Tuesday 23 August 2016

INTRODUCING IoT & M2M TECHNOLOGIES IN KENYA


The Internet of Things (IoT)—the practice of capturing, analysing, and acting on data generated by networked objects and machines—is among the hottest technology topics in
Kenyan businesses today. While a growing number of companies are creating business value with IoT applications, the technology is still in its early days. Two trends will dramatically expand IoT possibilities in the enterprise, multiplying practical applications while potentially lowering costs (a prayer of every Kenyan with vision 2030 mind set):
1. The emergence of new wireless communications networks designed specifically for IoT applications, which can lower the cost and extend the reach of connected applications all over our 47 counties.
2. The arrival of “edge computing” IT infrastructure, which facilitates analysing and acting on IoT sensor data close to the source, making applications more responsive to rapidly changing local conditions while avoiding communications bottlenecks.
By lowering IoT solutions’ costs, extending their reach, and increasing their responsiveness, these two trends have the potential to significantly expand the kinds of solutions that will be viable for businesses to deploy. While these trends are important, they are not revolutionary. Rather, they can be seen as part of the continuing technological evolution that is bringing the Internet of Things ever closer to ubiquity.

The IoT is already a large and growing market
The global IoT market is poised to grow briskly, from about 4.9 billion connected devices in 2015 to a projected 21 billion by 2020. IoT technology is projected to support 235 trillion Ksh in services spending in 2017-2019, a majority of that on professional services to design, install, and operate IoT systems.
Methods of connecting IoT devices can be classified as short-range or long-range. Short-range technologies such as Bluetooth, Zigbee(not so widely known amongst Kenyan living outside major cities), and Wi-Fi are the dominant choices for IoT connectivity today but are not well suited for every application due to their power requirements and their need for a local hub to connect to, which can be costly or difficult—in consumer applications—for end users to configure. Many other applications require long-range connectivity. Cellular currently dominates the wireless long-range market.


DEDICATED LOW-POWER IOT NETWORKS GAIN STEAM
A new kind of network, designed specifically to support IoT applications, is spreading across the globe. These networks are known by the generic term low-power wide-area networks (LPWA) and tend to have the following characteristics:
Low power consumption by endpoints with extended battery life—often more than 10 years
Wide area connectivity and higher penetration in dense areas like North Eastern areas
Low-cost chipsets and lower cost of network build compared to cellular technology
Lower connectivity costs
Lower throughput capacity compared to cellular networks
These characteristics are well suited for a range of applications in numerous sectors such as agriculture, construction, consumer electronics, health care, environmental, manufacturing, oil and gas, retail and vending, safety and security, smart cities, and utilities.
We can anticipate a growing number of enterprises to invest in such applications once appropriate networks are in place. These networks could be hugely important for the further development of IoT technology: Kariuki Samwel is forecasting that LPWA network connections will number more than 3 billion devices by 2023, exceeding cellular machine-to-machine connections, becoming the dominant wide-area IoT connectivity technology, and generating connectivity revenues in excess of 100 billion Ksh. We are already seeing clear signs of the build out of these networks: More than a dozen companies, backed by significant investment, are building them, employing diverse technologies. Safaricom is one company that is on the fore front on implementing such technology.
Growing adoption of dedicated IoT network-based applications
As dedicated IoT networks spread, they are likely to encourage the adoption of IoT applications where high connectivity costs and higher power consumption of cellular end devices or other limitations of cellular have thus far deterred deployments. A clear example is the areas of Turkana and far end in Mandera. Early signs of this include new product introductions and planned deployments in a number of areas like for example the digital kplc token unit and the 4G infrastructure laid by safaricom. Indeed, as Kenyans we expect the build out of LPWA to be an important driver of the growth of IoT technology.
These technology trends will make a broader range of IoT applications both feasible and valuable. Leaders who have considered and then shelved plans for an IoT project may want to revisit the business case: Improved economics and improved performance may tip the balance in favour of proceeding. Others who have not seriously evaluated the IoT’s potential for their business may find this is a good time to explore.(Free advice for my country fellow men).
These trends have implications for IT leaders as well. In recent years, many enterprises have focused on creating centralized cloud-based data processing and analytics systems. Edge analytics is a fundamentally different approach: In operations where the volume of data generated is high, and speed and responsiveness to local conditions is critical, localized analytics may deliver significant business benefits. A balanced approach, taking advantage of edge analytics and cloud analytics where each is appropriate, is essential.
Taken together, low-cost, low-power IoT networks and edge analytics solutions have the potential to improve the performance and economics of IoT solutions and are likely to hasten enterprises’ adoption of applications. Business and technology leaders may want to review their plans for IoT initiatives with these important trends in mind.

                                                                                                              Prepared by: Samwel Kariuki

                                                                                                                          Date: 22nd August 2016

Monday 15 August 2016

Managing Fraud in E-Commerce: Are our Kenyan Online Businesses Bulletproof?

A few years ago, most Kenyan would have scoffed at the thought of e-commerce becoming a necessity for retail success. Now, we know that it’s very much required for many retailers to survive. According to some research done by Samwel Kariuki while still pursuing his electrical and computer engineering in Wichita,Kansas....looking at the next few years in retail, e-commerce accounted for over nine percent of total U.S. retail sales in 2014, which is roughly $334 billion. Industry analysts back home in Kenya expect to see that number continue to grow, with expectations of a compounded annual growth rate hitting 10 percent over the next four years, translating to $480 billion in online sales by 2019.IMG_5605[1]
This staggering growth of online sales brings huge opportunity for traditional retailers to meet customers’ demands in the changing marketplace and drive additional revenue, but it also presents a major issue that impacts every retailer’s bottom line: fraud.
As e-commerce continues to grow, so does the amount of retail fraud. For e-commerce retailers, the study shows there has been a 49 percent year-over-year increase in chargebacks as credit cards remain the most common method of payment for fraud after Mobile money hoax pretenders. Retailers also see a great deal of discount fraud for those redeeming a discount they don’t actually qualify for. According to experts, merchants that deploy remote channels experience a disproportionate amount of fraud, which the numbers back up.
Because it is so much easier for some cruel Kenyans to commit fraud online, there are a host of new challenges for those responsible for protecting businesses from theft. Loss prevention professionals are now tasked with crawling the dark holes of the internet for potential talk of a data breach, and must be able to identify potential fraudsters in mountains of customer data. It’s truly an awesome task for these people to keep up and evolve with new changes retailers face everyday and employ strategies sufficient enough to protect their respective brands. However, as daunting as it seems, there are ways to protect today’s Kenyan online businesses and thwart the guaranteed threat of fraud. Here’s what I recommend:
Take Advantage of the Available Data
As emphasis is put on creating ideal customer experiences, more and more companies are collecting consumer data to create customer profiles to better market to their customer base. They track transactions in order to provide personalized service and a better customer experience, and use predictive analytics based on past behavior to recommend products that customer may be interested in. And while marketers use this to encourage purchases, loss prevention professionals can use it to identify abnormalities and inconsistencies in shopping behavior. 
As profiles are built, the loss prevention investigators who pay attention and analyze the data will be most successful in identifying potential trends that are not normal and may pose a threat. 
Investigators can and should identify certain trends to watch out for and KPIs to target, and evolve their strategy to combat harmful behaviors. To do this, the team of decision makers and loss prevention pros should ask a few basic questions before a new promotion launches including:
●     What could happen?
●     What is probable?
●     Do we have mechanisms in place to identify fraud?
●     What metrics will help us determine what downsides came along with an increase in sales?
●     How can we track all of the elements resulting from putting a promotion in place?
LP leaders should revisit the resulting data on a monthly basis following the launch of a campaign to see how they’re stacking up against the set KPIs. Putting these systems in place ahead of time often results in a decrease of loss, so it’s always beneficial to be prepared to identify and monitor abuse through the analysis of actionable data.
Try an Audit or Pilot Program
More often than not, organizations don’t know what their acceptable rate of fraud is until they give something a try. The forward-thinking CEOs or COOs who will look ahead and say, “I think the fraud rate is going to be 20 percent, so we’d better put something in place up front,” are few and far between, which leaves many organizations shocked at their revenue numbers at the end of the year.
Running an audit is one of the best ways for loss prevention pros to understand where issues are. A variety of verification organizations do just this to give businesses an idea of how much revenue they’re losing to fraud and where those vulnerabilities are coming from. Often times, it’s a huge wake up call for retailers who may not have known they were losing a large percentage of sales due to credit card or discount fraud.
Another solution is to run a pilot program to monitor how much fraud is occurring and where vulnerabilities may be in the business. By offering a small sample size an exclusive, time-boxed discount, retailers can oversee what behavior is happening where, and easily identify issues or areas of weakness. 
Pilot programs and audits limit the risk to a business in case something goes wrong. It also provides a basis for a forecast and will help set expectations for any new solution providers or programs you put in place based on the audit or pilot results. Simply, you can test your way in. 
Find New Opportunities to Learn
Criminals in Kenya are getting more sophisticated and their strategies more complex as each day passes, which means loss prevention professionals have to continue to pivot their strategies and understand what’s happening in the industry so they can be ready to fight those threats.
In order to be effective, it’s vital these pros constantly grow, learn, and get better at what they do. Investigators need to take the initiative to keep up with industry news, attend conferences to educate themselves, and talk to colleagues in the loss prevention field. Getting to know and work collaboratively with partners in the IT department is essential since they’re constantly working with new technologies.
It’s also important to pay attention to what other organizations are doing right, and what they’re doing wrong. As many of us have seen, there have been some damaging breaches that have hurt large retailers badly, and it’s extremely important that all those responsible for loss prevention learn from these incidents and do their due diligence to ensure their organization isn’t vulnerable to the same type of threat.
Conclusion
While online retailing offers both customers and retailers new opportunities to meet the demand than ever before, the potential for fraud is a major concern than all retailers and organizations in general should be cognizant of. With a few tweaks, data analysis, and trails, as well as constant education, today’s loss prevention professionals can ensure that retailer’s bottom lines are minimally impacted by cyber crime, and that the customers of those retailers are protected from theft.