Daily Archives: September 22, 2024

NIC and partners take business insurance to artisans and market women

The National Insurance Commission (NIC) under its Insurance Awareness Coordinators group, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (UNDP’sIRFF), has launched a nationwide initiative to promote inclusive insurance campaigns for artisans and market women. The initiative aims to provide these underserved groups with access to insurance in times of emergency, ensuring their livelihoods are protected.As part of the effort, 26 enumerators are being trained to conduct fieldwork starting next week.The team will visit key markets such as Galilea in Dodowa, Katamanso, Kasoa, Ada, Sege and Asutuare from October 1 to October 5, meeting with the leadership of market women, artisans and associations to raise awareness about the benefits of business insurance.Speaking at NIC’s Inclusive Insurance Awareness Clinic for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, UNDP’sIRFF Coordinator Dr. Amina Sammo expressed her satisfaction with the progress of the initiative. She highlighted the importance of extending insurance coverage to those who have traditionally been excluded, such as market traders and artisans.”My stance on inclusive insurance has always been a passionate one.Insurance has often eluded small business owners, like the charcoal, waakye or plantain sellers on the street.Basic insurance such as car, property and life insurance are common, but what about coverage for the market woman’s stocks or the artisan’s tools in case of an emergency? We need to shift the focus toward micro-business insurance, which can bring real relief to those who lose their livelihoods due to unforeseen circumstances,” Dr. Sammo said.She urged the enumerators to keep this in mind as they go into the field, stressing the importance of business insurance over the heavily marketed funeral policies, which often overlook the immediate needs of traders facing disasters like floods and market fires.She made a call to action for the insurance associations to be innovative in coming up with insurance products that are accessible and capable of protecting the business of especially vulnerable populations.She added UNDP’s IRFF is committed to supporting the insurance industry to break boundaries in serving over 90% of the population that are not captured in general insurance products.Mr. Nda Ahale Polley, representing the Ghana Insurers Association(GIA) and the Insurance Awareness Coordinating Group (IACG), explained that the IACG was formed to streamline and coordinate all insurance awareness campaigns in the country, preventing overlapping efforts. He noted that the group’s activities began in June 2023 and will continue until November, with a focus on driving inclusive insurance efforts.Mr. Abdul-Rashid Rahman, who oversees inclusive insurance at NIC’s supervision department, outlined the five phases of the programme.The first stage involved a reconnaissance trip to selected markets, then now training the enumerators, while the third phase, known as the Focus Group Discussion, will see them going into the field to engage with market leaders and artisans to gather data and feedback from participants.The final stage will be building the capacity of selected teams to enable them to relay insurance information to the masses after the programme.Kyeame Ghanasah, the lead facilitator, took participants through the key objectives of the fieldwork, ensuring they are equipped to effectively communicate in indigenous languages the benefits of inclusive insurance during their engagements.

It’s time to treat software — and its code — as a critical business asset

Software-driven digital innovation is essential for competing in today’s market, and the foundation of this innovation is code. However, there are widespread cracks in this foundation — lines of bad, insecure, and poorly written code — that manifest into tech debt, security incidents, and availability issues.

The cost of bad code is enormous, estimated at over a trillion dollars. Just as building a housing market on bad loans would be disastrous, businesses need to consider the impact of bad code on their success. The C-suite must take action to ensure that its software and its maintenance are constantly front of mind in order to run a world-class organization. Software is becoming a CEO and board-level agenda item because it has to be.

Already, some leaders are beginning to understand this imperative. This May, 68 organizations signed a Secure by Design pledge orchestrated by CISA, committing them to specific actions to bolster software security, which helps ensure quality. The pledge includes reducing one or more classes of vulnerabilities, and that specifically starts at the code level. It’s promising to see enterprise tech companies continuing to sign this pledge, but it’s only the beginning.

As AI becomes a more prevalent part of software development, the need to ensure security will only get stronger. AI intrinsically carries its own risk – learning to cope with it securing software at its core is a necessity for businesses that want to take full advantage of the benefits of AI.

Most software executives focus on output — the thing their business is selling or the service they’re providing — without acknowledging that the output is reliant on the code their software is built on. After all, the output is what is directly visible. But a myopic view of results is just no longer enough to ensure a business’s longevity or future. We must examine below the surface.

Growth and Progress Depends on Code Quality

The market has been trending away from companies that scale fast and quickly exit. It’s now durable, profitable companies poised for success and the public markets; businesses that focus on steady, predictable growth, continuously innovating, and delivering customer ROI.

The auto industry is a good example of how producing high-quality code can help organizations win their markets, even if a car manufacturer isn’t considered a traditional technology company. Many auto manufacturers could theoretically say, ‘We can build a better engine than someone like Tesla’, but where they may always lag behind is on the software. As the most valuable auto manufacturer in the world, Tesla certainly seems to be pulling ahead based on the bets they made to write quality code so they can deliver software that differentiates them in the auto industry. 

Acknowledging the impact of software and the code it’s built on, some very forward-leaning companies are putting software engineers in leadership roles, like GM, which hired its first EVP of software last year from Apple. Companies are starting to populate their top ranks with software engineers; CTOs are moving into CEO roles. The make-up of the modern CEO is changing as leaders are required to speak both business and tech.

Software performance is not just a technical issue. It has far-reaching implications for businesses, society, and even human lives. The increasing complexity of software systems, such as self-driving cars, has made it essential to ensure that they are developed and maintained to the highest standards. Furthermore, the White House’s recent move to hold software companies legally liable for products that do not meet basic standards has put the onus of quality on the leadership of these organizations.

Bad Code is a Big Problem

To be clear: bad code is one of the number one business liabilities today and it is currently flying under the radar. There are no regulations to govern it, shareholders are not demanding the reduction of tech debt, and leadership teams continue to focus on output rather than foundational structure. Further, there is no incentivization for organizations to produce better code. No stick — and no carrot. Organizations rack up technical debt due to this bad code that becomes more and more difficult to solve as it accrues. Meanwhile, the unsung heroes on development teams struggle to shoulder the problem, leading to increasing levels of burnout and mental health issues.

Flipping the switch to turn software from a liability into an asset by focusing on the code doesn’t need to be daunting; it’s well within reach. It’s an urgent leadership responsibility to design software that is built on secure, reliable, and maintainable code. Failure to do so is creating the perfect storm of issues due to bad code such as slower development, more security risks, worsening customer experience, and less accountability.

It’s time for top executives and boards of directors to reflect on what is at the top of their agendas and recognize that if “software as a critical business asset” is not there, it needs to be — now.

There needs to be a mindset shift to see software in a new strategic light and to have software built on quality code woven into the fabric of the way business is done. The future of digital business depends on it. 

AI in the Software Landscape

You’ve heard the McKinsey phrase that every company today is a software company. It’s true. And what’s more, every company is increasingly an AI company, too. AI-assisted software development will continue to pick up steam in 2024 as generative AI continues to accelerate in use. This leads to more code written at higher speeds and, in some cases, by less experienced developers equipped with AI tools that are known to produce bugs and security issues just as much as human developers if not more, making it challenging for organizations to ensure the quality and security of their software. 

AI is adding fuel to the fire when it comes to secure, high-quality code. As software becomes the thing that business hinges upon, it’s worrying to consider the precarious state of the software foundation. This fractured foundation, exacerbated by the advent of AI, is at risk of continued fragmentation unless action is taken. A major disruption caused by faulty code is not a remote possibility and would have far-reaching consequences across industries.

AI coding assistants offer benefits such as developer productivity and skill development, but code and software quality may suffer unless organizations implement the check and balance. Similar to finance, designing software for security, reliability, and maintainability is better than fixing issues later. Additionally, leaders should consider software-induced business risks beyond security.

The ability to reduce the risk of poor software ultimately depends on the investment in building continuous “Clean Code” — consistent, intentional, adaptable, and responsible code that is secure and of high quality. This kind of code ensures a final product that is reliable and doesn’t contribute to tech debt, making it a vital aspect of the development process today.

Leaders Must Act Now

When software has become a business-critical asset that is built on a solid foundation, no matter the industry, leaders will see that it is possible to drive innovation at the warp speeds that today’s digital world requires. To summarize, we recommend the following steps be taken:

Executives should prioritize software: CEOs and boards need to recognize the importance of software and focus on improving code quality.

Design for security, reliability, and maintainability: Leaders should emphasize designing software on code that is developed with security, reliability, and maintainability top of mind, to minimize business risk.

Invest in code quality tools and processes: Implement tools and processes that help developers write clean code and identify and fix code issues early on.

Foster a culture of code quality: Encourage a culture where developers take pride in writing clean, high-quality code.

The problem of mounting tech debt due to code issues is real and it has massive implications not only for the business but for the developers saddled with the burden of fixing the problem after the fact, and for society and human lives as described above. Software is only as strong and as useful as the code behind it. It is urgently necessary to turn code from a liability into a top business asset, especially as the use of generative AI increases. Boards and leadership must begin to consider whether or not their software is being built in the right way before it becomes a drag and detriment to business growth.

Photo Credit: Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock

Dr. Harry Wang is VP of Strategic Partnerships, Sonar, a software company that helps developers write quality clean code. Sonar’s solutions are trusted by more than 8 million developers today. At Sonar, he oversees the company’s product marketing and tech partnership functions. He joined the company from Google where he spent almost eight years of his career, most recently working on the incubation of Google’s internal startups that applied GenAI and federated ML to enterprise knowledge discovery and privacy-sensitive apps.

Modern College of Business and Science signs MoU with Evergreen Gulf Recycling HUB to champion sustainable e-waste management

MUSCAT : The Modern College of Business and Science (MCBS) officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Evergreen Gulf Recycling HUB LLC (EGRH), a leader in electronics and battery recycling, to collaborate on promoting sustainable e-waste management practices. This agreement marks a significant step in addressing the environmental challenges posed by the growing global electronic waste crisis.

The partnership will focus on recycling and managing a wide range of electronic waste, including laptops, cell phones, network equipment, batteries, and scientific devices, as specified in the comprehensive list of acceptable materials. Through EGRH’s advanced mobile app, users will be able to track their electronic waste and schedule pick-ups for recycling, ensuring convenience and transparency throughout the process.

This collaboration aligns with MCBS’s strong commitment to environmental sustainability and aims to reduce the ecological footprint of electronic devices within the community. By joining forces, both institutions hope to raise awareness of the importance of responsible e-waste disposal while contributing to the circular economy by reintroducing valuable materials back into the production cycle.

Dr. Moosa Al-Kindi, Dean of MCBS, also emphasized the significance of this partnership, “this MoU represents our continuous efforts to integrate sustainable practices into our campus and community. Through our collaboration with Evergreen Gulf Recycling HUB, we are setting a regional example for responsible e-waste management that extends far beyond our institution.”

Dr. Said Al-Kittani, Associate Dean for Community Outreach at MCBS, expressed his excitement about the partnership, “we are thrilled to partner with Evergreen Gulf Recycling HUB LLC. This agreement not only reaffirms our commitment to sustainability but also provides our students, staff, and the wider community with an impactful way to manage their e-waste responsibly.”

Sheikh Salim Ahmed Ali Shore Qatan, Chairman of Evergreen Gulf Recycling HUB LLC, added, “we are proud to collaborate with the Modern College of Business and Science in this important initiative. Our joint efforts will pave the way for a cleaner, greener future by effectively addressing the growing challenge of e-waste.”

Evergreen Gulf Recycling HUB, headquartered in the Sultanate of Oman, leads the region in advanced e-waste recycling services, including data destruction via mobile shredding units, while ensuring full compliance with recycling laws. This partnership will also enable MCBS to leverage EGRH’s expertise in issuing Certificates of Recycling and Destruction, guaranteeing that all materials are handled in an environmentally responsible manner.

This two-year MoU marks the beginning of a lasting collaboration expected to have a profound impact on e-waste management practices within MCBS and the broader community.

Over 1,300 students, faculty members ask IISc to cancel India-Israel business meet

A banner is displayed in the hall of the University of Geneva occupied by student protestors and activists.

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AFP

More than 1,300 students and faculty members from universities in India and overseas have written a letter urging the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru to cancel an event called the “India-Israel Business Summit” scheduled to be held on September 23.The signatories said allowing the event would “amount to direct support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine and its aggressive actions against its neighbours”.The event is being organised by an organisation named Think India, the Indian Chamber of International Business and the Mysore Lancers Heritage Foundation at an auditorium in the Indian Institute of Science.“The summit aims to bring together business leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers from both countries to discuss and explore potential areas of cooperation, foster partnerships, explore synergies, and drive innovation,” said Think India in a social media post.It added that discussions will be held on bilateral trade and investments between India and Israel, defence and cybersecurity, startup and venture capital, sustainable technology and water technology.In their letter to Govindan Rangarajan, the director of the Indian Institute of Science, the students and faculty members pointed out the scale of destruction caused by Israel’s war on Gaza.They also said they were deeply concerned that the institution was “sponsoring and hosting” the event.Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Since then, Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza. The attacks have killed more than 40 thousand persons, including 16,500 children.“Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza,” read the letter. “It has also destroyed healthcare facilities, leading to the resurgence of diseases such as polio. The World Food Agency estimates that 96% of Gazans are facing food insecurity. Alongside, Israel has also launched brutal raids on the West Bank and just this last week, Israel engaged in terrorist attacks in Lebanon by remotely detonating electronic devices, many of which were in civilian areas.”The letter also pointed to the July ruling of the International Court of Justice, which said Israel’s continued presence in the Palestinian territories violates international law and must end “as rapidly as possible”.The students and faculty members said that the United Nations General Assembly also recently adopted a resolution to end Israel’s “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months.“We also witness the world academic community and various universities divesting from Israel due to students and faculty members coming out in solidarity with Palestine,” read the letter. “In this situation, it is unconscionable for IISc to encourage collaborations between India and Israel.”It said the signatories were especially concerned that one of the planned tracks of discussion was in defence and cybersecurity.In view of this, the signatories asked Rangarajan to stop the event and “not allow the use of the Indian Institute of Science as a platform to legitimise genocide and colonialism”.