Akhona Nkalitshane is a product manager at Rectron South Africa, and Peter French is the GM for Middle East and Africa at Acronis.

Nkalitshane is a cloud computing specialist who focuses on ground-breaking offerings in this area by cybersecurity OEMs such as Acronis. She has over seven years of experience in the IT and services industry, working at companies like HP and Introstat.

French is a passionate technologist who has nearly 15 years of experience working in the IT industry at companies like ESET and Synapsys. He is an accomplished technology speaker and thought leader who is passionate about how tech can keep us connected while improving systems and the way we do things.

In this What’s Next interview, French explains how Acronis sets itself apart in the cybersecurity space. Nkalitshane then discusses how remote working has added new cybersecurity considerations for businesses. She also outlines the common practices that companies overlook, which puts them at increased risk of being affected by cyber-attacks. French then talks about how POPIA has affected how South African businesses look at cybersecurity and data protection. He also mentions Acronis’ launch of a local data centre, and explains how this will help South African companies achieve data protection compliance. Nkalitshane then discusses the free security products that are designed for consumers, yet commonly used by small companies. She explains that these offerings are not good enough for business use. French concludes by discussing the added services Acronis offers to provide comprehensive cyber protection to businesses – including its powerful anti-ransomware tools.