Category: Company News

Like sands through the hourglass (just kidding – this isn’t one of THOSE episodes), the passing of time means annual events roll around before you can say ‘long weekend’. It’s been a long 2022, admittedly not as bad as the two years presiding it, but one full of moments, events and memories guaranteed to last a lifetime.

As we enter October, however, the general air of excitement begins to creep in. After all, what’s not to love? Holidays, end of year energy, a whole World Cup, and all things festive on the horizon – but it just feels like we need something more. Is something missing? Did we forget an event? Have we missed a trick? If you answered yes to any of the above, you’re probably right – because it’s Cyber Security Month, and we guarantee most of you have forgotten to get excited.

Honestly, we understand why. After all, Cyber Security Month at first glance seems as exciting as a live broadcast of “Joe Biden’s Favourite Hits”. After all, it’s hardly a topic which elicits feelings of awe, wonder and intrigue – Area 51, this is not. However, the purpose of this month goes a long way to rectifying this – and it’s our hope that together we can reveal the true nature of the complex, complicated and downright scary concept that is hacking, being hacked, and protecting your digital self.

Cyber Security isn’t just a made-up term used by rappers in Fast and Furious Movies to look tech savvy. It’s a real threat affecting real people and very, very real businesses – often considered a death knell, with damages totaling billions of USD annually, millions of lives lost, and countless innocent families alike. It’s destroyed human lives, organisations around for generations, threatened to topple entire governments and, with us being in the midst of a complete digital revolution, is guaranteed to both skyrocket and represent the next generation of criminals (plus their victims).

In short, it’s not a concept to be ignored or underestimated – which is why we’re devoting an entire month towards raising awareness.

It goes beyond that, though, as we dual focus our attention on not just your Personal Protection, but what we as an entity can do for you. Have you heard of our Free Assessments? We certainly hope so – we’ve said quite a bit about it in weeks gone by. Essentially, these are our tools and your gateway towards unlocking your brands entire digital potential. A series of completely free (although there are paid options as well) designed to enhance your online security, identify weaknesses, establish a platform for future growth and, mostly, strategise the future well-being of your establishments.

Why are we mentioning this in the same breath as Cyber Month?

Well, these Assessments are equally important this month, as their key component lies in allowing customers to enhance their brands digital security. It’s not just any half-baked Assessment either – these rely on key fundamental pillars from some of our strongest brands to offer you comprehensive evaluations and relevant information for key areas of your organisation.

These range from Firewall Security to Network and User Risk, M365, Cloud Readiness, CSAT, Teams Assessments, Cost Management, General Health Checks and beyond – but we’ll get into that in full detail in the next few weeks. For now, all you need to worry about is that Cyber Security Month is here (well, almost here), it’s coming, and you can brace yourself to get Cyber Smart.

So, what can you expect?

• Every week, we’ll be releasing one part of our blog series designed to inform, educate, and hopefully entertain you rather than serve as bedtime reading.
• We’ll also be releasing a series of Social Media Posts – 40 posts, 40 days, giving you invaluable insight on how not to become a digital Karen.
• A weekly newsletter, recapping the events just passed (because two is ALWAYS better than one).
• A series of TikToks, posted on our Vox Channel, where we provide you with tips and insider information from our team of experts.
• The ability for customers to sign up for our Hackathon, where we encourage businesses to challenge our team of Hackers to test their security (for free, of course), and win a prize.
• And, of course, a (you guessed it) weekly Podcast or Ted Talk, where we’ll be discussing all things Cyber.

Look, we know it’s not Shark Week, after all there’s no Megaladon in sight (and the only thing Big and Scary on our horizons are these blogposts at first glance), but all we request is you give it a chance and allow us to pleasantly surprise you. We’ll do our best to be engaging, informative, and not too much on the boring side – and we hope that, together, we can both leave Cyber Safer.

Braintree, a trusted Microsoft Gold Certified Partner powered by Vivica Holdings, has been named as an LS Retail Diamond and LS One Platinum partner for 2022, further entrenching the company as an expert in providing digital solutions to the retail and FMCG sectors across Africa.

LS Retail is a leading global provider of all-in-one business management software solutions for retail and hospitality companies across the globe. The LS Retail partner ecosystem has grown steadily over the last two decades, offering scalable solutions to manage the complex operational requirements of retailers. With partner companies in eighty-eight countries, LS Retail has the largest partner ecosystem in the Microsoft Dynamics world.

“We are delighted to have won these two LS Retail partner awards, which is unique as we are the only partner worldwide to implement both the LS Central and LS One – retail solutions. Braintree has secured LS Retail Diamond Partner Status four years in a row, as well as the Platinum Partner award for two consecutive years. These two prestigious awards are testament to our growing strength in retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors, with more businesses wanting to transform digitally and build their online presence,” says Avril Howes, Strategic Head for SMC at Braintree.

The Diamond Partner accolades are the highest achievement for a LS Retail partner, only awarded to companies that exhibit extraordinary dedication to the LS Retail solutions by solving complex problems together and secured unparalleled revenue growth success during the previous year. Only sixteen out of over four hundred partners worldwide accomplished Diamond Partner status.

Diamond Partner status is awarded to partners who display extraordinary dedication to the company’s solutions and are exceptionally successful in terms of sales. In addition, Diamond Partners are invited to serve on the company’s Partner Advisory Council. Braintree interact directly with LS Retail’s management team, leading partners globally, and actively participate in the refinement of the LS Central and LS One Retail Solutions. 2022 marks the second year in a row that Braintree has had the honour of serving on the council.

“Our performance over the past year was driven through securing major accounts with multinational brands that we are now helping to grow and expand throughout the continent. We are also pushing the boundaries of what these solutions can do, and this has forced us to innovate in the way in which we implement these solutions and brought us closer to top talent within LS Retail itself and Global Retail Community.

“We applaud the dedication of our staff, who accepted the challenge and worked to ensure our customers were fully satisfied. The breadth of our team has helped us deliver results while providing a high level of service and support to our customers,” says Howes.

Certified LS Retail partners are experts in retail and hospitality, as well as in LS Retail’s solutions. They know the business requirements and legislation of the operational entities. Braintree offer services which includes the customisation, localisation, project management and technical support for Retail and Microsoft Business Central. LS Central extends Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, an all-in-one ERP which complements the LS Retail offerings to offer a comprehensive retail system for all types of retailers. LS One is a retail-only system that is ERP agnostic and can be integrated into a customer’s ERP system of choice.

“Congratulations to all our Partner Award winners for always raising the bar higher. We are very proud of your success and thankful for your dedication and commitment to LS Retail,” says Peter Vach, Vice President for Partner Operations at LS Retail. “Our partner ecosystem is one of the main reasons for our success – but even more importantly, it is a community. It is a pleasure to have such professional, competent, collaborative people in our ecosystem.”

Guardian Eye, a Vivica Group company that offers remote CCTV monitoring, access control and industrial control systems, has acquired Internet of Things (IoT) as-a-service provider Activate Group. The aim is to combine the expertise of Activate with the scale of Vivica to accelerate the deployment of IoT technologies across several sectors in South Africa.

Founded in 2011, Activate Group is a founding member of the IoT Industry Council, which promotes technical excellence and the adoption of best practices and standards in order to drive uptake of the technology in the country. The company’s products and solutions include an IoT platform, devices and several types of connectivity, all of which enable a broad range of applications. Vox has had an existing relationship with Activate since 2018 when it selected the company’s IoT platform to power its own offering.

“We evaluated a lot of platforms and found Activate to be the ideal partner for us.  There’s always a tendency to think or assume that SA is behind the times and international products are better, but we were thrilled to find a local company that is on par with the best international companies. What really excites us is that we have had a relationship for four years already and it was time to ‘take it to the next level’,” says Jacques du Toit at Vivica Group.

As part of the acquisition, Activate Group will fall under Guardian Eye, which offers cloud-based access control, visitor management, CCTV security, integrated IoT applications, real-time monitoring and analytics and runs a remote operations centre that provides customers with 24/7/365 cost-effective monitoring and reduces the requirement for guards on site.

Activate Founder Rodney Taylor says that bringing together Activate and Guardian Eye solutions offered synergies, as a growing number of IoT applications have to do with security, monitoring and tracking as well. He adds that Guardian Eye will remain the primary brand as it is more well-known in the market, with Activate being the IoT product. Within Guardian Eye, Activate will focus on providing IoT solutions to the healthcare, retail and logistics sectors.

“I have built Activate Group by myself over the past few years, and this acquisition will take the company to the next level. Being part of Guardian Eye gives us access to the much larger user base that exists within the broader Vivica Group, as well as the capacity to deploy the huge volumes of sensors that are needed to meet the requirements of larger customers,” says Taylor.

The acquisition ties in neatly with Vivica Group’s desire to bring together companies that challenge the conventional and enable problem-solving – whether it’s energy, security, connectivity or cloud computing – while also enabling an entrepreneurial, visionary spirit to grow and scale in a sustainable manner.

Taylor adds that as the enlarged Guardian Eye businesses harnesses the synergies resulting from the Activate Group acquisition, the focus will be on job creation through creating opportunities for growth, and training and mentoring employees in order to push them up the ladder.

“We were attracted to Activate Group’s entrepreneurial spirit and attitude, and Vivica Group can act as the ideal incubator that can guide this business through to maturity. Security is crucial in South Africa, and Guardian Eye will help create safer communities around South Africa through these innovative IoT products as well as the services provided by the remote operations centre,” says du Toit of Vivica Group.

Just when it seemed like we were making genuine progress when it came to clarifying all things Cloud related, 2022 rolled around and made us go full circle.

We’ve written enough around the topic to (hopefully) feel confident that we were in the process of debunking the many misconceptions around the term (which our team of experts could quickly clear up), and were rapidly reaching the stage where everyone, everywhere could appreciate its merits. One (admittedly horrible) rainy season later, however, and we feel like we’re back in the days where mere mention of the word Cloud means one of three things to us South Africans:

1. Eskom ruining everyone’s mood after complaining about wet coals (seriously, invest in an awning)
2. Annette Botha prepping the nation to pack a raincoat.
3. KZN getting ready to do their best Atlantis impression.

Like electricity, service delivery, and the word “shame”, the Cloud has a different meaning once you enter our unique and wonderful country. Luckily, we’re here to put together your handy survival guide for clearing up those doubts and successfully navigating your transition into the big world of the unseen storage.

1. Myth One: The Cloud is tangible, and the sky is falling:

Much like we’ve given all power outages the unified blanket term of Eskom, the word Cloud doesn’t refer to a real-life floating item where your important Data (and files you don’t want your girlfriend to see) are stored. Rather, it’s simply a remote accessing computing solution which allows for information and data to be safely stored on an Internet based or online server. Unlike your older brother’s hard-drive with the password 1234, it’s not accessible to overly eager younger siblings eager to catch a glimpse of the promised land, but rather a highly encrypted, secure, and difficult-to-breach network which utilises software over hardware.

2. Myth Two: The Cloud is as secure as Paris Hiltons… home videos

On the contrary, Cloud based security is likely tighter than a Gupta’s tax returns. Unlike the Parliament buildings in Cape Town (too soon?) Cloud Security is on a mission to improve all the time. In most cases, vendors will have high levels of encryption, security and functionality which are more advanced than those of the clients they serve (really not an achievement when it comes to local municipalities, but for everyone else that’s pretty impressive).

Any vendor worth their salt should employ a team of security experts to protect the information of their clients. Not only does their professional reputation depend on it, but the new PoPIA Act threatens severe punishments to organisations deemed irresponsible during a Data breach. So, as good as your in-house IT guy is at discovering what you’re really searching on Google during company time, chances are he’s not a Cyber Security expert – meaning leaving things in the hands of professionals might be your safest bet.

3. Myth Three: The transition takes longer to process than UIF.

Thankfully, this change is closer to a few days than a few years – meaning the only reason your business needs to stall is a family meeting with another nonsensical curfew. A good Cloud provider (which we like to think we are) should handle all aspects of migration to ensure a seamless, easy transition (while answering the hundred questions from Jay in accounting) as well as equip your staff with the relevant info or tools to simplify life. Usually, this takes a few days, meaning you’re back in the game before you can say “Cloud”.

4. Myth Four: It’s as reliable as the Proteas in a major tournament.

Actually, it’s your current system that’s the problem (which is the business equivalent of saying, “it’s not us, it’s you). Contrary to the article your friend that emigrated to New Zealand shared on Facebook, or your uncle posted in the family WhatsApp chat, Cloud Computing does backup better than its predecessors. You see, unlike the Star Wars universe, in the world of Cloud “newer” often means “better” (as opposed to a rehash of outdated plotlines). With the right provider and the right plan, you can wave goodbye to manual backups and the ever-looming threat of an office fire destroying your Database (if such a threat exists, that is). Should a disaster, such as looting or Putin going trigger happy, ever occur, you can at the very least know that your info is recoverable.

5. Myth Five: It’s more complicated than the Zondo Commission – I don’t have time for this.

Most change faces resistance – just ask Galileo.

Fact is, most software is designed to simplify rather than complicate life. Unlike your remote HR software which never lets you fill in your leave correctly, your Cloud provider should equip you with a range of user friendly, easy to engage with features that are easy to operate. Cloud = new, but does NOT = more complicated. Typical systems offer dashboards, reporting and accessing capabilities which even the office Karen can figure out relatively easily – allowing you to simplify your Data, information, and processes as you see fit.

So, there you have it. In the words of Ross Gellar, it’s not that big a deal and it really is quite common (hey, we’re still talking Cloud here – stay with us). The only question you need to ask yourself is what you’re waiting for. Get in touch with our team at Nymbis and let us clear up those Clouds – we can promise it’s better than Rain (see what we did there? 😉).