FEATURE: BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND DISASTER RECOVERY
BY BEING DIGITAL-FIRST, CHUNGE
AND HIS TEAM HAVE SEAMLESSLY
EMBRACED BUSINESS CONTINUITY.
the bank’s trading department is still up
and running. Its staff can engage with
customers remotely via its cloud-hosted
PABX environment. Using VMware’s
Horizon client application, it has added the
security required to secure its endpoints
in the field. Chunge says it doesn’t have
to worry about client data falling into
the wrong hands if a device is stolen –
Following a bold move to embrace a
digital business model hosted 100% on a
VMware-powered cloud provided by Kenyan
cloud provider Node Africa, back in 2017,
the team at Genghis Capital was able to
seamlessly transition into a work from
home (WFH) model with no disruption to its
business. The only requirement is a working
Internet connection.
“In any recession, bad companies are
wiped out, good companies survive, great
companies thrive,” said Jeremiah Chunge
Munyasa, Head of Alternative Channels and
Technology at Genghis Capital. “When we
moved to our VMware cloud in 2017 with
Node Africa, it was a decision based on
economics, little did we know that it would
be the perfect recipe to help us weather
several business disruptions. At Genghis, we
always look at a technology solution for our
clients and staff based on how flexible it is
for scale and change, and not the traditional
thinking of how rigid it is. It is a model that
has paid off for our business.”
This is not the first time that the company’s
cloud-first approach has paid dividends,
and its technology has been stress-tested.
During the unrest as a result of the 2017
Kenyan government elections, the Genghis
Capital team were able to ensure Business
Continuity by working and accessing its
cloud services from home, while the majority
of the country stayed at home. It is a model
where foresight is, in fact, hindsight and
the team are continuing to innovate albeit
from home, with a new digital business
application that it has been developing now
ready to be launched.
By being digital-first, Chunge and his
team have seamlessly embraced Business
Continuity. This has been achieved by firstly
employing a digital workplace for internal
business operations for staff across all
departments and also by deploying a
digital platform for all of its technology
Jeremiah Chunge Munyasa, Head of
Alternative Channels and Technology
at Genghis Capital
channels, including cloud services, digital
banking and trading applications, as well as
its retail application.
“A lot of African companies generally lack
the technology infrastructure to future-proof
their business and depend on their staff to
have to spend two to three hours a day just
commuting to their place of work. It is not a
sustainable model,” said Chune.
“When we were hunkered down during the
2017 elections, we decided that we wanted
to scale out even more of our services into a
digital model. This included the development
of our G-kuze mobile application for our
retail customers. The app allows our clients
to digitally onboard, move funds, trade, chat
for assistance/support – all from their mobile
device without having to come to the office
or call our office line.”
With its environment entirely on Node
Africa’s cloud, built on VMware technology,
because all data accessed on its Google
Chromebooks resides in the cloud.
“Our setup 100% supports a fully
operational cloud model. Employees connect
via a VPN, and because all our people are
working from home, we have enforced
inactivity timeouts and endpoint security for
all company-managed devices with licenses
for each,” he said. “With data residing on
the cloud, backups are also stored there
including another copy at our off-site
Disaster Recovery site. Our success during
this time is measured in continued employee
productivity and an on-going focus on
customer experience.
“Our retail clients carry on as normal, we
digitally onboard clients, start trading, move
funds electronically and view their investment
portfolio at the touch of a button via our
G-kuze application and all in the cloud. It
is likely that we will never return to doing
business in the same way ever again.” •
48 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com