Business Processes Re-engineering to be driven by Technology in the post Covid-19 Era

Business processes of most companies are rigid and un-adaptive to technology. The company owners and management are very adamant about change and technology. They are not forward-thinking or innovative. They have refused to accept that the digital age has changed everything. Regrettably, they are the victims of business collapse because their processes cannot adapt quickly to technology. They need Business Process Reengineering.

COVID-19 has unpardonably claimed precious lives. COVID-19 has revealed how Information Technology (IT) has permeated every facet of human lives. Even though in the last two decades we have seen the increasing usage of IT in many activities, some managers do not believe IT to increase efficiency. A lot of managers have refused to innovate and adapt to the IT world we have created. During the almost worldwide lockdown in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, founders of tech companies increased their worth. The demand for IT services highly driven by IT soared. Sadly, when COVID-19 was taking precious lives, it was making some astoundingly rich.

Prior to the COVID-19 era, not so many organizations believed in staff working from home. There was no way MTN Ghana and Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, for example, were going to allow a large section of their staff to work from home. Working from home was preserved for privileged few senior managers and critical technical personnel. COVID-19 has proofed that with technology and the right resources in place, every work can be done from home. For example, MTN Ghana Call Center Staff and Standard Chartered Bank Relationship Managers worked from home.

Online shopping was doing well but those who thought they could be scammed had no option but to use these services. Virtual training was a no-go area for many but now, it is the most preferred option. Virtual meeting was meant for very top managers. But today, the next question when a meeting is announced is: can we have the meeting virtually? Delivery services indeed have seen a boom and continue to excel in this era. Why worry yourself to queue at the bank or ATM when you can conveniently use the bank’s mobile app to do every transaction? Prior to COVID-19, using ATM was even a challenge to many. Want to pay for goods and services? Even the charcoal seller has a Mobile Money account.

Most pastors and church leaders never believed in streaming church services live on social media. COVID-19 has taught them that, you can spread the Gospel of Christ to more audiences via social media than their limited physical structures. For the offering, the first item to catch your eyes is the rolling of the mobile money numbers at the bottom of the screen. They could hold all-night services and had 3,000 members connected instead of the 32 members in their church auditoriums.

In education, some teachers and lecturers never heard of Zoom until COVID-19 publicized it. I witnessed one scenario in the early stages of COVID-19 when one of the top universities decided to train lecturers on using Zoom and Moodle to deliver courses and assess students. One old professor said it was not possible to effectively teach mathematics and effectively assess students because of the numerous mathematical symbols. By the time we finished with the training, he alluded that online teaching is the best.

The concept of Telehealth or mHealth existed prior to COVID-19 but people showed no interest. Many patients, doctors, and other health professionals never believed in telehealth. You needed to see the physician physically for examination on every little health issue. Drug prescription must be done on the prescription form before it will be attended to. COVID-19 changed this perception and IT-phobia attitude in the health sector. Doctors have learned to diagnose patients via video calls without stress and get it right. People everywhere can receive professional health services without any issue.  Pharmacies can deliver prescriptions to patient homes via courier or delivery services after diagnosis from telehealth services.

Companies, by the lessons from COVID-19, have now realized that they can reach more people with their products and services on social media than through the traditional mode of advertising. Company websites were either nonexistent or had never been updated five years ago when it was created. There was no need prior to COVID-19. Today, almost all the websites of many companies have been redesigned and the marketing manager demands a weekly report on the number of unique visits.  The need for digital marketers is on the rise in the post-COVID-19 era.

Any business: big or small, that refuses, either deliberately or ignorantly, to embrace technology and reengineer its business processes to include IT will soon be out of business. The race is already on and the best time to review your business process to integrate new efficient technology is NOW!

Author: Emmanuel K. Gadasu

(Data Protection Officer, Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana, and Data Privacy Consultant at Information Governance Solutions)

For comments, contact author  ekgadasu@gmail.com  or Mobile: +233-243913077

The Deception of Forwarded Messages and Links

The value of data has led to increasing demand for it. Researchers and innovators need a lot of data of all kinds to bring about new products and services, improve service performance and venture into the unknown to bring about disruptions. There are genuine ways institutions collect data. One of such ways is the use of surveys. However, people tend to ignore such surveys for several reasons. Cybercriminals and some companies without proper governance structures employ illegitimate ways to get the data they need at all cost. A common and misleading way to get users or people to gather data is through the use of links across the various social media platforms.

A link is a pointer to a record, material, or resource in another location. For example, if I have a music posted on YouTube that I want to share, I will craft a message like this to share on my social media platforms: Hello buddy, have you seen my latest video? Click here to watch it. You will love this! Most often, we forward links to friends or groups to share presumably worthy information. However, most people do not read this information themselves to ascertain the authenticity of the forwarded message. Cybercriminals hide a lot of their nefarious activities within and behind links. Users have no idea what is behind the link. It is only the programmer who knows what is behind the link. If you are to know that a link is going to steal information from your phone or email, there is no way you will click on it. In order to achieve their objectives on their targets, cybercriminals would wrap their criminal intention and activities with something that is more engaging, very attractive, that draws attention and deceptively appetizing. Cybercriminals are like journalists. They craft headlines that would entice you to buy a newspaper and only for you to be disappointed with the content.

There are several things that can happen behind a link at the blindside of the user. When you click a link, you are at the mercy of the cybercriminal. There are series of technical actions which can be implemented within or behind a link but are unknown to the user. For a cybercriminal to steal your personal data or invade your privacy, they need your permission to do so. This permission from you is inherently embedded behind the link that has been presented in an enticing manner without your explicit consent.

Usually, behind these links are pieces of computer programs that will collect information from your device. The type of device, model, location, IP address, contacts details, ISP, pictures, etc. Some of these computer programs can be written to target specific contents on your devices such steal passwords, copy and send pictures from your device.

Some of these links after clicking can download a piece of software on your device such as keyloggers which will send everything you type to the cybercriminal. Some are capable of taking screenshots of your activities and send it to the perpetrator. This is very intrusive and dangerously invade our privacy and poses serious security risks to our personality, digital image, families, and friends.

Do not trust anyone when it comes to links. Treat every form of link, especially on social media platforms with the highest level of suspicion and negative mentality. Ask people who send this information if they have indeed verified them or visited the links and know their content. Do not forward links because you also got it from some group or think it may be useful. One golden rule to stay safe and also protect your friends and family, group members among other is that: do not forward a link you have not visited yourself or a message you have not read yourself to anybody.

They are tricky and easily draw attention with their convincing nature.

For example:

1. Click here to see those who have blocked you on WhatsApp
2. I have sent you a secret message click here to view it
3. MTN is giving out free credit. Click here to get yours
4. Click on Yes if you love Jesus

These are just a few of the kind of deceptive messages that cybercriminals craft to engage their targets.

Another way is through the use of online forms popular among them is Google Forms. We are inundated with so many forms and surveys to fill online across all the social media platforms. From filling a form for COVID-19 financial assistance to new employment opportunities with juicy and unrealistic salaries and bonuses with international travel opportunities.

Do not fall a victim to forwarded messages and links anymore. They are very deceptive, and it is only the cybercriminal who knows what is behind the link provided. Do not be deceived and desist from forwarding messages you have not read or links you have not visited to friends.

Author: Emmanuel K. Gadasu

(Data Protection Officer, IIPGH and Data Privacy Consultant at Information Governance Solutions)

For comments, contact author  ekgadasu@gmail.com  

Mobile: +233-243913077

 

Telecommuting Under Lockdown

Remote work also referred to as telecommuting (work from anywhere or teleworking) has been with us since the 1970s. Over the past, two to three decades’ efforts have been made to institutionalize and further formalize the future of work. In 1995 a phrase was coined to put in perspective what it means to telecommute, “work is something you do, not something you travel to”. Telecommuting is defined explicitly as the working arrangements made for employees, where they do not have to necessarily commute by any means to a central point in delivering assigned duties or roles. The central point could be a warehouse, office building, and to some categories of employees, the field. In this article, we shall consider “Remote Work” from the locus of IT and further narrow it down to Application Developers and in parallel to Tech firms.

With the inception of telecommuting in western countries, some organizations including governments adopted teleworking to benefit themselves and their employees. Telecommuting was first recognized in satellite technologies where satellite offices were linked to remote mainframes through dumb terminals. Dumb terminal is described by TECHOPEDIA.COM as a very simple monitor with very little processing power and features. The network bridge between mainframes and dumb terminals was established using telephone lines. After a decade, given the significant breakthroughs in personal computers with respect to their processing power and increasing stability in performance, usage of personal computers was indeed harnessing a parallel and exponential household usage.  Moving computers to the home became the order and this forged whole new possibilities, where offices can be migrated to homes or anywhere. Personal computers could connect to organizational mainframes from anywhere, this further broadened and pinpointed areas where office work or activities may be conducted.

Over the years past, organizations specifically tech firms, have struggled to completely give in to telecommuting until 2019 during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic really forced significant Tech firms to allow most of their employees to telecommute. Going remote, even Tech firms required a great deal of investment into organizational IT infrastructure and out-sourcing other services such as tools needed for communication. The basic tools for effective and efficient remote engagements maybe but not limited to virtual calling, emailing, and conferencing tools. These tools are very essential and without them, no meaningful remote engagement can be achieved.

The internet has had its fair share undergoing rapid stages of metamorphosis. At the very core in driving communication is the internet. It is fascinating how western countries have embraced the internet and made it accessible to their citizens as to rights and not a privilege for few, thereby paving way for seamless telecommuting. In March 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in Ghana, the Telecommunication companies (Telcos) rose to the occasion by reinforcing their systems and providing the necessary tools for their employees to telecommute. During this period, the leading Telcos reported significant improvements in voice, data, and mobile money transactions. Indeed, customers also confirmed the seamless 4G mobile data services. Most employees have been very efficient and delivering effectively to meet customer demands. Telecommuting under lockdown has raised questions regarding the future of work after and beyond the pandemic.

On January 24, 2012, Reuters Poll reported that "one in five workers around the globe, particularly employees in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, telecommute frequently and nearly 10 percent work from home every day”. It is very important to reiterate the classic case of overwhelming work output by most telecommuting employees. Organizations that have allowed most of their employees to telecommute can and will attest to the benefits it brings to their firms. Some of the numerous benefits include a reduction in office space, utility bills (water, electricity, sanitary, etc.), and for tech start-ups engaging developers, there is no need for quantum investment for office space set-up. Rather, resources could be channelled into remunerations and ventures that will aid in smooth project delivery. Employees telecommuting have also reported a remarkable balance in work and personal life. Teleworkers do not have to necessarily commute to and fro, thereby reducing the commuting time for traversing through traffic jams.

In conclusion, some organizations will choose telecommuting to benefit employees whilst others will consider it solely for the benefit of the organization. Indeed, for effective telecommuting, the business must consider two key factors. The first being structures for communication and marrying the impact on the personal life of employees and the potential benefits to the business. Communication tools are common and once set-up is done; employees may use any of the channels to drive organizational goals. Secondly, although some employees require constant monitoring, it is not appropriate for organizations to lump together all employees into this category. In considering the benefits, organizations with complex structures should explore the potentials of telecommuting.

 Author: Patrick Wunake (Member, Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana)

For comments, contact: pmarks1914@gmail.com 

Mobile: +233 272068039

Source: www.iipgh.org