In conjunction with their partner Gamma Informatique, the Sonema group recently organised a workshop to discuss new IT and Telecom issues. The workshop brought together 40 Nigerien companies and was a unique occasion for the participants to meet with industry experts and discuss the problems encountered by their companies within Niger.
The workshop was held on Thursday the 14th September 2017 at the Grand Hotel du Niger in Niamey, and was the occasion for Sonema and Gamma Informatique to present their skills and services to local companies and show how they can meet these new challenges by offering reliable and scalable services.
The participants discussed the following issues:
- The development of terrestrial networks in Niger via the progressive deployment of fibre optics. This development is still handicapped by recurring power cuts which underlines the importance of hybrid networks with back-up links.
- A rise in new types of usage (mobile, new business applications etc) which is reflected in the increasing demand for debit, particularly on VSAT links.
- The need to optimise, filter and monitor Internet access on existing links.
- IT security which is a key issue for Nigerien companies and which requires support and training measures, particularly in the banking sector.
- The advantages of data centre services: quality of infrastructures, security and managed services and optimised business costs. However, this also requires discussion about the legislative implications of storing data outside of the country.
- The importance of having access to responsive and proactive customer support during incident management.
