A recent executive visit to Nairobi by software escrow specialist ESCROWSURE has highlighted a growing structural risk within East Africa’s digital acceleration agenda: increasing dependence on third-party software without formalised continuity protection.
Meeting with CIOs and senior IT leaders across banking, insurance, healthcare and media sectors, ESCROWSURE CEO Anthony Watson says one question consistently surfaced beneath discussions about AI, cloud migration and automation: what happens if a critical software vendor fails?
Across the region, organisations are digitising at pace. Core banking systems, policy administration platforms, ERP environments and customer-facing digital infrastructure are increasingly delivered by external software providers. Yet many institutions remain exposed to scenarios such as vendor insolvency, acquisition by competitors, loss of key development capability, withdrawal of support or operational collapse following a cyber incident.
“Cyber security rightly dominates board conversations,” Watson says. “But operational resilience extends beyond cyber defence. Vendor failure can shut down a critical system just as effectively as ransomware.”
Watson notes that while boards are driving rapid AI implementation, many organisations are still dependent on legacy systems and third-party platforms that they cannot independently rebuild or maintain if the supplier disappears. Advanced digital capability layered onto infrastructure that cannot be recovered independently increases systemic risk rather than reducing it.
Kenya’s domestic technology ecosystem is expanding rapidly, strengthening regional innovation and reducing reliance on global suppliers. However, enterprise institutions must balance support for local vendors with formal safeguards that address capital resilience, succession depth and long-term maintainability. Confidence in a vendor relationship does not replace structured continuity planning.
Regulatory expectations across African markets are also evolving. Supervisory authorities are placing greater emphasis on IT governance, operational resilience and third-party risk management. Accountability increasingly sits with governing bodies rather than procurement functions. Failure of a critical supplier is no longer viewed as an unforeseeable event, but as a foreseeable risk requiring documented mitigation.
While institutions are investing significantly in cyber security controls and human risk awareness, far fewer have structured stressed exit mechanisms in place for critical software suppliers. Incident response capabilities are maturing, yet vendor failure response planning remains inconsistent.
Technology leaders expressed a clear appetite for practical, enforceable controls rather than theoretical frameworks. Watson says that properly structured and independently verified software escrow arrangements provide one such mechanism. When implemented correctly and aligned with business continuity planning, escrow moves beyond contractual formality and becomes an operational resilience safeguard. It ensures that if a vendor fails, the institution retains the legal and technical ability to maintain and operate the system.
As East Africa positions itself as a regional digital growth engine, Watson believes resilience must evolve alongside innovation. “The ambition in Kenya is evident. The next phase of digital maturity is formal vendor continuity planning. Resilience is no longer optional. It is governance responsibility.”
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