Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 37 | Page 7

EDITOR’S NOTE H ello and welcome to the latest edition of Intelligent CIO Africa, which is once again packed with the latest news and views from across the continent. Global financial services company, Mastercard, is at the forefront of the payments industry and has implemented many new technologies. But that’s not to say it hasn’t come without its challenges. Gaurang Shah – who features on the front cover – is the Senior Vice President for Digital Payments and Labs for Middle East and Africa at Mastercard and tells us the company has used a three-pronged approach in order to be innovative. He also provides examples of recent solutions that Mastercard has implemented in Africa, which includes designing a Quick Response (QR) payment solution, called Masterpass, in South Africa. Digital technology is no doubt evolving quickly and disrupting traditional business models, leading to cyber risks becoming more challenging. With this in mind, John McLoughlin, a cybersecurity expert and the CEO at J2 Software, explains in our cybersecurity feature how business leaders are now clearly recognising the critical nature of cyberthreats and starting to www.intelligentcio.com identify and embrace best practices to mitigate risks. Our second feature is about 5G and the potential impact it will have in Africa. We hear from as Deon Geyser, Head of the Southern Africa subregion at Nokia, who says that Africa is equally capable of embracing the huge potential of mobile technology as the rest of the world, despite the limitations of its existing infrastructure, while Hassen Hamza, Presales and Business Development Manager MEA, Nexign, looks at 5G and IoT monetisation opportunities for South African CSPs. He believes that vendors will need to provide systems that support African telcos in convergent scenarios and different types of networks on their journey towards the 5G and IoT monetisation era. Our Country Focus this month is on Nigeria. As the most populated country in Africa, it is vitally important that Nigeria keeps up-to- speed with developing technologies. In our feature, you can therefore find out how the government is planning on driving the digital economy in the west African country. in ‘Industry Watch, while Roy Alves, New Business Sales Director, Mimecast tells us what makes him tick in ‘Get to Know’. And to round off the magazine in ‘Final Word’, James Buckley, from Infosys Finacle, looks at how African banks have been able to innovate successfully where many others have failed. I hope you enjoy reading the magazine, and remember, if you would like to contribute towards further editions, you can do so by emailing me at paul@lynchpinmedia.co.uk Paul Rogers Editor Elsewhere, you can find out what is happening in the manufacturing sector INTELLIGENTCIO 7