The chief information officer (CIO) may have the primary responsibility of deepening the culture of digital transformation in an organisation, but any meaningful and sustainable transformation will have to involve everyone in the organisation, says experts at a recent Breakfast meeting organised by Phillips Consulting in Lagos, Nigeria.
Digital transformation has become the major preoccupation of many businesses given that it has disrupted many industries and sectors. The effective use of new digital technologies has led to revenue growth higher than their competition for many companies. But some still find it difficult to figure out what digital transformation effectiveness looks like.
Felix Nwoshu, Principal Service Delivery Manager, Microsoft who spoke during the breakfast meeting, said everyone in the organisation from the CEO to the staff should be involved in any digital transformation agenda.
Collective involvement has implications for cyber security strategies as well. Cyber criminality targeting businesses is growing on a daily basis. In Nigeria alone, about 60 per cent of companies suffered cyber-attacks in 2018 according to data from NITDA. Nwoshu noted that a lot of companies are finding difficult to respond to the growing cases of attacks.
He recommended the ‘Never trust, always verify’ or ‘Zero Trust’ strategy.
“Assume all your resources are on the open internet,” he said. The ‘Zero Trust’ strategy essentially implies that before any form of data or company information is giving out to anyone – including those that person may know – the recipient is thoroughly verified. According to him, people remain one of the weakest links in the cyber security chain. Hence, ensuring limiting access to the minimum has become one of the strategic ways many businesses now reduce their exposure to cyber criminals.
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Citing a recent study, Nwoshu disclosed that 87 per cent of senior managers admitted to accidentally leaking business data.
Bala Fakandu, deputy director, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said from a government perspective, awareness is also a critical component to fighting cyber breaches.
Public officers and government departments are the most exposed. Hence, there is an urgent need, he says, for capacity building towards digital transformation in the public service. He also identified some of the major constraints of identifying and prosecuting cyber-crimes in Nigeria such as awareness, capability and funding.
“Until we get facts, we would not be able to make an arrest,” he said.
Jason Ikegwu, associate partner, Pcl, noted that digital transformation has gone beyond adoption.
“It is about moving from adoption to addiction, where it is about survival and relevance,” he said.
