‘Data Privacy Vital for Technology Growth’

‘Data Privacy Vital for Technology Growth’

Ugo Aliogo

 The Chief Executive Officer, Mines.io, Ekechi Nwokah, has said data privacy and quality remains vital in driving growth and penetration of technology.

Nwokah, who disclosed this recently, in Lagos, during the 2019 KPMG Digital Summit, with the theme: ‘Leveraging Insights and Experience to Scale,’ explained that data privacy and quality remains key and part of the solution to lending at scale, through the use of AI, adding that government needs to take more risks with the processes so as to get the right results.

Nwokah said: “Data privacy and quality are key to the growth of technology in Nigeria. There also has to be strict regulations concerning data privacy and important from a customer point of view because customers trust you with information and when the information get lost, then your business can go down the drain overnight. 

“Also, there has to be more risks taken to get the processes done in an effective manner because if there are no risks, then there cannot be the growth and development of technology we want to see.”

In his remarks, the Partner and Lead, Digital Transformation, KPMG Africa, Boye Ademola, said the event which was the third in a series, was designed by KPMG to provide insights for organisations on how to leverage the digital space to create transformational value.

Ademola, also stated that the 2019 summit was chosen to focus on the application of Artificial Intelligence, user experience transformation and design thinking in helping businesses gain competitive advantage especially in Nigeria.

Speaking during a panel session on, ‘Powering Decisions with AI,’ the Founder, dbrownconsulting Limted, David Brown, said Africa was ready for the use of AI, “but a lot remains to be seen if it can take advantage of it to solve simple problems.”

“AI is here, but the question is how ready are we in terms of using AI to solve our problems. So, whether we like it or not, AI is already here and there is a school of thought that says AI will replace us in terms of human intelligence and argument as well. 

“There are certain things that AI would replace but then for Africa, how do we take advantage of that?

“Frankly speaking, we really need to do something for AI, we do not need to be data scientists but we can do something sort of local solutions and set up platforms and solve simple problems with applications you already have. So there are three things, have a platform, harness that as well as applications to be able to use it effectively”, Brown explained.

However, for AI to thrive in Africa’s technology ecosystem, experts called for the establishment of an organised platform to harness its potential, adding that the continent was ready to explore opportunities.

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