EDITOR’S QUESTION
A DAY IN THE LIFE
GET TO KNOW...
WHAT ARE THE
CHALLENGES
FACING THE
ADOPTION OF
IOT IN AFRICA?
On the lighter side of things, we ask the industry-
experts what makes them tick…
Olakunle Oloruntimehin,
General Manager of Cisco
Systems in Nigeria
An excerpt taken from an article
by Morten Illum, VP of EMEA,
Aruba, titled ‘Internet of things:
the best is yet to come’.
Blending technology
and innovation
Olakunle Oloruntimehin is the General Manager for Cisco
in Nigeria, and is responsible for Cisco’s business across
government and private sector organisations. He also works
with Cisco’s partner ecosystem in the region. He is responsible
for building relationships with government and private sector
stakeholders, while ensuring that Cisco’s business objectives
are closely aligned.
Prior to this position, he was Head of Systems Engineering
Sales in sub-Saharan Africa for Cisco Systems and also a
Director of Cisco Systems Nigeria. In addition to serving on
the board of Cisco Systems Nigeria board, he oversaw the
development and implementation of the technology sales
investment strategy and provided strategic direction to several
functions and business teams comprising more than 300
channel partner organisations.
Olakunle joined Cisco from MTN Nigeria, where he was a
Carrier Services Specialist in the Network Group and a pioneer
staff responsible for GSM and Mobile services roll out in
Nigeria. Olakunle had worked earlier as a network projects
engineer in Shell Nigeria.
His choice of hot technology for the year is adaptive security.
“Security has become very important due to the ever-
increasing attack surface. Adaptive security attempts to
make security more intelligent and resilient to attacks,” he
points out.
Olakunle believes a leader should evolve and adapt their
management styles with their teams. But in his value system
there are three attributes that have been singular in his
approach. These are clear vision, integrity and execution.
Teams need to understand the vision, need to be able to trust
76
INTELLIGENTCIO
His choice of hot
technology for the year
is adaptive security
that the leader would keep their word, and be consistent
in execution. “It is important to also care and be generous
with your time and resources to colleagues inside and
outside the company. This tends to build trust, which is the
foundation for leadership success,” he explains.
For him the most exciting and memorable time of
his career has been building and working with high-
performance teams.
As a young boy, he was curious about how cars and
planes worked, and wanted to be an automobile or
aeronautical engineer. However, he settled for graduation
in BSc Electronic and Electrical Engineering, which gave
him a broad and significant engineering foundation.
His personal interests cover innovation topics and he does
find time to participate in the Shark Tank business reality
show by contributing and reviewing entries. He also
has a postgraduate degree from University of Durham
Business School and Executive Education from University
of Chicago Booth School of Business.
He destresses by watching football, reading a book and
spending time with his family and friends. He is passionate
about sea fishing.
www.intelligentcio.com
The Internet of things (IoT) is a term
that’s been bandied about for a long
time and we’re finally at a stage where
it’s coming more into the forefront,
in terms of the technology and
consumer adoption.
IoT is starting to make a difference to
many areas of our lives. Connected
smart meters wirelessly track our
domestic energy usage, while smart
watches and smart cars are playing a
small but influential role in the wider
IoT movement. And this is even before
we get started on connected home
technologies, ranging from security
sensors to connected light bulbs and
even smart toasters.
However, one question is still in the back
of my mind: “When will the Internet of
things really hit the big time?”. If we
accept that IoT’s moment is indeed
yet to come, then I’m glad to say we
can put a date on it at last. In a new
international study, ‘The Internet of
Things, Today and Tomorrow’ Aruba
asked 3,100 execs from 20 countries
about IoT. The research found a whole
range of interesting ideas and attitudes,
but it also revealed that 2019 will be
IoT’s breakthrough year. In fact 85%
of businesses plan to start using IoT
technologies by 2019.
The study also found:
INTELLIGENTCIO
77 www.intelligentcio.com
• IoT is over-delivering. Our survey
discovered an ‘expectations dividend’:
the real-world benefits gained from IoT
are exceeding original expectations in
all areas. In other words, believe the
hype (and how many times can that be
saud about a new technology?).
• ROI is looking good, very good.
Four-fifths of companies that use IoT
technology report seeing an increase in
business efficiency, while the average
return on investment from an IoT
deployment is 34%.
• A lot of people claim to know what
IoT means. But few really know. A
massive 98% of those surveyed think
they have the true definition, but there’s
no consensus.
Kevin Ashton, a renowned tech
pioneer, has offered this definition for
IoT in his new eBook ‘Making Sense
of IoT’, commissioned by Aruba: “It
is not connecting everyday objects
like toasters and refrigerators to the
Internet. Products like these exist, but
it is hard to see why. What defines the
Internet of things is data capture. The
‘Internet of things’ means sensors
connected to the Internet and behaving
in an Internet-like way by making open,
ad hoc connections, sharing data freely
and allowing unexpected applications.”
• IoT has some hurdles to clear. IoT
has proven its value, but barriers still
exist. Cost of implementation (50%),
maintenance (44%) and integration of
legacy technologies (43%) are the top
three. But there is hope: technologies
are already available that both cut
infrastructure costs and smooth the
integration process.
• IoT brings incredible opportunities,
but also credible threats. Alarmingly,
84% of organisations that use IoT have
experienced an IoT-related security
breach. As IoT continues to grow,
businesses need to take steps to protect
their networks and devices. Without
gaining visibility of IoT activities,
organisations are leaving themselves
open to attack.
Arguably Europe and the wider EMEA
region have a more conservative
approach towards IoT today. Europe,
the Middle East and Africa showing
a 50% take up of IoT technology,
compared to 60% in APAC and 66% in
the Americas.
This could be from a lack of
preparedness and a lack of willingness
to explore IoT’s benefits: currently, 17%
of EMEA respondents claim their IT
infrastructure isn’t ready to support IoT
yet – nearly double that of the Americas
– but 82% of EMEA companies plan
to adopt IoT technologies by 2019. So
there’s still a little way to go yet to take
full advantage of IoT.
IoT isn’t just for the tech geeks
wanting to be constantly connected
to the Internet via data sharing. It’s
revolutionising how businesses and
public sector companies alike operate to
make a real difference.
INTELLIGENTCIO
www.intelligentcio.com
77