E-Business
Gartner Says Cognizant Computing Will Transform Mobile App Strategies
Cognizant computing — the next phase of the personal cloud movement — will become one of the strongest forces in consumer-focused IT, according to Gartner, Inc. It will have an immense impact across a range of industries, including mobile devices, mobile apps, wearables, networking, services and cloud providers, causing major shifts in revenue and profit flows.
“Cognizant computing is transforming personal clouds into highly intelligent collections of mobile apps and services,” said Jessica Ekholm, research director at Gartner.
“Business-to-consumer providers must adapt their strategies to exploit this change to generate new revenue, find new ways to differentiate themselves and foster loyalty via mobile apps.”
Cognizant computing is a consumer experience, in which data associated with individuals is used to develop services and activities according to simple rules.
These services include alarms, bill payments, managing and monitoring health and fitness, and context-specific ads. Cognizant systems will deliver their services across multiple devices.
The practical application of cognizant computing helps business-to-consumer (B2C) companies to acquire deep insights into consumers’ preferences and daily lives, which will therefore assist in creating better, more-personalized tailor-made services and offers, as well as ameliorate customer services.
This, in turn, should help providers strengthen their competitiveness (and responsiveness) in a market where consumers are becoming increasingly aware of new services and offers, pricing structures, and the reputation of a brand.
Gartner predicts that cognizant computing will put the importance of apps, services and cloud to the forefront — making it one of the three most important components for any customer retention strategies for B2C companies over the coming five years.
“Cognizant computing is already beginning to take shape via many mobile apps, smartphones and wearable devices that collect and sync information about users, their whereabouts and their social graph,” said Ms. Ekholm.
“Over the next two to five years, the Internet of Things and big data will converge with analytics. Hence, more data will make systems smarter.”
As a result, Ms. Ekholm said that by 2017, smartphones are expected to manage some tasks for us — probably better than we can do them ourselves.
More-onerous administration tasks, such as booking our car in for service, changing a hotel booking if our plane is canceled, or sending information to our doctor about refilling our repeat prescriptions, are a few examples.
Once this point has arrived, apps and services that are hosted in the personal cloud will interact with smartphones and other devices and the intricate app ecosystems they have created.
Any company in the business of providing a service, using apps or selling devices will be affected by cognizant computing in some way.
Cognizant computing will allow companies to better connect with customers and to create more valuable products, services and offers.
“The increased awareness of and implementation of analytics and self-learning systems will force B2C companies to hasten their adoption of these technologies, to stay competitive and better serve the consumer of the future,” said Ms. Ekholm.
“Analytics is the key component and creates the backbone of cognizant computing.”
By amalgamating and analyzing data in the cloud from many sources (including apps, smartphones and wearable devices, websites, store purchases, and social interaction), cognizant computing will provide contextual insights.
This will help companies expand the lifetime value of their increasingly fickle customers, improve customer care, boost their sales channels and transform the customer relationship — by making it more personal and relevant.
In essence, this new development will help companies to innovate and create new business opportunities by creating hypercontextual services that will appeal to a dedicated individual — rather than catering to the mass market.
However, critical issues will have to be addressed including consumer privacy, quality of execution and becoming a trusted vendor.
As consumers move their attention and money toward apps and services, B2C device vendors will be forced to forge partnerships with apps and service providers and create increasingly innovative business models that meet consumers’ needs by providing integrated services and apps to drive hardware sales.
“Consumer device manufacturers are placed in a formidable scenario of trying to compete with service and apps providers while keeping their brand fresh and exciting for end users,” said Ms. Ekholm.
“The more obvious answer would be for them to start offering apps and services — which many have done over the years, with varying degrees of success,. However, their best tactic would be to partner with app and service providers, in order to have a better chance of succeeding in this space.”
Google’s 2024 Ads Safety Report revealed how artificial intelligence is now a frontline defense against harmful online content, blocking 5.1 billion ads, restricting 9.1 billion more, and suspending over 39 million advertiser accounts, most before a single ad was shown.
The crackdown comes as scams become more sophisticated, with many leveraging AI-generated content or impersonating public figures.
Google’s advanced AI models, powered by Gemini, helped detect fraud faster than ever, spotting signs like stolen payment info, fake businesses, or coordinated scam networks.
In Africa, including Nigeria, the impact is especially important. Impersonation scams and misleading political ads remain a major concern.
In response, Google updated its Misrepresentation policy, deployed a team of 100+ global experts, and took down over 700,000 scam-related advertiser accounts, leading to a 90 percent drop in reported impersonation scams.
With nearly half the world voting in 2024, Google also removed over 10 million election-related ads for failing to meet transparency rules requiring verified identities and clear sponsorship disclosures.
In his reaction, Alex Rodriguez, general manager for Ads Safety at Google, said these numbers show what AI can do when it’s focused on safety.
“We rolled out more than 50 AI model upgrades in 2024, helping us act faster and smarter—stopping threats before users even saw them,” Rodriguez added.
While AI handles large-scale enforcement, human reviewers now focus on complex cases.
Google continues working with global regulators, industry partners, and organizations like the Global Anti-Scam Alliance to keep ahead of evolving threats.
E-Business
DG NITDA Tasks Africa to Lead the AI Revolution Through Strategic Leadership, Inclusive Innovation
The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has urged industry leaders across the continent to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their business, organisational, and operational models to unlock new opportunities, redefine leadership, and drive smarter decision-making toward making Africa deeply rooted in AI-driven innovation.
Inuwa made this call when he spoke on “Harnessing AI for Strategic Leadership” during a panel session at the Main State of the GITEX Africa 2025 held in Marrakech, Morocco.
The aim of the panel session was essentially to explore how data-driven and intelligence-led strategies can transform business models, optimise resources, and unlock new opportunities through AI-powered processes across various nations.
Speaking to an international audience of policymakers, technologists, and investors, the DG positioned Africa, particularly Nigeria as a rising force in the global AI landscape, championing a people-first and strategy-led approach to AI development and governance.
The DG argued that to be effective in today’s dynamic environment, leaders must evolve into AI-driven leaders and leverage technology not just as a tool, but as a partner in decision-making.
“AI is shifting the skills we value today, as well as the processes we use to do our daily work, so to drive strategic leadership, you need to be an AI-driven leader and find a way to use AI as a tool to create co-intelligence whereby you bring people and computers to work together to deliver your strategic vision as a leader,” he noted.
While urging leaders to combine AI with the unique strengths of their teams to deliver real business value, Inuwa stated that “Strategy must always come first, and technology second.”
He outlined four principles for effectively utilising generative AI which are inviting AI to the tale, maintaining human oversight, designing models with guardrails, and adopting a mindset of continuous improvement.
Inuwa explained that AI is invited to the table by giving it a role in organisational tasks, maintaining human oversight to correct bias and misjudgment, designing guardrails to ensure privacy ethics, and inclusivity, and adopting a mindset of continuous improvement by treating today’s AI as the least capable version that can be used.
He however warned against the risks of deploying AI systems built on data that fails to represent the diverse realities of global societies. Stressing the need for digital visibility of all cultures and citizens, he cautioned that if data doesn’t see a community, the system won’t see it either.
Introducing NITDA’s approach to governance in regulating AI through the Regulatory Intelligence Framework that is anchored on the 3 pillars of Awareness, Intelligence and Dynamism.
“In our approach to regulating AI in governance, we have a framework we call Regulatory Intelligence Framework, which as a regulator we need to be aware of the environment, we need to be dynamic because things change, and we also need to be intelligent. We need to know the data and make sense out of it,” he disclosed.
“Then we have 2 approaches, the first one is a rule-based where you can come up with certain guidelines and expect people to comply with them and we have a non-rule based, which allows them to build use cases, and based on those use cases, put the guard rails and agree on the best practices, which is always the best when it comes to AI governance,” he added.
Envisioning Africa’s AI future in the next 5 years, Inuwa painted a visionary picture where the continent will integrate AI into solving real-world challenges in every economic sector thereby leapfrogging development gaps.
Inuwa firmly averred that by augmenting human capability with AI, the continent can unlock unprecedented levels of innovation, efficiency, and inclusive growth.
“We missed the first, second, and third industrial revolutions, but this fourth one, we must lead it and not just follow.” He concluded.
Other industry leaders who shared their experiences and insightful ideas at the panel session were the Special Envoy on Technology, Republic of Kenya, Philip Thigo, CEO Pesalink, Gituku Kirika, and the Head of Africa, Open AI, Emmanuel Lubanzadio.
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needs urgent reforms to revive it, according to Isaac Kekemeke, board chairman of the service.
Kekemeke, who spoke at a workshop organised for NIPOST staff in Abuja yesterday, added that it is now time to go the whole hog to reform and make NIPOST fulfill its destiny to compare and compete favourably with multinational postal agencies.
“The approach may not be palatable at all times but we need to take the tough but necessary decisions to exit the intensive care unit. We are either out of ICU in good health or head for the morgue. NIPOST either functions effectively now as a commercialised state operator or gets privatised, so that myself, the PMG, and a good number of you risk the loss of our jobs,” the chairman said.
No doubt, he added, “Change is not always easy as many loathe change because of the uncertainty it brings but it is in my place to urge you all to embrace the change we advocate.”
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