By Quomodo Systems Africa, an elitist partner of global IT firm Checkpoint Systems, has held its first in the series of customers’ engagement in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Quomodo is an indigenous Nigerian technology consulting and systems delivery company, and the latest engagement, which was in partnership with Checkpoint System, focused on the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
The joint Check Point and Quomodo System Africa exclusive event explored how intelligent security and innovative technology can help organisations stay ahead in an evolving digital world.
The event, which comes under the theme “Secure Today, Resilient Tomorrow”, featured presentations from experts and top executives of the two global technology companies, which outlined how artificial intelligence (AI) is critical in securing the oil and gas industry as well as the latest technology solutions from Checkpoint that Quomodo System Africa is pushes into the Nigerian tech market.
The speakers harped on the need to embrace modern technology solutions deployed by Checkpoint into the Nigerian technology space through their strategic channel partner, Quomodo.
They also spoke about critical aspects of security in the oil and gas, and noted how Quomodo, by deploying Checkpoint solutions, can now boast of being the first to deploy a cloud-based AI security solution for all aspects of the national economy.
In her welcome address, Chief Financial Officer of Quomodo Systems Africa, Olufunke Tonye-Preghafi, said the decision to focus on the oil and gas sector was due to its critical impact on the Nigerian economy.
According to her, the oil and gas industry space attack is beginning to increase, adding that “we are beginning to see an increase of attacks in the oil and gas.”
She disclosed that Quomodo found out that most of these attackers are not even seeing the smaller companies as the key focus, stating that the smaller companies are a ladder to bigger.
“So, once you’re able to hit small oil companies, they begin to get more intelligent. Then, they will now target bigger companies,” she said.
The event, which is the first of its kind with Checkpoint, offered Tonye-Preghafi the opportunity to share Quomodo business roles in the areas of workplace security and AI security, emails, as well as how the attackers operate at every point.
She clarified that the purpose of the engagement was to facilitate discussions between Quomodo customers and the developers of these solutions.
She also said that the essence of the event was to have a backto-back conversation of the nitty-gritty of CheckPoint’s solutions and services.
Tonye-Preghafi, while speaking about cyberattacks in the oil and gas industry, noted the importance of securing the perimeter of businesses from attack.
She disclosed that AI can throw out 5,000 prompts and bring out 400,000 attacks, adding that at this point, “we have to be smart in all sectors.”
According to her, for a country like Nigeria that depends a lot on oil and gas, not much has been done for the protection of the industry.
While speaking about the size of Quomodo portfolio in the oil and gas sector, he said, “We have actually deployed a lot of solutions to spread across.”
She added that for every company Quomodo speaks with on cyber security, which usually comes with different needs, an assessment of their environment is often done.
According to her, Quomodo’s key partners offer solutions to some of the biggest oil companies like Saudi Aramco, adding that Quomodo leverages the solutions that the brands have been able to successfully deploy.
She describes Quomodo’s business relationship with Checkpoint as an elitist partnership, saying that Quomodo is one of the few partners of Checkpoint in Nigeria.
In an introductory remark, Country Manager for Checkpoint Systems, Kingsley Oseghale, said the meeting with the Quomodo’s customers was very strategic and designed to grow the partnership even more with Quomodo.
He said that nine out of the 10 biggest banks across Nigeria and Ghana are Checkpoint’s customers and are using her solutions, adding that there is just one more to be won by Quomodo.
He said that Checkpoint is also playing a leading role in the energy sector in Nigeria and supporting companies like Total Nigeria, Oando and Sahara Energy by securing and ensuring their data is safe and is properly taken care of.
“Today is all about having that discussion, trying to let you know how we can help you secure your environment, and how you have been able to see areas where you think CheckPoint can add value, working with our partner, Quomodo,” he stated.
Dr Happiness Udo, Channel Manager for West Africa at Checkpoint, describes Quomodo as one of Checkpoint’s strategic partners, adding that Quomodo is Checkpoint’s footprint in the market.
According to her, Quomodo makes it possible for Checkpoint products and solutions enter into the market, adding that Quomodo is instrumental in making companies buy CheckPoint products and solutions.
She disclosed that the latest innovation from Checkpoint is the AI security solution that protects the workspace from cyberattacks.
She added that Checkpoint firewalls are now AI-embedded, saying that Checkpoint is the only current firewall in the market that has AI features in them.
“We are leaders in the Gartner, Marriott, and all of the industry insights that tell our customers where we are in terms of levels for productivity,” she stated.
