Safaricom unveils growth plan, eyes bigger pie of cyber-security market
Safaricom has rolled out a plan to grow its digital business enterprises and diversify revenues to exploit Kenya’s growing digital economy. Banking on its massive connectivity and experience, the telco seeks to tighten its hold of the market of the cyber security and internet of things (IoT) market, underpinned by consulting services.
The IoT technology enables device-to-device communication over the internet, including tracking and ring-fencing of assets among other services. “As Kenya’s digital economy continues to expand across various sectors, we are well prepared to provide matching tech solutions that will meet the digital trends and opportunities for large, small and medium-sized enterprises, said Peter Ndegwa (pictured), Safaricom chief executive. Ndegwa made the remarks during the FinTech Innovation Week event at the Michael Joseph Center in Nairobi yesterday.
He said such enterprises mostly be those seeking to digitise their businesses in areas such as fleet management, storage of information, disaster recovery and remote tracking of various assets.
Long-term strategy
Safaricom bets on the new business plan to play a bigger role in digitising and transforming businesses in various sectors including education, health and manufacturing.
“This aligns with our long-term strategy to offer technology-based solutions that ensure everyone can participate and thrive in the digital economy as we seek to become a purpose-led technology company,” Ndegwa said.
Google estimates Kenya’s tech hub to be worth at least Sh120 billion with the manufacturing sector boasting an 80 per cent adoption rate.
In the wake of this increased digital penetration, cloud computing continues to gain traction in Kenya as companies seek ways to cut operation costs while digitizing their processes free of cyber-security threats.
Communication Authority reported over 70 million cyber threats during the first quarter of the 2021/22 financial year.
As Safaricom braces to enter into tech solutions, it is set to increase competition with other big tech companies in cloud computing services such as Liquid Intelligent Technologies. Safaricom recently announced the successful pilot of its telematics solution for vehicle tracking – a part of the internet of things solutions under development which proved resilient.
Business outcomes
A recent global cyber security Report from Vodafone highlights that the more cyber ready a business becomes, the better its overall business outcomes.
The Cyber Ready Barometer says 48 per cent of cyber ready businesses are reporting more than 5 per cent increases in annual revenue as well as high stakeholder trust levels. Despite this, the research also shows that only 24 per cent of businesses globally could reasonably call themselves cyber ready.
