Safaricom is expanding its enterprise business unit to offer cloud computing, cyber security and internet of things (IoT) solutions in Kenya. The company seeks to leverage its connectivity and experience to venture into the technology space by expanding these tech solutions for its enterprise and public sector customers.
While also reinforcing Safaricom’s new business strategy to become a technology company, the telco is banking on these recent efforts to enable it to play a bigger role in digitizing and transforming businesses in various sectors including education, health and manufacturing.
“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, who seek to digitize their businesses in areas such as fleet management, storage of information, disaster recovery and remote tracking of various assets.” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
”This aligns with our long-term strategy to offer technology-based solutions that ensure everyone has the capacity to participate and thrive in the digital economy as we seek to become a purpose-led technology company,” he added.
“Technology has changed and continues to change the way businesses are run. To be a digital business, owners must take advantage of the efficiencies created by technology. For example, cloud computing offers many options for a business from running efficient processes to disaster recovery options”, said Kris Senanu, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Safaricom.
According to research conducted by the Communications Authority (CA) and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), in Kenya 35.6 per cent of public sector institutions use cloud computing services in comparison to only 22.9 per cent of private businesses.
Cyber-security threats remain a major factor in the success of a digital economy with sector statistics report by the Communication Authority of Kenya indicating detection of over 70 million cyber threats during the first quarter of the 2021-2022 financial year. This has become a critical area for a business that is considering digitalization of its processes.
Safaricom recently announced the successful pilot of its telematics solution for vehicle tracking – a part of the internet of things (IoT) solutions under development. By installing smart sensors in two East African Classic Rally vehicles that continuously relayed data to a connected digital platform, the telco proved the resilience, elasticity and ubiquity of its telematics smart tracking system.
