Keeping guard

An Executive Interview with Global InfoSwift

Soloman Edun of Global InfoSwift Technologies delivers a stark warning to businesses on the perils of not the consequences of not having adequate business continuity solutions in place.

CXO. What challenges are companies facing when it comes to managing data and other information, as well as preventing security breaches?
Soloman Edun. Organisations are increasingly relying on information and how efficiently it is delivered within their business units and to their ultimate customers. As a result, information technology infrastructures are facing enormous challenges in deploying architectures that are scalable, while reliable and capable to supporting an ever-increasing demand in data. For example, one of the biggest challenges our customers are presenting us with is how they can optimise their IT infrastructure to resource the demand of storage requirements, how this information can be provisioned efficiently within the IT infrastructure, and how IT resources can be managed and optimised in order not to be deployed and operated as independent silos within the data centres.

When it comes to security, IT plays a fundamental role in making sure security and compliance policies are published and rolled out across the entire organisation. Having an IT security strategy which responds automatically to the enterprise risk frameworks identified by organisations is paramount in order to mitigate any security threats and vulnerabilities.

CXO. What are the downsides to failing to prevent to adequately guard against a gap in security?
SE. It is easy to speculate on the consequences organisations are facing as a result of a non-existing or poorly-implemented security strategy. We have experienced some crisis situations were organisations have suffered consistent financial losses, following the being victims of cybercrime activities. In such circumstances, appropriate incidence response management procedures help to mitigate the risks of any security breach, while a pragmatic approach to forensic analysis can help organisations remediate these scenarios and avoid their recurrence in the future. Another differentiator in helping mitigate security risks is to educate organisations and their customers on the risks they are facing when using information technology. Therefore, we often see that targeted security awareness programmes are crucial in raising the awareness of organisations and their customer base. These programmes, together with an appropriate strategy for online fraud protection, are real differentiators for organisations to adequately guard themselves against gaps in security.

CXO. What has fuelled the need for organisations to ensure that they have adequate business continuity/disaster recovery plans in place?
SE. Organisations are mature enough to appreciate the exposure they may have, should they decide not to deploy a suitable business continuity programme across their business units. This awareness is widely accepted in the marketplace to a point that regulators are dictating the criteria organisations should follow and comply with in order to establish adequate business continuity and, from and IT perspective, disaster recovery plans. In the context of business continuity, it is important for organisations to choose the most suitable options for a recovery planning process, by taking into consideration the already-identified threats and vulnerabilities but also by re-aligning the original business objectives with the identified and agreed service level agreements and the KPIs for operation efficiency. Any business-critical function and process should be mapped in order to provide a holistic view of the dependencies and correlations between the business and its underlying structure.

CXO. How are your wide variety of products and services benefiting your clients’ operations?
SE. Global InfoSwift Technologies offers services ranging from IT strategy consultancy to IT solution delivery and specialised solutions. We assist organisations in developing knowledge management strategies, data protection, service-oriented Architecture, business continuity management, and business process re-engineering. We recently organised the first ever business continuity management workshop in Nigeria, in partnership with the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), and the Business Continuity Institute, UK, and also assisted a major financial institution in developing a business continuity strategy that saw the organisation operating full time during a demolition process next door. Our client base ranges from banks, telecoms companies, FMCGs and NGOs to government Institutions and para-statals.

Solomon Edun manages Global InfoSwift Technologies. He has had a distinguished IT Management career, and is regarded as one of the most respected personalities in the Nigerian IT Industry. Edun has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Benin and has extensive international exposure to business management, and is currently a member of the Business Continuity Institute, UK.