In Kenya, retired public servants can wait for as long as 10 years to start earning their pension. In some cases, the wait can take up to 30 years – or never. Many pensioners die even without benefitting from their savings.

Similar experiences are equally common in the private sector. Where corruption is not cited, the reason is predictably – missing files. The files have been missing for decades in cases where pension clerks have not connived to pinch pensioners’ earnings.

The sector is fraught with instances where employee information stored in hard copy is abused. This is what a multi-national record management and digital transformation firm rapidly seeks to address by revolutionising information management industry with technology.

Speaking at the Fourth Association of Pension Trustees and Administrators of Kenya Conference in Mombasa, Metrofile Group Managing Director Jackline Mburu called on pension industry to leverage data for preservation, security and digital transformation.

Metrofile’s role has been amplified by the governing coalition Kenya Kwanza administration’s ongoing efforts to digitise government services. The company is recognised for its contributions to digital transformation in Africa.

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 has set sights on assisting the pension industry to digitise its vast repositories of historically paper-based records. According to Mburu, this data transformation will provide valuable customer insights and improve data utilisation from both a monetisation and security standpoint.

“We want to show the capability for this pension industry to set a trend in this country where we can use data in a broad sense. Data is the new gold. For many years, gold has run different economies, but now data is running trust,” she said.

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,” Mburu explained, adding, “Storage complies with statutory requirements.”

For clients who are unable to relocate their documents due to confidentiality concerns, Metrofile can establish onsite records management systems.

“As long as they have a facility, they have space we can recreate records management at their site, 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 confirmed 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 made the assurance.

 She said the company has put in place tamperproof cybersecurity measures to protect the data.

The firm is actively engaging the national archives, ministries and parastatals to assist them in the government digitization 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 digitalization. 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 monetize data through this digitisation process,” she said.

• A Tell Media / KNA report by Sadik Hassan

Metrofile Managing Director Jackline Mburu gives the keynote speech at the 4th Annual Association of Pension Trustees and Administration of Kenya (APTAK) International Conference in sMombasa.

A section of the delegates in attendance follow proceedings during the 4th Annual APTAK International Conference, Mombasa.