Acronis urges quick adaptability in order to minimise cyber risks in Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 14 – Acronis,  a global technology firm focused on cybersecurity and data protection has urged African firms to advance their adaptability skills in order to effectively prevent and respond to cyberattacks that are on the rise owing to increased digital penetration across key markets.

Sara Pinheiro, Distributor Account Manager Africa says the cyberattacks landscape is rapidly growing but is being hindered by slow adaptation in the continent.

Speaking to Capital Business on the sidelines of Acronis CyberFit Summit in Dubai -the industry event series dedicated to bringing cyber protection to businesses everywhere,  she explained that in Africa, there is a culture of not taking cyber threats too seriously which is an obstacle to proactively minimize cyber risks.

“Currently in Africa region, we can notice that there is also a knowledge gap on what steps to take for a business, which is an obstacle to proactively minimize cyber risks. We need to adapt very quickly and rapidly, the landscape is growing, it’s a challenge and an opportunity for us,” she said.

As part of the firms’ strategy in 2022, she noted that Acronis seeks to have a bigger presence and achieve more numbers through among others, the Acronis Academy initiative where partners can better learn the importance of Cyber Protection.

“Only by educating can we reach a certain level of awareness and be ready against cyber-attacks. Indeed, with the increase of attacks, we have seen a growth of resellers within the classic business adopting our Acronis MSP module,” she added.

In a separate interview, the firm’s CEO Patrick Pulvermueller said that the global cyber protection firm is planning to launch operations in Kenya in 2022.

Pulvermueller told Capital Business that the firm is actively building its presence in Africa with a key focus on areas where its managed service providers (MSPs) have a strong connection.

MSPs, which are businesses that offer multiple, managed, information technology (IT) services to other businesses are among the key focus for Acronis.

“We launched 14 locations in 2021, we want to do the same next year and we want to do the same next year I am sure Kenya is on the list in 2022 or 2023, ”  he said.

Africa Expansion

He said that Africa is a huge market for the company which already has operating offices in Nigeria and South Africa.

“We are looking for markets that are driven by our service providers and have the strongest connection with MSPs. Our first step is multinational corporations, small, medium, and large companies that have subsidiaries in Africa and we offer them cyber protection, that is how we build our footprint,” he said.

The firm has also announced plans to open two data centers in Nigeria, and South Africa,  in Q2 2022, helping to fulfill the company’s ongoing plan of building 110 data centers worldwide within two years.

Among the growth dimensions put in place by the firm in Africa include a need to invest from a people’s perspective with a  priority in digital payment platforms and mobile penetration sectors.

According to the Acronis boss, these two sectors are the most vulnerable areas in cyber threats owing to their increased usage and penetration in the continent.