Prince Osuagwu
20 February 2008
interview
Lagos — THERE is consistent call for the developing societies like Nigeria, to increase their knowledge base to get a stake in the scheme of things in the global information society.
But Mrs. Adedoyin Odunfa, former executive director with Phillips Consulting and now CEO of an Information Value Chain consulting company, Digital Jewels, says this same knowledge has exposed societies to cyber attack.
She however gave reasons and profered solutions when Hi-Tech cornered her at an event in Lagos recently.
Before your recent venture into Digital Jewels, you were of Philips Consulting which is an ICT industry based consultant. What is your appraisal of developments in the industry at the moment?
The industry has come a long way.
We started in this field when organisations did not even know or care what risks they faced in the digital world. Many progressed to adopting a product or device-led approach to information security and technology as a whole, where technology was thought to be a silver bullet.
Today, there is a greater appreciation in a few organisations. The combination of the strategic intent, planning and execution, management capacity, process efficiency and governance framework, skills, competencies and relevant technology makes a difference.
Many are still lagging behind, though. I would say that for the banking sector, consolidation has been instrumental in helping it build a more robust and secure infrastructure since many seized the opportunity to rebuild their IT infrastructure and include the large-scale deployment of electronic delivery channels and the relevant safeguards as integral parts.
What can you say of the level of skills development and project management in the industry?
Well, the skill base still remains a limiting factor to the management capability and capacity. Now, the capacity to manage projects is inadequate in Nigeria today because, even though the magnitude and complexity of projects has grown tremendously in line with the economy, many people have not approached project management as a formal discipline.
It is a formal discipline. It is not general management. There are some techniques that you have to learn to increase your chance of success. Digital Jewels will address this through the provision of global best practice training delivered in collaboration with our international partners. Moreover, our consulting interventions also aim to enhance the planning and management capacity.
What is happening at the information value chain where you are fast becoming a major player?
At Digital Jewels, our objective is to help organisations create value across the information value chain. For us, the focal point will be information, the processes, technology and controls related to it. Hence, our areas of emphasis will be information security, information assurance, e-business and project management. We would also help to recruit, train and develop specialist ICT skills to assist organisations develop their capacity and capability.
You will find that the average telecoms organisation or bank now has highly sophisticated technology but lack the skills that are required to operate and optimally utilise that technology. Therefore, the idea is to support them with recruiting and training the people that may need to be onboard or that are currently onboard.
We look at the information value chain and our objective is to see how we can add value, help organisations to improve the value and the benefits they get from the information within their organisations. More often than not, people understand tangible assets: the banks for instance, understand the need to secure their branches.
However, many people really do not appreciate the need to secure and derive benefit from intangible assets of which information is a key one. Indeed, if you actually value assets across your organisation, you find out that information is perhaps one of your most valuable assets, particularly if you are in the service business.
Digital Jewels' emphasis on the information value chain is aimed at improving the competitiveness of organisations; competitive advantage does not lie in the ability to accumulate information alone as many do today. It is in the ability to process that information intelligently, apply it swiftly and judiciously, safeguard it jealously and manage it effectively.
Is there any likelihood that information security assurance would improve among organisations in the country
Many organisations in Nigeria have become somewhat more aware of the risks that their information systems face. We have established the fact that information is of value, therefore, it is imperative to secure that value. Before now, not much attention has been paid to it.
Now, people are beginning to have a better appreciation of the vulnerabilities of their information system, the threats that can exploit them and the resulting risks. We are positioned to help them first of all understand what the root cause of the challenges they face are, so they don't end up contending with mere symptoms.
Because of our factual, painstaking assessments, we can proffer informed, innovative and practical recommendations. We can also provide project implementation assurance support to ensure they reach their goal.
From our experiences, we have come to gain deep insight into the risks that organisations face as relevant to technology adoption and their information systems. For instance, the recent explosion in electronic delivery channels such as ATMs, mobile phones, websites and so on are welcome developments, but we need to be mindful of the implications and manage the attendant risks.
As we open up many more doors and many more windows through which third parties can access information within our organisation, it is essential to ensure that these doors and windows are properly secured. No longer can we shut all our doors and windows to be safe, to deliver value to the customer, to compete effectively, we have to open them up. But let us do so in an informed way.
Shutting and opening doors are relative terms, how can we plug cyber loopholes?
Without a doubt, it is getting easier and easier to mount a cyber attack. Today, a secondary school pupil can bring down an e-commerce website with very little technical knowledge. The scripts are all packaged on the Internet to be downloaded and run. One of the most effective defenses to information security breaches, be they from cyberspace, internal sources or business partners, is awareness. Breaches occur due to either ignorance, malicious or mischievous intent.
Building a high level of information security awareness organisation-wide, along with implementing stringent but practical policies, procedures and automated tools to ensure compliance, help to minimise the occurrence of security breaches.
The human firewall (the information security aware professional) increases the efficacy of administrative and technical controls by a disproportionate value. However, it's often the variable most neglected.
So where is Digital Jewels in all these
We are armed with an understanding of this industry over the past 15 to 20 years. We are equipped with up-to-date knowledge of global best practice, deep competencies across the information value chain, a passion to add value, to make a difference, to help our clients win, to empower the African professionals, to unleash ethical and constructive e-business, to be the best we can. We have adopted an entirely independent stance, which I think is key for consultants.
As consultants, we would not have any relationship that will hinder us from giving our clients the best advice that could compromise or colour our advice. Our purpose will always be to give our clients the best advice at every point in time, given their aspirations, situation and the resources available to them.
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