Stellenbosch-based Entersekt, the mobile technology company that offers banks a comprehensive solution for secure online and mobile banking, has opened an office in the UK. The company, having signed up a number of South African banks, has had significant interest from banks both in the UK and Europe, which has necessitated a UK presence.
The Entersekt UK office is headed by UK security industry heavyweight Mark Kacary, who most recently was one of the founding members of security distributor CiRRUS. Kacary also previously ran UK sales for authentication vendor Aladdin Technologies.
“Opening an office is a sign of commitment and confidence. We have a product that is not only better than anything else on the market, but will enable our customers to offer their own customers more services, more functionality and more value for their money.” says Kacary.
Kacary says he decided to join Entersekt for a number of reasons. “I was exposed to the Entersekt technology through CiRRUS where we were always looking for new and innovative technologies. CiRRUS had relationships with a number of IT security experts in South Africa, many of whom have now joined Entersekt, and it became clear to me that we were looking at a unique solution that not only delivers a powerful underlying enterprise security platform, but, unlike many other solutions, is a business enabler. I just had to be a part of it.”
He states that potential UK clients are very open to technology developed in South Africa. “There is an understanding from many people in the banking industry that, in a number of ways, South African banks are ahead of the game where banking security is concerned. The speed at which banks in SA had to adapt to the use of mobiles was significantly quicker than in the UK. In the UK, more people have Internet connectivity at home and it has only really been with the growth and development of smartphones that banks here have realised that a bank customer requiring immediate mobile access to services would exist. There has been an acceptance for some time of South African tech companies in the UK. For example, Dimension Data, with South African origin, has been highly successful in the UK.”
Commenting on his personal vision for Entersekt UK, Kacary concluded: “My vision would be to see Entersekt's Interactive Transaction Authentication solution being the platform of choice for all banks. This would make it easier for customers as they would only need one application on their mobile phones, and would then choose the services of whichever facility they prefer. The ability to be banking with, for example, Barclays and/or HSBC, and to have a single solution allowing secure access to multiple accounts, would benefit banks and their customers equally.” For more information, visit www.entersekt.com.