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ISSUE 11 //
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Intelligent
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From hype to reality
ServiceNow survey reveals how CIOs are
optimising machine learning
2017 in review
Industry experts look back at 2017 and offer
predictions for the year ahead
Risk and mitigation strategies
Enhance cybersecurity by understanding your
company’s threat profile
EDITOR’S
NOTE
W
elcome to Issue 11 of
Intelligent CIO Africa. With 1.3
billion people worldwide living
without access to electricity, companies
such as M-KOPA Solar are transforming
lives through the provision of critical
power in rural areas. For this month’s
cover story, John Muthiora, Head of IT
Systems at M-KOPA Solar, explains how
the solar energy provider is utilising
innovative technology from Microsoft
to facilitate rapid expansion as well as
enhancing the reliability and accessibility
of their clean energy solutions.
It’s this sort of innovative and
transformative technology that we
both reflect on and look forward to
in our ‘2017 in Review’ feature this
month. Industry experts from Avaya,
Mimecast, Oracle and Fortinet talk to
us about what their companies have
achieved this year; offer insight into the
breakthrough technologies of 2017 and
discuss what their focus will be for the
upcoming year.
One label that 2017 will be glad to
leave behind is its tag as the ‘Year of
Ransomware’. Fittingly, it’s no surprise
www.intelligentcio.com
that towards the end of the year
we should witness the identification
of another attack designed to keep
cybersecurity experts up at night. This
time it’s the turn of a new strain of IoT
malware, ominously named ‘Reaper’.
A10 Networks’ Regional Director for
MENA, Mohammed Al-Moneer, tells
us more about the botnet and offers
advice for how to best prepare in case
the ‘Reaper’ comes knocking. On the
subject of cybersecurity, VMware’s CEO,
Pat Gelsinger, offers insight into why
the current approach to cybersecurity
is failing, pointing out that the only
consistency in cyber hygiene, is how
inconsistent we are. In this month’s
‘Tech Talk’ section, he explains why he
believes the answer lies in flipping the
current security model on its head.
In a world where companies are
advised to prepare for when a
cyberattack happens, as oppose to if,
passwords are no longer a substantial
enough protection for system users,
so what is considered secure enough?
Fujitsu believe they have found the
answer with their biometric offering,
PalmSecure. The technology relies
ENABLING CLEAN ENERGY IN
EAST AFRICA WITH THE CLOUD
John Muthiora, Head of IT Systems at M-KOPA Solar, explains how the
solar energy provider leveraged Microsoft’s innovative solutions to deliver
safe and affordable energy across East Africa.
PROJECT LATEST | INTELLIGENT CABLING | INTELLIGENT DATA CENTRES
on the complex vein pattern in your
palm for validation, a pattern which is
completely individual (not even your
left and right hand are the same)
and remains the same for your entire
lifetime. We explore the implementation
of Fujitsu’s PalmSecure and bioLock
solutions in a case study with South
Africa’s Transnet Engineering, who
selected the technology to enhance
the security of their existing SAP ERP.
To round off the issue, we ‘Get to
Know’, Tomisin Fashina, CIO at Ecobank
Group, who tells us about his role as a
transformational leader and the endless
possibilities of AI and robotics.
I hope you enjoy the read. As ever, if
you would like to contribute to future
editions please contact me at emily@
lynchpinmedia.co.uk. You can view
our upcoming features for January’s
magazine on page 78. Enjoy the rest
of 2017 and have a good start to the
new year!
Emily
Editor
INTELLIGENTCIO
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