IT News
Scaling New Heights: Scalefusion MDM Launches Infinity Partner Program
Driving global sales and amplifying revenue by exploring uncharted territories is always a great business idea, especially when driven by strategic partnerships. Scalefusion, a leading Mobile device management solution by ProMobi Technologies Pvt. Ltd. recently launched the Scalefusion Infinity Partner Program on the same lines. The partnership program is designed for OEMs, Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Resellers, Distributors, System Integrators & Technology Solution providers across the globe, helping them leverage the market-leading MDM capabilities of Scalefusion. What comes as the first-ever rollout of a formal partner program by Scalefusion, the program is crafted to empower the Scalefusion partners across diverse industry spectrum and geographies to tap into new revenu...
Tanda Secures Funding for East African Expansion
Kenyan-based startup Tanda is expanding its operations after securing funding from early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota and three other investors. Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch which is expected to further accelerate its growth. The company’s expansion comes on the back of successfully pioneering and proving the viability of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that has only been validated in West Africa prior to Tanda. “Tanda is solving one part of the very deep and complex problem of financial inclusion that is not only Kenyan but a problem across all emerging and undeveloped markets,” says Rob Heath, partner at HAVAÍC. “HAVAÍC believes that the wider Tanda team have...
Microsoft to Acquire Nuance Communications in ‘Biggest Deal’ Since LinkedIn
Microsoft is set to acquire AI software company Nuance Communications – marking Microsoft’s second-largest acquisition ever. The “Nuance deal would be a trophy for Redmond,” according to Wedbush Analyst, Dan Ives. “Nuance is in the midst of an unprecedented strategic turnaround the last few years under the leadership of CEO Mark Benjamin and we believe the company represents a unique asset on the health-care front for Microsoft.” TechCentral revealed that the acquisition could value Nuance at about US$56/share, giving the company an equity value of about $16-billion. “This can really help Microsoft accelerate the digitisation of the healthcare industry, which has lagged other sectors such as retail and banking,” says Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst, Anurag Rana. “The biggest nea...
Rubrik for Microsoft 365 Delivers Faster, Simpler Recoveries at Scale
Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited Africa It’s well known that Microsoft 365 – formerly known as Microsoft Office 365 – is one of the most widely used solutions for email, collaboration and document storage in large enterprises. At the same time, Microsoft doesn’t provide its own backup and restore offering, but instead encourages third-party vendors to provide their own solutions. Cloud data management company Rubrik places a focus on speed and simplicity of management in its backup and restore solution for Microsoft 365. Rubrik offers a policy-based SLA enforcement, and uses Microsoft Azure as the storage location for backups. Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited Africa, which distributes Rubrik throughout Afri...
6 Ways to Improve Your POPIA Readiness
When it comes to POPIA compliance readiness, only 30% of South African organisations believe they are well-prepared – according to the KnowBe4 online data protection survey. To make sure your company is ready, Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist KnowBe4 Africa, has shared six things that you can do: 1. Education and Awareness Should be a Top Priority “Education and awareness should be a top priority for organisations as we approach the POPIA deadline,” she says. “This is critical at every level of the business, from top management down to every person who works at the organisation. Everyone has to be aware of their responsibilities with regards to handling personal information and their roles when it comes to the safeguarding of personal information.” People unfortunatel...
Research Shows an Increase in Ransomware Attacks on South African Companies
South Africa is firmly in the sights of international cybercrime syndicates, who have been ramping up their attacks on local companies in the past six months – reveals cybersecurity defence, offence and protection specialist, Nclose. Martin Potgieter, Co-Founder of Nclose, says the Nview MDR team have detected a significant uptick in the number of attempts made against local customers in recent months. “We, and our colleagues in the cybersecurity sector, are seeing a surge in cybercrime activity – in particular ransomware attacks,” he says. “There has definitely been an increase in syndicates that make use of humans to launch and coordinate their attacks, they are not just relying on automated ransomware attacks.” Stephen Osler, Co-Founder at Nclose, says South African companies typical...
ETI Appoints New Group Executive of Operations and Technology
Image sourced from Naija247News Ecobank parent company, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has appointed Tomisin Fashina as its new Group Executive of Operations and Technology – a position he will now hold in addition to his existing role of Managing Director of eProcess International. “The rapidly accelerating digital adoption by Africa’s citizenry and businesses, together with the explosion in eCommerce across the continent, is driving transformation throughout the banking and payment sectors,” says Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank. “Winning across operations and technology is essential for the Ecobank Group’s short, medium and long-term success, and is an integral requirement of our ongoing determination to continue to meet the evolving expectations of our customers. Tomisin is well e...
Airtel Kenya Makes Network Upgrades to Avoid CA Fines
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Kenya has made a number of improvements to its network in order to meet the regulatory minimum threshold on quality of calls across the country. Airtel Managing Director, Prasanta Das Sarma told Business Daily that 270 sites were upgraded from 2G and 3G sites to 4G while more than 400 sites were added in upcountry towns and highways. “In total, the upgrade covered 20 counties. Some more sites will be added by end of April when the work will be done,” says Sarma. “We are vindicated when we see more customers using us. With this kind of expansion, we will be able to satisfy CA criteria (on voice quality).” Airtel Africa – and Telkom – came under fire earlier this year when the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) placed the telco’s under scrutiny after alleged...
Huawei Partners with Mondia to Expand Contactless Payments Across Africa
Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) has teamed up with Mondia Pay, a digital payments company, to roll out seamless and contactless payments solutions for mobile network operators. Since the commencement of the partnership in September 2020, demand for the implementation of Direct Carrier Billing service (DCB) for seamless, contactless payments for mobile users in the MEA region has grown. Mondia Pay’s direct carrier billing service integration was launched with Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat UAE. During this quarter the following operators – Ufone Pakistan, Cell C South Africa, Orange Tunisia and Ooredoo Algeria – will go live with the DCB service, following the testing phase. As a DCB services for consumers, Mondia Pay is available on HuaweiAppGallery, to facilitate online payments. Subscribers ca...
How Telematics is Driving eCommerce during COVID-19
If ever there was a time for the eCommerce sector to adopt telematics technology, it would be now: COVID-19 has disrupted the retail landscape, with more South Africans now choosing e-commerce as their preferred shopping channel over traditional brick-and-mortar stores. According to a Mastercard study, as much as 68% of South African consumers said they are shopping more online since the onset of the pandemic. More online shopping means that there are more deliveries to be made, and the logistics industry has had to scale operations to meet the growing demand. The various levels of lockdown, COVID-19 regulations and people working from home have created a greater reliance on home deliveries, with the industry now findi...
Safaricom Partners with Ericsson to Provide Gbps Backhaul Capacity in Kenya
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom has chosen Ericsson to supply microwave solutions based on the E-band platform to achieve multi Gbps backhaul capacity for mobile broadband nationwide coverage in Kenya. The solution – MINI-LINK 6352 – is expected to offer high capacity, efficient use of spectrum, low-energy consumption and simplified operations and maintenance. With technological advances in microwave system software and new radio hardware, microwave transport capacity has moved from megabit-per-second capacity to gigabit-per-second capacity. By deploying Ericsson’s microwave solution, Safaricom will benefit from multi Gbps links as an alternative in areas where fibre is not viable. The links will assist in providing the much-needed capacity to assist the service provider to expand da...
What is Cyber Doxxing and How to Protect Against It
Since the beginning of internet errors, a lot of personal details is revealed. Publishing personal data online may be very dangerous. The internet is a pool where you will find all sorts of people including hackers, cyberbullies, and other people with defamatory intentions. Such people collect and publish personal information with a bad intention. When this is done, it is known as Doxxing. Doxxing comes from the word “documents” with the act of documenting another person’s information. Criminals dig up personal details of an individual who wants to remain anonymous and expose them to the public. The main aim is to harass or shame the person. Although details like email addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers are available online, there are other details like pictures, financi...
