The ISACA Kenyan chapter hosted an online conference with the theme “Maintaining Enterprise Resilience during Systemic disruption”. The them was in line with the current reality of the business environment brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the conference, Ken Kaberia, the Head Enterprise Risk at Safaricom Plc, took the audience through the steps for recovery from the current crisis. The steps included resolve, resilience and reimagination to Reform. The speaker warned that rapid Return comes with higher risks, and a new reality. Participants were taken through an effective methodology of return- AACT Planning Model. The AACT model focuses in Adopting the business to a new world, Accelerating structural shifts, Crafting stage-based return plans, workforce and customers and Time- transitioning given the local environment that most businesses will be considering stage-based return. He also added that remote work may have important benefits beyond resilience to Covid-19. These benefits may include improved productivity, lower cost production, Improved Talent access, and high employee’s satisfaction. He advised organizations to set up COVID-19 crisis management /Nerve centers support because new behaviors can evolve into the new normal for organizations.
Mercy Wanjau Ag. Director General Communications Authority of Kenya, shared that since a lot of organisations started allowing their employees to work from home as a response to the pandemic. There has been a rise in Cyber attacks with a total of 16, 450, 346 cyber threat events had been detected so far. In order to mitigate cyber risks and disruptions she reiterated the need to cyber awareness through all channels of communication, collaboration between local and international partners, and enhanced internal processes such as enhancement of incident handling, forensics investigation capabilities and upgrade of detection and analysis capabilities.
Adam Lane Deputy CEO, Public Affairs Huawei Kenya, reiterated that an intelligent world calls for global connectivity and mutual trust that will maintain global prosperity, that Huawei is committed to providing technology for all and technology for good that prioritizes development, enhances global collaboration, promotes innovation and ensures ubiquitous connectivity, digitization and AI. However, with this technology comes unprecedented challenges like cyber security. He added that, World Economic Forum ranks Cyber Attacks the third biggest threat to mankind, behind extreme weather and natural disasters. Participants learnt about Huawei’s cyber security journey from making cyber security and privacy protection the company’s top priorities through to the strategies and end- to-end systems that Huawei uses to build trust and high quality into every ICT infrastructure product and solution that it develops. Key issues highlighted included the focus on people, processes, standards, independent verifications, and supply chain engagement.
The ISACA Kenya is a not-for-profit, non-union association of professionals in the IT-related industry founded in Kenya in December 1999 by a group of volunteers. The chapter was registered in April 2000 and has since experienced tremendous growth in membership.