zang’s Cardiopad is integrated to sensors and is capable of carrying out an electrocardiogram. Zang is currently working on a model that can run on solar power to cater for areas without access to electricity.
The invention is expected to help patients with car-diovascular health problems to access medical treat-ment faster and cheaper thorough their local clinics and dispensaries. It wasn’t possible to send or save the results electronically. With the Cardiopad, the results are digital-ized and transmitted. There is no need to print them; the heart surgeon can interpret them, even remotely.
In Cameroon, a 26 year old engineer developed a touch screen tablet that would be used to examine a patient’s
heart
44 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
The value of enterprise architecture in oil and gas sector
The motivation for these new measures is to help boost efficiency in product evacuations and turnaround times, resulting in reduced petroleum handling costs.
The following are the key challenges that face the oil and gas sector at different levels of the value chain: For UPSTREAM challenges are: lack of capital for exploration and production activities, high cost of technology acquisi-tion, inaccessible exploratory sites, skilled manpower, limited technical data in most of the exploratory sites, ro-bust model for production sharing and inadequate policy on petroleum revenue management
While for MIDSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM, the challeng-es are: reliance on a single jetty for off-loading petroleum imports, constrained offshore and onshore access to the Kipevu Oil Terminal (congestion of tankers, increase in freight costs), outdated refinery (meeting international standards on health and environment is a challenge), power disruptions, inadequate storage facilities for products and high cost of acquisition of infrastructure. The other challenges, according to the Ministry of Energy, are high fuel prices and lack of proper planning and coordina-tion of petroleum infrastructure.
These challenges potentially would be a hindrance to compliance with the new measures if they remain unad-dressed. These measures squarely impact the mid stream and downstream domains of the oil and gas value chain.
The challenges in these two domains are largely related to capacity: that is capacity to process imports faster through a single jetty, capacity to refine products through an ageing refinery; and capacity to store products.
There are plans by the government to address the infrastructural challenges. Among these measures is via the modernization of the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) by 2016; developing an additional storage and common truck loading facility at the KPRL premises in Mombasa as well as by extending the oil pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala.
Despite these interventions from an infrastructural standpoint, there is significant need to look at the inter-ventions from an information management standpoint. ERC under the new regulations expects Kenya Pipeline to submit throughput data (information on petroleum prod-ucts moved through the pipeline) on or before the fifth day of each month, with penalties being levied where there are delays. This shows the significant need for informa-tion management to not only comply with the regulations but also enhance efficiency and increase profitability. With a properly implemented framework for information management across the value chain, the industry would be able to achieve the capabilities such as end-to-end process optimization through automation and integration of systems from the time the cargo is declared in transit at the high seas via the single window system through the downstream refinery, pipeline and storage systems providing a real time view of the product information.
To achieve this integrated information management en-vironment, a redesign of the oil and gas information mod-el is critical. This can be achieved through focus on the data domain of enterprise architecture. A typical approach to information management is one where each player would attempt to fix their own house and only onboard other stakeholders when they feel the need to do so. How-ever, the demands for a very integrated industry like this one demands the need for sharing of information among the stakeholders at various levels of the value chain. It is therefore critical to step back and take an ‘enterprise’ look at the industry in view of the regulatory requirements, customer demands and changing consumption patterns in the region to design a baseline model that sets out a delivery model aligned to all the three domains.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is set to introduce stock management rules under the Energy Minimum Operational Stocks and Capacity Regulations 2014 which will require oil marketers to hold more than two weeks’ worth of petroleum products at all times failure to which attract face daily fines or the suspension of their operating licences.
OPINION Peter MUYA
To achieve this integrated information management
environment, a redesign of the oil and gas information model is critical
45CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
I put it to you that it is not that the morals have gone out the window, nay, they went out a while back. Rather it is the increased uptake of technology, specifically the ability to take photos with a phone and immediately upload them onto various platforms online.
In the past, the annual rugby tournament and many other regular social events always provided an ideal environment for those eager to partake in less than tasteful activities. The difference this time round is that almost everyone had a smartphone, then there’s the opportunity to try out th smartphone’s ability to capture moments and the generous urge to share with the world the captured moments.
This brings to mind another event that caused me to wonder how much more dastardly the images that populated the blogosphere would have been had Machakos County had a similar set up in place.
Nakuru County launched free public WiFi less than 3 months ago and within no time (supposedly a few hours later) the system had already failed. Two weeks later, county residents were yet to (thankfully perhaps) accrue any benefits from the free county project. It was alleged that the system failure was due to a blown electrical gadget due to power fluctuations.
It is worth noting that the project was said to have cost tax payers a pretty penny, a figure pegged at Kshs 300 million, therefore why there were no contingency plans in place for such power fluctuations and other occurrences raises quite a few questions.
This is especially so given that even residents who live in areas notorious for power fluctuations always install gadgets that monitor and control the voltage that gets to their electrical appliances so as to protect them from damage; appliances that rarely cost more than a couple or two of ten thousand shillings.
The State House Digital team leader was later quoted
as saying that the WiFi would be restored, and up and running in a month’s time. This was approximately two months ago. Unfortunately the situation has turned into a court case that is waiting to be heard later this month.
Free public WiFi is something that many look forward to due to how much it would ease communication and possibly even drive down costs for several SMEs. It would also help create job opportunities for many as there would be lower set up costs for anyone attempt-ing to venture into business or providing consultancy services. It is worth noting that students would also have the option to spend their spare time more con-structively online creating applications for their projects rather than rushing off to the club after class.
What seems not to have been factored in while laying out the Nakuru County public WiFi project was the need for well-trained and sufficiently experienced personnel who would be in charge of the installation and maintenance because, let’s face it, any electrical or digital system no matter how well designed will still need monitoring and some level of maintenance. It also reveals a lot that gadgets were failing barely 24 hours into implementation.
It raises questions about the quality of products used, the qualifications of the service providers and the kind of planning of the overall project.
Perhaps Masaku 7s would not have churned out the scenes it did had there been free WiFi access as people would have been too busy updating their social media profiles. Who knows?
Masaku 7s, well, what can we say? I shall not contribute to the uproar that was generated by the event. However, I will add my two cents to what most have referred to as “heightened moral decay.”
Technology Tells
OPINION Nyawira MURIUKI
Free public WiFi is something that many look forward to due to how much it would ease communication and possibly even drive down costs
for several SMEs.
46 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Loosely defined Velocity of IT describes the explosion of growth in data and more specifically unstructured data.
According to Gartner, this is not just about Big Data and real time analytics, it’s also about the rate of changes, about linking data sets that are coming with different speeds and about bursts of activities, rather than habitual steady tempo.
What does this mean to us in real life? It means that the regular rate at which we plan, purchase and imple-ment IT in this region is headed for a massive change. The challenge is not just the growth but accessing the massive amounts of data. Flash storage in all flash arrays are rapidly becoming the trend to resolve some of the challenges associated with traditional arrays and even addressing some of the deficiencies of power consump-tion of older disk-based storage.
The biggest challenge we face undoubtedly in the East African region is power. With sufficient power, we can turn entire regions into brightly lit zones addressing se-curity issues by laying out next generation surveillance, awareness and response. Much of the regions potential lies completely untapped due to the high cost of power for mega-manufacturing, massive mining and major modernization.
This ultimately drives even the cost of basic consumer goods upwards before we even start thinking about our true potential, the potential to become a new birthplace for future technology.
When we were around twelve years of age, my brother and I were privileged to attend cooking school during our regular holidays. The classes were conducted by our German ‘aunt’ who had the ability to manufacture all manner of wonderful delicacies from common ingredi-ents picked from our local supermarket.
The extent to which our self-confidence grew over time was absolutely amazing as before our very eyes and with our own hands, wonderful culinary delights the likes of which would excite even the most jaded of palates, would spring forth in record time. From ice-cream to Yule log, the sky was the limit and our ambition soared.
Take this analogy and juxtapose it against our current Velocity of IT and as odd as this may seem, we need to begin to see the growth of region-indigenous master craftsmen and women who are so adept at their art that they weave intricate technology designs at high-speed into the fabric of business and industry creating broad, functional and beautiful tapestries of readily available and usable IT.
This lot is quite special, a new breed of CIO that spans the gamut of business, technology and finance. This is the breed which will be willing to take on the challenge of embracing cloud computing and utility modelling on a pay as you grow basis. A breed that not only says no to the vicissitudes of velocity, but actively and proactively strives to engage the most modern and region-relevant technologies to address life’s common problems and speeds up the region’s economy.
Just like in the case of our seemingly innocent and innocuous cooking class, a new level of confidence will suddenly emerge in the industry spurring a new wave of world-leading innovation and cutting-edge discoveries.
As simple as it was for Kenya to take on mobile money and lead the developed world in this technology, it will be simpler yet to find multifarious ways of wealth crea-tion through IT-enabled business initiatives using com-mon raw materials and resources that we have looked at and grown up with all our lives. I predict the birth of a new industrial age in Africa driving the onset of massive economic growth in the next few years as circumstances align.
The Writer is Territory Sales Account Manager, Hitachi Data Systems
Vicissitudes of Velocity
OPINION Delano LONGWE
a new breed of CIO that spans the gamut of business, technology and
finance. This is the breed which will be willing to take on the challenge of embracing cloud computing and utility modelling on a pay as you grow basis.
47CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014www.cio.co.ke
GREAT CONTENT
FREE
crisp | colorful | interactiveReady and on the go
At your fingertips
48 CIO EAST AFRICA | JULY 2014 www.cio.co.ke
Last WORD Dennis MBUVI
CCTV: See no Evil
Back in Africa’s most populous country and Africa’s biggest economy, a country of many superlatives when put together with the word “Africa”, millions were gath-ered to watch the match.
At least 21 Nigerians, enough to make up a full squad of the Super Eagles, were out watching the match. The 21 will never get to know how much damage Messi did to the team, seeing that there funerals recently took place. An hour before kick-off, an explosion went off in a shopping mall in Abuja leading to the needless deaths of the 21.
It is reported that metres from where the explosion took place, a mast armed with about 3 closed circuit tel-evision (CCTV) cameras stood guard. The peculiar thing about the cameras - supplied by ZTE - is that they saw nothing. Even after the incident, the cameras still had no evidence of how the bombs got there.
The CCTV installations have been causing a storm in Abuja, where after they were installed to manage an insurgency by religious extremists, the cameras have turned out to be nothing but bystanders as explosion after explosion has ripped through Abuja.
This CCTV attitude of “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” is an African thing, like most other things that fail.
Down in South Africa, my friend narrated that police officers admitted to him that they use Johannesburg’s CCTV installation like a television. A policeman once
watched as someone was robbed in full view of one of the CCTV cameras. The officer did not dispatch his col-leagues to the person in distress neither did he follow through the crime. Perhaps, he had no idea on what to do once a crime is spotted.
To the East of Africa, an advanced CCTV installation is being touted as the silver bullet that will put a stop to a rising spate of crime and terrorism in Kenya. This is even after Nairobi reels from a “modern” traffic light and CCTV camera project. While the lights are used on weekends when the traffic cops have better things besides overrul-ing the lights, little has been heard about the CCTV lights, other than complaints from motorists blinded by the lights mounted next to the cameras.
Some of the cameras were mounted right on the mid-dle of cycling lanes, which were deemed unimportant as compared to these cameras that can see all evil, “catch criminals” and perform other magic tricks.
While Africa has been known for the use of technology to leapfrog failing institutions like land lines, CCTV will be referred to as technology back flipping in Africa.
Technology has a long history of failing to achieve what it was designed to do, with stuff such as ERPs being notorious here. Lack of project management and technology being approached as an end rather than a means, is to blame here.
Kenya’s insecurity problems are not being caused by lack of CCTVs, but by bad processes which are geared to other purposes besides solving crime. The Police Service is not geared towards tackling crime or insecurity. Ad-ditionally, they lack IT basics such as a computer system to replace the exercise books where occurrences are recorded.
CCTV systems will not be in a position to investigate and prosecute crimes, let alone stop them. While such systems can supplement a well run police system, choosing to deploy them now, I believe, will be the pro-verbial “jumping the gun”.
On the June 25, Nigeria played a hotly contested and decisive World Cup fixture against Argentina. Despite losing to Messi, the Nigerians still qualified for the next round.
Technology has a long history of failing to achieve what it was designed to do, with stuff such as
