RightClick developed an issuers portal for the Nigerian Stock Exchange. How has this solution improved the efficiency and productivity of the exchange?
The issuers portal also known as ‘Xissuer’ under the instruction and engagement of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to ensure secure and convenient submission of financial information. In terms of how it has improved the efficiency of the exchange, previously there had to be physical submission of financial information. That in itself proved cumbersome, especially from the point of view of different listed companies across Nigeria. It took time and it was expensive, inconvenient for people to send secure financial information from different parts of Nigeria to the headquarters of he stock exchange n Lagos. Secondly, the nature of financial information is such that it must be treated with the highest level of security.
As such, you cannot discount human error when moving information that is time sensitive. By the nature of the sick exchange and trading platforms, financial information is time sensitive. So therefore, the issuers portal addresses that aspect by ensuring that information is released to the general public and all stakeholders at the same time. This ensure that nobody is given unfair advantage over others, enabling them take positions before others. This has helped to create a fair and balanced market. By extension, it ties into the bigger picture the stock exchange by making sure the system is free, fair and transparent thereby creating more confidence in the market and allowing more inflows of investors.
Experts say the growth of available bandwidth capacity on our shores and Nigeria’s gradual transition into a cashless environment will expose the country to complex and sophisticated cyber attacks. There is an increase in malware attacks, especially targeted at financial institutions. Bearing in mind that the country does not have a well rounded law to curb the menace, what solutions does RightClick have to protect companies in Nigeria?
Apart from malware, the bigger picture is Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. There are many types of sophisticated cyber attacks solutions. They are solution to the hackers that propagate them. There are several of them in the market trying to deny service. They are malicious and they hinder customers from accessing bank services online. We do a lot of vulnerability audit. We check your online system especially the forward facing, customer facing systems as part of the audit. We look at all the nooks and crannies of your online system, identify and point out the vulnerable areas. We also do penetration test and ethical hacking. We look at thing from the point of view of how the bad guys think and we bring that to bear on your organisation. We give you a report which outline steps to take in terms of corrective action. Like you pointed out, the major challenge in this clime is that most people do not take these things seriously until it happens to them. Unfortunately, within the financial services industry it can be quite costly.
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80 percent of businesses in Nigeria are small medium enterprises. Many of them are not doing pretty in terms of how much they contribute to the economy from a value add perspective. Experts have identified funding and poor access to ICT tools as major barriers to SME development. What role is RightClick playing in terms providing the right ICT tools for SMEs in Nigeria?
Interestingly, the first of such solutions that comes to mind is the payment aggregator. RightClick has developed a payment aggregator that enables SMEs, merchants, schools, hospitals, traders take advantages of the cashless initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). By plugging our payment aggregator into your system, you can receive funds electronically as a merchant or trader. You can receive funds via cards (InterSwitch, MasterCard, Visa), mobile payments on your site. It addresses the issue for merchants that have to go online. Not everybody can afford or is interested in having an online infrastructure. The payment aggregator also requests for payment from an individual or third party through the invoicing feature.
The payment aggregator also includes a corporate banking aspect which sorts out things like LPO, financial and corporate banking payment such that suppliers and merchants to multi nationals can complete their transactions right there on our portal without issuing other financial instrument. From the point of view of developing the capacity of SMEs, we have an initiative where we assist idea owners incubate their ideas. We helping them develop these ideas to product stage. So, we have taken a bunch of people with ideas. We are providing the enabling environment and support structures (research and development, marketing, funding, legal patenting) to move these ideas to product stage. We are focused primarily on the youth segment because those are the people that can come up with ideas that are a change in the technology industry. We are encouraging young people to come in with their ideas. In more developed climes, it is common place to find such structures that supports entrepreneurship.
You are an indigenous player. The ICT industry is largely dominated by foreign players. What specific challenges have you faced within this market?
Capacity is a major challenge. Rightly, most of the established players are foreign but the rate at which local players are becoming impactful is quite encouraging. Obviously, there can be room for improvement. In the past, even the most basic of IT solutions would require offshore involvement. From call centres solutions being set up, to enterprise data warehousing, cybersecurity, mobile payment platforms, software development, custom applications, business process management, enterprise resource management, all have major indigenous players. The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), major companies that own the technology are still foreign.
But the hope is that with the kind of progress that we have made from the point of view if working with these tools and developing indigenous solutions are that accepted within this geographical location, the future is very bright future. Currently, all the core banking applications are foreign. A lot of the systems supporting these core banking application are indigenous. Quite a number of the systems enhancing the ability of these core banking application to meet the unique needs of Nigeria are built by Nigerians. We foresee a future these core banking applications will be surrounded by indigenous systems that we would have a bank with the confidence and willingness to take the risk to go end-to-end indigenous core banking applications. Another challenge is the reluctance of indigenous players to collaborate.
Everybody wants to own hundred percent of their own solution. This is in spite of the fact that the world is a global economy. There is collaboration that is enabled by technology. Indigenous players are not taking advantage of the ability of the internet to foster collaboration. We hope that as more people take advantage of ICT park and business incubator, they would see the value of collaboration.
Cloud computing is the buzz in the IT industry in Nigeria. Is there a market potential for cloud computing in Nigeria, bearing in mind that their broadband infrastructure issues?
It is a two-way street. Yes, there are infrastructure challenges but we are assured that the challenges are surmountable. Stakeholders in the telecoms industry are working tireless to not just improve internet penetration but reduce the cost of broadband access. Secondly, When you have solutions on the cloud, total cost of ownership is lower. You don’t have to own the hardware, software, provide electricity and broadband for all your customer to access the solution. All you need to do is put the solution on the cloud and through a pay-as-you-go model where by only what’s used by the client is paid for. Shared service is indeed the way to go. From a telecommunications perspective, all operators do not really need to own telecommunications masts. There is collocation which improves operational efficiency. A lot of our solutions are accessible through the cloud. Our solutions are mainly online solutions.
What’s your perception of ICT industry in terms of regulation and the business environment?
It is getting better. Twelve years ago compared with where we are now, it is impossible to believe the rate of growth in mobile teleplay and internet penetration. I don’t know any other economy that has taking up mobile telephony so fast in terms of market penetration. The only area that requires some level of intervention and support is capacity development. In schools, universities and polytechnics, ICT needs to taught at a level where it become impactful. We have a massive population and becuase of this a lot of the solution can be developed and consumed in this market. We need to provide the enabling environment for this capacity to be developed and provide sme level of policy to encourage local players.
The issue of ‘bring your own device’ is creating a lot of complexities for IT from an enterprise security perspective. In what way can this phenomenon be easily addressed?
Enterprise security is a big deal and irrespective of whether it is a mobile phone or tablet, enterprise security will remain relevant. Different organisations have taking different approaches. The major one is, set security rules and parameter at the enterprise level and not matter which device you are bringing in, you give access when necessary. If you are giving permission and the access right at enterprise level, then whether it is a mobile phone or not as long as you have the user name and password, you can access aspects of the network. It all depend on the enterprise policy. It is a difficult argument whether or not to fall on the part of convenience or strict regimented security. I believe access should be granted to profiles and individuals rather than to devices. A device can change hands.
