Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 15 | Page 13

Financial institutions in Rwanda urged to embrace new technology Sophos Mobile 8 launched in bid to tackle malware S peakers at the International Conference on Responsible and Inclusive Finance (ICRIF) held in Kigali urged Rwandan microfinance institutions (MFIs) to embrace new-age technology to streamline their operations and to enhance their ability to extend financial inclusion among the country’s unbanked and underbanked population. Straton Habyalimana, Senior Programme Manager for Responsible Financing at the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network, told the 400 delegates that MFIs should adopt digital platforms to enhance their interactions with their customers, while Kigali-based digital financial services expert James Kwezi, added that MFIs should use technology to become more efficient and profitable. This aligns with the National Bank of Rwanda’s (BNR) call to Rwandan financial sector firms to embrace automation to reduce their operating costs and their rate of bad loans. “Many microfinance institutions in East Africa still depend on paper-driven processes or Excel spreadsheets to manage their businesses,” said Vedran Lescan, Business Development Manager at Oradian, a global financial inclusion company that delivers a cloud-based toolset for financial institutions. “But with the latest advances in financial technology (FinTech) and cloud software, Rwandan MFIs now have access to powerful, affordable tools that can help them transform inefficiencies into operational excellence, scale their businesses for rapid growth and get better visibility into the performance of their portfolios. This, in turn, can boost their profitability and enable them to better serve the needs of their financially excluded customers.” www.intelligentcio.com Sophos has launched its Mobile 8 security solution in a bid to tackle the growing threat of malware S ophos has unveiled the latest version of its Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) and mobile security solution. The Sophos Mobile 8 lets administrators manage and secure corporate-owned and personal Mac, Windows and mobile endpoints in the cloud-based Sophos Central management platform to deliver a simpler management strategy for businesses of any size. This unified approach to endpoint management ensures consistent security policies and secure access to resources regardless of an employee’s choice of device. Sophos Mobile 8 adds a range of management features like MacOS management and configuration, Windows 10 application management, and extended Android and iOS management functionality. “Mobile devices continue to be the fastest growing malware target,” said Dan Schiappa, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Products at Sophos. “Personal and IoT devices on the network represent a significant threat to corporate security due to management and discovery issues. “With Sophos Mobile 8, IT admins in any size of business can manage and secure all their MacOS, Windows and mobile endpoints from a single management platform. “This streamlined approach to security management helps both administrators and users save time and effort, improving productivity across the business. “Our Unified Endpoint Management solution can protect user productivity within a secure operating environment.” INTELLIGENTCIO 13