Enterprise IT
Top 10 Suspicious Email Subject Lines
Phishing emails related to working from home are on the rise, according to the latest report from KnowBe4. Social media messages are another area of concern when it comes to phishing, and LinkedIn phishing messages dominate as the top social media email subject to watch out for, holding the number one spot at 47%. “It’s no surprise that phishing attacks related to working from home are increasing given that many countries around the world have seen their employees working from home offices for nearly a year now,” says Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4. “Just because employees may be more used to their home office environment doesn’t mean that they can let their guard down. The bad guys deploy manipulative attacks intended to strike certain emotions to cause end-users to skip critical thinking...
5 Tech Trends to Watch in 2021
2020 was a year in which the tech industry came into its own and learned lessons about adaptability, resilience and collaboration that have changed the way we work forever. Perhaps the hardest thing for businesses this year was the uncertainty – which makes predicting trends for 2021 more challenging than usual. But as we move into what will hopefully be a post-COVID reality, here’s a view of the top five tech trends that will impact local businesses in the coming year. 1. Welcome to the Internet of Behaviours (IoB) Anyone who loves a good tech acronym will know the Internet of Things (IoT), is the network of interconnected physical objects – from fridges to data centres – that gather and exchange information and data over the internet. The Internet of Behaviours (IoB) takes this dat...
The Growing Role of SASE for Enterprises during 2021, and other top SD-WAN Predictions from Silver Peak
Marcel Fouché, Networking and Storage General Manager at Networks Unlimited Africa Silver Peak, the global SD-WAN leader that was recently acquired by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, now has an even greater ability to help enterprises successfully transform their wide area network (WAN) and security architectures, and advance their digital transformation. This includes the ability for enterprises and their employees to connect to business applications from anywhere in a safe and secure manner. This is according to Silver Peak founder David Hughes, who writes in a blog entry that, “With so many exciting advancements in WAN edge technologies, including the acceleration of IoT adoption, advancements in automation and AI along with new transport technologies emerging, we’re contin...
Safety and Wellness are Key for WFH
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the daily habits of millions of people, and working routines are no exception. With millions of people suddenly switching to working from home full time, we’re witnessing a seismic shift in how people work. Companies have had to set up their employees to ensure the work continues uninterrupted, however, this comes with new challenges: an increase in cybersecurity risks and ensuring mental wellness and motivation especially for those doing lockdown alone. Cybersecurity risks: Under the usual circumstances, getting cybersecurity right can be challenging for many businesses and their employees. In the current work-from-home world, however, managing the myriad of cyber-risks can feel downright daunting as employees may momentarily drop their guard or download ...
Citrix to Acquire Wrike in $2.25 Billion Cash Deal
Citrix has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wrike for $2.25 billion in cash. This deal is expected to Citrix’s digital work platform and Wrike’s work management solution, which streamlines collaboration and work execution. The addition of Wrike’s cloud-delivered capabilities is also expected to accelerate Citrix’s business model transition to the cloud and strategy to become a complete SaaS-based work platform addressing the needs of various functional groups within the enterprise. The combined company will offer customers an enhanced value proposition through complementary solutions, unlocking new revenue opportunities both within existing installed customer bases and new lines of business buying centres, including marketing, professional services, and HR. Together, Citrix a...
Unpacking the Digitalisation of South African SMEs
In just a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world at the speed of light. Most businesses weren’t prepared and were forced to adapt to extraordinary challenges in order to continue with business operations –whilst battling to stay afloat. In South Africa, many businesses have opted for mass work-from-home policies for their staff, as businesses navigate through new ways of working as a direct result of the pandemic. Digital transformation has become the enabler, propelling businesses into the future. Technologies like collaboration and online meeting software have become a necessity through the transition to digitally enable remote working. The acceleration saw a broader...
DDoS ‘Tax’ Adds to an Organisation’s Attack Burden, says NETSCOUT
Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited Africa Did you ever think about the ‘tax’ you pay as an organisation in the event of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack? In a nutshell, DDoS attacks by threat actors don’t only have a negative effect on businesses and their customers – they also take up quantities of internet bandwidth without paying for it. This means that the cost of this traffic falls on the shoulders of every business that does pay for the internet service. This is according to the NETSCOUT ‘2020 1H Threat Intelligence Report’, in which NETSCOUT, a leading global provider of service assurance, security and business analytics, introduces its DDoS Attack Coefficient. The figure summarises the amount of DDoS traffic going through regional netw...
Networks Unlimited Africa brings Festive Season Cheer to Tembisa school
There is no doubt that it has been difficult for many local companies to survive in 2020. Imagine then how much more challenging it must have been for worthy causes like The Love Trust and its beneficiary, Nokuphila School in Tembisa, Midrand? This is the question asked by Anton Jacobsz, CEO at Networks Unlimited Africa, a leading value-added distributor within the Sub-Saharan African market. He explains, “The Love Trust is a South African non-profit educational organisation which has, to date, reached over 20,000 primary and secondary beneficiaries in disadvantaged communities. Because the lockdown period has made it even harder for non-profit organisations to stay afloat, our company has made a point of continuing to offer our support to this worthwhile organisation. A team from Ne...
Altron People Solutions to Empower Organisations to do Business through the Virtual Business Academy
When South Africa and the rest of the world went into lockdown, it was clear for organisations that they had to reinforce the way they work and do business. Crucial to the current situation was realising that having remote employees and policies in addition to technology was going to be the solution to keep the doors open. However, working remote may be isolated now and then with nobody nearby that you can immediately ask help. Also, some employees will not openly admit to needing help to finish a task nor reach out if they have issues with technology compared to a conventional office setting. On the opposite hand, employers face the dilemma of how to successfully support remote working and ensure business continuity through increased productivity and effectivity. It is against...
ProStream Boosts its Enterprise Portfolio through New Hitachi Vantara Partnership
Marcel Fouché, Networking and Storage General Manager at Networks Unlimited Africa Enterprise systems solutions expert ProStream has announced that it has become a member of the Hitachi Vantara Partner Program in order to strengthen its range of offerings. Hitachi Vantara offers storage solutions for enterprises and mid-sized organisations, as well as hardware, software, data analytics and consultation services for many areas of information technology (IT) and businesses. “Networks Unlimited became a proud distributor of Hitachi Vantara within sub-Saharan Africa during 2019,” says Marcel Fouché, Networking and Storage General Manager at value-added distributor Networks Unlimited Africa. “We pride ourselves on building supportive working relationships with our systems integrators and ...
Tips for Managing Large Intergration Projects
There are multiple departments within a company, each of which has a way of doing things. Project integration management brings all aspects of a project together in one cohesive place. As a project manager, it’s important to ensure all aspects of a project stay on track and have the tools and support system necessary to perform. Each piece of the project needs to seamlessly integrate with the other to result in a complete project. Here are some tips for managing large integration projects. Project Charter There is a certain skill and finesse needed to piece all the working parts of a project together. Successful project managers use their professional experiences as well as the advice of industry experts when working on a new project. Drafting a brief project charter do...
Why POPIA Compliance is not just an IT Problem
Since its implementation in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has become a global standard in protecting end-users from the unlawful use or dissemination of their personal information. South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), set to commence in July 2021, is modelled on GDPR, and it affects all businesses. While many organisations believe that POPIA compliance will not affect them, or that it is just an IT problem, this is a short-sighted attitude that could see them falling foul of the law. Compliance requires business and IT to work together to manage data effectively, which at the same time provides a number of business benefits. The buck does not stop with IT POPIA is an umbrella data protection law that governs how businesses need to handle data...
