Mombasa: A multinational record management and digital transformation firm is rapidly revolutionising the information management industry, leveraging technology. Speaking at the 4th Association of Pension Trustees and Administrators of Kenya Conference in Mombasa, Metrofile Group Managing Director Jackline Mburu called on the pension industry to leverage data for preservation, security, and digital transformation. Metrofile’s role has been amplified by the Kenya Kwanza administration’s ongoing efforts to digitise government services.
According to Kenya News Agency, the company is recognised for its contributions to digital transformation across the continent. In Kenya, for instance, Metrofile successfully digitised over 40 million land records for the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, as well as 40 million records for the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Now, the company is setting its sights on assisting the pension industry in digitising its vast repositories of historically paper-based records. According to Ms. Mburu, this data transformation will provide valuable customer insights and improve data utilisation from both a monetisation and security standpoint.
Metrofile ensures the security of both physical and digital records. The company operates a 40,000-square-foot warehouse in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, where physical documents are stored, organised into registries, and indexed. ‘We arrange records in recyclable boxes and papers at our warehouses. Access is strictly controlled and aligned with our customers’ preferences,’ explained Ms. Mburu, adding that storage complies with statutory requirements.
For clients unable to relocate their documents due to confidentiality concerns, Metrofile can establish on-site records management systems. ‘As long as they have a facility, they have space. we can recreate records management at their site and assist them to create registries and a structured way for them to access and retrieve their data, again creating secure parameters around access,’ she said.
The MD confirms that once the documents are scanned and a digital footprint created, they can store the digital copy of the documents in a local cloud data centre in the country. ‘We are fully compliant with the statutory requirement to have data reside in Kenya. Our customers’ data doesn’t leave Kenya; it is stored in our cloud data centre,’ she assured, adding that they have clear cyber security measures to protect the data.
The firm is actively engaging the National Archives, ministries, and parastatals to assist them in the government digitisation initiative. The MD stated that they want to look at the entire lifecycle of data from its physical form and into a digital form, noting that digitising government services is not just about scanning records but just the beginning of the digitisation transformation.
‘Once we begin with the scanning, we then go to digitalisation. This is when we start to use tools to be able to extract information from its digital form so that we can be able to transform, analyse and gain insights into customers. This is how the government can further monetise data through this digitisation process,’ she said.